Per ESPN Insider:

 

The Wolves are talking to a lot of teams, and letting various media-types know it, about the No. 2 pick in the draft. Reportedly the Bucks are one of them and have offered a deal which includes Andrew Bogut to move up from the No. 10 spot.

Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN writes: “Multiple sources say the Wolves and Bucks have talked about a trade, with the main pieces being No. 2 for No. 10 and center Andrew Bogut. It’s believed Milwaukee initiated those talks, probably because there is some uncertainty about Bogut’s long-term health.”

Bogut, who has three years and $39 million remaining on his contract, was hindered all of this past season as he recovered from injuries to his right hand, wrist and elbow. He also suffered from chronic migraine headaches.

Bogut had a pretty good season, despite his injuries, and he is hoping his rehab during the summer will help get him back to normal. It’s unlikely a team would trade for him unless he’s healthy and if he’s fit it’s unlikely that Milwaukee would trade the center.

I'm assuming you all hate this deal? In your opinions, how significant is an injury concern, or how likely is he to return to pre arm-snap form?

With permission from -- and credit to -- PoorDick, I thought it would be interesting to determine just how much Canis Hoopus as a community is willing to shed to get the guy we've wanted for a solid year now.

If you were David Kahn negotiating with Philly for the second pick, where is your line in the sand? All poll options include giving up the 4th pick, assuming for simplicity's sake that we're trying to move up from 4 to 2 rather than have them both. 

Poll

What is the MOST you would be willing to give up in addition to the 4th pick to move up and draft Evan Turner?

8%

No additional assets -- I don't want to move up.

21 votes

18%

23rd pick

45 votes

16%

16th pick

40 votes

9%

23rd +16th picks

24 votes

18%

Later pick(s) + Take on a bad contract

45 votes

4%

Love or Jefferson

12 votes

11%

Love or Jefferson + Later pick(s)

28 votes

8%

Love or Jefferson + Take on a bad contract

21 votes

4%

There is no combination of assets I wouldn't give up for Turner

10 votes

246 votes | Poll has closed

I know this has been done already on this site more than once. But Evan Turner came to play at my school tonight and I sat in the 8th row to watch, so I figured I may as well throw one more Evan Turner in-person FanPost up.

Continue reading this post »

Jerry Zgoda reports on his blog that Kevin Love's hand will, indeed, need surgery, and to twist the knife in a little deeper, Al Jefferson did not practice today, and was walking gingerly on his sore achilles tendon. 

Good Lord, can you imagine if they are both out for a month? Would we win a game? Come within ten points of winning a game? Wouldn't this effectively guarantee us a top-4 pick?

So I'm a college student in Iowa, and I have always watched just about every Wolves game on TV during high school. Now, they won't be televised where I live. How can I watch them still? Anybody in a similar situation/know how to do this?

• I'm willing to shell out the bucks for NBA League Pass Broadband, if it would work. How much does this cost? I feel like I heard somewhere that I'd only get 27 games with that though, the rest of them would be blacked out even in Iowa, in which case I obviously wouldn't pay the money. Is LP Broadband worth it? Any insight on this?
• If not, what do people know about free live streaming sites on the internet? Does Justin.tv usually play Wolves games? Would I need to download anything to watch them? My university doesn't allow peer-to-peer file sharing-type of stuff, is Justin.tv (or the P2P stuff you might need to download to use it) considered illegal? 

I'm really hoping I can find some way to watch at least a good chunk of the Wolves games this year. I don't want to miss the beginning of the Kahn/Rambis era. Any advice, insight, or previous experience on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

John Hollinger wrote a forecast for every team in the league on ESPN, and the Timberwolves' is some of the most positive national coverage the team has gotten in a looong time. He predicts a 33 win season, but has positive things to say.

Here's the link: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp09/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=TimberwolvesForecast0910.

