Madsen to sign with T-Wolves & other tidbits

[Solid D]

From Salt Lake City Deseret News:

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...150867,00.html

Madsen to sign T-Wolves contract
By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News

Yet another of the Jazz's summer shopping pursuits is off the shelf — and not coming to Utah.
Minnesota free-agent forward Mark Madsen has agreed to a contract to remain with the Timberwolves.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it's believed to be a five-year contract worth more than $12 million. According to the Associated Press, "Madsen said he was excited to be staying with the Wolves and praised team owner Glen Taylor for getting personally involved in the negotiations."
Like the rest of the NBA's free agents, Madsen cannot officially sign his contract until Thursday at the earliest.
Utah had strong interest in Madsen, and Jazz executive Kevin O'Connor spoke multiple times in person with Madsen's agent, Bob Meyers, this past week. Last weekend, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan also made a telephone recruiting call to Madsen, who is coming off season-ending wrist surgery.
According to Meyers, Washington also exhibited serious interest in Madsen.
It is not known, though, if either the Jazz or the Wizards ever made a formal contract offer to the 6-foot-9 Stanford product who has played three seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers and two in Minnesota.
The Jazz's overtures with Madsen peaked before Friday's disclosure of a six-player, three-team trade that in part will send center Curtis Borchardt, shooting guard Kirk Snyder and the contract of point guard Raul Lopez to Memphis and bring ex-Jazz center Greg Ostertag back to Utah from Sacramento.
Meyers suggested Friday that he was led to believe the trade would not adversely impact Utah's courtship of his client, but less than 24 hours later, Madsen — who makes his offseason home in Utah, but made it known since the free-agency market opened July 1 that his primary preference was to remain in Minnesota — came to terms with the Timberwolves.
He joins a growing list of supposed Jazz free-agency targets who have found deals elsewhere, including Seattle guard Antonio Daniels, who accepted a five-year offer from Washington that evidently was longer in term than any deal Utah was willing to tender, and Philadelphia guard Willie Green, who opted to remain with the 76ers on a six-year pact.
O'Connor flew to San Antonio to meet personally with Daniels last Sunday, but by Tuesday he was off to see the Wizards. The Jazz reportedly spoke with Green's agent, though it seems unlikely Utah ever extended an actual offer sheet to him.
The Jazz are, however, thought to still be in the running for Maccabi Tel-Aviv point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius.
Utah, Cleveland and Indiana all have reportedly offered the 29-year-old Euroleague star from Lithuania and the University of Maryland a three-year deal valued in excess of $10 million.
Early last week, Cleveland was thought to be the front-runner for Jasikevicius' services, but the Cavaliers' recent flirtations with Los Angeles Clippers restricted free-agent guard Marko Jaric — Jaric's agent has been pushing to get his client to Cleveland, too — may change that.
It's believed Cleveland does not have enough money under the league's team payroll salary cap to afford Jaric, and that the only way the Cavs can acquire him is by consummating a sign-and-trade deal.
A Cleveland television station reported Friday night that Cavs power forward Drew Gooden might be traded to the Clippers as part of a sign-and-trade swap for Jaric, but by Saturday, indications were that was untrue.
The Cavs, though, may still be trying to find a way to swing a deal for Jaric — which may prompt Jasikevicius to go elsewhere, perhaps to the Jazz.
The Jazz, however, won't wait forever for Jasikevicius to make up his mind — and may pursue a guard elsewhere perhaps even via a trade.
In Cleveland — absent Jaric — Jasikevicius could have a starting role. But in Utah, he would share minutes with 2005 No. 3 overall draft choice Deron Williams, and in Indiana he probably would have a reserve role.

NOTES: Ostertag told KSL-TV Ch. 5 he will not publicly discuss his return to Utah until the three-team trade is made official, which can't happen before Thursday . . . Orlando also was rumored to have had interest in Jaric, but its decision to soon sign Miami reserve guard Keyon Dooling to a multi-year deal ends that . . . According to Saturday's Chicago Sun-Times, "A source close to Chris Duhon said the free-agent guard will sign with the Bulls in the next couple of days." It's not known if the Jazz showed interest in Duhon, whom it considered taking out of Duke in last year's draft . . . O'Connor said NBA officials encouraged the Jazz to continue hosting the long-running Rocky Mountain Revue, even though a competing summer league in Las Vegas whittled last week's Revue field to six teams . . . Ex-Jazz shooting guard and first-round draft choice Sasha Pavlovic of the Cavs is on Serbia & Montenegro's roster for the upcoming European Championships. Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko will play for Russia, center Mehmet Okur for Turkey and guard Gordan Giricek for Croatia in the same tourney.

[Kori Ellis]

A Cleveland television station reported Friday night that Cavs power forward Drew Gooden might be traded to the Clippers as part of a sign-and-trade swap for Jaric, but by Saturday, indications were that was untrue.

Well that trade didn't make much sense for the Clippers, but I wonder if Ferry will be able to move Gooden.