Last season Miami was a lottery team with a bloated payroll full of hard-to-move contracts, and their 2021 first round pick had already been traded away without lottery protection. In one summer, with no salary flexibility and the 13th pick in the NBA draft, Miami's front office has turned the team into one of the best in the League. With limited assets and bad contracts, they were able to trade for Butler. But drafting Herro and signing Nunn have been even more impactful so far this season than the Butler acquisition. Miami's front office was also smart enough to sign Winslow last season while also rejecting deals that would have required them to part with Winslow or Bam.
So yes, Rome wasn't build in a day. But an NBA team can be built in one summer - assuming a savvy front office.
The Wolves had a chance this past summer to significantly upgrade the team for the long term. Gersson' s signature moves were trading up and drafting Culver in the 1st round, drafting Nowell in the 2nd round and signing Layman and Reid to multi-year deals. Whether those moves pay off long term remains to be seen.
The Wolves will have another chance next summer with their two draft picks, including a likely lottery pick in the 10-13 range, and the possibly the availability of some young unheralded free agents with great potential. Maybe Rosas will draft a Tyler Herro and/or sign a Kendrick Nunn. Unlike Miami this past summer, the Wolves already have a young star, KAT, to build around. So the opportunity to vault the Wolves substantially forward exists between now and this time next season. Let's hope next summer is as productive for the Wolves as this past summer was for the Miami Heat.
What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Re: What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Miami is an example of a franchise that doesn't have to get everything right and still be a winningish organization. All they have been doing since losing LeBron and Bosh is finishing guys that are either hidden gems or players that had depressed markets and get more out of them. The Wolves summer offseason did a bit of that type of work. What will the fruits ultimately be? Idk but the Miami Heat culture has been in effect for a while now. If the Wolves have a culture and find the right guys to add to it...well the Wolves offseason will have been really good even if they didn't nail the draft or whatever because they will have done something sustainable and something that will bring success for a long time. Part of what worked for Miami was they did end up with some assets to get a top player in Butler. You don't always have to get star players to get star players.
How many people were thinking Winslow was a bad pick a couple years ago? Who knew who Duncan Robinson even was? Now it's Nunn looking like a good pickup. These guys didn't all burst onto the scene right out of college. It took time. It's early but it feels like the Wolves are already moving in a direction where they might not suck even with a roster that doesn't exactly excite people. Will adding guys like Layman be solid moves to help them be compete over this year and beyond? We will see.
How many people were thinking Winslow was a bad pick a couple years ago? Who knew who Duncan Robinson even was? Now it's Nunn looking like a good pickup. These guys didn't all burst onto the scene right out of college. It took time. It's early but it feels like the Wolves are already moving in a direction where they might not suck even with a roster that doesn't exactly excite people. Will adding guys like Layman be solid moves to help them be compete over this year and beyond? We will see.
Re: What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Monster - As we all know, no organization, not even San Antonio, does everything right. But the good ones make a lot of really smart moves amidst the mistakes.
After making a lot of mistakes and ending up a lottery team with bad contracts, Miami was able to catapult itself out of the abyss in a relatively short time with some smart, savvy player personnel decisions by their front office - mainly smart draft picks and young free agent signings. Drafting Winslow with the 10th pick and Josh Richardson with the 40th pick in 2015 years were the first in a number of smart decisions that put Miami where it is today. Miami's smart draft decisions continued in 2017 when they drafted Bam with the 14th pick. Miami really hit pay dirt this past summer drafting Tyler Herro with the 13th pick, signing Nunn the end of last season after he spent only 1 year with Golden State's G-League team, and signing Duncan Robinson as an undrafted free agent just last year.
Importantly, Miami's front office was smart and patient enough to resist the impulse to trade young talent like Winslow and Adebayo. Winslow in particular did not develop quickly, but the Heat remained patient with him even as the team struggled. The Heat also hung onto Josh Richardson until they got the right deal 4 years after drafting him, converting him into Jimmy Butler.
