Offseason Targets

[AbeVigodaLive]

Caveat on Gibson... he's never played big minutes. Never above 28 mpg. And he doesn't shoot the three pointer... at all. He has made 4 of them in his career.

Yes. He's a veteran. Has Thibs experience. Can defend. Knows his lane. Tough. Et al.

But he's not a game-changer... and should be paid accordingly.

Agreed. That's why he's my Plan C. If you are on Plan C, you aren't exactly getting big time needle movers.

Question for you: Who would you rather start next to KAT - Dieng or Gibson? You also have to factor in Dieng's relative effectiveness as a backup Center versus a starter. Neither plays big minutes currently by the way.

I like Dieng's skillset a bit offensively, especially with that possible corner 3 potential.

But this team MUST ADD more of a veteran presence. They need to hear from other players about the little things (that don't appear in a boxscore or necessarily lead to a max deal) that add up to victories. I think a winning veteran presence on the court is the most important thing this team needs. Otherwise, they're only getting the message from that loud overweight guy on the sidelines and it's an untenable situation.

This team doesn't "get it"... and judging by the last two seasons... they're not even close to "getting it." Instead of telling them... it's time to show them. I don't know whether Gibson is that guy or not. And I realize he comes with his own set of limitations. Why not have Dieng and Gibson. Both are basically 25 mpg guys anyway.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Good discussion in this thread about possible free agent targets. I haven't participated because I think the big names (i.e. anyone due to make $15 million per year or more) are not going to be targets this off-season unless Thibs has given up on one of the Big 3...and I don't think he has. I know I have made this point before, but if our young Big 3 end up with max or near max contracts, there simply isn't room when their extensions are due if we add someone like an Ibaka. I learned a couple months ago that the ownership group has softened a little on going slightly into the lux tax if they have to do so, but there is absolutely no appetite for going too far into the lux tax...and adding a 4th big contract would certainly mean they would be well into the punitive lux tax if they also want to extend the Big 3.

Personally, I'm in favor of keeping all 3 and not being forced to "Harden" one of them down the road, so I'm in favor of free agency restraint again this summer. The problem is that Thibs seems to be reluctant to play anyone off the bench that is not a near All Star. We have discussed this several times here already, but it's baffling that Rush, Aldrich and Hill all got a lot more run the previous season with much better teams than the Wolves. If Thibs didn't play these guys who were all successful in regular minutes with their playoff teams the prior season, why do we think he is going to change his spots next season and suddenly become comfortable with solid role players off the bench? I've said it before and I will say it again...Thibs rotations killed us last season. The record number of late game collapses makes this fact indisputable, especially when practically the same cast of characters didn't have similar collapses the previous season. My hope is that Thibs reviews the data during the off season and sees what I have seen, and actually plays the bargain free agents he signs. But I am not very optimistic. The "smartest guy in the room" very seldom wavers in his strategy, even when the data proves it to be flawed.

[AbeVigodaLive]

To be fair Long...

With his injury... and the timing of it... I don't think the Wolves have to worry about having the 3rd guy in The Big 3... at least financially. I don't see any way that (1) LaVine comes back healthy enough to (2) improve his game enough to warrant a max deal.

[BloopOracle]

Yeah if only Thibs put in his garbage bench we would have won more games, are we seriously going to try and play the angle that Tom was holding back some incredible bench again!? Give me a break our record would have been almost exactly the same, our core would be rested sure but also even worse with their defensive rotations with less playing time.

Rush was was starting on a bad team after playing bench minutes for the greatest regular season team in history, Hill played a total of 15 minutes throughout a 7 game playoff series and about the same the last 7 games of the season sans the meaningless finale, he's a stopgap this is painfully obvious. Aldrich barely played as our centers stayed healthy. Mystery solved

Do I think Thibs played his starters too much? Yes absolutely especially Wiggins but let's stop this nonsense that it somehow affected our record negatively.

[Porckchop]

Tough for me to see how the bench should've played more and in the same breathe surprised by the w/l total. Had the bench played more I would guess the team would be smack dab in the running for the first pick.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Yeah if only Thibs put in his garbage bench we would have won more games, are we seriously going to try and play the angle that Tom was holding back some incredible bench again!? Give me a break our record would have been almost exactly the same, our core would be rested sure but also even worse with their defensive rotations with less playing time.

Rush was was starting on a bad team after playing bench minutes for the greatest regular season team in history, Hill played a total of 15 minutes throughout a 7 game playoff series and about the same the last 7 games of the season sans the meaningless finale, he's a stopgap this is painfully obvious. Aldrich barely played as our centers stayed healthy. Mystery solved

Do I think Thibs played his starters too much? Yes absolutely especially Wiggins but let's stop this nonsense that it somehow affected our record negatively.

