Lineups and off-season decisions

[Monster]

Moving LaVine to 6th man makes most sense in my opinion. Not only does it give us a scoring punch off the bench, but it also gives him time to get his body right again.

I'd like to see us offer James Johnson a contract. He's has a great year with Miami, can play the 3 and small ball 4, and has really improved his shooting numbers (12pg). He's also average 5 boards, 3.5 assists, 1 block and 1 steal per game in 27 minutes.

How much though?

He's coming off a career year in a contract season at age 30... knowing this is his last chance to make big NBA money.

Wouldn't offer a contract longer than two years to keep our flexibility to resign the big three. 12 - 14 mil a season might get it done.

No thanks for that kind of money. Sign Acy or a similar player for like a tenth of that.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

[kekgeek]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

I wish that was the case but a 20 pt per game 22 year old I think some team offers the max to him

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

I wish that was the case but a 20 pt per game 22 year old I think some team offers the max to him

We all agree Zach is a dynamic offensive player, but he's equally bad on the defensive side. He's young and there's hope he can improve on the defensive side, but we'll never know before offering him a deal. We need to try to negotiate a cap friendly deal with him and see what his demands will be. If he wants a near max deal, we need to trade him if we can get a good return.

[kekgeek]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

I wish that was the case but a 20 pt per game 22 year old I think some team offers the max to him

We all agree Zach is a dynamic offensive player, but he's equally bad on the defensive side. He's young and there's hope he can improve on the defensive side, but we'll never know before offering him a deal. We need to try to negotiate a cap friendly deal with him and see what his demands will be. If he wants a near max deal, we need to trade him if we can get a good return.

I don't disagree with you. That is why the ACL injury kills to see what is he. I just think if he hits RFA he gets the max from someone

[WildWolf2813]

The problem with LaVine as a 6th man -- or anyone really for that matter is that if Wiggins is better off at SG, the minutes won't be there for LaVine to play much, and definitely not enough to justify a near max salary. If LaVine is playing and you want him alongside Wiggins, Wiggins will have to play at SF, which defeats the purpose of moving him to SG altogether, On top of that, we're gonna want a SF in the draft who can defend. It would be a waste to burn another high pick on essentially a situational player who won't play much because Wiggins /LaVine take up so much PT. Also, LaVine and Wiggins (and Bazz) have the same agent, a guy who is probably not as close with the Wolves as he was with his good buddy Flip. He might not be cool with the idea of them taking less money and PT if they can get it elsewhere. I just don't see a situation where everyone stays together and remains happy as long as they play the way they do.

[Porckchop]

Lavine has his flaws but hoping he can be our third best player means he doesn't have to be a do everything player. Who picks up the slack when Wiggins goes thru his scoring drought spells if Lavine is gone? He's young and still has a lot of room to grow , While already giving us 20 a game. What would be an affordable replacement at this point?

[Monster]

I don't want to be too optimistic but it sounds like Lavine is doing well in his recovery. Belly's foot surgery worries me almost more even though he isn't as big of a piece or consideration when it comes to this roster in near future and down the line.

I still believe in Wiggins able to play defensively as a SG and I believe in lavine able to play worthwhile defense. It will be interesting to see who and what is available to the Wolves when the draft comes and then who they end up taking or what they do with the pick. I think there are a lot of directions they can go it would be nice to get a good player.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

No offense, but you are on some strong drugs or something. Guys like Alan Crabbe and Tyler Johnson (yeah, who???) just got deals at about $19MM per season last year. There is absolutely zero chance (even with his injury) he doesn't get at least this amount. My opinion, as others stated, he is getting a max deal as long as he can come back and play a portion of next season.

Would I sign him for that.....not likely. We desperately need a shooter, but it doesn't have to be Lavine. In fact, he is not an ideal fit for many of he reasons already brought up. In return, we won't get a 20 ppg scorer, but we could certainly aim for a good size SF that gets 10-12 ppg with solid defense. Maybe a Robert Covington type? I am not going to speculate on what guys will get, but I imagine he will get substantially less than Lavine.....only because high volume scorers ALWAYS get overpaid.

[Monster]

We've already signed Ricky for a bargain deal and I think we can afford to sign KAT and Wiggs for max deals. Zach is not on the same level as KAT and Wiggins (and dare I say it, Ricky) and he should not get anywhere close to max money. I'd offer around 12 million a year and hope he feels loyal to the organization and wants to play with KAT, Wiggs and Ricky and wants to show he deserves a bigger deal down the road..

PS. The term "Big 3" is starting to become confusing. I prefer Big 2 (KAT & Wiggs) or Big 3 (with Ricky as third amigo)

No offense, but you are on some strong drugs or something. Guys like Alan Crabbe and Tyler Johnson (yeah, who???) just got deals at about $19MM per season last year. There is absolutely zero chance (even with his injury) he doesn't get at least this amount. My opinion, as others stated, he is getting a max deal as long as he can come back and play a portion of next season.

Would I sign him for that.....not likely. We desperately need a shooter, but it doesn't have to be Lavine. In fact, he is not an ideal fit for many of he reasons already brought up. In return, we won't get a 20 ppg scorer, but we could certainly aim for a good size SF that gets 10-12 ppg with solid defense. Maybe a Robert Covington type? I am not going to speculate on what guys will get, but I imagine he will get substantially less than Lavine.....only because high volume scorers ALWAYS get overpaid.

What will a solid offensive shooter that can play defense get? How much less money will that be than What Lavine gets? Will that type of player you suggesting we get...wil he also be overpaid or the difference in salary between him and Lavine isn't a HUGE gap? I actually don't completely disagree with what you are proposing just mentioning the reality of what $ a solid starting player could end up getting.

I say sign Lavine to the max and if you realize later you have to deal him I bet there will be teams willing to trade something worthwhile for him.

What happened in GS a few years ago is both a reason to consider keeping Lavine and a reason to deal him. Look back at those rosters and they were a really good defensive team without any amazing defenders. It was pretty amazing what they were able to do. There is no reason this group can't improve enough defensively and we have seen flashes and they have a guy like Dunn who has insane defensive potential.

West told them that Monte ellis wasn't going to work there and they needed to trade him. They moved him for Bogut and while it wasn't a slam dunk deal it was the the right one and was surely part of why they went to back to back finals. If I remember correctly GS had options at SF as well as that's Klay Thompson dude who turns out was pretty good probably at least twice the player Ellis was which I'm not sure many people would have predicted. Regardless so think the Wolves have time to let this play out no matter what they do with Lavine contractually.