The interwebz are blowing up, and it appears to be true that the TWolves are hiring Rick Adelman.  Hoooray, a real coach 4THEWIN!

Tweets about the TWolves hiring Adelman

Kevin Love: "Houston We Have a Coach"

He's the best possible coach we could hire for the short AND long-term.  It will be great to see what a truly elite coach can finally do for a team like ours.  Let's just hope that something doesn't change and this ends up going south; as that would be monumentally disappointing.

For some pictures of our (hopefully) new coach, please click "Read More" and the jump...

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Per Jerry Zgoda the Wolves talked to Sam Mitchell on Monday and today's interview of Larry Brown will be the end of the road. 

At this point it seems likes ages ago that the first round of interviews happened but here is the list of names supposedly in the mix:

Larry Brown

Sam Mitchell

Rick Adelman (though it seems like he's removed himself)

Mike Woodson

Terry Porter

Bernie Bickerstaff

Don Nelson

The Vegas odds on Kahn and Taylor finishing interviews and making a decisive decision on who the next coach will be are 300-1 right now. If you want to give them money take that action.

Lynx Addendum:

Box Score

The Lynx's 9 game win streak ended last night. It was a close game to the end but the Lynx couldn't get a bucket to fall in the last minute.  The bench (i.e. Wiggins) had a grand total of ZERO points for the game. Weak. Maya Moore and Augustus where fantasic. Given that it wasn't on TV that is about all I can extrapolate from the box score. 

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I normally wouldn't dream of paying attention to the Lynx but a number of external factors have come into play.

1.  NBA - Dead right now

2. Twins - Not much better

3. Vikings - Destroying lives, business as usual

4. No Olympics/World Cup or other remotely interesting sport that happens on an interval. 

Then you add a very very odd phenomenon of the Lynx some how ending up with the all time best college basketball player on their team.  I'm as confused as you are.  It'd be great if some folks would join me in following this team (atleast passively, boxscore style) because here are the facts as I know them

1. This team traded a very good pick for Lindsey Whalen. 

2. Simone Augustus is good but always hurt, this year she finally isn't

3. Maya Moore is apparently very very good.

4. Candice Wiggins is our Jason Terry off the bench. It isn't clear to me if she has the 2011 WNBA championship trophy tatooed on her bicep but I wouldn't be surprised, plus she is the hottest player in the WNBA. Between Ricky and Candice the MN basketball teams need a section in the next SI Swimsuit issue. 

5. The team is 15-4 on a 8 game winning streak and they just managed to win a game that involved Maya Moore missing very shot she took 

If you know more please enlighten me. 

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From Jerry Zgoda

The Timberwolves' coaching search just got very interesting.

According to league sources, former Houston coach Rick Adelman will be the fourth candidate to interview with the Wolves when he comes to town tomorrow to see David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor.

Adelman all along has looked like the dream hire who'd solve a lot of the Wolves' problems, if he's interested.

Well, it looks like he is now, at least enough to listen.

So with two very high-profile coaches coming into town this week, could expectations be any higher? Will hiring anyone other than Don or Rick be anything but an abject disaster? I mean, these two come in and we will probably end up with Sidney Lowe. I guess it is bound to happen.

Enjoy your weekend and stay cool. 

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According to the illustrious Jerry Zgoda, Kurt Rambis's firing will be announced at 2 p.m. today. 

Ricky Rubio will be a free man!!!!!!!

Source

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Uh-oh... some discouraging news today from The Star Tribune:

Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley was cited for marijuana possession after being pulled over for speeding in Minnetonka, police said Wednesday.

The traffic stop occurred about 3 a.m. June 26 on Hwy. 12 near Carlson Parkway, said police Capt. Scott Boerboom. Beasley was driving 84 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone, Boerboom said.

Officers who stopped Beasley, 22, smelled marijuana in the car and found slightly more than a half-ounce in the vehicle, Boerboom said.

A police report said the marijuana was found under the front seat. Beasley said the marijuana belonged to a friend whom he had just dropped off, according to the report.

Beasley, who was not under the influence, was cited and released, the captain said. Beasley lives in Orono, west of where he was stopped.

Timberwolves team spokesman Mike Cristaldi said Wednesday that the team cannot comment about Beasley's troubles because of "the current labor situation." A management lockout has the league shut down.

In February, Beasley was cited in Hennepin County for driving 70 mph in a 55-mph zone. He paid a $117 fine in that case.

In July 2010, after Beasley's trade to Minnesota from Miami, Timberwolves basketball boss David Kahn said in a radio interview that one of his new player's problems in Florida was that he "smoked too much marijuana." The NBA responded by fining Kahn and the team $50,000 each. The league called the comments "inappropriate."

Kahn, also in the interview on 1500 ESPN, suggested that Beasley would be a changed man once he arrived in Minnesota.

