MIN - CLE

[tundraknight]

Do the T-Wolves also have the Celtics 09 1st? If so, that would leave the wolves with 3 first rounders in 09 if this trade went down. Clearing a lot of cap space and having several 1st rounders seems like a good direction to go for a rebuilding team.

[Devilzsidewalk]

we already have plenty of late 1st round talent though, we need more early 1st round talent

[shrink]

Lots of teams would want to make a player for Boozer, and we could absorb a contract that would expire in 2010 and pick up draft picks or something else... examples Maybe taking mobley, thomas, gordon, our 1st back from the clippers for cap space so they could sign boozer; or taking a player from some team so they avoid the luxury tax threshold.

This is an amazing idea, and wouldn't affect 2010 plans.

[shrink]

Do the T-Wolves also have the Celtics 09 1st? If so, that would leave the wolves with 3 first rounders in 09 if this trade went down. Clearing a lot of cap space and having several 1st rounders seems like a good direction to go for a rebuilding team.

We could actually have five in 2009 with this deal: MIN's, MIA, UTA, BOS, and CLE's. However, all are protected, so we could possibly end with zero.

we already have plenty of late 1st round talent though, we need more early 1st round talent

I agree we have plenty, but we won't get early ones without something to trade for them. However, I see these picks less as young players and more like grease to make borderline trades go our way, so the other GM's have some young pick to take to their fans after a deal.

[shrink]

I've been giving this trade a little more thought, and I wanted to give two thoughts here to add to consideration:

1. Several sites are predicting the Wolves to finish in the 30-35 wins this season. Last year, 34 wins was the 10th worst record, followed by 36 and 37. With our new team, I could easily see us falling out of the Top Ten protection on our draft pick, and losing it to LAC. Certainly since a team can slip ahead in the lottery, carry Mike Miller makes the picks loss more dangerous, and hurt us. Our best interests would be to pay off this pick after we had added the free agent/traded for the key player, and had a season where we played well to lower that pick's value.

2. Right now, there are only a handful of teams that will be excluded from the 2010 Free Agency we are aiming for. Right now, teams like NOH, CLE, BOS, DAL are some of the few that won't be a buyer in that market, and more teams are trying hard to move in all the time, like NYK. However, the 2009 Free Agency is completely the opposite. The teams that could sign a free agent are POR, MEM, MIA (if they let Marion expire, which is doubtful), ATL (if they renounce Marvin Williams - again doubtful), and OKC. I could even see POR making a mid-season trade add a player if they are contending for the play-offs.

For those that wring their hands over whether we're a bad destination for free agents, why wait until 2010 to compete with so many other great locations? If the choice for a 2009 FA is MIN, MEM, or OKC, we could very well be at the top of that list! Personally though, I think we'll be adding talent through a trade rather than free agency anyway, but the deal costs us some wins but opens the 2009 door where we'd be a more competitive destination. Even if we didn't find anyone, we still have just as much cap space for the 2010 plan.

[deeney0]

Making a meteoric leap from basement to champion just isn't going to happen. Realistically, we're going to lose that pick at some point. Now that the Wolves have assembled a young, talented team, that should be looked at as a good thing. These guys need a winning culture. They need to make progress. 35 wins this year means the possibility of 45 wins the year after that, then 50 doesn't look so daunting any more. Getting rid of talent was fine when it was Juwon Howard and Mike James and Ricky Davis and Theo Ratliff - but now this team is ready to grow together. It's time to stop tinkering.

[the_bruce]

This is the only Miller trade that I've seen that I would do.

Wally can give us the 3pt shooter aspect to spread the floor just like miller, and the financial benefits are very good too.

The extra cap space doesn't benefit the wolves to much at first glance, but could really open up doors in the future. The team could easily pickup a few firsts for 1 year of capspace next year.

[shrink]

I understand that most of you love Mike Miller, and want wins now, so I've moved my position to trying to get rid of Cardinal using smaller assets. However, regarding this deal, the Cavs waived Allred a few days ago since he was non-guaranteed (exactly why I wanted him), so this deal wouldn't work. They do have Kinsay on an unguaranteed deal like Allred's though, but I was reading devilzsidewalk's list of attainable centers that could help us, so let me throw this one out there:

CLE GETS: Brian Cardinal (2 yr) + Mike Miller (2 yr) + Mark Madsen (2 yr) + Calvin Booth (exp)

MIN GETS: Wally Szczerbiak (exp) + Anderson Varejao + 1st


Mike Miller $9,128,575 $9,880,957
Brian Cardinal $6,300,000 $6,750,000
Mark Madsen $2,630,000 $2,840,000
Calvin Booth $1,147,533
-----------------------------------------------------
MIN OUT: $19,206,108 $19,470,957

Wally Szczerbiak $13,775,000
Anderson Varejao $5,784,480 $6,212,960 (player option)
-----------------------------------------------------
MIN IN: $19,559,480 $6,212,960


Varejao would have to agree to the deal, but he'd certainly have more opportunity here. I'm not a big fan personally, but he could be the defensive center to match with Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. Wally still spreads the floor. The deal though is to have max cap space for 2009.

When MIN fans say that Mike Miller is a great fit here, I agree. However, he's an even better fit on a few other teams that are play-off contenders, and we can get extra value in a trade now. Hopefully we could bring him back in 2010 when we might be contenders as well.

[Winter Wonder]

I have to say, I like the original better with the nice TPE. Maybe I am in the minority, but I just don't see Varejao as a true center. He may be better at defending the 5 than anything else we have, and maybe that is all we need, but he is more of an energy/defensive 4 than a true 5. I am not saying he couldn't be useful and that he is impossible to obtain, but Varejao seems more like a 4 to me than Boone out of NJN.

Either way, it is a very tough sell with M. Miller since there would be no real long-term concrete young asset going forward. A future first is not something you can build a team around since we just don't know what it would turn into. I am all for financial flexibility and making trades for better value, but it is harder to place value on something as intangible as financial flexibililty since we are uncertain of what other teams' needs will be in the future and what deals may be out there.

Finally, with Mike Miller being new and already a fan favorite, it would probably work best if a different asset were used. Unfortuneately, Miller is probably our best trading asset (assuming Jefferson is not close to being an option) and the player most teams are interested in. Though McCants is showing great signs of improvement and even though he is probably worth less league wide, trading him for a center would probably be more readily received on the MN side. You would just have to make the hard sell to the other teams in the league.