2022 Off-Season Around the League

[Q-is-here]

Recent photos of Zion are making the rounds on social media. He lost all that weight and looks absolutely yolked, best shape of his life. Fucking Western conference man...

I do hope the guy can stay healthy.

I hope so, but I'm still skeptical he's gonna ever get thru a year playing over 70 games. New Orleans should have drafted Ja.

Well...I think it's fair to be a little concerned about Ja's health too.

I am so glad we have Ant. He has the PERFECT NBA body and talent to architect a team around. He's definitely far from a perfect player, but as of right now I'd take him over either Zion or Ja.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

For the sake of fairness, we still have to worry about Anthony Edwards and his knees. I'm hoping that issue went away, especially after some rest and rehabilitation, but he relies on athleticism quite a bit over pure skill. Any sort of knee injury could significantly reduce his effectiveness.

[Q-is-here]

For the sake of fairness, we still have to worry about Anthony Edwards and his knees. I'm hoping that issue went away, especially after some rest and rehabilitation, but he relies on athleticism quite a bit over pure skill. Any sort of knee injury could significantly reduce his effectiveness.

Agree, that is a concern. I just love his combination of size, athleticism, and guard skills. Morant and Zion both have some holes in their games even when healthy. I just think Ant's ceiling is higher than both those guys in terms of blossoming into a 2-way star.

[Lipoli390]

Rumors are now pick #7 for OG. Portland could get good really quickly

Until this off-season, I wasn't sure if they were rebuilding, reloading or going for it. Grant and pursuit of OG, tell me its the latter. I think Portland will aggressively seek to resign Nurkic. I'm thinking we probably have to focus on Hartenstein, Bamba, Drummond and Jalen Smith as I don't think we can outbid Portland for Nurkic and I'd have to assume that he'd stay there for the same money.

Yep. I think the Blazers have shown their hand and it's definitely not a rebuild. :). So I agree that Nurkic is likely staying in Portland. And I agree that means the Wolves should focus on Hartenstein, Drummond, Jalen Smith and Mo Bamba. Of those four, Bamba is the only one who will probably require assets to acquire via sign-and-trade. But the Wolves could certainly get him for a lot less than it would take to get Capela or even Holmes.

The Blazers and Pelicans are going to be very formidable competitors in the West next season. With Kawhi back, the Clippers (who almost beat the Wolves in the play-in game) will be very good. The Mavs really upgraded their front court with the acquisition of Wood and if Brunson comes back they'll definitely be even better than last season, especially if Luka can be more durable than he was last season.

Long story short, the West will be a lot tougher next season that it was last season. One possible take-away is that the Wolves need to trade young players and picks in a big home-run swing or two in order to get much better right away. But my take-away is that the Wolves should be smart, prudent and remain on a steady course:

1. Continuing to add high-end talent through this year's draft, while developing the young talent we already have;

2. Adding a quality free agent big with our salary cap exceptions, including the $10M MLE, and the ample room the team has under the luxury tax;

3. Continuing to challenge and develop Ant and McDaniels, our two high-end young talents, who are just beginning to tap into their tremendous abilities;

4. Sticking with the KAT/DLO duo as they play just their second full season together, still young and just entering the prime years of their respective careers;

5. Further integrating the steadily improving Nowell into the team's rotation; and

6. Bringing back Prince at a price that doesn't jeopardize the team's ability to use its full MLE on a quality free agent big.

Regarding the draft, I believe there will be high-upside players who can make positive contributions early in their careers as role players - Dalen Terry, Wendell Moore, EJ Liddell and possibly Ty Ty Washington are four such players likely to be available at #19.

I think trading for a big would be a mistake given the number of quality free agent bigs available. But that doesn't mean the Wolves shouldn't consider making a smart, strategic trade for a player at any position who could help the team. I see Beasley, Naz Reid and our three 2nd-round picks as potentially valuable trade chips that could be used for the right player. At the same time, the Wolves shouldn't be intent on trading Beasley. He's valuable to the Wolves as well as other teams as an elite 3-point shooter who can also rebound, run the floor, and finish on the break. He also likely has remaining upside given his age and limited minutes to date in his career.

The West is tough and getting tougher. To deal with that reality, the Wolves front office needs to be smart and patient.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

For the sake of fairness, we still have to worry about Anthony Edwards and his knees. I'm hoping that issue went away, especially after some rest and rehabilitation, but he relies on athleticism quite a bit over pure skill. Any sort of knee injury could significantly reduce his effectiveness.

Agree, that is a concern. I just love his combination of size, athleticism, and guard skills. Morant and Zion both have some holes in their games even when healthy. I just think Ant's ceiling is higher than both those guys in terms of blossoming into a 2-way star.

