Camden0916 wrote:lipoli390 wrote:With DLO out, I want to see his minutes and some of Okogie's minutes divided between Culver and Nowell in this final preseason game. If Beasley is out the first two games, it will be interesting to see who gets his minutes.
What are the Wolves going to do with JMac? Will they sign him? If they do, who gets cut. Nowell? RHJ? I think they'll sign JMac and release Nowell. If they do, I think it will be a big mistake. On the other hand, I think this team needs what RHJ brings (size, defense, toughness, energy) and I'm a big fan of JMac who gives this team some much-needed quickness. This roster is so poorly constructed, it's hard to figure out the best move to make.
Once Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was brought on to the roster, the smart move would have been to waive Jarred Vanderbilt before his guarantee date and lock Jordan McLaughlin into a Naz Reid type contract. That date has since passed and now the Wolves have a difficult decision to make.
Speaking of Reid, he's another guy that could be waived without his money hitting the cap. However, that would not be a wise move, in my opinion. He can really play. There's a lot to like there as a cheap rotation big.
For me, Jaylen Nowell is the odd man out now, which is unfortunate considering he's a plenty talented kid with NBA ability. This roster is just so heavily invested into at the wings that he's the most logical cut in order to make room for J-Mac.
Maybe the Wolves are banking on being able to bring back J-Mac as their second two-way player? I think that would be kind of shitty towards McLaughlin, though.
Vanderbilt's guarantee date was November 28 and RHJ signed Dec 3. Regardless the Wolves were talking Vanderbilt up so they were going to keep him around.
At this point J-Mac is basically their 2nd 2-way player as he is taking up that spot because it's his qualifying offer. Idk if that's really what they want to do though. If they want to keep everyone on the roster which I think they probably do then that's the only path to do so. The Wolves obviously can't promise anything but they could be more generous on his next contract to help make up for what he lost as a 2-way player this season. If I was McLaughlin I certainly wouldn't be banking on anything like that though And he is obviously going for something player friendly. How long does he simply sit out though? At some point he will be losing money for every game he doesn't play on some sort of contract. It's certainly an unfortunate situation. Still a 2-way deal isn't a bad gig and you do get another year of NBA service time so even if he only signs a vet min deal next year that's a few hundred thousand more with that service time. Honesty if he come back this year as a 2-way player and plays like we think he is capable of...he will get some decent offers next offseason even as a RFA. There is basically no restrictions on 2-way players this year so I would guess he would be with the Wolves pretty much the entire season.
