NBA Minnesota

Via The700Level, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports a rumored deal between Philadelphia and Minnesota has gone down, sending Beautiful Calvin Booth, Rodney Carney and a pick to the Wolves for nothing but a $2.8 million trade exception. The real prize for Philly general manager Ed Stefanski: even more salary cap breathing room to chase someone like Elton Brand or Josh Smith. Here's Woj:

Getting Carney and Booth off the cap gives the Sixers the chance to offer a starting salary of approximately $14 million a season.

If Atlanta wasn't going to match a contract starting at $11 million for Smith (a disputed rumor), will they even be able to play a straight face if the Sixers offer something like a flat $13 million per year, five-year contract? Or, Philadelphia could go big in year one -- $14.75 million is the max for a four-year veteran, but Stefanski expects to have $14 million as stated above -- and taper the contract down to $12 million by the final year.

For Brand, the 76ers could now offer about five years, $80 million ... which is right in the middle of the Clippers' ($70 million) and Warriors' ($90 million) offers. Watson wrote about the expanded interest in Brand last night; now, that interest has a feasible outlet.

Shockingly, not everyone in Memphis thought trading Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and taking on more bad salary -- all for the services of O.J. Mayo -- was a good idea, reports Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Minnesota czar Kevin McHale discusses the feeling he got from the Grizzlies when finalizing the negotiations.

"I really had a feeling there was a huge contingency in Memphis who didn't want to do it. In fact, I know that. They told me that."

Oh come on! Why wouldn't you want to add another would-be point guard to your bloated backcourt, as well as Antoine Freaking Walker and Marko Jaric in exchange for your biggest trade chip and a stud-to-be 19-year-old power forward?

To be honest, as simply awful as this deal is for Memphis, it's no great shakes for Minnesota either. For all the hubbub around the summer of 2010, exactly who among the holy trinity of LeBron, Wade and Bosh will be knocking down McHale's door to join what will then be the worst defensive team in the league? Half the league plans on having cap space in two years; Minnesota is not remotely going to be an attractive option.

And if Miller was the hinge to this deal for the Wolves, but the deal was made with the summer of '10 in mind ... doesn't it matter that Miller's contract expires in 2010! There's a strong chance that a) Miller and the hypothetical 2010 superstar never play together, or b) you'll be offering a 30-year-old MiMi a fat six-year contract in 2010. HMMM.

I liked Mayo on the Wolves and Love on the Grizzlies a lot more than I like the current situation.

After a losing, albeit doing it in a feisty manner, for most of the 2007-08 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are turning over a new leaf. At least with respect to their logo which will change as they head into their 20th season of professional basketball (and which you can see in big picture form above).

The Timberwolves secondary logo has been completely re-designed. The new logo features a Timberwolf in front of a treeline howling at the moon, which is depicted as a basketball. The new secondary logo pays homage to the original Timberwolves logo with the return of a basketball in the logo's background. Prior to a basketball being incorporated in the new secondary logo, the Wolves were one of only five teams in the NBA which did not have a basketball depicted in either their primary or secondary logo. The newly-designed secondary logo will make its public debut tonight at the 2008 NBA Draft as it will adorn the hat of the Timberwolves' first-round draft pick.

I'll give props where props are due -- the new logo is certainly sweeter than the last one. It's got way more howly panache than the last logo and the wolf looks equally as dangerous as before (hint: it didn't, at least not like this.) Coupled with the color scheme and it's two thumbs up all around. Well played, Wolves.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Ah. The Land of Lakes. Where anything can happen. The first rounder could be O.J. Mayo, it could be Michael Beasley, it could be Kevin Love, it could be Larry Bird or it could be traded straight up for Joe Smith a few first rounders. Seriously, Kevin McHale could do anything. But ... oddly, the Wolves might be set up to have a pretty freaking good draft this year if they play their cards right.

Picks: #3, #31, #34

Needs: Assuming they think either Randy Foye or Sebastian Telfair will work out (and they'll probably go through with the experiment anyway even if they don't) at point, they'll look for frontcourt depth (and defense) to compliment Al Jefferson. They also need a legit scorer to keep A's in the seats, though, and that's something they might address first.

Best case scenario: McHale stays away from the phone lines and ends up with either O.J. Mayo or Michael Beasley. Mayo gives them a safety net if Foye/Telfair fail and Beasley would be a pretty nasty tandem with Baby Al down low and allows them to look for frontcourt help (Roy Hibbert?) late in the first round when they package 31 and 34 to move back up.

Of all the strange and unexpected things to happen this season -- the Celtics jumping from the lottery to the Finals, Shaq landing with the Suns, Joakim Noah getting busted with pot (actually, nix that last one ...) -- the news that Marko Jaric and Victoria's Secret supermodel Adriana Lima were dating easily ranks near the top.

On Friday, we found out the duo are no longer dating ... they're engaged:

Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima received an engagement ring Thursday night – her birthday – from basketball star Marko Jaric, his rep tells PEOPLE.

"He asked and she said yes. They are both incredibly happy and couldn't be more in love," says publicist James Weir.

I can barely wrap my head around this. I'm starting to get the feeling that NBA players live a pretty nice life. I don't know, call it a hunch. (via BallHype)

Months ago, pundits considered UCLA forward Kevin Love with the sort of backhanded 'great college player' scorn usually reserve for 5'9 point guards and Tyler Hansbrough. Even weeks ago, when Love declared for the draft, respectable types argued his size and lack of athleticism should keep his stock in the mid-first.

