~ WOLVES: Timberwolves acquire Boozer for three youngsters.

[Oskar]

NBA, News - Transactions / July 30, 2010 / 00:09 am
By STAR TRIBUNE


SCOLA LANDS IN THE NORTH STAR STATE

With the Minnesota Timberwolves having some more cap space to spend after the signing of superstar guard, Brandon Roy, they have announced the signing of the F/C, Luis Scola, who has played for the Houston Rockets ever since he returned to the NBA in 2007. The 6'9", 30 year old PF was signed to a 4 year, Mid-Level Exception deal. Scola will be 34 once the contract expires.

Last year, Scola started in 77 of his 78 appearances alongside the Chinese superstar, Yao Ming. Scola averaged close to a double-double with 11 points and 8.6 rebounds per competition. With the 8.6 rebounding average, Luis Scola led the Houston Rockets, standing right infront of the Great Wall of China, Yao Ming.

"It's nice to have Scola aboard," said the Timberwolves head coach, Kurt Rambis. "He's a very solid player, a good rebounder among many other things. He'll definitely be a valuable asset to our frontline, Jefferson, Love, Gomes and all the others, so yes, we'll embrace him with two hands coming in."

Al Jefferson also slipped out a word on the arrival of Luis Scola. "Luis is a great player. I've played against him many times, he's a real tough player and he'll be valuable for us off the bench, in the starting five or however the coach wants to play him."

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[kibaxx7]

Scola's hustle is unmatched. Great signing

[Martti.]

Great pick-up for the Mid-Level Exception.

[Oskar]

Scola's hustle is unmatched. Great signing

Unmatched? Joakim Noah says hi. Nah, I really like Scola, his hustle, rebounding and everything, definitely a valuable piece.

Great pick-up for the Mid-Level Exception.

Yeah, I'm really glad he was available for me, he asked for a bit more than a MLE at first, but I managed to pull him afterall.

[Oskar]

NBA, News - Transactions / August 11, 2010 / 07:33 pm
By ESPN


SUNS' CLARK AND TRAILBLAZERS' BLAKE TRADED TO ATLANTA

As the Free Agent period ended, and the majority of the big name FA's, such as Ray Allen, Allen Iverson and Udonis Haslem among others, resigned with their previous teams, the Trading period came.

The period started off without rumours in the first couple of days, no trades being done, until' the Atlanta Hawks pulled off two trades in one day. The first trade will send Jeff Teague to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Earl Clark. The second trade, announced exactly at the same time as the other one, will send Zaza Pachulia to the struggling Portland Trailblazers, in return, the Atlanta Hawks get a veteran point guard, Steve Blake.

After the trade was announced, more rumours popped up immediately, but nothing's for sure so far and the two tiny trades by the Atlanta Hawks remain the only ones done so far this week.

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[Oskar]

NBA, News - Transactions / August 16, 2010 / 04:44 pm
By ESPN


BOOZER'S NAME IN TRADE TALKS?

It is rumoured that the Utah Jazz forward, Carlos Boozer might be traded to another team before or during the upcoming season. Possible destinations heard in the rumours are Golden State, Minnesota and Chicago. So far, everything has only remained a talk and no trade has yet to be announced.

From the Chicago Bulls, the Jazz are looking to grab their center, Joakim Noah, while the Bulls are actually trying to get Boozer for John Salmons and fillers. From Golden State, Stephen Curry and Andris Biedrins both have a pretty high trade value. From the Minnesota talks, Johnny Flynn and Corey Brewer look to be the chips.

Boozer himself said he isn't affected by the trade talks and continues to work hard and is ready to give his team everything he can, wether it'll be his current Jazz team or one of the teams mentioned in the trade talks.

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[Fresh8]

I'm a big fan of Scola. Good work.

[Martti.]

Don't trade Flynn nor Brewer.

[Fresh8]

but he's getting Boozer. I think you should do it if you can!

[dare]

you got Scola, Love and Jefferson, no need for Boozer

[Fresh8]

Boozer is awesome. He needs him!

C: Jefferson/Scola
PF: Boozer/Love

[Oskar]

I'm a big fan of Scola. Good work.

As am I, thanks.

Don't trade Flynn nor Brewer.

but he's getting Boozer. I think you should do it if you can!

you got Scola, Love and Jefferson, no need for Boozer

Boozer is awesome. He needs him!

C: Jefferson/Scola
PF: Boozer/Love

I'm unsure, really. You forgot about Ryan Gomes and 'The Great Cothran' Gray, the 7'4" rookie center. They're pretty good and from the tiny pickup games and such that I've used Gomes in, he definitely should get minutes at the 4, because Brewer has his at the 3 and ofcourse, let's not even mention Jackman at the 3. Dealing for Boozer would mean shipping one of Gomes, Brewer, Gray or Love, we'll see.

[Fresh8]

Trade away Brewer or Gomes! We want Boozer!

[Oskar]

Trade away Brewer or Gomes! We want Boozer!

You're a demanding guy, lol.

[Fresh8]

He's an All-Star caliber player, you just don't pass up on that man.

C: Jefferson
PF: Boozer
SF: Wolverine
SG: Roy
PG: Rubio

Sixth man: Love, Flynn

That's a fucking awesome lineup man. I'm a fan

[hustleplays]

WOW, you did an excellent job on your lineup. Looks really promising. Good luck..

