Ryan Miller of LeBron Dunk Tape fame, broke the story.
| Jonny Flynn pursuing his dream |
Ok so maybe this is back from October and Jonny’s not leaving the Wolves or anything serious but I know you still enjoyed it. We can only hope he plays with the same heart all year for the Wolves as he did against the 70 year-old lady.
Yes folks the Timberwolves just made their third trade of the summer and no it probably won’t be the last. The Wolves dealt the recently acquired Etan Thomas to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with multiple second round picks in next years draft in return for two veterans in point guard Chucky Atkins and wing Damien Wilkins.
From Timberwolves.com:
The Minnesota Timberwolves announced the team has traded center Etan Thomas and two future second-round draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for 6-6 guard Damien Wilkins and 5-11 guard Chucky Atkins.
“We’re committed towards rebuilding our roster with an eye towards flexibility and long-term success, and this move better positions us for the summer,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “I want to thank Etan for his professionalism and understanding, and wish him all the best moving forward.”
From ESPN.com:
Atkins, a 10-year veteran, could replace Telfair as a much-needed mentor to the young point guards. He could also provide depth if Rubio, who has an enormous buyout clause in his contract with DKV Joventut, is forced to remain in Spain instead of playing for the Timberwolves this season.
Wilkins, meanwhile, will be making a belated move to Minnesota nearly four years after nearly joining the Timberwolves. Wilkins signed an offer sheet with the Timberwolves in 2005, but the SuperSonics — who later moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder — matched the offer for the restricted free agent and kept him.
The way Kahn is wheeling and dealing this summer, there’s no telling how long Wilkins will be on the roster. Like Thomas, Wilkins and Atkins have expiring contracts.
Much like the trade last week for Quentin Richardson, this is at best just a lateral move that helps the Wolves positionaly this season while also now splitting Etan’s expiring contract into two for Kahn to have more flexibility in trades moving forward. I don’t foresee either guy playing too much (you can see the Daily Thunder rejoicing at their departure here), although Atkins could see more time as the backup pg over Bobby Brown especially after his summer league play, and I see both as being acquired for more of a veteran presence in the locker room especially with Atkins being able to show the point guard ropes to Jonny Flynn. As for Etan Thomas, although a serviceable center in the league, he probably wouldn’t have seen too much time either with Love and Jefferson both getting the heavy minutes at the 4 and 5.
The only thing that I could call into question is losing the two second round picks especially as next years draft is said to be much deeper than this years, and that even this year second rounders were being sold for up to $2 million each.
Taking it all into account this is probably another B trade and like the last nothing to get too excited about.
What I think Wolves fans can get excited about however is what this trade shows us about Kahn.
For these reasons I think its another day to smile as a Wolves fans. Good things are going to come to those who are patient.
UPDATE 7/27/09 10:06 CST: From Jerry Zgoda’s Twitter account:
Chucky Atkins contract (only 760K of $3.48 mil is guaranteed) is the key to today’s Etan Thomas for Atkins/Damien Wilkins trade with OKC. Expect another one w/ Atkins soon.
David Kahn calls Atkins’ contract “valuable,” suggests another trade featuring him and his contract is on the horizon.
As you all have probably already heard the Wolves traded Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, and Mark Madsen to the Clippers in exchange for the twice already traded this summer Quentin Richardson.
I’ll have more on the deal later but for now you can take a look at Kevin Arnovitz’s breakdown of the deal from the other side of the table over at ClipperBlog.
You can also listen to David Kahn’s conference call with the local media about the trade as well as his trip this week to Spain and an update on the ongoing coaching search.
Analysis Update:
Why this trade makes sense:
With a roster full of point guards and power forwards we move 3 from those 2 positions and get 1 at a position of need, shooting guard, back. So it certainly makes sense in terms of balancing out the roster.
Talent wise I think the Wolves lost in the deal. I think Craig Smith was the best player we sent to LA in the deal and he was actually sneaky efficient on offense (He had a PER of 17 by John Hollinger’s formula last year). That being said its not like we had a ton of minutes to go around and give him. Right now Love and Jefferson should be eating up about 50-60% of the team’s minutes at 4+5 with Ryan Gomes sure to take a chunk as well as some combination of the newly acquired Etan Thomas and Darius Songalia. As for Quentin, he showed he still has at least some game left and is known for being mostly a 3 point shooter (career 35% from 3). That being said other than bringing a little bit of size the best thing he brings with him is his expiring contract.
Speaking of Q’s expiring contract, salary cap wise is another way this trade makes sense for us. Both Smith’s and Madsen’s deals were already expiring, however Telfair had a player option next year for $2.7 million that he would have most likely exercised. By making the trade the Wolves have given themselves even more flexibility next summer.
Chemistry wise this trade may be a wash. I do really think that moving Telfair before he had the opportunity to be a bad influence on Flynn (and Rubio) was a good move. That being said both Smith and more especially Madsen were good locker-room presences and leaders on a younger squad like the Wolves.
