Month: July 2013

Timberwolves in search of shooting guards

The Minnesota Timberwolves can us a lot of things. Better shooting from point guard  Ricky Rubio. That plus health from Kevin Love. And some more talent would help as well, especially at the shooting guard and small forward positions.

OJ Mayo

The NBA’s free-agency negotiating period began at 11:01 p.m. Sunday and Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders was in Los Angeles with $7 million or more in his pocket to spend on a starting shooting guard.

Agents for unrestricted free agents O.J. Mayo, J.J. Redick, Kevin Martin and Mike Dunleavy are all based there.

Wolves unrestricted free agent Chase Budinger — who along with restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic is one of the team’s top two priorities, according to Saunders — also lives just down the freeway in San Diego.

Teams can strike deals with free agents as soon as the clock struck midnight July 1 in New York City — or 9 p.m. in California — but no contracts can officially be signed until a moratorium period ends July 10, after the NBA’s salary cap for next season is set.

Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

NBA free agency: Pelicans meet with Tyreke Evans

NBA free agency began today, with negotiations now, and signings starting in nine days. And the Hornets — excuse me — the New Orleans Pelicans — immediately expressed interest in Tyreke Evans.

tyreke evans

Kings guard Tyreke Evans, a restricted free agent, met with the New Orleans Pelicans in Los Angeles on Sunday night, shortly after the free-agency period opened at 9:01 p.m. PDT, The Bee has learned.

Evans’ agent, Arn Tellum, is based in Southern California.

The Kings extended a qualifying offer to Evans last week, worth $6.9 million for the upcoming season. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard can negotiate with other teams and sign an offer sheet, and the Kings have until July 10 to match an offer or negotiate a sign-and-trade deal. The Pelicans could send point guard Greivis Vasquez or shooting guard Eric Gordon.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/01/5536297/kings-notes-evans-meets-with-pelicans.html#mi_rss=Kings/NBA#storylink=cpy

Reported by Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee 

Rockets meet with Dwight Howard as NBA free agency opens

Rockets meet with Howard as NBA free agency opens

The Houston Rockets have met with Dwight Howard to begin the NBA’s free agency period.

With Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler joining them, the Rockets pitched Howard on leaving Los Angeles and joining All-Star James Harden in Houston.

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey wrote on Twitter early Monday that it great meeting with Howard and that having Olajuwon and Drexler there ”made it obvious how (Howard and Harden) could be the next (great) big/wing combo.”

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press