Give Me Your Hungry, Your Eager, Your In-Search-Of-A-Roster-Spot

In case you missed it the other day, the Wolves invited six non-roster players to training camp. These are the guys hoping to make enough of an impression on some team (Wolves, NBA or otherwise) to get paid to play basketball this year.

The Wolves have 14 guaranteed contracts, two of which aren't even at training camp and are most likely to be bought out (to other teams, few scenarios beat waiting until the Wolves buy out Blount and Daniels). That mean's there's a good chance one or two camp invitees to catch on with the team, whether it's a veteran or prospect. With most teams looking to carry only 13 or 14 players this season, expect training camp invitees to push those guys with guaranteed money.

Jason Hart has by far the most NBA experience among all the invitees, having played 8 seasons for 7 teams. The career backup, journeyman point guard averaged 9.5 points on 45% shooting, 5 assists and 1.4 turnovers in his busiest season, but that was five years ago with the Bobcats. There would absolutely be some value in having a steady veteran hand behind Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions at the point, but just how much is debatable since the Wolves will want Flynn and Sessions to get as much learning time as possible. Although it will likely end up being insignificant, Hart has the same alma mater as Flynn (Syracuse, but you should've known that).

Jared Reiner has played spot minutes in 2 NBA regular seasons (even some playoff minutes with Chicago a few years back), but is a fixture in summer camps and training camps. The South Dakota native and Iowa product will give contracted front court players a big body to bang against for camp, but given the number of guards invited the team appears more interested in contracts 13 and/or 14 going to guards and swingmen. That said, Reiner's got lots of NBA practice experience and may be able to help Al Jefferson, Kevin Love and Ryan Hollins get their reps in between games this season.

Devin Green is the last invitee with NBA regular season experience, playing for the Lakers in 05/06. No doubt the 6'7" swingman made a good impression on Kurt Rambis, and at the very least has some idea of how Rambis's schemes are taught. After yesterday's scrimmage, Green's experience may prove valuable to the coaches. If he sticks, it won't because of any flashiness as Green is know more for solid fundamentals and defense. He Tweets.

Jack McClinton appears the most likely invitee to make the roster, despite his mediocre Summer League performance. The 6-1 guard is more scorer than distributor, but as an efficient jump-shooter (1.08 PPP) he brings something the Wolves aren't likely to have many of. Even if he ends up spending a bunch of time in the D-League the Spurs draft pick may be worth keeping to see if he can develop into an offensive spark for the Wolves' bench. He also Tweets with a fury and once punched a Buckeye.

Mustafa Shakur was signed by Sacramento in 2007 as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona. After spending a few seasons in Europe, the 6'3" scoring guard was invited to Summer League with the Lakers. He didn't show much in Vegas, despite starting 4 games and averaging 18 minutes. Unless you consider 5.6 points on 39% shooting, 1.6 assists, and 1.8 turnovers as 'much,' which we don't. It's true that success at Summer League doesn't mean anything, but failure there does mean something.

Alonzo Gee rounds out the camp invites and, like McClinton, spent his first Summer League with San Antonio but played only 35 minutes in 5 games. The 6'6" swingman spent four years at Alabama but wasn't drafted this summer. The scouting report from DraftExpress makes it sound like Gee has the body and tools to be a good role player eventually, but time in the D-League might do him some good:

Gee did a good job showing off his strengths here at Portsmouth, playing unselfishly with a high motor and really making good use of his physical tools (measured in at 6‘6.5 in shoes with a 6‘10 wingspan).

Offensively, Gee has shown flashes of skills in all areas for awhile, but he’s yet to put it all together to create a complete package