All three players’ contracts expire after this season.
Wilkins, 29, is expected in the Twin Cities on Friday for a four-day stay when the Wolves will work out him and start to determine just what they have in the 6-6 shooting guard, a position of need for them.
• Kahn is on the West Coast conducting second interviews to find a new coach. He is expected to choose from former NBA point guard Mark Jackson and L.A. Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis after interviewing perhaps more than a dozen candidates, including Wolves assistant Jerry Sichting. Houston assistant Elston Turner also likely will be, or has been, interviewed.
• Kahn is interested in bringing back unrestricted free agent Rodney Carney but will not do so until he can make other roster moves.
“I want to elaborate a little more extensively on comments related to me in a recent Sunday article in the Star Tribune. I meant no disparagement toward Ricky Rubio. He is inarguably an immensely talented young man with a very bright future. I do know that both his agent and the Timberwolves organization are working feverishly for a solution. Having been in similar situations before, I wish them nothing but success in their pursuits.
“Additionally, I have no real insight into the coaching selection process being conducted by the Timberwolves organization…”
Kevin Love: Whomever makes the final roster will likely be a role player on the star-studded U.S. team, and Love seems the most equipped to fill that need. Love was a beast on the boards during the two days of practice and he rarely made a wrong decision with the ball. “We’re all trying to do all the intangible stuff and fit into that role player mentality that they are looking for,” said Love.
From Michael Rand/Star Tribune:
In MacDonald’s honor, we would like to propose a nickname for Wolves boss David Kahn: The Red Paperclip.
Kahn’s signature move so far — aside from dumping Kevin McHale — was the swap that sent Mike Miller and Randy Foye to the Wizards in exchange for role players and the No. 5 pick that became Ricky Rubio. But if the early months are any indication, he will also hone in on any minor deal that he feels offers even a marginal upgrade. Hence, the red paperclip approach.
At one end of the Seeds of Peace field house basketball court, former Duke star Gerald Henderson directed a group of 15 Arab and Jewish teenagers through defensive drills. At the other end, former University of North Carolina star Wayne Ellington engaged another group in a shooting contest, with the loser obligated to do five push-ups.
The arrangement wasn’t an accident. Organizers of the Seeds of Peace International Camp’s annual “Play for Peace” basketball clinic hoped some of the campers, at least the ones who were basketball fans, would realize that if two sworn enemies of college hoops could coexist on a sultry summer morning in Maine, other forms of cooperation were possible on a more global, and important, level.
Every year, with the enthusiasm of the high school and NCAA players that surround him, Ryan Gomes laces up his shoes in Hartford and gives the Greater Hartford Pro-Am a constant NBA presence.
All winter, he’s a starting forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves. All summer, he’s just another guy from Waterbury getting in a good run at the Pro-Am.
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