A (long) summary of the the current Wolves situation

[big3_8_19_21]

Here's what we've got for sure:
A starting 4 in Big Al (NOT A CENTER!!!!)
A starting combo guard in Foye (which ever position is needed)
A back-up big in Craig Smith
A solid all-around guy in Gomes
The league's most enthusiastic cheer leader in Madsen
A guaranteed top 4 pick in a good draft, the 31st pick of the draft, Miami's 2nd rounder

Here's what we might have:
A defensive lock-down guy in Brewer
A 4th big behind Smith to play maybe 10 min a game in Richard
Doubtfully a mid 1st from Miami if the make the playoffs (not likely)

Here's our enigmas:
McCants - inconsistent
Green - is he inconsistent or are his minutes just inconsistent?
Telfair - INCONSISTENT

Here's what we unfortunately have:
A PERFECT fit center that's 10 years too old for the team in Ratliff
A nasty contract on a player we don't need in Jaric
A 6'9" Troy Hudson in Antoine Walker
An aging guy we have no use for in Buckner
Another old guy that's expiring in Doleac

Making our projected line-up look like this:
Foye/(Telfair?)
(McCants?)/(Green?)
Brewer/Gomes
Jefferson/Smith/Madsen
??????/Richard

Here's what we need to fix this:
1. Another CONSISTENT offensive weapon for an additional starting back court player. If one our guys that we have can do that, great but they need to show consistency.
-a second option here is starting Brewer at the 2 and getting an offensive powerhouse 3.
2. A defensive shot blocking C with legit size

Here's what we can use to get those items:
1. One great draft pick, one great second rounder, expirings

Possible routes out of this world of hurt:
1. draft Rose, start him with Foye and bring McCants or Green off the bench (which ever looks the best), acquire a center through trade such as trading for a 13-18 pick to get Hardin or trading more to get a better lotto pick for Koufos, Jordan or Hibbert.

2. same except Mayo instead of Rose

3. Draft Beasley, slide Brewer to the 2, same deal for a center

4. Trade our first rounder for a center like Bynum and hope that McCants, Green or Telfair pans out.

5. Take one of the elite perimeter guys in the draft and try to scrounge for a starting quality C (yeah, good luck). Perhaps aiming for someone like Nathan Jawai at 31 or trading for a project and hoping they pan out like Mouhamed Sene, Patrick O'Bryant or Johan Petro.

6. Some how manage an S&T for Okafor?...I don't know...

Does that sum up or predicament pretty well?
How can we possibly solve this?

[kandiking]

fire mchale

[JBoog35]

I agree with most of your assessment. The only piece I don't agree with is that Walker is a 6'9" Troy Hudson. Walker has a nice post game, something that Troy doesn't have. He also seems to have a great attitude, and isn't going to retire from injury. I have been a fan of him and if we had a contender type team, there is no way I let him leave this team. He would be invaluable.

As far as the options go. I think everyone needs to see what Foye can do in "the man" role. I think you make your draft decision based on Foye's play. If Foye shows floor general qualities, you take Mayo. If Foye shows a scorers mentality, you take Rose. I'm not sure I'd want Beasley, I'd need to see more.

One thing I do agree with is trying to aquire a pick to ALSO take an actual 5 in this draft. There seems to be some nice options.

[4ho5ive]

I agree with Boog on 'Toine's situation. He has been a good influence on the pups and has really taken over a mentor-like mentality.

And I think if you want to make the inconsistent minutes argument for Green, you can also make the same argument for McCants. He has gone from starting and getting 23-28 mpg to starting and getting 15-18 mpg to coming off the bench and being asked to occasionally be a ball handler. That cant be good for the kids confidence. We dont really feed him the ball at all down the stretch.

[Magoose]

Nice summary of our situation.

Just missing the case of us falling down to Pick No. 4 in the lottery with Rose, Mayo, Beasley already gone in the draft night. Not likely, put possible.

