Hungry Like the Wolf

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PGs

Emeka Howard: 1st round draft choice who will compete for backup duties with Donny Dunn.
Donny Dunn: Dunn has shown himself if nothing else to be a capable 3rd string PG, he is looking to show more this year.

SG:

David McDermott: McDermott will spend one last year in the Summer league.
Cliff Foster: A veteran summer leaguer with the Timberwolves.
Jeff Bailey: Another veteran summer leaguer for Minnesota

SF

Jeff Smith: Was one of the selling points for Minnesota in the Joakim Noah trade. Smith is a rookie SF with range this will contrast well with Shang-de Teoh and he might usurp Moute as the main SF backup.

Dean Ward: A defender looking to impress some team into signing him a minimum contract.

PF

Bryan Evans: Rumors circulate that Minnesota might be trading this prospect before the season begins, he could greatly increase his trade value in the summer league.

Jim Lyons: Lyons brings a post game to the roster.

C

Jevin Dixon: Another young player on the Timberwolves trade block

David Dawson: In the summer league to show he is capable of doing more than just taking up space in the post.

Feron Williams: A veteran D-Leaguer looking to get some minutes if he can.

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Game 1(W): The Timberwolves defeated the Nets. McDermott played well scoring 23 points and honing his passing abilities, he also racked up 6 assists.

Game2(W): Again the Timberwolves won on the back of McDermott who had 18 points and the game winning shot the final score was 104-101.

Game 3(L): The Timberwolves lost to the Cavaliers 112-97 Willie Warren outplayed David McDermott scoring 19 to McDermotts 13 on more efficient shooting. Warren should get a roster spot somewhere just for this performance.

Game 4(W): The Timberwolves bounced back scoring 109 to the Wizards 105. Again McDermott was the highlight scoring 33 in the win.

Game 5(W): The Timberwolves blew out the Suns 117-86, Jeff Smith had a fine game going 8-12 on shooting and scoring 21(5-6 on 3s) McDermott once again won player of the game however with 28 points.

4-1 not bad, I was impressed by Jeff Smith's shooting.

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The theme this year are restricted free agents coming off their rookie contract. The following players are new and budding stars in the NBA, they are all restricted free agents.

Walter Johnson(Premier 25+ PPG player)
Bruno Pimenta(Well rounded SF capable of 20, 5 and 5.)
Adam DeLoach(Former No. 1 pick is in his prime and ready to lead a team deep into the playoffs)
Shannon Driggers(Great PG with a great shooting touch.)

Veterans who are unrestricted free agents are

Amare Stoudemire
Carlos Boozer
Rajon Rondo

The Timberwolves will not be players in this year's free agency but it will be interesting if any players change teams.

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Look for the Lakers to once again be competitors. They got their new Kobe! A perennial 25+ PPG player.

Boston meanwhile signed Bruno Pimenta.

The Lakers also signed Carlos Boozer.

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The Timberwolves completed their salary dump by trading the following players

Kevin Martin
Nick Collison
Bryan Evans
Danny Dunn

for 2 1st round draft picks(2016,2018) from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Winner: Well this is an interesting trade Minnesota wins if the Clippers fall into the lottery, but the Clippers just got themselves a ton of roster depth. It will be interesting to see the Timberwolves roster next year as they have gotten rid of a lot of minor players and Joakim Noah.

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I am ironing out some kinks in the roster

Timberwolves get
Aaron Affalo
and Center David Britton

Spurs get
Jevon Dixon
Craig Smith

Winner: Unless you really believe in the upside of Jevon Dixon as the Spurs do then I think I won this trade hands down.

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The Wolves signed Cauncey Billips, at 38 he won't play much but the Timberwolves are a contender and Billips really wants to mentor and learn the game from a coaches perspective. He signed to the veteran minimum.

Amir Johnson also signed to the veterans minimum. Johnson never lived up to his potential in the NBA, but I have always liked him, he will get some minutes here in Minnesota.

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Wow, to keep the team under the salary cap I had to do a lot of work, when the dust is cleared we will miss Joakim Noah, but we got to hold onto David West for one more year and ultimately we have a deeper roster this year than last year. We have a bunch of exciting players and some of our core are entering the prime of their career. This team has the perfect mix of veterans and youth. I really hope that this team can go far.

PG

Ronald Sandler: He's been one of the surprises of the 2014 draft. Sandler made the former PG Travis Tennell expendable. The team will miss Tennell's leadership and court vision, but Sandler's shot and competitive tenacity are unrivaled. Some call Sandler "The Bulldog" for his aggressive defensive and offensive approach. Sandler is coming into his own as a passer and ball handler. He won the 6th man of the year award last year, everyone expects him to transition into a very solid starter.

Per36

PPG: 18.8
APG: 8.2
RPG: 3.0
TS%: .611

SG

David McDermott: McDermott is a pure scorer that can create his own shot. McDermott is a fierce competitor that loves the limelight. Rumor has it that once his rookie contract is done he might try and leave Minnesota for a larger market team. McDermott has also received criticism as being a "black-hole" on offense.

Per36

PPG: 21.7
APG: 2.3
RPG: 3.8
TS%: .595

SF:

Shang-de Teoh: Teoh is coming into the 2015-2016 season with a chip on his shoulder, he felt as though he was unfairly treated by the referees when he guarded Carmelo Anthony in the 2nd round of the playoffs vs. Denver last year. Teoh takes pride in his defense and his team play. Teoh consistently makes blocks and gets steals without those plays effecting his defense in other areas. Teoh is also on a mission to make one of the NBA all-defense teams this year, he feels he has consistently been snubbed in favor of the more flashy Paul George. Teoh's passing has come as a revelation in the last few years.

Per36:

PPG: 13.1
APG: 3.7
RPG: 5.0
TS% .534

PF

David West: West fell to injuries at the end of last year, despite all of this West had his best season in the NBA thus far, he had a career high FG% of .522. West is average at defense, but his ability to pass out of double teams and make big plays make up for it. West also struggles rebounding the ball. Last year the Wolves were a good rebounding team thanks to Joakim Noah, now without Noah they may regress quite a bit. In a pinch West can play SF.

Per36

PPG: 17.9
APG: 3.0
RPG: 6.9
TS% .587

C

Nikola Pekovic: Pekovic only played 8 regular season games last year due to injury, but he did so mostly at PF, now he will be back to his natural C position. Pekovic actually scored more as a PF but was a bit of a defensive liability. It was my intention to keep Pekovic and Noah in the starting lineup this year, but the ownership got in the way of my two towers plan. Pekovic is a perfectly serviceable NBA center. He proved last year that his injuries have not gotten in his way.

Per36
((Not enough data))

Bench: Chauncey Billips, Emeka Howard, and Aaron Affalo make the trio of guards that will be backing up Sandler and McDermott this is more guard depth than last year and it will help quite a bit considering the trio's combination of shooting, defense and experience(although not all in the same player.) Jeff Smith will back up Teoh, Smith is pretty much the antithesis of Teoh, as he plays much like a guard. Veteran Louis Scola will back up David West and will add much of what West already brings. Joel Przybilla returns for what could be his final season in the NBA, he is the only player above 7 feet tall on the roster and has always been a more than viable backup.

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The Wolves went 8-5 for the month, but they are currently on a four game losing streak. Thanks mostly to David McDermott being injured for the last 16 days, due to a strained muscle.

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Everything is back on track, the Timberwolves are 17-11. McDermott is back and is having a good year. David West's scoring is down this year and so far Shang-de Teoh is having a poor year scoring wise, although he continues to do the other things that make him so valuable.