The Minnesota Timberwolves Thread: Timberwolves, Anthony Bennett part ways

[hood17]

Shabazz been putting in work

 

[jpzx]

Timberwolves Sign Center Miroslav Raduljica to 10-Day Contract

View media item 1344237
Posted: Jan 08, 2015

Minneapolis/St. Paul — The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed center Miroslav Raduljica (rah-DOO-liht-zah) to a 10-day contract.

After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, Raduljica, was signed by Milwaukee on July 26, 2013. The 7-footer spent the 2013-14 season with the Bucks, averaging 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 9.7 minutes in 48 games. Raduljica was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on Aug. 26, 2014, and was subsequently waived on Aug. 29. The 27-year-old signed with Shandong of the Chinese Basketball Association on Sept. 19, 2014, and averaged 18.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 26.4 minutes in 14 games this season.

A native of Serbia, Raduljica has played with several European teams since 2005, including Partizan Belgrade in Serbia in 2011-12 and BC Azovmash in the Ukranian SuperLeague in 2012-13. He also played with KK FMP in the Serbian League from 2005-10 and Efes Pilsen in the Turkish League in 2010-11. Raduljica was the Serbian SuperLeague MVP in 2010 and helped Partizan Belgrade win the Serbian League title and Serbian Cup in 2012.

Raduljica has played with the Serbian National Team since 2009, helping the team win the silver medal at the 2009 FIBA EuroBasket and the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, where he averaged 13.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 21.4 minutes in nine games.

Raduljica will wear No. 13 for the Wolves.

Fear The Beard.

I actually am beginning to worry about the 26-game losing streak record that is 13 losses away from a reality. Check out the upcoming stretch of 10 games or so. Only possible wins I see are Milwaukee and Indiana, but both of those are road games anyway.

Thank god Jeff Adrien is gone. What an insult to basketball.

 

[pacificnorsewst]

I didn't think Adrien was that bad. Provided length and a spark when he came in. Anyway...I'm really enjoying this run Wiggins has been on lately, or whatever we wanna call it. You can see the progress he's made and it's abundantly clear that he's a real special player. Watching him now, you'd wonder what all the fuss about his 3-pt efficiency was all about. His stroke has been smooth. Hopefully the progress keeps up at this exponential pace. Once he starts to really utilize his athleticism when he gets things figured out, I fully expect his rebounds and steals to increase dramatically. Can't wait...

Rubio is due back soon, no? 

 

[hood17]

I think they said mid January.

Wiggins looks more comfortable on the court.

 

[jpzx]

Oh god, Adrien was terrible.

43.2% FG, 57.9% FT, all energy while barely hauling in three boards per game ... and: 28 years old. He had one good game in a Timberwolves uniform. No more enabling bad players like this. 11 years without a playoff appearance and we're keeping 28-year-old never-proven-anythings around. Embarrassing is understating it.

Sign somebody who's young to a 10-day contract. Sign somebody who's an unknown to a 10-day contract.

From Jonny Flynn to Wes Johnson to Derrick Williams and yes, all the way down to the minor moves like Jeff Adrien... I'm sick of this **** man.

 

[jpzx]

How much accountability should there be for this long, long stretch of losses with the knowledge that it's without Rubio, Pekovic, and Martin? I feel as if it's getting leaned on too much at this point. At some point, you should be able to benefit off Dieng's strides, Shabazz's offensive production, etc. -- as a team, be getting better -- and luck into a victory. It's just going the complete opposite way in terms of team performance right now, however.

 

[hood17]

God I want to be in the East.

 

[pacificnorsewst]

Holy Mo(ly)!

Huge game for Mo. Gorgui a great line, Wiggins, decent. Best Stat of all? Losing streak snapped!

