$10 million over three years, for the mystery man from Russia.

The Timberwolves have agreed to a three-year, $10 million contract with Alexey Shved.

Shved, whose departure from CSKA Moscow has already been announced, should officially sign with Minnesota in the coming days. "Minnesota's a good, young and ambitions team," Shved said. He also had offers from the Grizzlies and Cavs, but Rick Adelman reportedly played a major role in the point guard choosing the Timberwolves. "They say that Rick trusts young players and discovers talents, and I'm ready to work for my part." Shved is 6'6" and capable of playing either guard position.


We commin we commin nothin gonna stop us now can you feel it run with the wolves HOWL.

Hahahahahahah Randy Foye wants the full MLE (or more???) He's clearly delusional. Out of the league within 2 years. I don't even have anything else to say (amazingly.)

Kahn is going to sign and trade Batum for 567 first round picks? I guess I wouldn't doubt it. But the Frenchman has already said he doesn't want to be in Portland. WHY WOULD YOU GIVE THEM ANYTHING KAHHHHHHHHHHMNNNNNNNNNNNN?  Call their bluff and walk away for Iggy.  Or just offer Batum the $50 milli (poppin bottles) and see what happens. IT IS NOT GODDAMN ROCKET SCIENCE YOU MORON.  Seriously Kahn, what have you done since you have been here besides take the most obvious trade in the world with the Wizards (for Rubio.) I would work for 1/10th of your 750K salary (lolollololollloolol) and still out perform you.

Anyways, I digress.

Rashard Lewis to the cHeat. Ray Ray too. Those bastards.

Dwight Howard to nobody (lolz.)

The Hornets got better from the draft but then got worse from the Jack trade. Combining Ryan Anderson with Anthony Davis and Grevious Vasqfjslfjewoifusdl = -67 wins.  Cool.  They win the first overall pick next year as well. Luckily for us, we landed SHVED. Suck it, Hornets losers.

The Lakers landed Nash, which doesn't even matter because he's on Bradley the Bear's team and he only plays 27 minutes per game. He'll probably play like 34 minutes per game next year thanks to Mike Clown, and his assists and ppg will be up, but the advanced stats nerds will tell you that he outshot relatitivety to the nth power at a 96% confidence interval and factoring in the rPer - .96WPG + SexyTime multipled by the WinsProduced + infinity loserdom = Lakers will not win a championship with Nash.

Moving on.

Duncan resigned. Yawn.

Well that didn't take the Mavs long to reTOOL (hahaha I crack myself up.) They signed Chris Kaman (your mouth), and fleeced the Pacers for Darren Collison (Mahimini, really?!?) Those guys very admirably fill their gaping holes at C and PG. And they are rumored to be getting the just amnestied Elton Brand. Damnit, I thought they were gonna be a lottery team this year. Not fair times infinity.

Hey, we finally amnestied Darko. CWeat!  
/Dead to me.

What else happened in the West? Please feel free to enlighten me in the comments!  I like the Wolves chances to maybe (keyword) finish 8th next year, since Rubio wont return until 2013. But its ok because we have SHVED! (See link above.)

We are also going to sign and trade for Batum, and then sign Brandon Roy. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA Blazers fans you crazy-a$$ mofos. I can't wait until 5 months from now when Lilliard and Meyers (wtf really???) are leading your team into the cellar at a 13-win pace winning percentage.  LMA will be out for the year with the "fuckthisshitsyndrome" and you guys will have a stellar lottery pick next year in a totally NOT loaded draft!  

Dueces. 

And if you get really bored, make sure to check out the TWolves Blog Forums, where all the magic happens...

Oh, how I want Nicolas Batum to come and grace us with his basketball goodness. The length! The shooting! The defense! And he's French! I love french fries and french toast, so he must be a wonderful person.

Of course, I also am a bit of a realist, and the entirety of being a realist is realizing what's real and what's not real (for real!). And in this scenario, what's "not real" is the possibility of Batum actually landing in Minnesota late next week amidst an adoring throng of reporters and fans, a la Rubio in 2011. What's more likely - probable, even - is that Batum will be kept in Portland's grubby clutches for the same contract we've offered. I suppose he could just decline to sign anything and hop into free agency next year, but my gut tells me he's going to sign the extension and pretend like all this crap never happened. And then we'll all wear sad faces when he thrashes us for 38 points a game this fall/winter.

