Hungry Like the Wolf

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Hornets Get
Ben Alexander
Omar Asik
Carl Landry

Minnesota Gets
David West
1st Round Pick 2014
1st Round Pick 2016

Winner: I hope that David West will continue his all-star caliber play for my team. I was a little disappointed with Landry last year and although Asik did well as a backup C I think I can find a replacement fairly easily. Most experts agree the Hornets got the most talent, but the worst contract in Landry's.

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The following players were renounced

Josh Howard(really a disaster last year for us)
Marco Bellineli(Never got consistent minutes)
Craig Smith(I like him and might end up resigning him for the right price)
Rasual Butler(I will be glad to get rid of this inefficient scorer)

Released
Randy Foye(Foye wasn't getting minutes and I wanted as much playing time for Sandler as I could get.)

This leaves Nikola Pekovic and Anthony Morrow. If I re-sign these guys I need a reasonable contract, Sandler sort of makes Morrow expendable. It will be harder to replace Pekovic and I might need to overpay to keep him.

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PG: Travis Tennell: Tennell has developed into a good passes unfortunately his efficiency took a drop last year and he ended up scoring less points per game than in his rookie season.
PG: Jerome Randal: Is looking for an NBA contract
SG: David McDermott: McDermott had a great rookie year but is still looking to expand his his game, we are focusing on defense.
SG: Cliff Foster: Foster has a good not great shot and that's about all he brings to the game.
SF: Teoh: Teoh will be looking to improve his offense, he played excellent defense and improved his rebounding and passing last year but only scored 11.2 points per 36 he needs to get better at offense.
SF: Marc Hendrix: Hendrix stretches the floor and adds a complementary piece to Teoh.
PF: Jon Brockman: Brockman returns this year for the Wolves summer league.
PF: Jeff Adrien: Just like last year the rebounding duo of Brockman and Adrien return.
C: Nikola Pekovic: This will be his last year in the summer league, he has a very refined game.
C: Dexter Pittman: Pittman may actually get a contract out of this, as he has impressed before in the summer league.
PG: Ronald Sandler: Sandler will try and light it up with his famous shooting stroke.
C: Jevin Dixon: I don't expect much except for the occasional flash of talent from this raw center.

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Game 1 Win: Pekovic dominated the Heat scoring 21 in just 26 minutes.
Game 2 Win: Again Pekovic was the game MVP scoring 16 and grabbing 10 boards
Game 3 Win: Pekovic again won player of the game, scoring 22 this time against Cleveland
Game 4 Loss: McDermott scored 24 in a close loss to Philadelphia
Game 5 Win: Jevin Dixon made a big splash going 20-10 on points and rebounds to beat the Lakers. I hope to see a few games like this from Dixon throughout the season.

4-1 is not bad at all, again Minnesota does well in the Summer League. I was impressed by Sandler's shooting and Dixon's maturity I really hope both of those players can make an impact this season. Sandler's lights out shooting makes Morrow more expendable.

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Marquee Free Agents

Chris Paul!(I really hope the hornets don't resign him, I own some draft picks of theirs)
Dwight Howard!
Deron Williams
Stephen Curry(I cannot imagine him leaving the championship Warriors)
Josh Smith
Gerald Wallace
Chris Kaman
Tiago Splitter
Blake Griffin

Now THIS is what I call a free agent pool. I won't be in contention for these players of course, but I will be working on re-signing Pekovic and Morrow. I also need depth at SF and PF. I am also going to try and sign Tiago Splitter he will probably be out of reach as he will probably demand a max contract.