 

[RyGuy45]

Mo

How much accountability should there be for this long, long stretch of losses with the knowledge that it's without Rubio, Pekovic, and Martin? I feel as if it's getting leaned on too much at this point. At some point, you should be able to benefit off Dieng's strides, Shabazz's offensive production, etc. -- as a team, be getting better -- and luck into a victory. It's just going the complete opposite way in terms of team performance right now, however.

Valid point there. I think basing this from experience here, all Minnesota teams constantly use injuries as their excuse and the local media helps to push that. Yet we see in sports (all sports) team after team thrive when losing their best players or worst case see positives still happen. Don't tell that to Sid Hartman though. Either way the Wolves are putrid for yet another winter and that starts from the very top. I cannot say much more anymore though because I am officially on record as saying tanking (again) is the best route for the Wolves this year (again).

I have said this before but between the Wild, Twins, and Wolves I have never seen injuries happen like they have in Minnesota the last decade. And none of them have figured out how to correct it or absorb them.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

How much accountability should there be for this long, long stretch of losses with the knowledge that it's without Rubio, Pekovic, and Martin? I feel as if it's getting leaned on too much at this point. At some point, you should be able to benefit off Dieng's strides, Shabazz's offensive production, etc. -- as a team, be getting better -- and luck into a victory. It's just going the complete opposite way in terms of team performance right now, however.

Flip is terrible, his offense is complete ineffective at generating any type of spacing. Way way way too many mid range jumpers, building his offence around posting up one of the more inefficient play types in basketball. His use of zone defense that doesn't work with the current NBA rules.

and to top it all off he's a bad GM.

Basketball has passed Flip by.

The T-Wolves will never be good as long as Flip is in charge.

 

[scarecrowgrin]

Time for Shabazz to shine.

way to jinx him

 

[pacificnorsewst]

Pssh. That was a month ago. He'll be back in a week anyway.

 

[jpzx]

I would be a proponent of this deal, as I think Thaddeus Young's defense and shot selection are missionaried on my last nerve

Report: Wolves willing to trade Thaddeus Young, Brooklyn interested

By James Herbert | NBA writer
January 16, 2015 1:38 pm ET

The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired forward Thaddeus Young from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a first-round pick last summer as part of the Kevin Love-Andrew Wiggins deal, and they might already be considering sending him to the Brooklyn Nets. From ESPN:

After three-way trade talks reportedly broke down between the Nets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets, the discussion has shifted to a Brook Lopez-for-Kendrick Perkins swap, as confirmed by CBSSports.com's Ken Berger. The two sides reportedly discussed a deal like that a couple of weeks ago, too. From Brooklyn's perspective, Perkins' expiring contract would be a trade chip to acquire another player, one who fits in better than Lopez.

Does Young make sense for the Nets? If they're trying to get faster and more versatile, sure. But he's unlikely to pull Brooklyn out of mediocrity by himself, and it's very questionable whether or not he'd stick around long-term.

As for the Wolves, well, it doesn't make Flip Saunders' decision to choose Young over a first-rounder look great. There's no word yet on what Minnesota would receive as sweetener for taking Perkins' contract in this scenario, but Wolves fans have to hope it's something significant. A straight Young-for-Perkins salary dump would be depressing.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...g-to-trade-thaddeus-young-brooklyn-interested

UPDATE: According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, Brooklyn isn't looking to trade Brook Lopez anymore. If those talks stay dead, then deal involving Thaddeus Young and the Nets would have to look very different.

 

[pacificnorsewst]

osh kosh bosh is gonna love this one.

 

[jpzx]

He's the best stretch four the Timberwolves have on their roster, but that's not a compliment because he's pretty much established through the first half of the season that he isn't an answer long-term at that position despite being 26 years old.

The Timberwolves don't need him to have a random scoring outburst where he wins them a game they don't need to win. Might as well give Bennett more minutes than he deserves and see if he can unexpectedly rise to the occasion. If not, it'll contribute to the lottery ball awareness campaign. If he does, that's great moving forward into the future.

