[RustShack]

Originally Posted by SNR

You don't live in ****ing Cleveland. You get your Cavs news just like I would get mine if I were a Cavs fan.

I googled "Wiggins doesn't want to be traded" and got nothing. Surely if some guy released a report out there I'd be able to read his blog entry or twitter or SOMETHING.

So where did you hear about this? You said you read it, so you don't have a ****ing Cavs insider telling you this information.

Probably not good enough for you, but I've gotten good information here several times.

tbshaff, this guy explains it in more detail and way better than I could. Plus, his (justafan @ Canis) connections are legit. I've heard slightly different than some of this...but my connections are way weaker and not nearly as direct as his seem to be.


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In a charity event yesterday, I had a chance to get some updates from some friends in the basketball world. Nothing too earth shattering – but here goes.

Privately, the Twolves are resigned to trading KLove. But they are not going to do it at any cost. They are absolutely firm in a very young, super star potential player AND a “for sure” top lottery pick in 2015 is the minimum price for a KLove trade prior to the start of the season. The Twolves are absolutely convinced that a KLove trade at the deadline will yield at least one or the other – and Flip is willing to keep a disgruntled player on the team (more on that below) until the trade deadline to prove it. So the flotsam offers have all been politely turned down.

Twolves are more than willing to add pieces, trade other players, take back some salary, etc. in a larger deal. But the top young player and lottery pick are the must haves in any preseason deal.

Flip has not had to work the phones to come up with trade prospects – KLove’s agent is doing that for us!! KLove really does not want to play for us on an expiring contract – for many reasons (probably the largest being lost market potential should he have a major injury). So trade partners are being solicited by his agent. That is why KLove on a couple of occasions has casually mentioned his willingness to sign extensions with certain clubs. He has a huge incentive to get this done.

The Cleveland deal with Wiggins is by far the preferred trade. As discussed here – to make the deal work best – Wiggins needs to sign his contract. But, Wiggins and his agent are so far not all that interested in signing the contract. Wiggins doesn’t want to be a Twolve. And it has very little to do with the team – and everything to do about building his “brand”. (Don’t take this as Wiggins not wanting to play here – take it as Wiggin’s agents feeling Wiggins best business interest rest in Cleveland) Wiggins playing next to LeBron means lots of National TV exposure, lots of extra media following the team, etc – all of which Wiggins agent feels will strongly help build his “brand”.

(One of the guys went off on rant about this. Young players far more worried about building a reputation and outside interests than they are about being a star NBA player has complicated many a deal. Really ****es the old timers off who hate the focus being so much on off the court items)

They know Wiggins is in play in a trade here. So the longer they delay, the more hope they have that it falls apart. And since Wiggins is not earning any money until the season starts (except the signing bonus portion), they don’t have any incentive to move this along. In fact, if he wants to stay in Cleveland, he has a pretty large incentive to not sign any time soon – like say just before training camp in September.

This is creating some angst in Cleveland – they don’t real have anyway to make Wiggins sign and/or offer more incentives to sign. Making the deal without having Wiggins signed is possible, but much less desirable. So the deal sits in limbo.

The Twolves are mixed on Klay Thompson. They see him as a strong player and a good fit to the current roster – but not as a super star in the making. So not everyone agrees Klay meets the preseason trade minimum. That being said, Golden State has been far more proactive on flotsam proposals. So there is not so much here to talk about.

Flip plans to rebalance the roster with some minor deals once the KLove situation is resolved. But if KLove stays until the trade deadline, you might not see much happening.

A couple of other throw away comments.

Ricky has been working extensively with a shooting coach on the west coast.

Expects that Ricky will be signed to a max length, but not max dollars contract. (Ricky likes it here – which helps)

No plans to move Pek. Feeling there will be plenty of minutes for Pek and Deing. (Not sure if that’s due to Pek’s injury issues or if he means they can play some time together)