the latest word from ESPN's Brian Windhorst is that a deal between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves is all but done.

The teams are until Aug. 23, the date No.1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins is eligible to be moved, to consummate the deal. Philadelphia would also be involved. From Windhorst:

Anthony Bennett, who's on the Cavs right now, could get re-routed to Philadelphia in part of a deal for Thaddeus Young. There will be draft picks involved, but essentially what you need to know if you're an NBA fan: Kevin Love will end up in Cleveland barring anything unforeseen, and Andrew Wiggins will end up in Minnesota.

What this essentially boils down to is that you've got about three more weeks of seeing pictures of Love on Boston.com.

MaTT4281 wrote:Spurs bringing on Becky Hammon as an assistant coach.

Just read this...very cool.

LeBron James is planning on spending the rest of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers despite a contract that allows him tremendous flexibility.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” James said Friday night during the Welcome Home LeBron event at InfoCision Stadium. “I don’t have the energy to do it again.”

James can become a free agent after either of the next two seasons.

“At the end of the day I’m a businessman as well,” James said, “and I know what’s going on in our league.”

James is also looking forward to playing with Kevin Love.

“I always told him he was going to be the reason we won the gold medal,” James said “He played a huge role for us. “I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it happens and everything is done right from the league rules. It’s a great piece.”

Looks like he has an opt out to take advantage of league economic prosperity and not to leave

Nalod wrote:She got spunk, remember she went and played for the Russian team in the Olympics!

That's super spunky

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/sports/basketball/david-blatt-gets-ready-to-lead-lebron-james-and-the-cavaliers.html?ref=basketball

F500ONE wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Monroe is going to sign the qualifying offer from the pistons.

He turned down $60mil

Talk about dangerous target on the open market next year

He's a pretty good player but not that good.

He said himself that it would be madness to turn down $60mil, but the Pistons have never come close to offering that amount

I forgot we have cap space next year- wonder if we'll be interested in him, we seem to like PFs who play no defense

TripleThreat wrote:

F500ONE wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Monroe is going to sign the qualifying offer from the pistons.

He turned down $60mil

Talk about dangerous target on the open market next year

He's a pretty good player but not that good.

He signs with the Pistons, they trade him ( Monroe and Drummond cannot coexist)

That locked in contract actually raises his trade value but then he is trapped on whatever team he is traded to, no control over the matter.

He signs the qualifying offer, the Pistons still trade him, wanting to get something back instead of losing him for nothing, except his trade value goes down, making more teams eligible to trade for him, since his cap number is smaller but he regains leverage because any team giving up assets for him will want him to sign an extension, by saying he won't or will, he can control his next destination, somewhat. And if he can angle his way to a team he wants in a trade, he can sign with a team on the open market as a free agent.

He takes a risk of getting injured or having a lousy year, but young bigs always get paid. Often they are even paid for potential even without the production (DeAndre Jordan and JaVale McGee are good cases of that, though Jordan has started to pan out for his team)

Centers are not easy to find, even ones with flaws like Monroe ( can't shoot to space the floor, can't defend the rim) but he can operate in the low post and give you back to the basket offense, which is useful. Positional value enures Monroe gets paid.

He cannot be traded without his consent. He will probably be traded though sometime during the season.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/500412395399823360

Acy is official for the whole season