Final Wolves Free Agent Additions

[Monster]

Arron Afflalo is a good test case for how quickly the NBA changes. With the lower-than-expected salary cap, guys are taking a big hit this season.

Last year, Afflalo signed a $12.5M deal (plus a $1.5M buyout for this season). He played about the same as the year before... and actually shot 41% on three pointers.

It got him a salary 1/6 the amount of last season for a lousy team.

He's one of these guys that seemed to age quickly. He was a very well regarded SG a few years ago, but then his production gradually started to drop off in his late 20s and he just isn't that effective anymore.

One of the issues with his 3-point shooting is volume. Yes, he's accurate, but he only makes about one per game. That was pretty good a few years ago, but nowadays the volume of 3's is nearly as important as the accuracy. It's one of my big concerns with our current squad.

Agreed. Don't get me wrong... I don't think Afflalo is a good player. And you're right... he would fit in nicely with the slew of other Wolves who make about 1 per game in about 3 attempts.

In related news, why haven't we brought up Courtney Lee yet? It's a summertime tradition on these forums!

I would have preferred Lee over Crawford (or Afflalo for that matter), that's for sure! But alas, Lee is tied up with the Knicks on a pretty lucrative deal. He's another guy where may be the game has passed him by a bit, but he'd be fine as a backup vet SG at the right price.

Lee has like 3 years 37 million left on his deal all guaranteed with that 3rd year being problematic to any team worrying about Lux tax.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'm not sure about Portland....Crabbe was a valuable bench wing and gave them some nice depth. I really hope this is one of the teams we pass up. Utah/Portland/New Orleans/Dallas/Denver....this is the group of teams we need to break away from this season. I'm not even thinking about hanging with OKC, San Antonio, Golden State, or Houston.

I am...when you add players like Butler and Teague to a roster that already has two No. 1 draft picks and emerging stars in Wig and KAT, you'd better be setting your sights high. Golden State is the exception...even the Cavs shouldnt be realistically thinking about hanging with them. But the other three teams all have major holes in their lineups, and only serious injuries or poor coaching will make me think we can't compete with them. Nobody knows how the Paul/Harden experiment will work in Houston and thier frontcourt is very weak. OkC has two bona fide stars in George and Westbrook, but I find the rest of their roster quite weak. And while the Spurs still have Pop and we still have non-Pop coaching, the addition of Butler to offset Leonard significantly closes the gap between these two teams. Unlike last year, there's really no team other than the Warriors that intimidates me this season...I think Butler makes that much of a difference.

Houston is going to be ridiculously good. Their holes last year was that a) they were way too dependent on one player offensively in Harden, and b) they stubbornly clung to their "3s and frees" dogma in the playoffs.

I think snagging Chris Paul addresses both a and b and defensively he's nearly as good as Beverley. He is a fantastic mid-range shooter and just kills people with that mid pick and roll with Jordan (and now Capela) because he can knock down the open 18 footer at will. D'Antoni is not going to re-engineer how Paul plays, so their offense will be much more diversified.

OKC won 47 games last year with Westbrook and spare parts that know how to play defense. Add Paul George and they are easily a 50+ win team.

San Antonio has some holes, but they have a top 3 player in Kawhi (he's basically a better version of Jimmy Butler), a great defensive culture, and tremendous depth.

In other words, unless Thibs/Taj/Butler can orchestrate one of the greatest defensive turnarounds in NBA history, we ain't competing with the big boys of the West.

[Monster]

I'm not sure about Portland....Crabbe was a valuable bench wing and gave them some nice depth. I really hope this is one of the teams we pass up. Utah/Portland/New Orleans/Dallas/Denver....this is the group of teams we need to break away from this season. I'm not even thinking about hanging with OKC, San Antonio, Golden State, or Houston.

I am...when you add players like Butler and Teague to a roster that already has two No. 1 draft picks and emerging stars in Wig and KAT, you'd better be setting your sights high. Golden State is the exception...even the Cavs shouldnt be realistically thinking about hanging with them. But the other three teams all have major holes in their lineups, and only serious injuries or poor coaching will make me think we can't compete with them. Nobody knows how the Paul/Harden experiment will work in Houston and thier frontcourt is very weak. OkC has two bona fide stars in George and Westbrook, but I find the rest of their roster quite weak. And while the Spurs still have Pop and we still have non-Pop coaching, the addition of Butler to offset Leonard significantly closes the gap between these two teams. Unlike last year, there's really no team other than the Warriors that intimidates me this season...I think Butler makes that much of a difference.

Houston is going to be ridiculously good. Their holes last year was that a) they were way too dependent on one player offensively in Harden, and b) they stubbornly clung to their "3s and frees" dogma in the playoffs.

I think snagging Chris Paul addresses both a and b and defensively he's nearly as good as Beverley. He is a fantastic mid-range shooter and just kills people with that mid pick and roll with Jordan (and now Capela) because he can knock down the open 18 footer at will. D'Antoni is not going to re-engineer how Paul plays, so their offense will be much more diversified.