 

[jpzx]

OKB also gets sextual about Brook Lopez's defense and rebounding ability. It's like bringing all of his favorites together into one deal.

 

[hood17]

#FreeBennettDamnIt

 

[pacificnorsewst]

Pek should be back any day now. Salvage some trade value. I wonder if they even try and move him this year or just wait until after the season.

I'd like Rubio to get back in the mix though.

 

[Brownstone]

One of the nice things of this season is for the first time since KG left, there is an outline for a legitimate team.

Core: Wiggins, Lavine, Bazz, Rubio, Dieng, Pek.

Expendable: Martin, Buddinger. 

As far as flip goes, he seems to be developing the young guys well,  and that's all I care about at this point. Bring a new coach in next year or the following to take the reigns. I would like to see us make a trade to see what young assets we can get. I don't care about draft picks, our top 5 pick is plenty. We need young vets and nice role players who can work around our young core. And for god sakes a few 3 point shooters please.

 

[hood17]

Agree.

I wouldn't mind a college coach who can grow with Wiggins.

If possible I'd love to see Blatt get the job and flourish! Or Mikr Malone they improved his time in Sac and here he would have more of a TEAM I think to start and get going with the team....

Other than thay no to George Karl and Sam Mitchell.

 

[RyGuy45]

The issue with the head coaching spot (if Godfather Saunders ever relinquishes it - which I'm honestly not seeing) is that no big time coach is likely going to leave his spot to come in here knowing he has Saunders hovering over him, and in addition Saunders himself is not going to hire anyone who he cannot control or does not have his exact coaching philosophy. It's why I think whenever Saunder's time does come he will stick to the script and have the Sam Mitchell's of the world just slide over and be given the Head Coach position, and the cycle continues. Or worse yet, Saunders' own son. It's the Timberwolves franchise way.

This whole Flip Saunders situation is such a joke it is BEYOND words.

He told a Wolves beat writer this week if the team wasn't dealing with the Pek and Rubio injuries they right now would likely be .500 or even better than that. More words of wisdom from the coaching czar who has won 37 of the last 165 games he has coached.

 

[jpzx]

.500 or better

I mean, if we know Saunders will handpick somebody he's had prior experience with, we can assume the likeliest candidates would either be:

1.) Hoiberg, Not that he's ready or is inclined to make that jump right now, but they've had more success and bigger names than they had prior to when he took over the program of course. If he packed his bags and crossed the border that's the one job they wouldn't kill him for, partially due to the fact that Iowa State would likely welcome him back if it didn't work out in Minnesota & if the Cyclones happen to be worse off than when he was there.

2.) Wittman (new contract be damned) after the Wizards are knocked out of the postseason this/next season earlier than most anticipated and the word, "Why?" gets thrown around needing to land on somebody, anybody.

I don't want No. 2 and could stomach No. 1 I suppose, but you can see the events transpiring like that in D.C. and then Flip Saunders scooping Wittman up and carving up a "you know, they had a lot of success and playoff success that they hadn't seen in the past few years under his watch" narrative at the introductory press conference.

 

[jpzx]

T'Wolves: 9-40
Knicks: 10-39
76ers: 11-39

Minnesota very well could pass the LA Lakers as the season goes on and the few key cogs on the team regain their health completely. The entire offense has a different fluidity with Rubio -- which is why I can't understand how his offense is so picked to shreds when the entire team is helped by his presence.

 

[pacificnorsewst]

^I agree. And has anyone else noticed that extra arch on Rubio's shots? He looks vastly improved in just two games. Can't wait to see him work this offense the rest of the way. Hopefully Shabazz gets back soon.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

^I agree. And has anyone else noticed that extra arch on Rubio's shots? He looks vastly improved in just two games. Can't wait to see him work this offense the rest of the way. Hopefully Shabazz gets back soon.

Yeah I been hearing he totally revamped it with Mike Penberthy while he was injured, looks 1 million times better.

They better start trading people or they are going to mess up this top 3 pick.