Center Position

[Krapinsky]

the answer to your question peedee is Marc Gasol. He can be had from the Lakers. See my trade inquiry from the Ratliff thread.

[C.lupus]

According to Hoopshype, we'll be approximately at 55 million dollars next year, and the salary cap will be set at approximately 58 million dollars(based on past increases in the cap). I think these figures are wrong, because they do not take into account Howard, and Hudson's buyout. Do the buyouts basically mean that their contracts only count towards the cap this year? Also, is Sebastian Telfair a restricted or unrestricted free agent?

I thought I saw in another thread that we would be 10.7 million under next year if we didn't sign Smith, Gomes, or Telfair. That's what I was going with. I wouldn't sign Diop if it put us over the lux. I think Telfair is unrestricted but I'm not sure either.

[4ho5ive]

Bassy is a RFA.

[cmc32124]

-= original quote snipped =-


I thought I saw in another thread that we would be 10.7 million under next year if we didn't sign Smith, Gomes, or Telfair. That's what I was going with. I wouldn't sign Diop if it put us over the lux. I think Telfair is unrestricted but I'm not sure either.

He is quoting the Salary Cap, not the Luxury Tax Threshold. We can go over the cap, but not over the tax threshold which i believe is 68 million next year.

if we sit at 55 mill next year and the tax threshold is 68 million then we would be about 13 million under the tax threshold

[TheProdigy]

-= original quote snipped =-



He is quoting the Salary Cap, not the Luxury Tax Threshold. We can go over the cap, but not over the tax threshold which i believe is 68 million next year.

if we sit at 55 mill next year and the tax threshold is 68 million then we would be about 13 million under the tax threshold

We can go over the salary cap to resign our own players, but not to sign players away from other teams.

[All Day]

I've been in favor of bringing in a guy like Diop but wouldnt overpay for him. He seems like a guy who will underperform when given the big contract. But for the MLE I would give it a shot.

Another option who might not fit the description of the tough shot blocker needed next to Al but is still worth a look would be Zaza Pachulia. He is an athletic big man who plays pretty good defense but has fallen out of favor in ATL and has not lived up to expectations after decent play last year.

He has a contract paying $4 mil this year and $4 mil next year and he could probably be had for expirings. His numbers have not been great this year in the limited time he has had, but maybe a change of scenery would be good for him.

He is young (24 next month) and might be a viable one year rental at the least given that there arent many great options at C in FA who would be willing to come to MIN for limited pay.

A simple Doleac/Zaza swap could be able to get the trick done and give MIN more options come draft time.

[PeeDee]

I like it. I was actually in favor of the 3 way trade with Phoenix and Atlanta during the KG sweepstakes.

That trade was reported to bring Marvin Williams, Zaza and the 3rd and 11th picks to Minnesota.

I think it's worth a shot, good idea.

[deeney0]

Wolves can resign Gomes, Smith, Telfair, and Richard without touching their MLE money next year. To resign Green, the money would come out of the MLE, since his option was rejected.

Wolve will only be about $10.7mil under the luxury tax threshold next year, give or take a million. The assumption is that the Wolves won't over the lux; there is huge financial incentive not to.

With so few teams under the cap, the most Diop (and most, if not all FAs) can hope for next offseason is MLE money, about $5.5mil. I imagine that's what he will fetch, give or take. Gomes, Smith, and Telfair all also have the potential to receive MLE-sized offers from other teams. Will they? Who knows. But that's the sort of give and take we should expect this off season. Were the Wolves to sign Diop to an MLE sized deal, they could probably only afford to keep one of Smith, Gomes, or Telfair.

That's all assuming the Wolves don't make any moves. If they could find a taker for, say, Buckner and one of the 2nds for an expiring deal, that'd give them almost $4.5mil more space. Since Buckner only has a two year deal, there might be some teams that that would appeal to. Bigger deals are, of course, also possible.

[omeloon]

You guys want a powerful big man? I remember Celtic fans always thinking a finesse big man would work best with Jefferson. Charlie V could probably come cheap. Might be a decent option. Unfortunately, that would mean Jefferson would have to play center.

[Krapinsky]

not interested.

[JBoog35]

I think the problem with getting a center with no offense and superior scrapping skills is that it doesn't help the flow of the offense.

Al is a post player. A damn good one. The majority of plays should run through him. That said, I'm not sure a player with no offense is what the Wolves need at the center postion.

The reason why I say this is a player with little offense will not force an opposing center to stay away from Al in the post. The opposing center could always provide help defense from the weakside limiting Al's effectiveness.

Shouldn't the Wolves be looking for a 5 that can spread the floor a little bit? One Al can pass off to if he is being doubled in the post for the 15 ft jumper? One that can set up the offense in the high post?

I think a player like Ilgauskas would be a better fit. Boards at a good rate and spreads the floor a little bit. Brad Miller perhaps? If you can throw some youth and defensive help into their games I think that would be the perfect center for us.

Right now the player closest to that assessment is Hibbert. Maybe Koufos down the road. I would be totally happy with a first round choice of Hibbert and a 2nd round choice of Pekovic (tough guy).

