Write down the names of well-known Upper Midwest businessmen T. Denny Sanford and Bill McGuire as potential Timberwolves owners. Flip Saunders told Sports Headliners he contacted representatives of both men last summer about the Minneapolis-based NBA franchise.
At that time Wolves owner Glen Taylor was interested in identifying a majority owner for the club who would eventually take over for him. Since then Taylor decided to remain in control but less than a year ago Saunders, then looking for his next basketball opportunity, made contacts with Sanford and McGuire representatives.
Saunders, a former NBA coach who last week was named by Taylor as the Wolves’ president of basketball operations, thought that Sanford and McGuire, both wealthy basketball fans, “would be good people” for the organization. It might be that one day either or both are involved financially.
Saunders himself is now a minority owner. “The reason I’ve invested is because I believe we’re moving forward,” he said.
Saunders didn’t barter his undisclosed minority share. He paid cash and plans to buy more interest in the club some day.
The Wolves were devastated by injuries last season, finishing with a 31-51 record. The club is much better than the record indicates with Olympian forward Kevin Love, promising point guard Ricky Rubio and other worthy players but Saunders knows he has plenty of work ahead in building a better roster.
“If I had to say a word, it’s going to be a process. I am realistic. I am not going to buy into it’s great and everything is rosy… (and) everything is ready built because there are 30 other teams in the league and a lot of those teams are saying the same thing. So it’s a process but we have some pieces to put together.”
Worth Noting
Good guy and former Gopher basketball player Larry Overskei is disappointed his nephew Chris Halvorsen, a non-scholarship player, is no longer on new coach Rick Pitino’s Minnesota team. Halvorsen participated in a few workouts but since has been told the Gophers are going in a “different direction,” according to an e-mail Overskei sent at the request of Sports Headliners.
Overskei’s comments included this: “So now we have an ’M’ man, all-Academic Big Ten and graduating on May 10th with a degree in Bio-medical Engineering and he is told he is not wanted back for his last year of eligibility. GO FIGURE! Plus his uncle is a basketball alumni.”
Halvorsen, 22, played in seven games for the Gophers last season and averaged 0.6 points per game. The 6-8 former Henry Sibley High School graduate transferred to Minnesota from Valparaiso after the 2009-10 season.
Goalie Niklas Backstrom has missed all four Wild playoff games including last night’s 3-0 loss to the Blackhawks. His unavailability for the team’s first playoff series since 2008 can’t be helpful for his future with the club.
Backstrom is an unrestricted free agent this summer. At 35, he earns a reported $6 million in the last year of his contract. A pro hockey source, speaking on condition of anonymity, speculated the Wild will let Backstrom go elsewhere and use Josh Harding and Darcy Kuemper in goal for 2013-2014.
Other Wild players with expiring contacts as unrestricted free agents are forwards Matt Cullen and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Both might be playing their final games this spring for the Wild, although the source said Cullen is especially valued for his attitude. “He is a coach in the locker room,” the source added.
After last night’s game the Wild trail 3-1 in the playoffs and while “anything can happen” in postseason hockey the source also said Minnesota’s speed among its players is “not close to Chicago.” “My observation is their depth and team speed needs to improve,” he added.
He predicted this summer the NHL will announce the 2015 NHL Winter Classic will be hosted by the Wild, with Target Field the more likely site than TFC Bank Stadium.
Sports Headliners reader Tim Hoff e-mailed that on a trip to Israel he and his wife unexpectedly saw Vikings’ owner Zygi Wilf. “In Jerusalem we stayed at the Ramada. While there we noticed Zygi Wilf in the lobby and were told he owned the Ramada. During our stay we toured the Israeli Museum which features the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the King Herod display. During the tour we were told one of the exhibits would soon be dedicated. The Wilf name appeared on this exhibit.”
Former Viking running back Ted Brown, who was drafted out of North Carolina State, was announced yesterday by the National Football Foundation as one of 12 players named to the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame.
Saint Benedict’s first-year second baseman Kim Lidstone saw her near-season-long 31-game hitting streak come to an end last week — the longest since 2004 in NCAA Division III softball and tied for fourth longest ever.
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