Hoops Rumors

Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley spoke in more detail this week about the left wrist injury he has dealt with for the last few years, admitting that it prevented him from golfing over the summer after he fell on the wrist last season and aggravated an old ligament issue, per Jerry Zgoda of The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Still, Conley has gotten used to playing through the … [Read more...] about Northwest Notes: Conley, Murray, Braun, Rupert, Leons

Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has been ruled out for a second consecutive game, according to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune, who tweets that Markkanen will be unavailable on Saturday in Denver. Utah’s leading scorer also missed Thursday’s loss to San Antonio after exiting Tuesday’s game vs. Sacramento early due to low back spasms. According to Larsen (Twitter link), … [Read more...] about Northwest Notes: Markkanen, Braun, Alexander-Walker, Avdija

As our roster count page shows, the Timberwolves are the only one of the NBA’s 30 teams whose roster is not ready for the regular season after a busy day of transactions. Minnesota is still carrying 16 players on standard contracts, whereas the other 29 clubs have 15 or fewer players on standard deals. The Wolves don’t need to finalize their opening night roster until Monday … [Read more...] about Northwest Notes: Bates-Diop, Banton, Clingan, Murray, Westbrook

One key reason the Nuggets were unable to defend their title last season was a lack of roster depth, which forced head coach Michael Malone to lean too heavily on his starters. Malone found himself falling back into old habits in Monday’s overtime win over Toronto as he tightened his rotation down the stretch and played all his starters at least 39 minutes in the first game of … [Read more...] about Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Randle, Wolves, Thunder, Blazers

Nikola Jokic was concerned about how the Nuggets performed in the preseason. Denver has also lost its first two regular season games but the superstar center says the offense simply isn’t clicking yet, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic. “I think we are struggling to score,” Jokić said. “We have scored 87 and 104 points in our two games. That’s not enough. In today’s NBA, … [Read more...] about Western Notes: Jokic, Branham, Conley, Wallace