Early word around NBA is Nuggets will try to trade Carmelo to 1 of 3 teams: Wolves, Kings, Nets. In other words, careful what you wish for.

Would Melo stick with the Wolves if the Nuggets did a 3 year sign and trade to give him that $65 million he wants?  He's the alpha leader that we still desperately need.

We give the Nuggets whatever. Brewer + Webster? + Telfair (to match salary) + Lots and lots of future draft picks?  Not sure what else they would really want.  I assume we wouldn't move Love/Rubio.  I also assume there are a lot of guys on our team they wouldn't even want.  Not sure if I'd move Wesley Johnson, but maybe if we knew Carmelo was going to stay with us for the long haul, and wasn't a one year rental.

Maybe he'd actually want to stay with us, since we (presumably) wouldn't be trading away the few good players we actually have?  Unfortunately, the Kings and Nyets can both offer more attractive talent packages, but we can give better/more draft picks.

What do you guys think?

The hilarious (and awesome) dudes over at The Real Shaq are currently holding "The John Koncak Commemorative Awards" during the traditionally slow NBA month of August. Let's let TRS's WhiskeyDizzy explain further, taken from his introductary piece: The Jon Koncak Commemorative Awards: Contracts that screwed the NBA...

In 1989, Jon Koncak signed a 6 year, $13 million dollar contract with the Atlanta Hawks and instantly assured himself a place in professional basketball history. Koncak was coming off a year where he averaged just under 5 points per game, around 6 rebs per, in just over 20 minutes a game. However, his contract made him a highly compensated professional basketball player and also a lightning rod for scrutiny from the media, fans and other players in the league. See, in 1989, Jon Koncak signed a deal paying him more per year than Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Magic Johnson were making. His new contract earned him a new nickname: "Jon Contract."

For the Atlanta Hawks, Koncak may have been a nice player coming off the bench, but CLEARLY the contact offered was not equal to his contributions to the team. This is not the first time a player was over-compensated by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it seems every other team has caught the Koncak bug causing them to pay more to players than what they are actually worth. Despite all the scrutiny Koncak brought to the issue, it sure seems like his contract was the beginning of a trend rather than a change in direction.

So to honor the NBA, the collective bargaining process, and to help us get through the month of August (Please, no more coverage of Dez Bryant NOT carrying Roy Williams shoulder pads): The Real Shaq teams up with other bloguin geniuses to compile a list of the WORST contracts the NBA has had since the last lockout in 1999. And boy, let me tell you there are some good ones on here. Here's how it works: every week day in August one of the fabulous bloggers from around the Bloguin network will write about a bad contract and make their case for why it's one of the worst contracts the NBA has ever had.

And now, dear readers, I present you with another of TWolvesBlog's Jon Koncak award winners: The immortal NBA star and Grammy award winning rapper (in his own mind), Troy Hudson.

For the Troy Hudson goodness, please click "Read More" to continue...

In case you missed it last night, Team USA beat Spain 86-85 in a warm-up game for the World Championships.

Here's all the stats: Boxscore.

Kevin Love didn't play, because he was apparently feeling some lingering affects from hitting his head on the floor the night before.  Doesn't sound like it's anything serious though.

Ricky Rubio, on the other hand, played pretty well.  In 21 minutes, he had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals.  He had some spectacular passes and played very good defense.  Most importantly from this post, check out these quotes from an AP writer via Yahoo:

“He’s an amazing defender, that’s one thing that stood out to me is how well he pressured the ball and disrupted our offense,” said Durant, who led the game with 25 points. “He’s flashy, he’s crafty as well and the passes he did tonight were kind of amazing.”

***

Rubio has said he will likely move to the NBA after playing one more season at Barcelona, with the Minnesota Timberwolves having taken him with their 2009 first-round pick.

(Always focused on basketball)

In case you do not fanatically peruse NBA blogs like some people I know, The Real Shaq is hosting a wonderfully entertaining series of articles throughout August detailing the worst contracts in the NBA since the 1998 lockout.  This series is known as the Jon Koncack Commemorative Awards, and links to all of the other entertaining and informational articles in the series (aside from the KG article, as a huge KG apologist I am going to pretend that I never read it); can be found HERE.  I decided to do my portion of the series on Larry Hughes, as the entire outlook of the NBA for the past 5 years, the present, and beyond may have been altered by that hideous $70 million, 5 year deal Mr. Hughes signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005.