OKC won 47 games last year with Westbrook and spare parts that know how to play defense. Add Paul George and they are easily a 50+ win team.

San Antonio has some holes, but they have a top 3 player in Kawhi (he's basically a better version of Jimmy Butler), a great defensive culture, and tremendous depth.

In other words, unless Thibs/Taj/Butler can orchestrate one of the greatest defensive turnarounds in NBA history, we ain't competing with the big boys of the West.

Houston also added Tucker AND Luc as versatile tough defensive players. So not only did they get better offensively adding CP3 (they did lose L Williams) they also got better defensively AND added some elements of toughness. Capela is going to have fun playing with CP3 AND Harden passing him the ball.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I'm not sure about Portland....Crabbe was a valuable bench wing and gave them some nice depth. I really hope this is one of the teams we pass up. Utah/Portland/New Orleans/Dallas/Denver....this is the group of teams we need to break away from this season. I'm not even thinking about hanging with OKC, San Antonio, Golden State, or Houston.

I am...when you add players like Butler and Teague to a roster that already has two No. 1 draft picks and emerging stars in Wig and KAT, you'd better be setting your sights high. Golden State is the exception...even the Cavs shouldnt be realistically thinking about hanging with them. But the other three teams all have major holes in their lineups, and only serious injuries or poor coaching will make me think we can't compete with them. Nobody knows how the Paul/Harden experiment will work in Houston and thier frontcourt is very weak. OkC has two bona fide stars in George and Westbrook, but I find the rest of their roster quite weak. And while the Spurs still have Pop and we still have non-Pop coaching, the addition of Butler to offset Leonard significantly closes the gap between these two teams. Unlike last year, there's really no team other than the Warriors that intimidates me this season...I think Butler makes that much of a difference.

Houston is going to be ridiculously good. Their holes last year was that a) they were way too dependent on one player offensively in Harden, and b) they stubbornly clung to their "3s and frees" dogma in the playoffs.

I think snagging Chris Paul addresses both a and b and defensively he's nearly as good as Beverley. He is a fantastic mid-range shooter and just kills people with that mid pick and roll with Jordan (and now Capela) because he can knock down the open 18 footer at will. D'Antoni is not going to re-engineer how Paul plays, so their offense will be much more diversified.

OKC won 47 games last year with Westbrook and spare parts that know how to play defense. Add Paul George and they are easily a 50+ win team.

San Antonio has some holes, but they have a top 3 player in Kawhi (he's basically a better version of Jimmy Butler), a great defensive culture, and tremendous depth.

In other words, unless Thibs/Taj/Butler can orchestrate one of the greatest defensive turnarounds in NBA history, we ain't competing with the big boys of the West.

The X factor is Towns. If he takes a leap, he is literally going to destroy all of these teams because none of them have any big men that can touch him. Capela? Nope. Pau? LA? Nope. Adams? Nope. If Towns takes the leap we'll contend with all of them because we have an all-star wing who can match their top players and a huge mismatch in the frontcourt they can't handle. How are these teams going to guard Teague, Butler, Wiggins and Towns just bullying them all game long and getting to the stripe at will? They can't stop 4 guys.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Khans, What more of a leap can Towns take offensively? He averaged 25PPG on 54% shooting last year. He was already nearly a mandatory double team. While I have no doubt he can still improve (especially his passing), the laws of physics suggest there is only so much better he can get offensively.

The X-factor is the defense of KAT, Wiggins, and everyone else not named Butler and Gibson. They have to make a nearly historic jump in defensive efficiency to compete with the teams I just mentioned.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Khans, What more of a leap can Towns take offensively? He averaged 25PPG on 54% shooting last year. He was already nearly a mandatory double team. While I have no doubt he can still improve (especially his passing), the laws of physics suggest there is only so much better he can get offensively.

The X-factor is the defense of KAT, Wiggins, and everyone else not named Butler and Gibson. They have to make a nearly historic jump in defensive efficiency to compete with the teams I just mentioned.

Towns doesn't really know how to play out of the PnR well yet. He seems to randomly pick when he fades and when he rolls to the basket. Having a good scoring/playmaking PnR PG like Teague will be a big benefit to Towns. If Towns learns how to make the proper reads on the PnR more he could become a much more dominant offensive force. Also I think Towns abandoned the mid-range shot last year and if he brings it back he would be a tougher guard than someone who's either on the block or the 3pt line. He scored 25 a game mostly on talent, scoring on the low block and sprinkle in some 3's. Add in a mid-range game, a few spot up 3's, get a few more calls and better PnR play and he could be a more efficient and more rounded offensive player. That's what's scary about him. There's a lot he can do better and he's already very good.

[Monster]

Khans, What more of a leap can Towns take offensively? He averaged 25PPG on 54% shooting last year. He was already nearly a mandatory double team. While I have no doubt he can still improve (especially his passing), the laws of physics suggest there is only so much better he can get offensively.