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Stephen Curry re-signs with Golden State
Timberwolves Re-sign Anthony Morrow at 16 million over 4 years(It surprised me how few offers were given to Morrow.)
Dwight Howard re-signs with the Magic(Many thought he would jump ship but it looks like he is going to ride this one out.
Timberwolves Sign Joel Pryzbilla 9mil over 3 years(local guy)
Spurs sign Blake Griffin(Good pickup to bring the spurs back from the dumps)
Timberwolves sign J.J. Reddick to a 2 year 5 million dollar contract(I had to pick this great shooter up for cheap.)
Timberwolves sign Ryan Gomes to a 2 year five million dollar contract(I got Gomes to complement Toeh as they have very different games.)
Spurs re-sign Tiago Splitter(They have two all-star caliber PFs on the team, it looks like one will be allotted to the center or 6th man role. )
Timberwolves sign Kevin Garnett to a 1 year deal for 4 million(Garnett will spend his last year with the team that drafted him.)
Timberwolves rign Luc Richard Mbah a Mounte(We got him for 3 million for three years, this guy is the best available SF to back up Toeh despite having a similar game to Teoh's.)
Chris Paul Re-Signs with the Hornets(Unfortunately the Hornets are guaranteed another playoff birth)
Gerald Wallace Signs with the Heat(The Heat are even better now, they may be unstoppable.)

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I wrote a huge write up detailing every aspect of the team, but it failed to post. I am disheartened by this so instead I will make up a shorter write up.

PG: Travis Tennell(36 mins): Must improve shooting, good passer average defender.
PG: Ronald Sandler(16 mins): Great shooter, the steve Kurr of this team, could become a starter if Tennell continues with his struggles, not a great passer.
PG: Luke Ridnour(0 mins): Ridnour will only get junk minutes as he rides out the last year of his contract.
SG: David McDermott(36 mins) McDermott will look to be the lead scorer, his defense isn't good, he can distribute out of a double team well though.
SG: Anthony Morrow(20 mins) Morrow is the most efficient scorer in the league, he does nothing else well, he will get as many minutes as we can give him.
SG: J.J. Reddick(0 mins) Reddick will get some junk minutes, he is a good shooter and pretty much bad at everything else.
SF: Shang-de Teoh(36 minutes): A good defender, distributor and rebounder, so far he has not been able to score efficiently or consistently.
SF: Luc Richard Mbah a Mounte(6 minutes): A lesser version of Teoh and a suitable backup
SF: Ryan Gomes(0 mins) Gomes has a good mid ranged jumper, he will be used to stretch the floor.
PF: David West(38 mins) West will be used in the post more than previously we hope that the combo of Tennell and West can do good things. West is an average defender and rebounder.
PF: Kevin Garnett(10 mins) Garnett is still an elite defender in bursts, he will be ending his career where his career began, in Minnesota.
PF: Louis Amundson(0 mins) Amundson will get junk minutes and occasionally be used as an energy spark, Amundson is very limited as a player.
C: Nikola Pekovic(32 mins) Pekovic is a good defender and good offensive player, he is a double double machine, his only weakness is getting into foul trouble.
C: Joel Pryzbilla (16 mins) Pryzbilla is a Minnesota native and immediate fan favorite, he gets the job done on both ends of the floor he should be a suitable backup.
C: Jevin Dixon(0 mins) Dixon will get as many minutes as we can give him in the d-league he is still raw but could be very good.

I have high hopes for this team. Still for this team to make the playoffs everything has to go right, especially the young players maturing. Our defense seems fairly weak, hopefully Garnett can Mentor some of our young players. If this team doesn't show promise we could end up in basketball Purgatory(too good for a high draft pick, not good enough to make the playoffs.) Here goes nothing.

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The Timberwolves came out strong going 10-6 for the month, most of the wins were against fairly easy oppoents, but the Timberwolves played the Heat twice beating them both times, the Heats record is 13-2. McDermott leads the team with 19.8 PPG on .597 TS% Sandler is an even better shooter than expected connecting on 46 percent of his three point shots in this early season.

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The team continues its good start ending the month with an 18-13 record. The team has the 2nd best offense in the league scoring 107.0 points per game. Ronald Sandler continues his unexpectedly productive rookie season, he even has a stellar 32.3 assist %, which is actually better than Tennell. Many people are clamoring for Sandler to get the starting nod, but I am not ready to give him that role. Sandler has also made Morrow expendable, we might try and trade Morrow for some defensive or rebounding help as the team is 25th in the league in defense and 28th in rebounding.

David McDurmott continues his awesome sophmore season scoring 19.3(22.5 per36) points per game to lead the team he also has a TS% of over .60 which is elite.

[Zorro]

This is a wonderful Dynasty report. I also think I love it because it reminds me of the way I trade. I LOVE to get 1st rd dradt picks. I am enjoying this dynasty very much............................................................Z