Losers of four games in a row, our 5-6 T-Wolves visit the 7-6 Warriors tonight. Despite the heroic early return of Kevin Love to the basketball court, it hasn't yet paid dividends in the win column. Hopefully that ends tonight, but Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are probably going to eviscerate our terrible defensive backcourt. Ridnour and Barea are truly dreadful on the defensive end, and anyone that can dribble a basketball stands a good chance at getting whatever they want on that end of the court. And unfortunately for us, almost everyone in the NBA can dribble a basketball pretty well (except you, Lessly Johnson.)

It might be a close game, and the Warriors are only favored by 3 points, but I don't think we pull this one out tonight. Maybe something like a 104-101 defeat.

But come chat with us in this game thread during the game, or at least drop by the TWB Forums, it's always a good time!

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Breaking news on the latest with Brandon Roy's knee, and it's not good folks:

"Brandon Roy will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery this week, the seventh knee surgery of his career. Roy fatefully banged his knee in the Wolves' final preseason game, which led to ongoing soreness and caused him to miss the past four games. His upcoming surgery is another sad if predictable chapter in his NBA career, and could very well signal the end of his season, if not his career."

Soooooo, yeah. Pretty much turns out he was a failure signing. It was nice to see him try to get back on the court and all, but it does appear that he's done-for. Little wonder not many other teams were trying to sign him last off-season, and certainly not lining up to pay him the $5 million per year Kahn offered.

Bummer, especially as the Wolves are just insanely decimated by injuries.

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TWB staff writer Jon Schweppe did a little Q&A for this week's #TWolvesDay, with Bloguin's fantastic NBA site Crossover Chronicles. They talked T-Wolves, the off-season, what we can expect for the upcoming season, and Roy (among other things.) So head on over to Crossover Chronicles to check out the article and interview!

Personally, I think we'll be one of the teams fighting for the 7th or 8th playoff spot in the West, if everything goes our way and we catch some lucky breaks this year. It's just going to be really tough with Ricky out for the first month or so (or maybe even longer?!?)  Hopefully his loss isn't insurmountable, and we don't dig ourselves too big of a hole early in the season. As we all know, the Wolves were only 5-20 last season down the stretch after Ricky got hurt.

Also, I've got a little bonus link here for everyone. Check out Hoops Manifesto as he previews the T-Wolves for the upcoming season. Hoops Manifesto has them ranked as the 12th best team for 2012-2013!

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The Pacific Division went through some major shake ups this offseason.  Below you can find the best insight and speculation for the new look Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings and Suns.

Golden State Warriors: Golden State of Mind

Los Angeles Clippers: Clips Nation | Gunnerz!

Los Angeles Lakers: Silver Screen and Roll | Hardwood Hype

Phoenix Suns: Bright Side of the Sun | ValleyoftheSuns

Sacramento Kings: Sactown Royalty

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Entering the Olympics it seemed like the Wolves fans were going to miss out on a marquee final with American USA Basketball Stud versus G.O.A.T. Euro PG God. Well we will miss out on that with Rubio out but @#$k Spain, it is Russia's time to shine!

Game 1: 

Alexey Shved: 16 pts, 13 asts, and 3 steals versus the Brits. HOLY CRAP THAT IS AWESOME!

Andrei Kirilenko: 35, 3 blks and 2 steals. Take it easy on em big fella. Maybe run like a hyena instead of a deer. 

Boxscore here
 

Kevin Love: 14 points in 14 minutes versus France ( 7 more points than Nikki "Dead to me" Batum).

Boxscore here

Game 2: 

Alexy Shved: 14 pts, 6 asts, and 3 steals versus the Chinese. Solid.

Andrei Kirilenko: 16 pts, 9 rebs and 4 steals. Pacing himself. Smart.

Boxscore here
 

Kevin Love: 16 pts in 17 min versus Tunisia.