If this occurs it would be a tough decision to make. We could draft either some fire power from outside (e.g. gordon?) that may get al some more space on the offensive end, use the fourth pick to go for a big one next to al (even though drafting one of those guys with the fourth pick might be a bit of a waste) (hibbert, jordan, koufos) or try to trade down (maybe to get another first rounder or former 1st rounder (Belinelli?; O'Bryant), etc.

Let's all hope that this is never going to happen...

[C.lupus]

Nice summary big. Just a couple thoughts:

Here's what we need to fix this:
1. Another CONSISTENT offensive weapon for an additional starting back court player. If one our guys that we have can do that, great but they need to show consistency.
-a second option here is starting Brewer at the 2 and getting an offensive powerhouse 3.
2. A defensive shot blocking C with legit size

I'd switch the order of these two. I think the center position is WAY more important at this point, though we do need consistent scoring too.

Here's what we can use to get those items:
1. One great draft pick, one great second rounder, expirings

Possible routes out of this world of hurt:
1. draft Rose, start him with Foye and bring McCants or Green off the bench (which ever looks the best), acquire a center through trade such as trading for a 13-18 pick to get Hardin or trading more to get a better lotto pick for Koufos, Jordan or Hibbert.

2. same except Mayo instead of Rose

3. Draft Beasley, slide Brewer to the 2, same deal for a center

4. Trade our first rounder for a center like Bynum and hope that McCants, Green or Telfair pans out.

5. Take one of the elite perimeter guys in the draft and try to scrounge for a starting quality C (yeah, good luck). Perhaps aiming for someone like Nathan Jawai at 31 or trading for a project and hoping they pan out like Mouhamed Sene, Patrick O'Bryant or Johan Petro.

6. Some how manage an S&T for Okafor?...I don't know...

Does that sum up or predicament pretty well?
How can we possibly solve this?

I can't imagine LA doing that since they wouldn't trade Bynum for KG, but I would certainly try. I would even offer our pick and Miami's. Taking a flier on Sene, POB, or Petro is worth it if we can get them cheap. I don't think any of them are the long-term solution, though. Another option for the 5 is Diop. He might be more attainable than Okafor.

[Worm Guts]

Nice summary big. Just a couple thoughts:

-= original quote snipped =-


I can't imagine LA doing that since they wouldn't trade Bynum for KG, .

Where'd you get that idea?

[shrink]

1. I like the discrete way you think.

2. I'd like to try to sign POB next summer, but not trade for him now. He's done so badly, GSW didn't extend him, and if he stays in GSW where he never plays, his price should stay in the toilet. I'd hope for a 2 year, $2.5 mil ave deal, and since he's from the Twin Cities and have a need, I think we'd be an attractive place for the guy to consider. He probably won't work, but he's worth a shot at that price, imho.

3. Sebzor on the trade boards had a blockbuster that would fit your needs .. bringing in Iguodala and Dalembert. Iggy turned down Philly's offer in the pre-season, and Dalembert, while finally showing some of his potential, is also a high price guy. I think of our team as the farthest from a rebuild, but if we dealt perhaps Foye + MIA pick + Gomes + Craig Smith + GG + Ratliff, I might do it and absorb all that salary. Sicne I'm dreaming anyway, we could use the top pick for Derrick Rose, and be looking at:

(D. Rose)/Telfair
Iguodala/McCants/Buckner
Brewer/Jaric
Jefferson/Walker
Dalembert/Richard/(POB)

Pretty huge make-over, but it fits your two biggest needs, scoring SG and big defensive C, pretty nicely.

[C.lupus]

I don't know, brain fart? listening to too many LA posters?

I still can't imagine LA letting Bynum go for one pick, though.

[seccom]

As a Laker fan, here is what happen in LA regarding Bynum:

In the summer, no one in LA will object to a Bynum for KG trade.

At this point, I have a feeling at least 50% of LA is happy that the KG did not happen.

In fact, last Friday, AM570 had a full hour on this subject. I would say the opinion is 50-50.

Personally, I am happy that Bynum to KG trade did not happen. As long as San Antonio is still a title contenter, no team will be certain to get the title even with KG.

