Smith to sign, Love impresses

Posted on July 17th, 2008 – 8:20 AM
By Jerry Zgoda

Craig Smith is the first of the Wolves’ own free agents to reach an agreement with the team, coming to terms on a two-year deal he will sign when he is expected to join the summer-league team in Las Vegas today.

Now how, or if, Smith will play in the remaining three games is uncertain, but since the summer team’s practice days all have passed, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to travel from his home in Los Angeles to Vegas if he wasn’t going to play at least a game.

The Wolves have not yet reached new deals with restricted free agents Ryan Gomes and Chris Richard or unrestricted free agent Sebastian Telfair, although Richard said the other day he assume his re-signing is a foregone conclusion.

Several teams reportedly have an interest in Gomes, whose agent is aimed at getting his client the full $5.6 mid-level exception. James Posey’s signing with New Orleans on Wednesday could kick-start a team (Cleveland?) that lost out in those sweepstakes to sign Gomes to an offer sheet.

The Wolves have seven days to match any offer Gomes might receive. The fact that Telfair hasn’t signed elsewhere yet probably is a pretty good sign that the team and agent Andy Miller will strike a deal eventually.

The Wolves reached a deal with Smith on Wednesday, when the Wolves’ summer-team league went 0-2 with a 95-93 loss to the Lakers that featured Kevin Love’s freakish outlet passing. His 18-point, 17-rebound game was might efficent (except for the six turnovers), but the wow factor came in some of the 70-foot outlet passes he threw, many of them aimed toward Corey Brewer.

The game really becomes a straight-line, fast game when a guy can pass like that. Brewer scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting, which shouldn’t shock anyone because most of Brewer’s points came on rushes to the rim. Once they get over the Kevin McHale factor, Wolves fans just might love the new Kevin in town.

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