[Oskar]

He's an All-Star caliber player, you just don't pass up on that man.

C: Jefferson
PF: Boozer
SF: Wolverine
SG: Roy
PG: Rubio

Sixth man: Love, Flynn

That's a fucking awesome lineup man. I'm a fan

I ain't getting Rubio and I probably won't be able to get Boozer without giving up on Flynn, or Sessions, who I quite like aswell. I'll give it a shot, though, see if I can lure Boozer to this team.

WOW, you did an excellent job on your lineup. Looks really promising. Good luck..

Still a couple parts missing, maybe. Thanks though, stay tuned!

[Oskar]

NBA, News - Transactions / August 18, 2010 / 06:09 pm
By STAR TRIBUNE


THE TIMBERWOLVES ACQUIRE BOOZER IN A 4 MAN TRADE

After the long lasting trade talks between the Utah Jazz and numerous other teams in the league, the talks have finally came to an end with a blockbuster trade. It was announced last night, that the Utah Jazz had sent Carlos Boozer to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who sent Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes and Ramon Sessions to the Jazz in return. The Timberwolves also got a 2012 second round draft pick from the Jazz.

Some sources say, that the Utah Jazz were originally trying to acquire Brewer, Love and Flynn, and were also willing to give Ronnie Price to go with Boozer, but the Timberwolves declined the trade immediately, later offering Gomes and Sessions instead of Love and Flynn. Eventually, the Jazz accepted the trade.

Last year in Utah, Boozer averaged the second highest points on the team at 19.4 per game, and led the team in rebounding at 10.8 per game. He played in 69 games and started in 67 of them, the reason behind benching in the other two were injuries, which Boozer dealt with the entire season.

Corey Brewer, the player the Jazz wanted the most from the Timberwolves, averaged a tad over 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists per competition. Ryan Gomes, who was unarguably a lot better than Brewer last year, averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds off the bench, but was more efficient by a mile, shooting 47% from the field, compared to Brewer's abysmal 37%. Brewer also recieved a title from the critics last year, often being labeled as a chucker as the season went on. The third player, Ramon Sessions averaged 7 points and 2.6 assists last year, but was also quite inefficient, just like Brewer.


TRADE ANALYSIS

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES




Incoming: Carlos Boozer, 2012 2nd round draft pick
Outgoing: Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Ramon Sessions
Projected lineup: Flynn, Roy, Jackman, Boozer, Jefferson

TRADE GRADE: B-

The Timberwolves got themselves another strong power forward in Carlos Boozer. Boozer can score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds on a nightly basis, plus his scoring style differs a bit from how Al Jefferson gets his points, as Boozer can also step out and knock down the middle range jumpshot, something Jefferson struggles to do. A frontline of Jefferson, Boozer and Jackman will definitely be a hard matchup for most of the teams in the league, and off the bench they still have Kevin Love, one who'd be a starter on most of the teams in the NBA.

At the same time, they gave up on three solid young players. They'll probably miss Gomes the most out of the three, but Boozers presence will probably overshadow the things lacking without Gomes. Brewer and Sessions were also slowly getting into their own, but were not as good last year as some excepted.

Bottom line, the Bulls got themselves another possible All-Star, but they gave away three young assets to get one good player back. Will it pay off? We'll look back after the season and see wether it did, or not.



UTAH JAZZ



Incoming: Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Ramon Sessions
Outgoing: Carlos Boozer, 2012 2nd round draft pick
Projected lineup: Williams, Reid, Kirilenko, Millsap, Okur

TRADE GRADE: A-

It was surprising in the first place that the Jazz were shipping Carlos Boozer, but let's not look at it, but the trade now. If they were going to ship him, they did it quite well with the trade. They got a streaky scorer that can light up from time to time, a very efficient scorer that should fit very well between a frontline of Kirilenko and Okur. If Gomes managed to keep his own without an amazing point guard like the Jazz have in Deron Williams, he might actually truely break out if given a chance.

Overall, the Jazz really got a lot from the trade. It remains a mystery why the Jazz resigned Boozer in the beginning of the offseason in the first place if they were looking to trade him anyway, but a possible reason might be Paul Millsap. If that's the case, Millsap could step into the Boozer role, whereas Gomes would fill his previous role. The three players Jazz acquired might actually have turned into something once Boozers contract ends in the 2015 offseason.

The Jazz will definitely have something to look forward to with the young core including Deron Williams, Paul Millsap, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, rookies Reid and Greenan and Brewer. Look for this team in a couple of years.

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[kibaxx7]

Incredible lineup man.

[Fresh8]

I love your team. You got all of the pieces to surround Wolverine with. You guys going far!

[dare]

Nice line-up man, I like that you acquired boozer and not giving up flynn

[Dee.]

I Can't believe Brewer is gone.

[Clutch]

gave up a lot of depth in multiple positions to acquire Boozer so i hope he delivers... but more importantly - stays HEALTHY!

[Fresh8]

I never needed depth to win in Live. My Lakers had Kwame Brown, Carlos Boozer, Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, rookie PG and a bench of ratings of 70 something and we still won. I'm sure you have a better team than that. My starting fives ratings looks something like Kobe in 90s, Boozer and Artest mid-high 80s, Kwame low 80s and rookie PG 77 or something.

[dare]

Yup you don't need much depth in Live as long as you got nice starting line-up your fine