This edition of Timberwolves Roundup covers a series of Wolves articles from around the web, including an Andrew Wiggins take form another blog, Karl-Anthony Towns‘ Players’ Tribune article, and a Q & A with Cole Aldrich.
We’re almost through August, folks. And with this year’s early start to the regular season, training camps will be off the ground in earnest in September.
This August has certainly felt as though it’s been more eventful than recent NBA Augusts. From the jersey announcement (a couple of our takes here and here) to the (ongoing) Andrew Wiggins contract saga featuring Glen Taylor to the Kyrie Irving situation. It was, of course, of particular interest to Wolves fans due to Irving’s initial request to be traded to one of four teams.
Earlier this week, it seemed as though we may have a resolution to the Irving trade rumors. Or, maybe not.
At any rate, there’s still plenty of Timberwolves news to cover. Let’s take a spin around the Wolves blogosphere.
First, our friends over at A Wolf Among Wolves have an interesting post by Andy Grimsrud that does a great job of rehashing the most recent twist in the Wiggins contract negotiations: earlier this week, Wiggins decided to part ways with his agent.
Grimsrud includes commentary from AP’s Jon Krawczynski via Twitter, which suggests that the Wolves were caught off guard somewhat the change in agent. Perhaps more importantly, Wiggins has not yet had his sit-down with owner Glen Taylor, and the agency swap means that the two sides can’t officially agree for an additional two weeks.
Elsewhere, Cole Aldrich spoke with Jace Frederick of the St. Paul Pioneer Press from one of his local charity events in the Twin Cities. Jace asked him about a number of things, including the plethora of trade rumors that Aldrich has been included in over the summer.
Here’s the big man’s response to the trade question…
"It is what it is. If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t. I’m going to be excited either way. I’m excited about my time. If I stay all year, I’m happy to be here. This is home for me and it always will be home, whether I’m with the Wolves or another team. I’ve loved my time being here, but it’s a business, it is what it is. I’ve been traded before and, as we spoke earlier in the year, you just never know if it’s going to happen again."
The discussion also ranged to the team’s pending trip to China for preseason and the series of new faces that have been added to the roster. Aldrich notes that the overseas journey in preseason will be beneficial for players to get know each other better — especially given the new makeup of the squad.
Lastly, if you haven’t already read Karl-Anthony Towns’ post on The Players’ Tribune regarding the events in Charlottesville, Virginia a couple of weeks ago, please head on over.
It’s hard to see anything that Towns said as controversial, but that’s for each of our readers and the readers of KAT’s piece to judge for themselves. Humbly, I would suggest that everyone checks it out. At the very least, Towns is an incredibly thoughtful person and clearly wants to impact not just the NBA landscape, but culture as a whole. It’s impossible to read his article and think otherwise.
Next: Best Twitter Follows For Wolves Fans
That’s it for today’s roundup. Stay tuned for more Wolves content throughout the weekend and a new Dunking With Wolves podcast early next week.