[Worm Guts]

I don't know, brain fart? listening to too many LA posters?

I still can't imagine LA letting Bynum go for one pick, though.

I agree that the Lakers probably don't trade Bynum at all at this point but he's improved a lot since last season. His value is different now.

[gjn19]

we should draft beasley....easily the best player in the draft which would give us a perfect 3 for years to come.

i don't like us taking rose...we have foye for this...he'll be good enough. rose is not the tough-nose player i'm looking for. beasley is. he can take over games on his own...would be perfect next to foye and al.

beasley all the way.

[Klomp]

If we can't get Bynum, why can't we do the next best thing and draft a guy who is similar to Bynum: DeAndre Jordan.

I think those two guys are similar. And for those talking about how he doesn't have any post moves and can only dunk, remember, the Wolves have one of the best post scorers of all time on their payroll in the front office. I'm sure he could teach DJ a thing or two about post scoring.

Even if he only can dunk and rebound, we need someone who can clean the glass so Jefferson doesn't have to waste all of his energy on defense.

[IcemanMN]

1. I like the discrete way you think.

2. I'd like to try to sign POB next summer, but not trade for him now. He's done so badly, GSW didn't extend him, and if he stays in GSW where he never plays, his price should stay in the toilet. I'd hope for a 2 year, $2.5 mil ave deal, and since he's from the Twin Cities and have a need, I think we'd be an attractive place for the guy to consider. He probably won't work, but he's worth a shot at that price, imho.

3. Sebzor on the trade boards had a blockbuster that would fit your needs .. bringing in Iguodala and Dalembert. Iggy turned down Philly's offer in the pre-season, and Dalembert, while finally showing some of his potential, is also a high price guy. I think of our team as the farthest from a rebuild, but if we dealt perhaps Foye + MIA pick + Gomes + Craig Smith + GG + Ratliff, I might do it and absorb all that salary. Sicne I'm dreaming anyway, we could use the top pick for Derrick Rose, and be looking at:

(D. Rose)/Telfair
Iguodala/McCants/Buckner
Brewer/Jaric
Jefferson/Walker
Dalembert/Richard/(POB)

Pretty huge make-over, but it fits your two biggest needs, scoring SG and big defensive C, pretty nicely.

Not bad at all! My only concern is, the 76ers are a losing basketball team with those two guys. Why would we become a winning team by adding them?

[horaceworthy]

I don't think we have to worry too much about Jefferson wasting energy on defense.

Jordan's got nice upside, he might be the closest of the rest of the freshman class to Beasley/Rose's upside, but he's got a lot more rough edges to polish than the other possible high lotto picks.

[deeney0]

Which is no surprise, because he's a 19 year old 7 footer.

[delux55]

We wont be competing for a playoff run for a few years anyway so Jordan is the pick for me. He has the size and athleticism to be a great big in this league.

[dunkonu21]

The Wolves biggest problems are:

1. Confidence/Experience (biggest problem)
2. Bad interior defense (blame craig?, Al is not the problem when he plays PF)
3. FT disparity (we foul WAY too much/shoot too many jumpers on O)
4. Basketball I.Q. is sub-par
5. Bad defensive rebounding
6. No Go-to scorer (come back Foye!)
7. No consistent minutes (Wittman struggles, but it's not our biggest problem)
8. Lack of outside shooting
9. Physically weak
10. Transition defense


there ARE ten thing we suck at...the order is less important than the idea...

[Klomp]

The Wolves biggest problems are:

1. Confidence/Experience (biggest problem)
2. Bad interior defense (blame craig?, Al is not the problem when he plays PF)
3. FT disparity (we foul WAY too much/shoot too many jumpers on O)
4. Basketball I.Q. is sub-par
5. Bad defensive rebounding
6. No Go-to scorer (come back Foye!)
7. No consistent minutes (Wittman struggles, but it's not our biggest problem)
8. Lack of outside shooting
9. Physically weak
10. Transition defense


there is ten thing we suck at...the order is less important than the idea...

ARE!

[deeney0]

So grammer is #11?