But trainer-to-the-stars Joe Abunassar got ahold of Love's decidedly unchiseled body and went to work. (And I'm sure Love put in some amount of effort, too; chortle.) I wasn't the only guy who assumed the reformation would rocket Love up the draft boards. But DraftExpress has a bit of shocker how high Love's stock has already reached.

Numerous sources with varying ties to Minnesota confirmed to DraftExpress over the past few days that Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale has locked in on UCLA freshman Kevin Love as possibly his favorite prospect in this draft.

Minnesota picks at #3. Of course, they could work out an agreement to move down a few picks to get Love and something for their troubles, as DX suggests (with Memphis at #5 as a candidate). But let us not forget the last time McHale had a pick swap worked out.

On the front sports "page" of the Minny Star-Tribune today, there is the news about the Timberwolves getting the third overall pick in the draft. Right below it is the news about Kevin Garnett leading the Celtics past the Pistons. Which is sad in some ways, but at least Minnesota has their priorites right (future over past).

Kevin McHale seems pretty optimistic too, as long as you are discussing the Wolves future. Don't ask him about players taking money while in college though, or he will paint a (realistically) grim picture. Which is what he did when someone asked him if he was worried about O.J. Mayo receiving money to play at USC.

'No, not at all,' McHale said after the draft lottery. 'Tell you what, if you said that every person who ever took any money in college would not be drafted, it'd be slim pickings.'

[...]'That's more news interest for people and probably very interesting for the University of Southern California wondering what's going to happen...'

We had two ties among the lottery ranks as of Thursday morning, but the league settled those late Friday. Minnesota and Memphis had been tied with the third worst record, and New York and the Clippers had shared 5th place in Bizarro World. The coin picked the Wolves and Knicks as victors in their flippin' wars.

It means little in a practical sense going into the lottery. For instance, Minnesota will have 138 combinations out of 1,000; Memphis will have 137. The difference is 0.1%. Where the real impact comes, though, is at the June draft. If the lottery holds everyone to form, Minnesota picks third, Memphis picks fourth, New York picks fifth, and L.A. picks sixth. The lowest Minnesota can pick is sixth; Memphis could drop to seventh. It's a bit of difference.

And while this is less serious than dropping out of the Top 3 on draft day, or losing LeBron James to a blind man, Memphis continues to be snake-bitten in these draft proceedings. Remember, the Grizz finished with the worst record in the league last year, but got lotto-leaped by Portland, Seattle, and Atlanta. In 2004, the Grizzlies owed Detroit its lotto pick unless it was the #1 pick. The Grizzlies won the #2 pick, which became Carmelo Anthony Dwyane Wade Chris Bosh ... nevermind.

Previously at FanHouse:
Kings Sending Lucky (Hopefully) Fan to Lottery

The Sonics decided to win out (two-game win streak! woo!), while Memphis and the Knicks stoked the Derby fire with nothin' but losses to finish out the year. All the developments of the past few days have been tallied, and here's your Ping Pong Derby: Final Report.



Miami ends up with a 25% shot at Pick #1, and a 64% probability of getting a Top 3 pick. They cannot fall further than 4th. Seattle's got a 20% chance at #1, and a 56% probability of sticking in the Top 3.

The two ties make things ... interesting. The league will flip a coin in each case later this week. The result will have no real bearing on the lottery proceedings on May 20 -- Minnesota and Memphis, for example, will split the balls available for the #3 and #4 teams. If it's an odd number, the coin flip winner will take the extra one. But the coin flip does have serious import with regards to draft order. A Minnesota coin flip win means Minnesota picks ahead of Memphis, unless Memphis vaults into the Top 3 by way of lottery win. It also means the lowest Minnesota could pick would be #6, while Memphis could fall as low as #7.

The same goes for New York and the Clippers. Last season, there was a three-way tie between New York, Charlotte, and Sacramento for #8. The coin flip results ended with Charlotte picking #8, New York giving Chicago its #9 pick, and Sacramento picking #10. That's a pretty big difference. The gulf between #3 and #4 (or #5 and #6) doesn't seem to be as large, but if some prospect comes out and wows everyone next month, this coin flip could end being huge.

Previously on FanHouse:
Ping Pong Derby Update: The Knicks Falter
Miami Wins Ping Pong Derby
Miami Takes Lead in Ping Pong Derby

This has to be one of the crazier promotions I have ever seen, if only because it could involve getting season tickets to a professional basketball team for a ridiculously low $43. Yes, that is American dineros. And yes, that is absurd. Of course, if you were to engage in this transaction, you could also end up paying over $200 for those tickets. That's because the Minnesota Timberwolves are basing the ticket price on what spot they land in the lottery. From Randball (via Rovell):

The deal: Your season ticket per game price is equal to whatever pick the Wolves get in the draft. They pick No. 1? $43 for 43 games, or $1 per game. Seriously. $86 for the No. 2 pick. And so on.

As you can see, there are a couple of catches. Also, as Rovell notes in an update, this promotion is only available to the first 500 people that sign up and each person is limited to 10 tickets. Still though, if you live in the greater Minneapolis area, or within three hours of the freaking city limits, how can you pass up this opportunity? 43 bucks for a season of Derrick Rose against 200 something to watch Al Jefferson and a pile of semi-scrubs? Um, yes please. Lock it in if they resign Gerald Green.