Of all Miami's moves the past 5 years, I think the most impressive have been (1) signing Robinson as an undrafted free agent one year ago, (2) signing Nunn as a rookie free agent after only 1 year on another team's G-League team, and (3) drafting Herro with the 13th pick.
What's noteworthy is that none of this young talent acquired by Miami were top 5 draft picks. Among the draft picks, Winslow was #10, Richardson #40, Bam #14, Herro #13. Of course, Nunn and Robinson were undrafted free-agent signings.
The lesson for the Wolves is that you don't need top 5 picks or even top 10 picks to build a top tier team. You need front office savvy and, importantly, you need patience as these players develop - which was precisely the point you made in your post. So it behooves the Wolves front office to remain patient with Culver, Okogie, Nowell, Reid, KBD, Martin and Layman. Another lesson is that things can turn around fairly quickly if you make smart decisions and remain appropriately patient. The Wolves are particularly fortunate to already have a star in Towns. If just a couple of these other young guys pan out, the Wolves could become an elite team in relatively short order. And that's not even considering Wiggins. :)
After making a lot of mistakes and ending up a lottery team with bad contracts, Miami was able to catapult itself out of the abyss in a relatively short time with some smart, savvy player personnel decisions by their front office - mainly smart draft picks and young free agent signings. Drafting Winslow with the 10th pick and Josh Richardson with the 40th pick in 2015 years were the first in a number of smart decisions that put Miami where it is today. Miami's smart draft decisions continued in 2017 when they drafted Bam with the 14th pick. Miami really hit pay dirt this past summer drafting Tyler Herro with the 13th pick, signing Nunn the end of last season after he spent only 1 year with Golden State's G-League team, and signing Duncan Robinson as an undrafted free agent just last year.
Importantly, Miami's front office was smart and patient enough to resist the impulse to trade young talent like Winslow and Adebayo. Winslow in particular did not develop quickly, but the Heat remained patient with him even as the team struggled. The Heat also hung onto Josh Richardson until they got the right deal 4 years after drafting him, converting him into Jimmy Butler.
Of all Miami's moves the past 5 years, I think the most impressive have been (1) signing Robinson as an undrafted free agent one year ago, (2) signing Nunn as a rookie free agent after only 1 year on another team's G-League team, and (3) drafting Herro with the 13th pick.
What's noteworthy is that none of this young talent acquired by Miami were top 5 draft picks. Among the draft picks, Winslow was #10, Richardson #40, Bam #14, Herro #13. Of course, Nunn and Robinson were undrafted free-agent signings.
The lesson for the Wolves is that you don't need top 5 picks or even top 10 picks to build a top tier team. You need front office savvy and, importantly, you need patience as these players develop - which was precisely the point you made in your post. So it behooves the Wolves front office to remain patient with Culver, Okogie, Nowell, Reid, KBD, Martin and Layman. Another lesson is that things can turn around fairly quickly if you make smart decisions and remain appropriately patient. The Wolves are particularly fortunate to already have a star in Towns. If just a couple of these other young guys pan out, the Wolves could become an elite team in relatively short order. And that's not even considering Wiggins. :)
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Camden [enjin:6601484]
- Posts: 18065
- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:00 am
Re: What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Rosas should hire me to head the scouting department. Anyone have some contact information?
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Q12543 [enjin:6621299]
- Posts: 13844
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:00 am
Re: What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Camden wrote:Rosas should hire me to head the scouting department. Anyone have some contact information?
Two words....Nik. Stauskas.
:)
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Coolbreeze44
- Posts: 13192
- Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:00 am
Re: What a Difference a Summer Can Make
Q12543 wrote:Camden wrote:Rosas should hire me to head the scouting department. Anyone have some contact information?
Two words....Nik. Stauskas.
:)
Those two words are just a subset for a much larger population,.
:(,