“I’m going to take my talents to South Beach.”  This was the most famous quote in the sporting world this summer, probably this year.  And if it was not for Larry Hughes and his ridiculous contract signed in 2005, this quote may never have been uttered.  Actually, the whole scope of the NBA may look a lot different right now if it was not for this joke of a contract.  The Miami cHeat may still be D. Wade + scrubs, or even worse a bottom 5 team with the loss of Wade this summer.  The oppressed fans of Cleveland may be an overjoyed, thankful bunch of crazed fans in the midst of celebrating consecutive championships.  The Lakers may not be back-to-back champions, and Kobe may not be viewed as a “winner at all costs”, but instead as a “me-first” guy who cannot carry a team led by him to a championship.  Ron Artest – a team cancer rather than a key contributor to a championship.  Pau Gasolina – too soft to be a champion, rather than the Robin to Batman on the past two championship teams.  The Celtics – a one and done championship team rather than perennial contender who was 6:00 away from winning another championshi…

...whoa, sorry, I just snapped out of a 20 minute daydream caused by my mentioning that the Celtics were THAT CLOSE to winning another title in June.  I digress…

Okay, so how could a relatively unnotable player like Larry Hughes alter the state of the entire NBA in 2010?  Easy, actually.  Before all of the other failed second banana to LeBron James experiments occurred (think Jamison, Shaq, Mo Williams), Larry Hughes paved the way as the originator of this string of failed sidekicks.  Not only did he fail on the court as the second option, but his ridiculously big contract made it nearly impossible for Cleveland to try again with anyone else for years, much less trade him for anything worthwhile (he was eventually traded in 2008 for an over the hill Ben Wallace and his hefty contract).

Please click "Read More" to continue on with this tale of woe...

As part of the relationship, Panini will hold exclusive rights to include Johnson’s autograph in 2010-11 Panini Basketball products.  In addition, Panini may include Johnson’s image on Panini packaging and will utilize Johnson in promotional appearances.

Johnson, a Forward at Syracuse decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility after being named Big East Player of the Year in 2010 as well as a First Team AP All American. Johnson’s first NBA cards will be included in Panini’s 2010 NBA Prestige product, set to arrive in stores at the end of September.  The collection will include cards from other top rookie draft picks, including Washington Wizards’ number one draft pick, John Wall; Philadelphia 76ers, Evan Turner; New Jersey Nets, Derrick Favors; and Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins.

“We are excited to add Wesley Johnson as an exclusive Panini athlete, Wesley excited Syracuse fans in college, we expect him to do the same for the Timberwolves fans and we look forward to introducing Wesley to NBA trading card collectors,” said Scott Prusha, Director of Marketing for Panini America.

In something semi-related, but perhaps not at all, does it also seem to you as if Wes Johnson's eye are pointed in two different directions in the photo above?  In this picture it's almost as if each eye is looking to the side, except opposite sides. That's not something I've noticed about him in the past, but maybe I was just too distracted by his incredible smile.

Nope.  Here's an extremely rare, non-smiley Wes Johnson photo and I don't see any signs of strabismus, amblyopia, or any other ocular dysfunction.  That's fairly reassuring, because I would think something like mis-aligned eyes would totally throw off your jumper.  Then again, it worked for T-Mac.

And anyway, even if Wes Johnson did have slightly googley eyes, he's still a pretty good-looking guy from my completely hetero point of view.  I mean, things could certainly be worse...

Not too much happening on a daily basis in the world of the Minnesota Timberwolves these days.  We got the new uniforms yesterday.  Not earth-shattering, but clearly better than they were before.  The terrible green trees and the whacked out neckline had to go.  Now it would be cool if we could get some alternate black ones, or something.

But here's our pre-season schedule, as its about the only news to update this morning.  8 games, only 2 of which are at Target Center.  We play in London and Paris.  Not sure why Stern would want to subject foreigners to our team, as foreigners in Minnesota don't even want to watch the Wolves play.

Check it out all 14 fans anyone that cares:

 Not sure who player "Abcabc" is... but I hope he can ball.  Perhaps a friend of Darko or Peckovic?

This can all be found HERE on the official Timberwolves website.