Boxscore here

Game 3:

Alexy Shved: 17 points, 6 assists and a tying 3 with less than 30 seconds left in a HUGE game against Brazil. Freaking awesome. Granted he was a little careless with the ball and did pile up assists. Shved showed he has the first step to get by NBA caliber guards in this one. 

Andrei Kirilenko: 19 points and a smattering of other solid stats. Continues to be the best player on what could be the surprise 2nd best team. 

Boxscore here
 

Kevin Love: 15 points in the laugher against Nigeria. 

Boxscore here

 

Wolves fans need to be in a lather about how the Russians are playing. Top form. 

COMING UP NEXT:

Russia versus Spain on Saturday

USA versus Argentina on Monday

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The off-season has gone swimmingly so far. I mean, we have subtracted more black players than anyone could have ever imagined, and our team is almost 100% white. In 1950, Kahn gets an infinity A+ for this off-season.

Lesley Johnson is rumored to be gone in a 3-way trade, although with a future 1st round pick from us (learning from McHale, NICE!)  For.......... nothing.

Well, we would actually get cap space. Although it's pretty sad that you have to give up a future 1st round pick to get cap space for an absolutely TERRIBLE player who's option should have never been picked up in the first place. Had Kahn simply declined the option for a bottom 5 wing in the entire NBA, there would be no financial reprecussions whatsoever. But hey, who's complaining? Besides me.

So then KAHN wants to use that cap space...................... to sign another white foreign player (AK-47) to a two-year, $9 million per year deal!  HA! You can't even make this stuff up!  Subtract a black guy and a future potential black guy, for an old white guy. DEAL.

I mean really, when you are discussing Kahn... it's like you need to stop before you just embarrass yourself. Because clearly he doesn't care. And it's just too easy.

So I went to Cub Foods today to get more bananas (a banana a day keeps the doctor away!)  After way more time spent debating the various bushels than I would care to admit, I thought I picked a pretty good one.  But I just went to refill my Rangpor-diet tonic.... and HOLY SHYT DID I PICK A CRAPASS GREEN BUNCH OF BANANAS! I thought I had some gigantic cucumbers sitting there on our counter. Damn, I epic failed. I am going to need the Jaws of Life to open one of those suckers tomorrow morning. I am more sad right now that I bet any of you would ever believe. Seriously.

People are SAD Wayne is gone?!?!?! WTF is wrong with them? I mean, it's Wayne Ellington here, whom Kahn should never have drafted in the first place. Kahn could have simply drafted our new tweener CUNNINGHAM that year instead (but Kahn does have Down Syndrome, so pass... I guess?)  Or Kahn could have drafted DeJuan Blair, or Sam Young, or Jon Brockman, or Jonas brother Jerebko, or I shoot when I wanna shoot Meeks, or MARCUS THORNTON SG EXTRAORDINAIRE, or Chase Budinger (LOLOLOLZ the irony!!!), or Danny Green........................ or Henk Norel. Well played. 

Please click "Read More" for the rest of my off-season predictions...

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He's not white, but at least he's a much needed big-man (at least, bigger than Wayne Ellington. I think. Maybe.)  CAN YOU FEEL IT?!?

Jerry Zgoda reporting:

That Wolves trade that has been in the works for days and days -- shooting guard Wayne Ellington to Memphis for forward Dante Cunningham -- will finally be official later today.

The Wolves are dealing away a 2009 first-round draft pick (28th overall) who was only going to see playing time this season if there were many injuries and getting back a guy who plays both forward spots and is active on defense.

Both players make almost exactly the same salary -- a little more than $2 million a season -- but the deal gives the Grizzlies another shooter and gives the Wolves a needed forward for a team that has added guards Brandon Roy and Alexey Shved but lost Michael Beasley, Anthony Randolph and quite possibly Anthony Tolliver from the frontcourt.

Portland drafted Cunningham 33rd overall out of Villanova in 2009 -- third pick in the second round, five picks after the Wolves took Ellington -- and traded him to Charlotte in February 2011. He signed as a restricted free agent just before the start of last season.

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$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.

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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...

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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:

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