FNG wrote:Q12543 wrote:Solid deals, but not unexpected, right? I guess it's just good to get this stuff behind us before camp. It's been nice following the journey of Vando and JoMac from their G-league days to now likely being regular NBA rotation players (PBev and DLO will not stay healthy enough to keep JoMac on the bench all season).
Assuming no other moves are made, I'm pretty disappointed that we didn't find a way to add size and defense upfront. We are still going to get pushed around and bullied in the paint with this roster.
I agree with the sentiment on this board that it's nice to have Vando and JMac back. Vando has his limitations, but you can't question his effort and he thinks every rebound could be his. And JMac provides some PG depth behind 2 oft-injured PGs.
I also agree that Beverley and Prince are a slight improvement over Rubio, Culver and Prince...slight. And if we were a 50-win team, I would call it a marginally successful off-season. But we are a 23-win team, and a meh off-season like this one doesn't do it for me. Maybe we will have more health this year. But this roster is so defensively challenged, I see little hope of sniffing the playoffs even if we have perfect health.
Go all out for Simmons, or be comfortable with the low 30s win total Vegas is forecasting. Guys, the evidence is in: Vegas is much better at forecasting our win total than we are.
Where I differ with you, FNG, is in your focus on the Wolves 23 wins. I won't brush that number aside entire, but I don't think it comes close to accurately reflecting the potential of this Wolves team for the following reasons:
1. First, the Wolves were riddled with injuries and off-court issues last season that I believe had a substantial negative impact on that win total. KAT missed 30% of the team's games last season from a wrist injury and Covid, had a seriously injured wrist in most of the games he played, and began the season on the heels of his mom's passing from Covid. DLO missed over 40% of the team's games because of knee surgery and was probably hobbled by his knee in most of the game he played before his surgery. Malik Beasley played in only about half of the team's games because of an ankle injury.
2. Second, the lack of any meaningful training camp before last season likely had a disproportionally negative impact on the Wolves and similar teams that were young team and that hadn't played together for any significant length of time.
3. The Wolves relied pretty heavily on two rookies - Edwards and McDaniels -- who should both be significantly better as 2nd-year players based solely on the improvement experienced by most of the better NBA players in their second seasons. The improvement should be particular substantial for Edwards and McDaniels given their lack of any training camp or summer league before last season and the fact that they were both among the youngest members of their draft class.
4. The team will have a full training camp and season under a quality head coach after last year's teams spent its first 31 games under a head coach who shouldn't have been an NBA head coach.
Those four factors, in my view, held the Wolves win total significantly below the number of wins achievable with the talent on the team's roster. There is precedent for teams doubling or nearly doubling their win total in one season without substantial off-season personnel upgrades. The 2019-20 Suns were a good example as were the 2012-13 Warriors. KAT was an iron man until two years ago. I fully expect him to return to his normal high level of durability. I also expect Beasley to remain healthy. DLO is another question. He's never been particularly durable, but I'm hoping he's turned the corner after his knee procedure last season. I expect the Wolves to finish a little north of .500 next session, which should put them squally in the hunt of a playoff slot.