For those of you who have been closely following the aptly titled “Jon Koncak Commemorative Awards,” courtesy of Bloguin's own TheRealShaq, you have been treated to a classic slew of epically terrible deals from equally terrible players. While the list is full of NBA eyesores, I thought for our first of a few TWB contributions to the series that I would take a wholly different, and  controversial approach: the somewhat crucifixion of Kevin Garnett. The timing (1997) of his contract is admittedly breaking the rules of the series, but given the name and controversy behind the post, an exception was granted.

Now before you take your computer or portable handheld device, heave it out the window, run it over with a car, and stick the remains on a cargo ship headed to Guam, let’s take a collective Oliver Miller-sized step back and discuss the fundamental “realities” behind that one ex-girlfriend Timberwolves fans simply cannot get over.

First and foremost, this write-up is not intended to flame Garnett’s obvious impeccable basketball ability, nor the awe-inspiring impact he had on Minnesota and NBA history. This series is titled “Contracts that Ruined the NBA,” and as such even the most nauseating of Minnesota-based Garnett apologists (you know who you are) should understand the reality behind the impact of Garnett’s contract(s). We all know he is a future Hall-of-Famer who was the heart and soul of Minneapolis for many years. Regardless of any forthcoming negative comment, KG is still missed and that’s that.

Onward with negativity, and completing the Antoine Walker gambling dept-sized step back, let’s take a trip back to 1997, when “’Mo Money, ‘Mo Problems” and “Return of the Mack” were Grammy contenders. Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta and Stephon Marbury were forming a fantastic, yet ultimately short lived, title-contending trio. Garnett was in talks for a contract extension to keep him in Minnesota for years to come after showing enough promise in his first couple of years to demonstrate star potential. The first deal on the table was, from memory, about 6-years and $105 million. Seeing as though that was not enough money, Garnett and his agent demanded more and ultimately “settled” at a then-record-setting contract extension of 6-years and $126 million. This would not be altogether too shocking in the modern-day NBA, however during the 1997 season this was an unprecedented amount. Fans rejoiced that the franchise savior was here to stay. However, the media was a bit more critical and suggested a supporting cast would never exist and that Garnett and the Wolves would be doomed to mediocrity. While it was not all KG's fault in the slightest, they ended up being exactly right.

Please Click "READ MORE" to continue

You would think that a team that was out of the playoff picture before the season even started would want their young, talented big man to play as many minutes as possible. But Kevin Love started just 22 games for the Timberwolves last season and logged just 28.7 minutes per contest.

Love, a guy selected with the No. 5 pick in the 2008 Draft, averaged fewer minutes than former second-round pick Ryan Gomes and started fewer games than former second-round pick Ryan Hollins. Minnesota was a below-average rebounding team, yet they couldn't find more than 29 minutes for the best per-minute rebounder in the league.

T-Wolves 2010-2011 NBA Schedule

The first month is certainly a doozy:

Wednesday October 27th vs Sacramento - Evans to Cousins FTW.
vs Milwaukee Bucks - We might have a chance?
at Memphis - They can lose any game.  Inconsistent.
at Miami - Gigantic 40 point loss.  Bonk has a huge bet on this.  If the T-Wolves somehow win this game by 10 points or more, he's out $1,000.  Luckily for him it's on November second instead of May second, so there's no chance we win.
at Orlando - LOSE
vs Atlanta - Let's not kid ourselves.  Lose.
at Houston
at LALakers
at Sacramento - Three road losses there.
vs NYKnicks - Might have a chance!
at Atlanta
at Charlotte - Two more road losses
vs LAClippers - They will be very improved.  And Blake Griffin!  Watch out.
vs LALakers - Hmmmm.
at Oklahoma City - They will be a top contender in the West this season.
vs San Antonio - They are never too old to beat us.  Splitter vs Pekovic and Darko = fun times.
Saturday November 27th vs Golden State - Yay, an entirely winnable game.

Well... 8 home games and 9 away.  Not terrible, although 8 of our first 12 are road games.  I predict we start off 4-13, at best.  The Wolves will be hurt by a lack of continuity and familiarity with each other going into the season.  And unfortunately for us, the Wolves need to start this season off right and win games in the beginning, instead of against bad teams tanking at the end of the year.  Those kind of wins do nothing for me, nor do they inspire me for the future.