If the above scenario happens - and almost assuredly, it will - the Wolves need a Plan B. Let's start with the facts, after the fold:

 

Big news on this fine, humid Thursday evening. Just 24 hours after the Wild shocked the hockey world, Kahn dishes out $60 million to two superb potential free agent acquisitions in a double-move designed to remodel the Wolves destitute wing positions. 

According to several reports and allegedly first reported by Jason Quick of The Oregonian, the Wolves have come to an agreement with 3-time All-Star and recent retiree Brandon Roy on a 2-year contract reportedly worth just over $10 million. I mention Roy first because he is the only sure bet here to be in a Wolves uniform next season as Batum is only getting the offer sheet that Portland will likely match. Roy, as you know, was drafted by the Wolves in 2006 and quickly traded for Randy Foye in what was arguably the worst trade in franchise history. Roy had a terrific run in Portland as a multiple all-star and was forced into early retirement due to a degenerative knee condition. Now, after a year off and a series of high-profile, experimental knee treatments, Roy will give it a go again. My take: an absolute superb risk. Only the deeply cynical Wolves fans can dislike this as it involved a below average salary and a potential high return at the position the Wolves struggled mightily at. The contract will likely eat into cap space, but this is a good move to make. However, expectations must be tempered, as Roy will likely miss chunks of time over these two years. Regardless, this is a really solid signing and quality risk to take. TWB-approved.

Minutes later (and had you even attempted to run and grab something to drink you would have missed it) it was reported by the AP that the Wolves agreed to terms on an offer sheet with Nic Batum worth $45 million + bonuses and a well-reported desire for Batum to resume his career in Minnesota alongside Roy, Rubio and Darko Milicic. Just hours ago, fans were tying the noose after it was reported Portland would match any offer. Yours truly, your self-proclaimed resident Debbie Downer McWetblanket thought most hope was lost. How quickly things change. Portland is likely to match this offer, but at the very least it is a good, strong offer the Wolves shouldn't even flinch at giving. Kahn is calling Portland's bluff and bless him for doing so. Why not? What is nice about the new CBA is restricted free agent contract decisions must be made now 3-days after the offer sheet is signed vs. 7 in the previous CBA. This will help the Wolves pursue their contingency plans quicker if and when Portland decides to match the offer prior to July 14th (3 days after the moratorium period ends and Batum is likely signed). I am glad this was reported in tandem with the Roy signing. That makes the Batum offer sheet/match implications a brighter move in context. 

A bad day for the Wolves turned into a great day. Hats off to David Kahn for Roy, and 45 million hats off to Kahn if we get Batum out of this. 

It's about time. It feels weird writing something optimistic.

The pick has been traded, the dust has settled, and the Wolves are due for an underwhelming night given the lack of assets available to move around in the draft. Below the jump, let's go over a few various scenarios heading into tonight's draft on how events may transpire

 

We'll this would be a more inspired post if say the Wolves Front Office didn't feel that it's too hard to do any drafting outside of the top 10. It is too risky to chance a bust when you can get middling players (of the type that can be easily filled in during Free Agency). 

Things to watch for:

1. Will Jeremy Lamb or Austin Rivers fall to #18 and force us to slam our collective hands in the door?

2. Will Derrick Williams be part of a block buster

3. Will Derrick Williams be part of a weak sauce turd of a trade

4. Does Kahn have a wink wink deal with Houston to send us Kevin Martin after they sign Courtney Lee. If Houston had been trading for a team with a real GM like Indiana or Milwaukee the answer would be yes.

5. Who goes at the #10 pick that McHale gave away in an attempt to make the Wolves worse in the short and the long term?

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Tonight I will again be on Oregon Based Johnny Ballgame show at 6pm to talk Wolves, Brandon Roy, maybe Budinger, and perhaps even pretend I know a thing or two about the draft that I will quickly research this afternoon by watching YouTube highlights of breakaway dunks.

