Minnesota T-Wolves Blog – Page 46 – NBA Blog

Wolves owner Taylor, once a seller, ends up buying more stock

For the past several months, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has been looking for a buyer for the club who would originally own a portion of the team and then eventually would take over majority ownership.

But after not finding a suitable partner, Taylor changed his mind and bought the stock holdings of six partners who wanted out.

“I was looking at bringing somebody else in to do that, and it never worked out,” Taylor said. “So I just had told the partners that wanted to sell out, that had been with me for about 18 years, that if they wanted to sell out that I would buy their stock. I had about half of them do that, the other half stayed in. I just left that option up to them. They made their decisions, and everybody is happy with how it worked out.”

So now with the hiring of Flip Saunders as president of basketball operations, Taylor seems more involved than ever and he is probably more excited about this draft than any in recent memory.

Reported by Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

NBA execs shop for right fit for their rosters

San Antonio’s Danny Green, Miami’s Chris Andersen and Indiana’s Lance Stephenson, to name a few, have proved nightly during this spring’s postseason that there is a prominent place in the NBA someday, someway for former second-round picks and those who once went undrafted.

New Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders just believes that time hasn’t yet arrived for his team or any such players in next month’s draft.

Before he jets off to Miami this weekend to bond with Ricky Rubio or travels to Europe after that to woo forthcoming restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic, Saunders did his long-term due diligence Tuesday at Target Center surrounded by representatives from 25 other teams, including NBA coaches Mike Woodson and Randy Wittman, doing the same.

They watched a dozen unsung draft prospects — many of whom won’t hear their name called next month — drill in separate sessions that opened two days of group workouts the Wolves annually hold.

“I don’t know right now if a second-rounder is going to be in our rotation,” Saunders said. “If you’re getting guys at that level, you hope they will somehow be able to play for you in two or three years.”

Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Timberwolves stay put in NBA draft lottery

The Wolves’ most glaring need is shooting guard, so they’ll take a shooting guard, right?

Not so fast.

Oh, the Wolves will have their options, even after the top shooting guards — Kansas’ Ben McLemore and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo — go top 5 probably.

They could choose Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum, who’s a great shooter but is point-guard sized at 6-3, or Georgia’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who would fill Wolves need for both shooters and real 2-guard size.

But don’t be surprised if the Wolves end up going for a shotblocker — Maryland center Alex Len if he drops that far, or maybe 7-2 French center Rudy Gobert — for a team that lacks a rim defender.

The Wolves could go that route if they think they can add a veteran shooting guard through a trade (Boston’s Courtney Lee perhaps?) or free agency (J.J. Redick, O.J. Mayo and Kyle Korver all will be on the market, but can the Wolves afford any of the three).

Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Blog)

Timberwolves waive guard Brandon Roy

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that the team has waived guard Brandon Roy.

“We wish Brandon and his family all the best in the future,” said Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders.

During the 2012-13 NBA season, Roy appeared in five games with the Timberwolves, and averaged 5.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game. Roy signed with the Timberwolves as a free agent on July 31.

Flip Saunders starts rebuilding Timberwolves scouting staff

Flip Saunders has started the restructuring expected when he took over as Minnesota Timberwolves president last week.

Saunders fired international scouting coordinator Pete Philo, regional scout Curtis Crawford and Will Conroy on Tuesday. The moves were made as Saunders clears room to get a staff together for next month’s draft.

Philo was instrumental in ushering in a new focus on foreign players. He helped land point guard Ricky Rubio, guard Alexey Shved and put the Timberwolves at the forefront of that growing trend.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor not looking to sell team

Glen Taylor has pulled the Minnesota Timberwolves off the market.

Taylor said Friday that he has stopped looking for a buyer for the team and will instead offer to buy out any limited partners who are looking to sell. Taylor put the team on the market last summer in hopes of finding a person or a group that would be willing to buy a minority stake to start with and then take control a few seasons down the road.

But Taylor says he couldn’t find a buyer who would guarantee the team will remain in Minnesota, and also says he felt some seller’s remorse when negotiating with several interested parties.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Minnesota Timberwolves decline team option on David Kahn

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that the team has declined to exercise the one-year option in David Kahn’s contract for the 2013-14 NBA season, and as a result, he will not return as President of Basketball Operations. Kahn was originally hired by the Timberwolves on May 22, 2009.

“We want to thank David for all of his efforts the past four years with our basketball team,” said Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. “These are always difficult decisions, but at this time, we believe it is in the best interest of our organization to make a change. We wish David all the best in the future.”

Wolves coach wants Nikola Pekovic to add finesse to his game

[Rick] Adelman believes Pekovic needs to do so — whether he returns to the Wolves next season after this summer’s restricted free agency or not — both to succeed against longer, more athletic players and to ease the demands on a body now susceptible to all kinds of nagging injuries.“Finesse was never my better side,” said Pekovic, who has missed 18 games this season and hasn’t played the past two games because of a bruised calf. “All my basketball life, like I like to say, my basketball is not really nice for watching, but it is really effective.”

Adelman said he believes Pekovic will be that much more effective if he develops counters to the power moves he relies upon close to the basket, and if he learns to expand his game beyond 2 or 3 feet.

“He plays the game a certain way, and that’s the way he has always played it,” Adelman said. “But as he plays against different people, he’s got to find a way to score against length. Right now, he struggles with that at times, especially when we don’t shoot the ball well. When we don’t shoot the ball, there are three guys collapsing on him when he gets the ball.”

— Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

No Brandon Roy return anytime soon

Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn said he reached the conclusion in late January that Brandon Roy, struggling to recover from surgery on his right knee, would not play again this season.

Nearly three months later, another conclusion has been reached regarding Roy’s future with the team: “You should assume he will not be playing with us next season,” Kahn said.

Kahn confirmed what has been expected — that Roy’s once-productive NBA career is most likely over after the seven-year veteran was unable to shake his chronic knee problems.

The Wolves (30-50), who play Utah on Monday night, April 15, at Target Center, signed Roy to a two-year, $10.4 million contract last August, but the second year of the deal, worth $5.329 million, is not guaranteed.

— Reported by Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press

Ricky Rubio leads Timberwolves over Suns, 105-93

Ricky Rubio had a career-high 24 points, 10 assists and five steals, and J.J. Barea scored 16 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 105-93 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.

Derrick Williams added 15 points and six boards for the Wolves, who gave coach Rick Adelman victory No. 1,001. It’s also the first time the Wolves (30-50) have won at least 30 games in a season without Kevin Garnett on the roster.

Markieff Morris had 20 points and nine rebounds and Jared Dudley scored 16 for the Suns, who turned the ball over 28 times. The Suns have lost 15 of their last 17 and already are assured of having their worst record since their inaugural season in 1968-69.

Andrei Kirilenko had 14 points and Dante Cunningham had 13 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota in place of Nikola Pekovic, who missed his second straight game with a bruised left calf.

Wes Johnson scored 15 points and Luis Scola added 14 points and nine rebounds for Phoenix. But Scola committed a career-high eight turnovers, and the Wolves scored 33 points off Phoenix mistakes to pull away.

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press