Some of the highlights:

• Says Jefferson and Love will be a productive frontcourt for the next decade.
• Explains the logic of all our good young point guards: essentially, that if we want we can trade one or two eventually. It's amazing how nobody can understand this.
• Calls Sessions "the most underrated player in the league" and "the steal of the summer."
• "If the core trio of Sessions, Jefferson, and Love stays healthy, they could be much better than people realize."
• "Flynn provides an immediate sensation."
• "If everybody stays healthy, it's possible for the T-Wolves to sneak into the posteason." (!!!)
• Based on the summer's moves and next summer's cap space, "Their time as a doormat appears to be drawing to a close."

Thank you, John Hollinger.

So, with training camp and the season around the corner, I got to thinking. We all know this season will not end with a playoff appearance, or anything approaching a good won-loss record. So why is it, exactly, that I'm so excited for the season to start? I think the answer is that I'm really eager to see certain, specific things from different players on the team that will hint, preclude, or allow future success. Since there's nothing else Wolves-related to talk about, what are some things Canis Hoopus as a whole are going to be keeping an eye on this Wolves season? Some of my ideas below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

I read a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Tipping Point and Blink. The article was a basketball-centric look at how underdog teams can beat the favorites. It mainly focussed on the full-court press, and how it negates a gap in skill and evens out the playing field. It's one of the most interesting, though-provoking things I've ever read, and if you have fifteen or twenty minutes (it's long), I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

Continue reading this post »

The Wolves are a team that, for the long term, appears to be set at point guard (I would call it unlikely that both Rubio and Flynn will bust) and in the post (assuming, of course, that Love and Jefferson can play together). They've got at least one dynamic point guard and two excellent post players plugged into their roster long-term. 

Where they are extraordinarily weak, however, is on the wings. Below the jump, let's look at what they have there right now, what the Contending Wolves of Three Years Hence will need on the wings, and how to bridge that gap.

Poll

Who should the Wolves start at shooting guard-small forward this season?

38%

Ellington-Brewer

150 votes

35%

Ellington-Gomes

138 votes

20%

Brewer-Gomes

81 votes

4%

Other (possibly involving Wilkins or Cardinal?)

18 votes

387 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune passed along a letter that David Kahn wrote to the fans today. It's on the Strib website, and I think somebody else posted it on this site also. In the letter, Kahn reveals his three "threshold" criteria in looking for a coach, that any candidate had to agree to before being considered.

A) the Timberwolves will be a player-development program, which I assume means there will be no big moves for star veterans any time soon, but rather the drafting and teaching of young talent for the next few years. Fine by me. 

B) The young talent will see significant playing time and be given some freedom to learn and make mistakes. Also fine by me, except Rambis may have tied his own noose two or three years down the road by agreeing to that.

C) The Timberwolves will be a running team. The new coach must install an up-tempo system. This is the one criteria I see a problem with. More below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

The Wolves signed the athletic, 7-foot backup big man we've all been pining for today, and at a reasonable price without having to give up any assets in a trade. I'm starting to really like the long-term outlook of Kahn's rebuilding plan. A look at it, and where I think it's ultimately headed, below the fold.

Continue reading this post »

I realize that trading Ricky Rubio right now would be a hasty, panicked decision, and now is not the time to do it, and that we need to see what we have in both Rubio and Flynn before we make any decisions on either of them. But something just tells me that eventually, Rubio will be the one to go. He'd bring back more value in a trade, and I don't think we can be too confident he'll be better than Flynn. 

I posted this question as a comment on a different blog, but thought I'd repost it as its own blog, because I'm kind of curious how highly people on the site value him. If you were running the Timberwolves, what would a team need to offer you to get Rubio? At what point do you say, "I hate to give up Ricky, but we have to do this deal"?

If I were Kahn, it'd take good, promising young players to fill two of our three major needs: starting shooting guard, starting small forward, and shot-blocking backup 4/5, plus maybe a draft pick.

Thoughts?