Kyrie Irving Wins NBA’s Top Rookie Honor, Praises Cleveland Cavaliers: Fan Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 18:14:00 PDT)
It is hard to deny that rookie point guard Kyrie Irving made a huge difference for the Cleveland Cavaliers this past season. Ever since LeBron James left town for a warmer climate and what he deemed to be a better chance at an NBA Championship, Cavaliers' fans had been looking for a reason to stay positive. When Cleveland won the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery and the rights to draft Irving, the future looked bright again for a once strong franchise that had the rug pulled out from under them.

NBA roundup: Bulls' Rose may miss 2 months of next season (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 15:40:41 PDT)
Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose could miss the two months of next season while recovering from knee surgery.

Cavs guard Irving earns rookie honor
(Tue, 15 May 2012 09:34:49 PDT)
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, the top overall selection in last year's NBA draft, was named the league's Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.

Wolves' Pekovic has ankle surgery in New York (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 09:32:52 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) Minnesota Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle on Tuesday.

Cavaliers' Irving wins ROY Award (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 08:40:06 PDT)
LeBron who?

LeBron James wins 2012 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award (NBA)
(Sat, 12 May 2012 13:41:53 PDT)
LeBron James wins 2012 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award

NBA MVP Award Winners (NBA)
(Sat, 12 May 2012 11:08:00 PDT)
NBA MVP Award Winners

Glen Taylor is looking to sell the Minnesota Timberwolves (Ball Don't Lie)
(Mon, 07 May 2012 08:25:57 PDT)
Every NBA owner has a few black marks on their reputations. For Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, those include agreeing to pay Joe Smith under the table , lording over a franchise that managed just two playoff series wins with Kevin Garnett in his prime, hitting a dismal run of form thereafter, not having particularly kind words for Garnett and others following their departures, and, depending on whom you ask, hiring the erratic David Kahn as general manager. All things considered, though, Taylor has a relatively good reputation compared to other owners (which says something about those owners), currently serving as chairman of the league's Board of Governors and generally not doing anything especially embarrassing in public. There's a sense that Taylor, a former state senator, conceives of a sports team as part of the fabric of the community rather than a mere business venture. As reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press , Taylor is now looking for, in his words, a successor. Except, in keeping with his approach, he's not looking for the highest bidder or a regular change in ownership:

APNewsBreak: T-Wolves owner looks for successor (The Associated Press)
(Fri, 04 May 2012 17:23:18 PDT)
NORTH MANKATO, Minn. (AP) Glen Taylor is the biggest reason the Timberwolves are still in Minnesota, having saved the team from moving to New Orleans when he swooped in and bought the franchise in 1994.

NBA All-Star Game MVPs (NBA)
(Wed, 02 May 2012 06:42:07 PDT)
NBA All-Star Game MVPs

Michael Beasley plans to shoot a zillion jumpers, dribble a million minutes this offseason (Ball Don't Lie)
(Tue, 01 May 2012 14:05:51 PDT)
No one thinks that Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley lacks natural talent. Instead, the knock on Beasley has always been that he lacks focus, work ethic and the mentality to become a star in the NBA. After four middling seasons split between the Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, that reputation is not undeserved. Beasley now finds himself at a crossroads in his career. If the Wolves do not extend him a qualifying offer of roughly $8 million, he will become an unrestricted free agent this July. The good news, though, is that Beasley has a fantastic plan for improving his game this summer. In fact, he's going to shoot a fake number of jump shots and dribble an impossible number of times every day. From Dave Campbell of the Associated Press :

Derrick Williams prepares for crucial summer (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 01 May 2012 13:39:41 PDT)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) His rookie season drawing to a close, Derrick Williams sat in front of his locker after a loss to the Golden State Warriors, a glazed look in his eye as he got dressed.

Beasley's time with Timberwolves could be finished (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 01 May 2012 02:09:00 PDT)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) When the Minnesota Timberwolves are at full strength, Michael Beasley just might be their most talented player.