- I think LST's point is less about "holding back" an incredible bench and more about not giving the starters enough rest. Rush, Aldrich, and Hill were all credible (not incredible) rotation players on winning teams the prior season. Surely playing one or two of them an extra minute or two per game wouldn't have killed us.

- Thibs' bark was bigger than his bite when it came to his "big three". While he would cajole and bark all game at them, he never actually sat them down when defensive lapses took place. Thus, there were no real consequences. Instead, he rode them for big minutes and it's not silly to suggest that may be, just may be, tired legs and poor defensive habits helped tank our team in many 2nd half melt downs.

In my opinion, LST's theory is credible. But it is still just a theory.

[Monster]

We have had discussions about plan A B and C FAs. I'm staring to think of some guys that mightr be more like Plan D FAs. I'm mostly going to focus on some guys that have some level of being a vet. what is good about these guys is you can probably sign them in addition to the higher plan guys above them. These guys tend to hep with some aspect the roster this season was lacking.

Jodie Meeks-Coming off a couple injury plagued seasons. He isn't amazing but hits 3's and can actually handle ball some compared to Rush who is completely a 3 and D. Meeks if Healthy can fill it up and could come cheap because that. I would sign him to a Rush or Jordan hill type deal.

Brandon Rush-Bring him back he is decent for the same amount of money and it helps with having some consistency to the roster etc plus he is a guy that he can hit3's

Omri Casspi-Decent rotation player gives the Wolves a combo forward or at least a big SF that they lack and he can shoot 3's. He might cost a bit more maybe 5-6 million maybe even a bit more idk and at that point I may look elsewhere.

Luc Mbah a Moute(player option)-He might actually be sort of in between plan C and D and might cuts a decent chunk of money but he would be a nice addition. Has shown ability to hit the 3 and would instantly give the team a top defender.

Dante Cunningham (player option)-He might be another guy that is between a plan C and D also. Solid player I'm not sure he leaves NO but would be a nice player off the bench maybe even spot start at times in certain matchups. He has become a corner 3 point threat.

Jonas Jerebko-I used to be a bigger fan of his, but he is kinda meh. Played alot of NBA basketball and for cheap depth...Maybe on the low end of the plan D range maybe plan D of the plan D? lol

Matt Barnes-He is not a popular guy to mention but the guy would bring a lot of what this team needs. his prie might actually have gone up a bit with some solid play of OKC.

There are some other guys out there, but I thought this was a list to get people thinking even though I know people are hoping for better than most of these guys. There could be an interesting list at some point of cheap players to sign with hopes of them being more even if that was them achieving solid rotation minutes. It would be nice to find the next Jamychal Green right?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

We tried D level vets last offseason and they didn't give us anything. We need quality vets and they are going to cost some money to bring in, but we can't afford to not spend yet again unless all the deals are over 20 million because anything below that is manageable when our young guys' extensions start to kick in. This team needs veteran talent to help us take the next step and give us consistency around our core. We won't take a big step if Towns and Wiggins don't take a big step, but if we short change another offseason and they don't take a big step we're looking at missing the playoffs again when opening the wallet for some vets and sorting out the roster in another year or two is more likely to at least get us in the playoffs which is an important next step for this team. I think it's dumb to leave it all up to Towns and Wiggins improving more and saving money when you're allowed to trade players down the road if you need to make the money work. We have the money now. Use it, make the playoffs and make trades later to make the money work at that time.

[Coolbreeze44]

Go big or don't go at all. Middling free agent contracts on middling players accomplishes nothing. Go out and get an impact guy, even if he's the only player you get.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Go big or don't go at all. Middling free agent contracts on middling players accomplishes nothing. Go out and get an impact guy, even if he's the only player you get.

That's just not true. Most of the league is middling role players and their team success is dependent on how good their best players are and how good their supporting cast is. A lot of these guys are on very reasonable deals that aren't cheap either. Joe Johnson, Burks, Favors, Hill, Lou Williams, Crowder, Bradley, Tristan Thompson, JR Smith, PJ Tucker, Patrick Patterson, Gortat, Markieff Morris, Iggy, Danny Green, Pau, Ariza, Eric Gordon, Jamal Crawford, JJ Reddick, Austin Rivers and those are just guys doing it for the top playoff teams. You either believe in Towns and Wiggins and you build around them with the support pieces they need which requires multiple 7-18 million dollar support pieces or you pay for another star if you can convince one to come here which won't happen. It's called quality depth and it's a major factor in why teams like the Cavs and Warrior win titles (Iggy's series MVP with Bogut playing a big factor and TT and Delly playing big minutes the next year).