The one other positive this trade brings the Wolves is the flexibility moving forward as we get 2 roster spots from it that we can use to signe free agents, whether it be Paul Harris, Garrett Siler, or Rob Kurz from our summer league team, or for some late season free agent pickups.
Overall I think the trade makes some good sense for the Wolves. As its a minor deal it probably deserves a B grade or so.
Two important things to keep in mind as well are that in the conference call Kahn leads one to believe that the Wolves have more moves to make and that it could very well be that Richardson could be moved yet again.
Howlin T-Wolf had the privilege of interviewing Jeff Cafarella of Niagara Falls who was Jonny Flynn’s little league coach.
HTW: Jeff you coached Jonny Flynn in little league when he was 11 and 12. Jonny certainly looks like a guy that is just built as an athlete. Can you tell us a little bit about what kind of baseball player and teammate he was?
JC: If you know anything about this kid, you here the same story over and over again….this kid will do anything you ask him to do. He was the leader of the team and stepped up to light a fire under any one’s butt who needed it. He batted 2nd and played shortstop for us both as an 11 and 12 year old and was never once challenged for his spot in the line up or on the field.
HTW: Any particular stories or moments you remember from those teams?
JC: I will always remember meeting this kid for the first time. It was his first year in our league (with his cousin Eric who you will see in MLB one day soon), during our first practice I asked him what position he feels most comfortable at, and his answer is something I never heard before and its an answer I haven’t heard since them. He looked at me and said “Coach, I don’t care where I play, or how much I play, I just ask that I get into the game at some point.” I didn’t know what to say…lol. Needless to say, he never stepped off the diamond or lost his starting spot.
The other memory I will always have is when he jumped over the catcher to win the championship for us! It was a heated game against our biggest rival, and he did everything he could to win the game. He was dead at the plate, catcher had the ball and was waiting for him….all of a sudden, there goes little Jonny jumping over the catch and landing right on the plate!
HTW: How much fun is it to see a hometown kid succeeding at the level Jonny is?
JC: It is amazing. Niagara Falls doesn’t get too much credit or notice except for these past few years with the success of NFHS.
HTW: Niagara Falls might be one of the few places that Jonny could come to Minnesota from where he might be getting a slight upgrade in weather. For those of us that don’t know what’s the weather like in January in Niagara Falls?
JC: January is nice and cold and snowy….Wind-chills can be around -20 degrees at time and the snow is always blowing….There are mornings you walk outside and your nostrils freeze right up!
HTW: The Wolves also signed Jonny’s longtime teammate Paul Harris, another Niagara Falls guy, to their summer league team. I think he’s got a pretty good shot at making the team this season. Any thoughts on Harris and his game?
JC: Paul was the big man in Niagara Falls because he was so much bigger then the kids he played against. He is a good player and can make people around him better. He will work hard on the court, but he has his off nights. But i think if you guys can get Jonny and Paul, you’ll be in for a treat.
In case you didn’t see it on the right on Friday, here is the video of ESPN First Take’s interview with Jonny Flynn.
Great stuff from Kevin Love on the always entertaining Bill Simmons podcast.
I can’t wait for Kevin to start raining 3’s this year!
More good news on the Ricky Rubio front according to Adrain Wojnarowski @ Yahoo Sports:
Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn is planning a trip to Spain to meet DKV Joventut officials about lowing the steep $6.6 million buyout clause in draft pick Ricky Rubio’s(notes) contract, sources with knowledge of Kahn’s plans told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday.Kahn will meet with Rubio and his family on the trip, the sources said, but the journey’s primary objective is to work with the European team about finding a way to get Rubio to the T’wolves this season. It’s expected Kahn will leave for Spain later this week from the NBA’s summer league in Las Vegas.
Rubio, 18, is the flashy Spanish point guard Minnesota picked fifth in the June draft.
Rubio “is OK with playing in Minnesota,” a source said. “It’s a matter of getting the buyout done.”
Kahn and Minnesota owner Glen Taylor have met with Rubio’s agent, Dan Fegan, during the summer league this week. The Wolves are only allowed to pay $500,000 toward Rubio’s buyout, but his endorsers are motivated to get him to the NBA now. Rubio has warmed to the idea of playing in Minnesota, which is determined to make him the franchise’s cornerstone player.
Minnesota drafted Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn(notes) with the sixth pick, and he’ll run the team should Rubio have to stay in Europe for another season. If Rubio gets the buyout done, most expect Kahn will trade Flynn, who was considered one of the elite point guards in the draft.
Jonah Ballow of Timberwolves.com interviews David Kahn at the Wolves practice in Las Vegas.
For those that just want to read the highlights click for more below the fold…
This should be our beloved Wolves new theme this year (and most likely an inevitable marketing campaign) as it seems to be issue #1 in the coaching search: Are you ready to get these guys running?
Take a look at David Aldridge’s interview with David Kahn from earlier today where he talks about the team playing an uptempo style.
Take a look at NBA-tube’s exclusive interview with Wayne Ellington at the Summer League. Can you guess which 3 NBA players he says he molded his game after growing up? Watch and find out…
