Y! Sports: The Memphis Grizzlies have extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Marc Gasol(notes), giving them the chance to match any offer he might get this offseason.

General manager Chris Wallace announced the move Friday.

The 7-foot-1 Gasol averaged 15 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in helping the Grizzlies upset top-seeded San Antonio to open the playoffs before pushing Oklahoma City to seven games in the semifinals. He finished second in rebounds per game and third with 2.15 blocks per game in the playoffs.

He averaged 11.7 points and 7.0 rebounds while starting 81 games in the regular season.

I was just thinking why we don't make a move to sign Marc Gasol this offseason. Would he not be a great fit at Center? I mean we already have Rubio and since they are fellow spaniards wouldn't that make his transition good too? I do undterstand that Memphis is coming off a great season and they'll probably match all offers for Marc, but I still see it as something to try out. Imagine our lineup as:

Rubio/Ridnour
Wes/Webster
Beasley/Williams
Love/Williams/Randolph
Gasol/Pek/Darko

I'm looking for someone to justify to me why Marc wouldn't fit into our team? Would his cost be set too high for us to not really even offer anything? In the event we do go after him what can we do with Darko?

So I wake up this morning to learn that Deron was traded to the Nets. My only question here is that although we have Ricky coming over could this not of been a trade where we could of made a better package to Utah? I never thought that Utah was in such a bad funk that they would even give him away. I don't think I'm the only one that didn't see this coming but I guess they didn't want to deal with another Melo situation in a year or two.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AkWk2C9_zfrzChOovX4pc745nYcB?slug=aw-jazzwilliamsnets022311

So of course i should be celebrating the 4th of July but then this came across my screen. Supposedly there is a rumor that is starting to circulate.

Trade Rumor: Jefferson To Warriors, Lee To Wolves, Ellis To Knicks

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Of course we love to talk about many things on this wonderful blog, but let's take ourselves out of reality for a minute and think... What if we got LeBron James to come to the Wolves. Of course this sounds so upsurd to your ears, but think of this. Is there a way for us to even lure the King to the Twin Cities to do something KG couldn't do? Yes bringing a player of James' magnitude would need some serious maneuvering and some serious luck, but would it be possible. Lets discuss this after the Jump. 

Continue reading this post »

So its been a while since i've read anything from Bill Simmons, but today i finally did and he actually made more sense to me than he has in a while. I don't agree with all his points but what does sound good in this article is that he actually has some ideas (which i know would never happen in real life) that I agree with.

Tell me what you think.

Let's say the NBA made the following rule right now:

Any team that misses the playoffs cannot raise ticket prices the following season. Miss two straight playoffs, season-ticket holders get a 5 percent discount for renewals the following season. Miss three straight, it goes to 10 percent. Miss four straight, it jumps to 25 percent. Miss five straight, it jumps to 50 percent.

Seems pretty reasonable, right? Geez, if you miss the playoffs for five straight years, you shouldn't be in the league. The Clippers missed in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Last summer, they brought back coach Mike Dunleavy, who had made history by losing 300-plus games for two different teams (the Clips and the Bucks) and also having a winning percentage under .400 with both. To nobody's surprise, the season fell apart and that squinty con artist stepped down last month. Now the Clippers are playing the illusion of regret to a hilt. We have tons of cap space, we're gonna have a new coach, and we're going after LeBron ... don't quit on us!Doesn't change the fact that Mr. Billionaire Housing Discriminator Who Owns The Clippers sacrificed the 2009-10 season when he didn't have to.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100224

Drew Gooden is likely to negotiate a buyout with the Wizards, sources tells Yahoo! Sports.

The Bucks, Bobcats, Nuggets and even a return to the Mavericks after 30 days are all possible.

Read more:http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64751/20100216/gooden_likely_to_receive_buyout_from_washington/#ixzz0fkZnILQZ

I don't know if it's just me but this is something that has to stop in the league. If a player gets traded they should not be able to by bought out and return to their team that traded them. This always tends to work for the elite teams and then the lil' guys suffer. This whole scenario of the rich getting richer by screwing the lil' guy has got to come to an end. Anyway this gets reworked in the new CBA agreement (if they ever come to terms with each other)?

Anyone else have any news or ideas on some remedies?

via NBA.com

NEW YORK -- Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, the reigning T-Mobile Rookie of the Year, and Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans, the leading scorer among first-year players, lead a list of 18 players selected for the 2010 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam to be held on Friday, Feb. 12 in Dallas during NBA All-Star 2010.

The participants in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam were selected by the NBA's assistant coaches, with each team submitting one ballot.

Joining Rose on the Sophomore team are Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley, Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon, Minnesota Timberwolves forward/center Kevin Love, New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez, New York Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, and a pair of teammates from the Memphis Grizzlies -- center Marc Gasol and guard O.J. Mayo.

Forward Omri Casspi, Evans' teammate in Sacramento, joins him on the Rookie team, which also includes Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson, Detroit Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn, Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden, and San Antonio forward/center DeJuan Blair.

The head coaches for the Rookie and Sophomore teams will be the lead assistants from the 2010 NBA All-Star Game coaching staffs, which will be determined by the best record in each conference through games played Jan. 31.

A little birdie says Timberwolves president David Kahn made a second trip to Barcelona the other day to check on the status of top draft pick Ricky Rubio, who is practicing with the Spanish national basketball team.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_13168707?source=rss

I guess we need frequent trips to check on him and to ask Villacampa whethers he's changed his mind. How does this really make news in the papers and online? I guess every little move will spark something in the columns since its the slowest part of the year.

Ripping the Timberwolves Down to the Studs

I was sitting here at my lovely cubicle only to open ESPN NBA front page and see that the Twolves were plastered on the front. I first said to myself WOW. Its nice to see how we've come to the point that the media is actually starting to look at our quick turn around with all the rookie pieces we've added. I think on a national level this was a very good write up. What do you all think about what the national spot light says and thinks of our beloved Wolves.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-43-41/Ripping-the-Timberwolves-Down-to-the-Studs.html

An announcement that the Minnesota Timberwolves have hired Kurt Rambis as their next coach appears to be just a matter of time. Yahoo.com reported early this morning that the Los Angeles Lakers assistant, after meeting with owner Glen Taylor and Wolves executives, was putting together a coaching staff in anticipation of receiving a formal offer today.

According to the report, Rambis is expected to hire longtime assistant and former Boston Celtics assistant general manager Dave Wohl as his top assistant and could keep one current Wolves assistant — Ed Pinckney or Dean Cooper — on staff.

The report also speculated that Rambis' hiring could help the Wolves' chances of luring No. 1 draft choice Ricky Rubio from Spain, because Rambis has a good relationship with the point guard's agent, Dan Fegan.

Wolves president of basketball operations David Kahn had no comment Wednesday night on reports that Rambis had flown to the Twin Cities to meet with team officials.

Rambis is one of three finalists for the job, along with ESPN/ABC analyst Mark Jackson and Houston Rockets assistant Elston Turner.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Aqk92c7umh0zNUegDhE_oW05nYcB?slug=ys-rambiswolves080509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

So what do you all think of this? I'm wondering whether Pau Gasol has told Rubio that Rambis would be a good guy to help his young career.

What's also interesting to me is how Rambis was known last year as the coach that focused on Defence for the Lakers and he brought more insight to Phil's philosophy toward building a stronger team defence (see story here).

So what say you all?