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Former Gator Richard signs deal with Timberwolves
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Minnesota Timberwolves sign forward Chris Richard to contract
33 minutes ago

MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed second-round draft pick Chris Richard.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed Saturday. The six-foot-nine forward from Florida was the 41st overall selection in the 2007 draft.

Timberwolves vice-president of basketball operations Kevin McHale said Richard will bring size and toughness to the team's frontcourt.

As a senior in 2006-07, Richard averaged 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Mad_Dog04 wrote:
Nice! Good to hear the Twolves are at least PLANNING on keeping him around...

So now we need to trade or cut two players...

Does anyone know if Edwards contract is guaranteed? From what I read it sounded like it was but no articles ever said definitively yes or no.

College Wolf wrote:
Yeah, I haven't hear either...hopefully

NBA.com:

\"Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.\"

whiskeydizzy wrote:
I know, I saw that. Lame. Doesn't that stuff go public eventually? Groan.

I guess this will be part of the \"litmus test\" for this offseason...you know, testing the management to gauge their capabilities. Does that info ever become public???

College Wolf wrote:
My initial gut reaction was Theo and Buckner, then I realized something...

The Wolves do have something like 20 million dollars in expiring contracts in Ricky and Theo. That could make for a pretty amazing deadline deal if Taylor was willing to put his money where his mouth is and turn this team in a contender.

What do most teams want when they're trading a star away? Young players... Check. Expiring Contract... Check. Draft picks... Check.

The Wolves are actually in a prime position to pull off a blockbuster of their own if the situation presents itself this season. Something to definitely keep in the back of our minds.

De, the wolves have everything that could be a good trade, except for one thing. A horrid front ofice a coach who on his best days is a moron and numbnuts.... But i hope for the wolves sake taylor has a sane moment and pulls something off...

DeROK wrote:
Those are good points Derok! Lets hope we can work something out to get ourselves ready for the upcoming season. KOBE?

Yeah, I know...

DeROK wrote:

That's really not a bad plan to rebuild a team into a contender... however there's no way Taylor goes out and turns expiring contracts into a new contract/star player/whatever you want to call it.

He's \"lost money\" for too long, and judging by the way he handles the luxury tax I can't imagine this would ever happen. I'm not personally saying it's a bad idea or anything, just that I don't think it has even a remote chance of happening, due to our frugal owner.

College Wolf wrote:
Not to sound like a \"Yes, Man\" but that's a good point too. I'm sure the FO feels \"overworked\" after this offseason any may ignore this good opportunity to better the franchise...

Taylor has long been quoted as saying that he's willing to spend money if it will turn us into a contender. He did it with Sam and Spree, let's see if he'll continue to keep his word if the opportunity presents itself.

For this plan to work, everyone but Foye and Jefferson are up for grabs. Those two plus an all-star caliber player could be a formidable core for a championship run in a year or so. It would definitely have to be the right player - not Artest or Sheed, etc. But it wouldn't necessarily have to be a \"Kobe\"-level player either.

DeROK wrote:

Who could we trade for at this trade deadline that meets your criteria? Do you have someone in mind, or are ya just speaking in hypotheticals? I'm tired (1AM, wish I didn't have to work tomorrow) and don't really want to sit around trying to think about malcontent stars that we could possibly trade $20 million worth of contracts for at this deadline. Anyone in mind Derok or just hoping?

@ Richard Signing
I am happy to see that happening. I wished they would have gotten someone with that lauded \"banger potential\" (is every second of McHale's words \"banger\"??) during the times we had KG around, but anyways...

@ New trade scenarios
I do not know if I would want to see that happening. I do not think that there are many players on the market that could be traded for, especially since Minnesota is not Phoenix and only few players would kill themselves over for a chance to play here. And to trade cap space for some (supposedly) talented castoff from another team is something I definitely would not like to see.

I would also hate to loose the young players and draft picks we just got in the gamble on some \"veteran\" with questionable talent or character or both. This team is now constructed for the future, so aquiring someone above 25-26 years of age would be plain silly because that would reduce the possible window of success to only 2-3 years instead of 6-7.

And what kind of such a relatively young, talented player is available? And especially: Available without having to trade away all the young players (except Jefferson)we got for KG? The team would then be just as Boston, only with less talent in the core players and in a less desireable enviroment.

I didn't have a specific player in mind. All I know is that there is usually one or two players hanging in the balance come deadline-time.

Sometimes its a situation with a malcontent, which I fully agree we should avoid. Sometimes it's just a matter of money or the team wanting to go in another direction. Just off the top of my head - Arenas has said that he wants to play the free agent game. If Washington has a feeling he might bolt and leave them with nothing, maybe they'll deal. Far-fetched I know. I'm just saying something will probably happen with some team and we'll be in a prime position to make a deal happen if it's the right scenario.

As far as giving up young players, we've got too many already. McCants, Green, Brewer, Smith, Gomes, and Telfair are not untouchable if the right trade came along. Losing 2 or 3 of them to get a player who can help us isn't such a big deal.

Also, we're not losing cap space by making this trade. Our cap space is going to be eaten up by resigning Jefferson, Gomes, Foye, etc. We're never going to have this huge cap space to lure a free agent even if we let Ricky and Theo contracts expire. Basically all a trade would do is eat into Taylor's pocketbook. It's not going to hinder our ability to sign a big-name free agent since we'll never have that ability anyway.