Category: Minnesota T-Wolves Blog

In conjunction with Fox Sports North, the Minnesota Timberwolves today named Dave Benz as the team’s television play-by-play announcer. Benz will team up this season with color analyst Jim Petersen to call 75 Wolves games this season on Fox Sports North and WFTC MY29.

Benz, a graduate of Oswego State University (Oswego, NY,) brings a wealth of experience and versatility to Minnesota with over 20 years in the sports industry. His television and radio play-by-play experience includes college basketball for FOX Sports, the mtn. and Comcast Sportsnet where he covered a number of men’s and women’s programs in the Mountain West, Pac-12, Big-12, WCC, Big West and Sun Belt conferences.  He has also been behind the mic for Major League Baseball Cactus League games as well as Arena Football League and CHSAA High School Football games.  Most recently he was the radio “Voice of the Sabercats” for San Jose’s AFL team.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be the new television voice of the Timberwolves.  It has been my lifelong dream to be an NBA play-by-play announcer,” said Dave Benz. “I look forward to calling many Timberwolves wins this season alongside Jim Petersen, who is one of the best in the business. I also look forward to meeting Timberwolves fans and sharing in their passion for this organization.”

Benz comes to the Twin Cities from the San Francisco Bay Area where he worked as host, anchor and reporter for Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area.  There he had the opportunity to cover the Giants 2010 World Series title and the 49ers run to the NFC Championship game as a pre and postgame show host.  His lengthy career has afforded him the opportunity to regularly cover a number of NBA teams including roles as pre and postgame host for the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors.  He has also had roles covering the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards and Denver Nuggets.

“After a nationwide search, we were captivated by Dave’s call of a game and how he captures the moment,” said Ted Johnson, Wolves Sr. Vice President of Marketing/Communications & Chief Marketing Officer. “Dave has experience covering many teams in different leagues and we feel he will be a great fit for our emerging team.”

“We’re pleased to welcome Dave to our FOX Sports North family, we’re confident he’ll bring energy and enthusiasm to our Timberwolves telecasts,” said Tony Tortorici, executive producer for FOX Sports North. “His knowledge of the sports scene will complement Petersen, Hanneman, Lynch and the rest of the TV team very well.”

The Minnesota Timberwolves today finalized the team’s 2012-13 training camp roster by signing unrestricted free agents Will Conroy, Mike Harris, Chris Johnson, Phil Jones, Seth Tarver and Jermaine Taylor. Today’s signings complete the Wolves training camp roster, which stands at 20 players. Minnesota’s training camp is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 2 – Friday, Oct. 5.

Taylor, a 6-4 guard, has played parts of two seasons for the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings. He spent the 2009-10 season in Houston, averaging 4.1 points in 31 contests, including four starts. He started the 2010-11 season with the Rockets before finishing it with the Kings. In 26 games, eight starts, with Sacramento, Taylor averaged 7.1 points in 15.6 minutes. Taylor was originally drafted by the Washington Wizards with the 32nd pick in the 2009 NBA Draft after completing his collegiate career at Central Florida.

Conroy, a 6-2 guard, has played parts of two seasons in the NBA, most recently appearing in five games for the Houston Rockets in 2009-10 where he averaged 1.2 points and 1.4 assists. Conroy played for the Memphis Grizzlies (three games) and Los Angeles Clippers (four games) during the 2006-07 season. Conroy went undrafted in 2005 after a four-year career at the University of Washington where he became the school’s all-time assist leader with 515 assists.

Harris, a 6-6 forward, has spent parts of three seasons (2007-08; 2009-10; 2010-11) with two different NBA teams, playing for the Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets. Harris most recently averaged 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds in four games with Houston during the 2010-11 season. In 34 career NBA games, he has averages of 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds. Harris was on the Wolves’ 2012 Summer League entry, averaging 9.6 points and 6.6 rebounds. Harris finished his collegiate career as the fourth player in WAC history to record 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, leaving as Rice University’s all-time leading scorer (2,014 points, ninth all-time in the WAC) and rebounder (1,111 rebounds, fourth).

Johnson, a 6-11 center, has played parts of two NBA seasons with Boston, Portland and New Orleans. Johnson started the 2011-12 season with Portland, averaging 1.6 points and 0.9 rebounds in 20 contests. He finished the season in New Orleans where he averaged 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in seven contests. In 41 career games, he holds averages of 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds. Johnson was named the 2011 NBA D-League Defensive Player of the Year, earning a spot in the All-Star Game. He averaged 16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks during the 2010-11 season for the Dakota Wizards. Johnson spent his collegiate years at Louisiana State University. He went undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Jones, a 6-10 forward/center, has played overseas for the past two years after playing collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has made stops in Uruguay, Brussels and spent the past season in Romania. A U.S. Virgin Islands National Team member, Jones played at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship, averaging 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in four games.

Tarver, a 6-5 guard, has spent the last two seasons with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League. Tarver averaged 11.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 45 contests last season. Tarver went undrafted in 2010 after a four-year collegiate career at Oregon State.

Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio, recovering from a major knee injury, said he does not have a timetable for when he’ll be able to play this season but was hopeful of being ready by “December or early January.”

“I don’t want to say a time, because I don’t want to rush it,” Rubio said Thursday, Sept. 27, to a group of reporters outside the Timberwolves practice facility at Target Center. “I want to be ready whenever it is. It depends on how my knee goes.”

The Spanish native suffered tears to his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his left knee after colliding with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant in the final seconds of a March 9 game at Target Center.

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

The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to terms with free agent power forward Lou Amundson.

Amudson’s deal with Minnesota is a guaranteed contract for one year at the league minimum.

Amundson’s agency tweeted the agreement on Monday and the Timberwolves were expected to announce the deal once he passes a physical. Amundson adds some needed depth to the frontcourt in Minnesota

— Reported by ESPN.com News Services

New Timberwolves Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved today finish up the four-day Basketball Without Borders camp they are working in Moscow with Wolves player development coach David Adelman and fellow NBA players Timofey Mozgov, MarShon Brooks, Danny Green and Brian Cardinal.

Next stop: Target Center.

Kirilenko plans to arrive in about 10 days for training camp that begins in Mankato on Oct. 2.

Until then, he will spend these final days of summer at home in Russia, where he, Shved and their national team teammates brought home the Olympic bronze medal last month.

That performance sent them to the Kremlin and a visit with Russian president Vladimir Putin that delayed Kirilenko’s introductory Target Center news conference until he arrives here the last week of September for camp.

He has spent these last four days in what he calls “giving back” to the game that already has given him a 10-year NBA career and now leads him to Minnesota and a two-year, $20 million contract and to his home country where basketball now has produced its first Olympic medal in the sport since the Soviet Union’s breakup and this season is sending countryman Shved to the NBA as well.

— Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Glen Taylor, who has owned the Timberwolves for 18 seasons and the Lynx for 13, has found the successor he has been looking for. In the near future, Taylor will close a deal to sell 25 percent of the franchises, and eventually the new owner will own the majority.

Unfortunately, the buyer is from outside the Twin Cities, but Taylor insists he will continue to own a share of the two teams and will make sure that they don’t move out of the state.

“Yes, I have [found a buyer], and we’re working on trying to put a deal together, and it would be a deal that would leave me involved for a number of years yet, but it would be a good transition,” Taylor said Sunday.

“I will be an owner for a number of years but gradually bring in a partner, if this would work out. I’d bring in a partner and … we’d work together. In the initial years, he would have less than 50 percent and then in the later years he would have more than 50 percent and would have the ownership.”

— Reported by Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune