Kyrie Irving has won the 2011-12 NBA Rookie of the Year award, taking 117 out of a possible 120 votes.

Irving averaged 18.5 points on .469 shooting, 3.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 30.5 minutes per game.

Ricky Rubio finished second, followed by Kenneth Faried, Kawhi Leonard, Iman Shumpert, Klay Thompson, Isaiah Thomas, Brandon Knight and Chandler Parsons.

Faried, LEonard and Shumpert each received one first place vote apiece.

MarShon Brooks, Kemba Walker and Josh Selby also received votes.

Ricky Rubio has reached an agreement with adidas on an endorsement deal.

Rubio had previously endorsed Nike.

Rubio will join Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard as the primary endorsers of adidas within the basketball world.

Ryan Anderson of the Orlando Magic is the winner of the 2011-12 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award.

Anderson received 260 of a possible 605 points, including 33 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks (159 points, 21 first-place votes) and Nikola Pekovic of the Minnesota Timberwolves (104 points, 10 first-place votes) finished second and third, respectively. 

Greg Monroe, Andrew Bynum and Jeremy Lin finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Rick Adelman stressed the importance of adding veteran talent to the Timberwolves’ young core.

Adelman believes the lure of playing with Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love could be enough to attract top-level free agents to Minnesota.

"There's not a player I've talked to or any person around the league who was not impressed with Ricky," Adelman said. "It's the vibe he puts out. Players love to get the ball when they're supposed to, and he does that. And who would believe Kevin scores and rebounds the way he does? Because of those two guys, it makes us attractive. I don't see any reason anybody would not want to play with them."

The Wolves will be at least $11 million under the salary cap this summer.

"There are a couple of (player) contracts that have some flexibility built into them," general manager David Kahn said. "We have options. If we want to have cap room, we can have room. No question about it."

Darko Milicic, due $10.8 million over the final two years of his contract, is a likely amnesty candidate.

After previously stating that the Wolves didn't need to make "wholesale" changes, David Kahn plans to be aggressive this offseason.

Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio are the two franchise 'cornerstones', but the remainder of the roster doesn't appear to be untouchable.

Nikola Pekovic will undergo surgery on May 15th to remove bone spurs from his right ankle.

Pekovic has had a breakout 11-12 season for Minnesota.

David Kahn will return for the 12-13 season as Minnesota's general manager.

Glen Taylor said that the Wolves will pick up their team option on Kahn's contract.

Kahn signed a three-year deal in 2009 that included two additional seasons as team options.

Kevin Love will miss the final two games of the regular season as he recovers from a concussion.

Love has not played since April 11th when he suffered a concussion and strained neck.

Love had passed all of his concussion tests and cleared to play, but Minnesota chose not to risk further injury.