I am going to respectfully disagree. Another soft post defender like Rasho is not going to help this team. A superior post defender who can garnish just enough respect to keep his defender honest is best. We have Gomes or Toine play the 4 to spread the floor and to be honest, the offensive production varies from opponent to opponent. When Richard or Theo play, I don't see a huge difference. What I do see is when Theo and Richard play, the interior defense is better, much better.... I just don't see a jump shooting soft center helping this team AT ALL.

[C.lupus]

Wolves can resign Gomes, Smith, Telfair, and Richard without touching their MLE money next year. To resign Green, the money would come out of the MLE, since his option was rejected.

Wolve will only be about $10.7mil under the luxury tax threshold next year, give or take a million. The assumption is that the Wolves won't over the lux; there is huge financial incentive not to.

With so few teams under the cap, the most Diop (and most, if not all FAs) can hope for next offseason is MLE money, about $5.5mil. I imagine that's what he will fetch, give or take. Gomes, Smith, and Telfair all also have the potential to receive MLE-sized offers from other teams. Will they? Who knows. But that's the sort of give and take we should expect this off season. Were the Wolves to sign Diop to an MLE sized deal, they could probably only afford to keep one of Smith, Gomes, or Telfair.

That's all assuming the Wolves don't make any moves. If they could find a taker for, say, Buckner and one of the 2nds for an expiring deal, that'd give them almost $4.5mil more space. Since Buckner only has a two year deal, there might be some teams that that would appeal to. Bigger deals are, of course, also possible.

Thanks deeney0. I knew I saw that 10.7 m number from someone. I'm a basketball fan but I'm not a CBA geek like others here (I say that with the utmost respect). I would love to get Diop with the MLE but I suspect it will be hard to convince him to come here unless playing time is really important to him so I'm going to start dreaming about someone else now.

[PeeDee]

I am going to respectfully disagree. Another soft post defender like Rasho is not going to help this team. A superior post defender who can garnish just enough respect to keep his defender honest is best. We have Gomes or Toine play the 4 to spread the floor and to be honest, the offensive production varies from opponent to opponent. When Richard or Theo play, I don't see a huge difference. What I do see is when Theo and Richard play, the interior defense is better, much better.... I just don't see a jump shooting soft center helping this team AT ALL.

I hear you loud and clear, however, I didn't say anything about Rasho or softness. I just said I want a center who is more than a garbage man. I want a center who isn't an offensive liability. Just because a guy can hit an outside shot doesn't mean he's soft. It doesn't have to be one or the other (offense or defense) as it seems that some people think around here.

I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask for a center that can defend the post, help on the weakside, rebound, and hit a consistant outside jumper. Whether or not we can land that player is a different story.

[karch34]

You know, he'd be good salary filler in a deal right now. NJN would pay us to haul him away, and we would find out real quickly if he has any chance of recovering a pretty idecent game from 3 years back.

I think Doleac for Magliore would be a good deal if they're desperate to move him. Both are expirings, so nothing is lost. Magliore has gone down a lot, but at the same time we could give him a half season audition and he might be a much more economical fit than others. Plus it's not like Doleac is seeing the floor much.

[shrink]

I think that NJN would be amenable to a Magloire + lotto-protected 1st for Doleac + Craig Smith. Magloire's griping about losing time to Sean Williams and Josh Boone, and collins of course, but Krstic will put him over the edge. Doleac will quietly accept his role.

[IcemanMN]

I'd rather trade for a center than draft one. For one thing, we seem to play better when we go up-tempo, and that aon't Hibbert. We have a lot of pieces to trade with, why not use them?

[karch34]

Shrink, that deal sounds really good. NJ really wants a PF, so Craig would fit.

IcemanMN, you bring up a good point. I'm not against drafting a C, but that seems to have high bust potential more than other positions. Also, with Al, Gomes, McCants, Foye, and possibly Beasley/Mayo/Rose that's plenty of scoring and a better fit at C might be a functional big man who can clog the lane and get some boards. I do think it might be better to trade for that with the pieces we have.

[omeloon]

Yeah, might be better to trade for center. Maybe even Dalembert if don't mind his contract. Wolves still need another nice building block, so it'd be great if they can get pretty sure bet via the draft

[All Day]

Was anyone else aware that Sene was sent down to the D-league? I know it's against weaker competition, but he's been playing great lately. Will this guy ever make it in the NBA and is there any chance the Wolves could trade for him or pick him up when he expires?

Some stats:
http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/index.jsp?player=mouhamed_sene

[chrbal]

People may not like the idea, but getting David Harrison-Indiana and/or Zaza Pachulia-Atlanta wouldn't be the worst idea.

Harrison has his issues, but hes pretty much dirt cheap and a free agent next season. So it would be 1/2 season rental, probably costing all of Michael Doleac....who is just about gone anyways.

Pachulias going through a rough season. But only costs $4 mil for this and next season. Not to mention hes ALMOST 24. If all you get are his career averages, you still got something. 8.4 pts per game and 5.7 rebounds per game in 22.6 minutes a game.