I actually see it the same way as you, Q. I just figured I'd mention that we have some worries of our own with our young star. The Wolves are in a really good position with Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

[Lipoli390]

Woj said John Collins is likely to be moved whether it's draft night or later.
Multiple reporters have been reporting Collins is likely to be moved this offseason from Atlanta. - 10:49 PM

Woj is super reliable. The fact that he's that definitive about Collins being moved this summer is a big deal. I think that eventuality makes it far less likely that the Hawks will trade Capela - unless the Hawks acquire Gobert.

I'm going to speculate a bit here, but I think there are things about Collins we don't know that are probably troubling. I thought it was odd that he fell down as far as he did in the draft. And although he's put up tremendous numbers with the Hawks, they've seemingly been trying to move him for several years now. I think there's some attitude issue there that hasn't been reported. For that reason, and other factors, the Wolves are right to be focusing on acquiring Capela and not Collins in my view.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Minnesota has now been linked to Clint Capela, Rudy Gobert, and Myles Turner this off-season. If nothing else, it shows that Tim Connelly and the front office are looking to add significant size to the frontcourt. Additionally, these reports indicate to me that they, along with Chris Finch, have faith in Karl-Anthony Towns' ability to play the four spot regularly. I don't think they'd be showing interest in these high-profile centers if that wasn't the case. Rather, I think we'd hear about the Wolves interest in lesser bigs that won't cost as much in the form of assets and salary cap allotment.

[KG4Ever]

Per Chris Kirschner, The Hawks and Spurs are reportedly talking about a John Collins for Dejounte Murray deal. I also found this bit: "The San Antonio Spurs are fielding trade offers for Dejounte Murray, but have told multiple interested teams it would take a "Jrue Holiday-like package" to trade him. The New Orleans Pelicans received three first round picks from the Milwaukee Bucks for Holiday, though they also had to absorb the contract of Eric Bledsoe. The Atlanta Hawks have been the team that have had the most significant discussions with the Spurs on Murray. The deal would have included John Collins, who is widely expected to be traded this offseason. Murray's current four-year, $64 million deal is set to expire in 2024 and the Spurs could be embarking on an extended rebuild."

This is a bit of a shocker as I thought the Spurs would try to build around Murray and Vassell. Maybe the Spurs want to go the OKC and Houston route and auction assets for future draft picks.

It also seems a bit odd that Atlanta of all teams would seek Dejounte Murray with Trae Young. Does Atlanta envision Murray at the 2? Given the strange fit with Atlanta and the haul the Spurs are seeking, I am a bit skeptical this deal gets done.

[KG4Ever]

Minnesota has now been linked to Clint Capela, Rudy Gobert, and Myles Turner this off-season. If nothing else, it shows that Tim Connelly and the front office are looking to add significant size to the frontcourt. Additionally, these reports indicate to me that they, along with Chris Finch, have faith in Karl-Anthony Towns' ability to play the four spot regularly. I don't think they'd be showing interest in these high-profile centers if that wasn't the case. Rather, I think we'd hear about the Wolves interest in lesser bigs that won't cost as much in the form of assets and salary cap allotment.

It also tells me that these teams are using the Wolves to try to drive the demand up for the players they might trade as all three had been rumored to be on the block before the Wolves name surfaced. Maybe, Connelly is using these teams too, to get the word out that Minnesota is looking for a starting big, to hopefully get the free agent centers interested in coming here.

[Monster]

Woj said John Collins is likely to be moved whether it's draft night or later.
Multiple reporters have been reporting Collins is likely to be moved this offseason from Atlanta. - 10:49 PM

Woj is super reliable. The fact that he's that definitive about Collins being moved this summer is a big deal. I think that eventuality makes it far less likely that the Hawks will trade Capela - unless the Hawks acquire Gobert.

I'm going to speculate a bit here, but I think there are things about Collins we don't know that are probably troubling. I thought it was odd that he fell down as far as he did in the draft. And although he's put up tremendous numbers with the Hawks, they've seemingly been trying to move him for several years now. I think there's some attitude issue there that hasn't been reported. For that reason, and other factors, the Wolves are right to be focusing on acquiring Capela and not Collins in my view.

Before Atlanta went on that crazy playoff run there were reports Collins wasn't happy with his role he wanted to be featured more. Remember Collins was about to be a RFA and Atlanta wasn't sure whether they wanted to resign him. What happened was unexpected. The Hawks had a drastic turnaround ended up in the playoffs and had a nice run. To some extent the winning probably made things better and the Hawks were also at a point where they wanted to win games so resigning Collins sounded a lot better. They found some common ground and signed what looked like something around what Collins was actually worth. Maybe Collins is back to wanting a bigger role and maybe the Hawks are back to thinking maybe he isn't their guy long term. Reports are kinda all over the place. Either the reports don't mean much or the Hawks are up to something that's pretty out of the box. That actually tracks with their GM he is a guy willing to make moves. I also think if they deal Collins it will be part of them getting some legit value for him. Let's think of it this way. If last offseason they had gotten a first round pick in a sign and trade for him that would be pretty decent. I'd guess they can get at least that much value from him now even after a year where he wasn't as good and missed games due to injury.