Category: Minnesota T-Wolves Blog

Here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune with a Timberwolves injury report that will presumably be confirmed by the team soon:

After two surgeries on his left foot cost him two summer-league and one training camp experiences, Timberwolves center Justin Patton now has broken his right foot in pre-camp workouts.

Patton will undergo surgery to repair that right foot in the coming days, a source with knowledge of the injury said.

Training camp begins Sept. 25, and Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau had been hopeful that Patton would be cleared for contact practice by then.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves signed forward James Nunnally today.

Nunnally, 6-7, has spent the last two years playing in Turkey with Fenerbahçe, making back-to-back EuroLeague Final Four appearances, including winning a championship in 2017. Over 29 EuroLeague games in 2017-18, he averaged 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, while shooting 54.0% overall from the field, including a 55.4% mark from beyond the arc.

Undrafted in 2012 out of UC Santa Barbara, Nunnally spent parts of the 2013-14 NBA season with Atlanta and Philadelphia, totaling averages of 3.4 points and 1.5 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game in 13 contests. He has also played in the G League with Bakersfield and Texas, as well as overseas in Greece, Puerto Rico, Spain, Israel and Italy. Nunnally earned Italian League MVP honors in 2016 after averaging 18.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 40 games.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed guard C.J. Williams to a two-way contract.

Williams appeared in 38 games (17 starts) as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers last season, averaging 5.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 18.6 minutes per game. He appeared in 16 games with the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League, averaging 16.5 points in 29.5 minutes per game. He was named the recipient of the 2017-18 NBA G League Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award on Apr. 11, which is given to the player who best represents the ideals of character and conduct on and off the court.

The Fayetteville, N.C. native played four years at North Carolina State, leading the Wolfpack to the NCAA Sweet 16 as a senior in 2012. Since turning pro, he has spent parts of three seasons in the NBA G League, averaging 14.0 points on 46.3% shooting (40.2% from three-point range) over 115 G League games.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “The 6-foot-5 guard can spend up to 45 days with the Timberwolves next season, and will spend the rest of his time with the Iowa Wolves. Rookie guard Jared Terrell is the Timberwolves’ other two-way signing.”

Two-way contracts allow teams to sign two players to two-way contracts in addition to the 15-man regular-season roster. Players signed to a two-way contract can accrue no more than 45 days of service with their respective NBA club during the regular season and will spend the remainder of their time with the team’s NBA G League affiliate.

The Timberwolves yesterday signed rookie forward Keita Bates-Diop, who the team selected with the 48th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft on June 21.

Bates-Diop was named the 2017-18 Big Ten Player of the Year after averaging 19.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks over his redshirt junior season at Ohio State. A 2017-18 consensus Second Team All-American, Bates-Diop raised his scoring average 10.1 points per game from his redshirt sophomore (9.7 ppg) to his redshirt junior year (19.8 ppg). This season, Bates-Diop paced the Big 10 in scoring, finished second in rebounds (8.7 per contest) and fifth in blocked shots (1.6 blocks per game). He shot 47.2 percent from the floor, including a 35.9 percent mark (66-for-184) from deep.

The Bloomington, Ill. native was a top-five finalist for the 2017-18 Julius Erving Award, honoring the top small forward in the nation. He was also a finalist for the Wooden Award and a semifinalist for the Naismith Player of the Year.

The Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday signed guard Jared Terrell to a two-way contract.

The 23-year-old Terrell averaged 16.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game this past college season at Rhode Island. He hit 42.7% FG from the floor, including 41.4% three-pointers and 82.1% free throws. He was rewarded with Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference Team honors, an was named the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Association District I Player of the Year.

Over the course of his four-year college career, Terrell finished seventh on Rhode Island’s all-time scoring list with 1,754 career points, fourth in three-pointers (192) and fifth in steals (170). He helped lead Rhode Island to the NCAA Tournament in both of last two seasons.

Two-way contracts allow NBA teams to sign two players to two-way contracts. This is in addition to the up-to-15-man regular-season roster that each team can have. Players signed to a two-way contract can accrue no more than 45 days of service with their respective NBA club during the regular season and will spend the remainder of their time with the team’s NBA G League affiliate.

Here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune with an update on the Timberwolves, who recently made a key decision on Nemanja Bjelica:

Nemanja Bjelica, the intriguing forward with three-point range and a habit of missing 15-20 games per season, is done in Minnesota after three seasons.

That was pretty much settled when the Wolves withdrew their qualifying offer and let him become an unrestricted free agent, then signed Anthony Tolliver to essentially take his role. But it’s confirmed as of this morning, with Woj tweeting that Bjelica is signing a one-year deal with the 76ers.

Bjelica might have had more upside than Tolliver, having been in the league just three seasons, but he’s already 30 and probably is what he is to a certain degree. Tolliver, 33, definitely is what he is, but in terms of short-term production — two guys on one-year deals — I’m going to go ahead and say Tolliver is a slight upgrade.

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