"He's a very young and immature kid who smoked too much marijuana and has told me that he's not smoking anymore," Kahn said, "and I told him that I would trust him as long as that was the case."

In August 2009, Yahoo! Sports reported that Beasley had checked into an unidentified Houston rehabilitation hospital.

In 2008, Beasley was chosen out of Kansas State second overall in the NBA draft by the Heat. Soon after, he was fined $50,000 by the NBA for being in a room where marijuana was found at a rookie symposium.

***

He wasn't under the influence of anything, which is good. But overall though, it was 3AM and he was speeding with drugs in the car, so yeah... doesn't bode well for his "maturity issues." Ugh. I also wonder if this will change his role/place on the team going forward, especially now that we have Derrick Williams?

And just when you thought Beasley's trade value couldn't get any lower...

Well we can't trade him now after this (and drafting Derrick Williams.) We might as well keep him around and see what happens.  Will this humble him enough to accept the role as a Super Duper 6th man?  That would be ideal for everyone.  And after this, at least it won't cost us $8-$10 million per year to re-sign him (presumably.)

At least he is a good teammate, no one has ever said otherwise about that.

Come join us in the TWolves Blog Forums, where discussion about this (and much more) has been raging all day long.

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No NBA fan is excited about the lockout, nor are any of the players. Money is something that will always get in the way of professional sports, and it's something we'll all have to deal with.

It's possible that the Wolves could "deal with" the situation better than others.

Obviously everyone would prefer to see the Wolves players develop in a game situation, but it might actually be for the better if some of the guys who will be the core of this team to hone certain aspects of their games.

 

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To all you NBA Owners:

 

Well... for anyone that's still around out there, come join us chatting and hanging out in the TWolves Blog Forums. Not like there's anything better to do right now. 

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Aaaaaaaand the lockout begins. Per ESPN:

 

NBA players are locked out, possibly jeopardizing next season.

Union chief Billy Hunter said Thursday afternoon that owners had locked out the players after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.

"It's obvious the lockout will happen tonight," he said.

 

Obviously this is disappointing news. Let's hope they can settle this and avoid affecting next season!

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Per Jerry Zgoda from the Star Tribune:

In a last bit of bookkeeping before Friday's expected NBA player lockout...

The Wolves today exercised the fourth-year contract option for Wayne Ellington and third-year options for Wes Johnson and Lazar Hayward for the 2012-13 season.

Wes will make $4.2 million that season, Ellington $2.1 million and Hayward $1.2 million.

Picking up Wes' option by Thursday's league deadlline was an obvious move?

But why Ellington and Hayward on a roster that's getting mighty crowded?

Well, remember: The options are for the 2012-13 season. They're already committed to all three players for this next season, whenever (or if) that might be.

And also remember that the roster today -- already at the 15 man limit when they sign Derrick Williams and Malcolm Lee -- is not what it's going to look like when a new labor agreement is reached and teams hustle to get ready for the season.

***

I cannot state enough how horrible two of these moves are by Kahn. Paying Ellington and Major Lazer $3.3 million TWO years from now is unexplainable. Hayward should never play. Ever. So you want to sign him so that he can be traded in a deal later?!? Or what?  Because I don't get it. How about just don't sign him in the first place, and keep the raw cap space!

Ellington most likely has the worst overall stats across the board for anyone that played over 1,000 minutes last season:

PER: Wayne was ranked #252 out of 255 eligible players with 1,000+ minutes played.
eFG%: Wayne was ranked #214 out of 255 players.
Win Shares per 48 Minutes: Wayne was ranked #250 out of 255 players.

His only redeeming quality is that he shoots 3's at an ok rate (but nothing special, especially for $2+ million dollars), and brings nothing defensively. He is NOT a player that should be on the court for us, ever. Especially not with all the other young guys we've got that need legitimate minutes.  Nearly any stud D-Leaguer or minimum salaried FA SG signing would replace and/or surpass his "production." This was a total failure extension by Kahn, and there is no sugar-coating it.  I can't get over this.

Wes Johnson, yes... extend him. But there is NO sense in signing those other two guys pre-lockout!

***
This is yet another example of Kahn failing to properly evaluate talent. There's simply no reason these extensions should have been given now, TWO years in advance. They could have been done later after the lockout/new CBA.  Or if Kahn really, really, really loved the smiles that these players possess, he could have let their contracts expire and then re-signed them later as free agents for minimum salaries.  They must try really hard in practice, or something.

Speaking of which, we don't even know what the new CBA/Salary Cap rules will be yet. And he goes and gives two players that should never play three and a half million dollars. If there is a hard cap, every single dollar will count. And every single dollar that we are below the cap will give us an advantage over the rest of the competition... namely when it comes to signing prime free agents.

These extensions for two(!) DNP-caliber players is just simply mind-boggling.

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