Tune in here at 6pm CST:

http://johnnyballgameshow.com/

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Swamp Donkeys in photo above not included in trade.

Without a source and before everyone explodes at Kahn, this is absolutely a Rick Adelman-driven move. Funny how that shifts the context here. A few brief thoughts:

1. Positives first: This is exactly why expectations can never be high. Last night we were treated to yet another sprinkling of rumors surrounding Kevin Martin and we woke up to Chase Budinger. In other words, we dreamt of Kevin Martin and woke up to Chase Budinger. Somewhere there is a spousal analogy here. The reason you, yes you, reader, might not like this trade is because your expectations were too high for the 18th pick.

2. Budinger fills a need and is a good, proven player who Adelman adores. There are positives here.

3. HOWEVER.... this is not enough. We are already headed towards the offseason every Wolves fan dreads: minimal, bit, cheap moves with relatively low impact results. Budinger will play a big role for the team next year and comes at a very modest salary, so there is room to add more. However, he will not have the type of impact required to really move this team forward. Kahn now has one less arrow in his quiver and for that reason I am terribly worried that this offseason is going to be a massive disappointment in aggregate. Over the next few days we will hear refrains such as, "the Wolves might not be done with moves," and disappointment will follow. This is a good move perhaps for later in the summer, but overall I am very disappointed if this is Kahn's draft day splash. Even if it was Adelman's idea. And I'm guessing Kevin Martin was Adelman's real idea.

4. An All-White starting lineup is a distinct, real possibility. David Kahn is obviously racist.

Source:

@DraftExpress

The Houston Rockets have traded Chase Budinger to Minnesota for the #18 pick. Confirmed.

@WojYahooNBA

Houston has also included the rights to Israeli Lior Eliyahu in the deal to Minnesota, a source said.

@DraftExpress

Lior Eliyahu will join the Timberwolves for Summer League in Las Vegas. Has a real chance to make their team it sounds.

I contributed over at the excellent NBA Draft Blog, which has been analyzing prospects and breaking down NBA team scenarios for the upcoming draft.  You can check out the full article for the T-Wolves picking at #18; which includes our recent draft history, returning players, team and positional needs, and some options that the Wolves have with their 18th overall pick. It's good stuff, and a nice primer for those of you that haven't yet thought much about the (quickly!) approaching draft (this Thursday!)

I also provided the guest commentary for the Wolves, which you can get a snippet of below. Otherwise, make sure to check out the full article for all my commentary, and the NBA Draft Blog analysis of the Wolves draft position for this year:

It's unfortunate that Kahn is still running our draft, as it's quickly becoming very apparent that he has no clue as to what the heck he's doing when it comes to judging actual NBA talent. Even though the #18 overall pick isn't historically a pick that one can expect to come in and turn around the fortunes of a franchise immediately, this is an extremely deep draft.  It's possibly the deepest draft in many years. So there is an abundance of talent to be found if one knows where to look (Kahn doesn't!)

With all that said, I personally think the Wolves should bundle the #18 pick with someone like Derrick Williams, in an attempt to move up to the top of the draft.  After Anthony Davis, I think the next tier of players #2-#5 all have about an equal chance of becoming future NBA stars, or at the very least, very good NBA core players for many years to come.

The NBA Finals are done and we're officially headed into draft season. I suppose this means I can come back out of my cocoon.

Over the past several seasons, I've been incredibly loyal to this team. I'm also overly optimistic. This brand of fandom borders on the delusional, but hey, it's how I roll. Remember the 15 game losing streak? (Which one?) I found myself clinging to plus/minus stats, double-double streaks, and moral victories. Remember the repeated fourth quarter collapses? I saw them as learning opportunities that would pay off in the future.

Frankly, I'm good at dealing with losing. I can handle it. After all, I'm a Timberwolves fan.

But I just could not deal with Ricky Rubio's season-ending ACL injury. Nope. That was the last straw.

And so, like so many other Timberwolves fans this season, I checked out. I'm not proud of it, but I just couldn't bare to watch a season filled with so much promise go down in flames. 

That being said, this season was truly an amazing one for both Timberwolves fans and NBA fans in general. Below are 8 reasons this season turned out to be amazing...