US men's team drawn into tougher Olympic pool (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:41:46 PDT)
The way things have been going, Americans should have expected a tough road back to Olympic men's basketball gold.

Kahn: Only Rubio and Love are untouchable (The Associated Press)
(Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:29:52 PDT)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) It was a new day in Minnesota basketball, with Ricky Rubio throwing lob passes and Kevin Love stuffing the stat sheet in front of sellout crowd after sellout crowd.

NBA: Players union being investigated (The SportsXchange)
(Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:41:08 PDT)
The U.S Attorney's Office reportedly has told the NBA Players Association that it is conducting an investigation into the organization.

Raptors extend Casey's coaching deal through 2013-14 (The SportsXchange)
(Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:40:07 PDT)
The Toronto Raptors picked up the 2013-14 season option on head coach Dwane Casey's contract, the team announced Friday.

NBA Capsules (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:28:01 PDT)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The Charlotte Bobcats couldn't even beat a New York Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the worst winning percentage in NBA history after a 104-84 loss on Thursday night.

Nuggets beat Wolves to lock down 6th seed in West (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:06:56 PDT)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Denver Nuggets earned themselves another postseason date with the Los Angeles Lakers. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

Wolves' Adelman plans to have big offseason input (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:46:07 PDT)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) As the Minnesota Timberwolves wrap up another disappointing season, coach Rick Adelman said they need to be very active with trades and free agency this summer. And he plans to have a significant say in who the team targets.

Not all great NBA players make great executives (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:06:48 PDT)
Not all great NBA players make great NBA executives. With Michael Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats in line to finish this season with perhaps the worst record in NBA history, a list of five executives who dazzled as players and baffled as decision-makers:

Rick Adelman warns his Timberwolves that they ‘can’t wait’ to act on their improved fortunes (Ball Don't Lie)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:10:59 PDT)
Usually, when an NBA head coach goes on record to borderline plead his team's front office to give him some veteran help, we dismiss the sideline stalker. Especially if he's running a rebuilding club, full of players in their early 20s; why muddle the roster with players that are going to be past their primes by the time those youngsters hit their respective primes? Especially when that means paying veteran players veteran monies that push a team into luxury tax mode once the youngsters outgrow their rookie contracts, and start making their own "veteran monies." With Minnesota's Rick Adelman, though, we can understand. The Timberwolves coach didn't exactly beg for veteran help in his last media availability session of the season on Wednesday, but he wouldn't mind a roster upgrade. And, for once, we think it pretty sound to bring some big brains and graying hairs to work alongside Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams; even if the oldest (Love) among them was only alive for the last five months of the Reagan Administration. Here's Adelman, via the Pioneer-Press : "We can't wait," Adelman, the Wolves' first-year coach, said Tuesday. "You hope your young people get better, but that's not a given. Other people you can get, in free agency or trades, are givens. We have to be aggressive in all those areas."

NBA playoff positioning: Which Thursday games matter, and why (Ball Don't Lie)
(Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:55:13 PDT)
Heading into the final night of the NBA's slapdash lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, we know which 16 teams will be playing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy come this weekend, and we have four matchups set. In the Eastern Conference, the third-seeded Indiana Pacers will take on the No. 6 Orlando Magic, who clinched their seeding with a 102-95 Wednesday win over the Charlotte Bobcats, while the No. 4 Boston Celtics will square off against the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks. Out west, the San Antonio Spurs (the conference's top seed for the second straight year) will face the eighth-seeded Utah Jazz, while Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will lead the Los Angeles Clippers into a 4-5 matchup with last year's postseason darlings, the Memphis Grizzlies. That's what we know. So what don't we know? Well, for starters, who's going to have home-court advantage in C's/Hawks and Clips/Grizz? Who are the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder going to face in the first round? Where do the defending champion Dallas Mavericks fit into the mix? [ Related: Miami Heat fan punches Suns' Gorilla mascot at Arizona appearance ] By the end of Thursday's slate, we'll have the answers to those questions and more. Let's take a brief look at which games mean what in terms of playoff positioning Thursday night.