NBA Rumors: Wolves to Acquire Thaddeus Young

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Today, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers will officially complete a trade that will send Kevin Love to Cleveland in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a first-round draft pick. The Timberwolves will concurrently send the 76ers Luc Mbah a Moute, Alexey Shved and a first-round pick for Thaddeus Young.

It was previously reported that the Timberwolves would acquire Young and the 76ers would receive Bennett – the first overall pick in last year’s draft – in return. However, it looks like Bennett will stay in Minny. By holding onto Bennett, the Timberwolves have landed two number one overall picks to potentially build around moving forward, while adding a veteran forward in Young to take Love’s starting position. While Bennett had a disappointing rookie season in Cleveland, he is in better shape now than he was all last season and has the talent to be a valuable contributor moving forward.

In Young, the Timberwolves are adding a versatile forward who can score, rebound and stretch the floor. While Young is not a top three-point shooter (career 32.1 percent), he has a consistent jump-shot beyond mid-range. Young cannot completely fill the void left by Love, but is a solid contributor who has gone largely unnoticed in Philadelphia the last few seasons. At age 26, Young can be a leader for the young talent that Minnesota is stockpiling and grow alongside them as they try to break the Timberwolves’ league leading 10-year playoff drought.

Mbah a Moute was acquired by the Timberwolves last season in exchange for former number two overall pick Derrick Williams. Mbah a Moute, a well-regarded defensive player, played in 55 games last season for the Timberwolves, but averaged just 3.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in 14.7 minutes. Mbah a Moute has known 76ers rookie Joel Embiid for several years, as both players are from Cameroon, and has been a mentor for the young center.

Shved had a promising rookie season, but with the arrival of shooting guard Kevin Martin last year, he averaged just 10.5 minutes of playing time per game in his second season.

The Atlanta Hawks have re-signed fourth-year guard Shelvin Mack.

Mack, who played in 73 games for the Hawks last season, averaged 7.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists, and shot 41.7 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from three-point range.

“Shelvin has proven himself to be an excellent fit in our program,” Ferry said. “On the court, he plays well within our system and possesses a toughness and level of unselfishness that we truly value. At 24, he is still a young player with the type of work ethic that can allow him to continue to keep getting better.”

At 6’3, 215 pounds, Mack has the size and strength to play both guard positions. When Mack has received minutes, he has produced. At age 24, Mack has shown good play-making ability (3.04 assist-to-turnover ratio) and the ability to score the ball.

Mack, who was selected 34^th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2011 NBA Draft, is well-suited to backup Hawks starting point guard Jeff Teague. Mack will compete for backup point guard duties with teammate Dennis Schröder, who was selected 17^th overall by the Hawks in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Hakim Warrick last played for the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Charlotte Hornets) in the 2012-13 season. He was traded to the Orlando Magic in February of 2013, but was released just two days later.

In 27 games played with the Bobcats, Warrick averaged seven points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game, and shot 40.5 percent from the field.

Warrick had his best years early in his career with the Memphis Grizzlies, who drafted Warrick 19^th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft. From 2006-2009, Warrick played over 75 games each season, averaging double-digits in points and roughly five rebounds a game. Since 2009, Warrick has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets (now called the Pelicans), Charlotte Bobcats and most recently with the Liaoning of the Chinese Basketball Association.

At 6’9, 219 pounds, Warrick is undersized at the power forward position and struggles to guard the bigger front court players in the league. While many teams now use undersized forwards to play power forward, those forwards are usually able to stretch the floor with three-point shooting. Warrick, just a career 19.1 percent three-point shooter, is limited to mid-range jumpers, which limits his overall productivity on offense. Nevertheless, Warrick is an above-average athlete who can make an impact when given meaningful playing time.

Warrick’s workout with the Spurs comes with no guarantees, but is an opportunity to show San Antonio that he could be a veteran contributor in a limited role off the bench.

“I can bring experience to an NBA team and I feel that I still have my athleticism,” Warrick told Basketball Insiders earlier this summer. “I’ve continued to improve my game and I’ve always been a guy who can come off the bench to score and rebound. I feel like I can still do that for two, three, four, five more years. I had some opportunities [last year], but not good enough opportunities, so I decided to go over to China and play over there. Being able to play a lot of minutes and be the focal point, it was kind of fun. But I definitely still feel like I can play [in the NBA] and I feel like I’ll get back in this summer.”