The X-factor is the defense of KAT, Wiggins, and everyone else not named Butler and Gibson. They have to make a nearly historic jump in defensive efficiency to compete with the teams I just mentioned.

Towns doesn't really know how to play out of the PnR well yet. He seems to randomly pick when he fades and when he rolls to the basket. Having a good scoring/playmaking PnR PG like Teague will be a big benefit to Towns. If Towns learns how to make the proper reads on the PnR more he could become a much more dominant offensive force. Also I think Towns abandoned the mid-range shot last year and if he brings it back he would be a tougher guard than someone who's either on the block or the 3pt line. He scored 25 a game mostly on talent, scoring on the low block and sprinkle in some 3's. Add in a mid-range game, a few spot up 3's, get a few more calls and better PnR play and he could be a more efficient and more rounded offensive player. That's what's scary about him. There's a lot he can do better and he's already very good.

Well put Kahns and having another shooter in Teague will help with his post game also. I do think Wiggins is sort of an X factor also and in some ways so is Teague. How will all these guys fit? Towns ability to be basically unguardable in the post plus being able to score all over the court could absolutely wreck some team's defenses and it's not like he will be the only offensive weapon. The Blazers with Nurkic could be interesting as well and their top flight scorers are shooters. It will be interesting having a couple teams in the league that have guys that can operate in the post...and do a lot of other things and we haven't mentioned Jokic yet.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Khans, What more of a leap can Towns take offensively? He averaged 25PPG on 54% shooting last year. He was already nearly a mandatory double team. While I have no doubt he can still improve (especially his passing), the laws of physics suggest there is only so much better he can get offensively.

The X-factor is the defense of KAT, Wiggins, and everyone else not named Butler and Gibson. They have to make a nearly historic jump in defensive efficiency to compete with the teams I just mentioned.

Towns doesn't really know how to play out of the PnR well yet. He seems to randomly pick when he fades and when he rolls to the basket. Having a good scoring/playmaking PnR PG like Teague will be a big benefit to Towns. If Towns learns how to make the proper reads on the PnR more he could become a much more dominant offensive force. Also I think Towns abandoned the mid-range shot last year and if he brings it back he would be a tougher guard than someone who's either on the block or the 3pt line. He scored 25 a game mostly on talent, scoring on the low block and sprinkle in some 3's. Add in a mid-range game, a few spot up 3's, get a few more calls and better PnR play and he could be a more efficient and more rounded offensive player. That's what's scary about him. There's a lot he can do better and he's already very good.

I don't know, largely abandoning the mid-range game seemed to work pretty well last year since both his PPG and TS% went up. In fact, I would argue it was moving more of his long 2's to out beyond the 3 point line that led to his overall uptick in efficiency.

Again, while I have no doubt KAT can get better offensively, there is only so much better someone averaging 25 PPG on 60% TS can get.

Defense is the wildcard, not KAT making some other-worldly leap offensively.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Khans, What more of a leap can Towns take offensively? He averaged 25PPG on 54% shooting last year. He was already nearly a mandatory double team. While I have no doubt he can still improve (especially his passing), the laws of physics suggest there is only so much better he can get offensively.

The X-factor is the defense of KAT, Wiggins, and everyone else not named Butler and Gibson. They have to make a nearly historic jump in defensive efficiency to compete with the teams I just mentioned.

Towns doesn't really know how to play out of the PnR well yet. He seems to randomly pick when he fades and when he rolls to the basket. Having a good scoring/playmaking PnR PG like Teague will be a big benefit to Towns. If Towns learns how to make the proper reads on the PnR more he could become a much more dominant offensive force. Also I think Towns abandoned the mid-range shot last year and if he brings it back he would be a tougher guard than someone who's either on the block or the 3pt line. He scored 25 a game mostly on talent, scoring on the low block and sprinkle in some 3's. Add in a mid-range game, a few spot up 3's, get a few more calls and better PnR play and he could be a more efficient and more rounded offensive player. That's what's scary about him. There's a lot he can do better and he's already very good.

I don't know, largely abandoning the mid-range game seemed to work pretty well last year since both his PPG and TS% went up. In fact, I would argue it was moving more of his long 2's to out beyond the 3 point line that led to his overall uptick in efficiency.

Again, while I have no doubt KAT can get better offensively, there is only so much better someone averaging 25 PPG on 60% TS can get.

Defense is the wildcard, not KAT making some other-worldly leap offensively.

<<shudder...>>

You just gave me flashbacks to LaVine passing up an open 24 footer, to step into a contested (although pretty looking) 22.5 footer.

Apparently, it's gonna take some more time to get those out of my system.

[Monster]

Some more young fringe types were let go.

Jared Uthoff I've always had some interest in him lacks athletic ability but has some skill but has consistency issues also. It looks like he has gotten stronger.

Diamond Stone hasn't turned 21 yet shot 10-27 of 3's in the d-league and shot FT well too in a few games. I had no idea he had that range. I'm surprised the Hawks waived him. We do t really need a developmental center but...if he could hit 3's why not?

Marcus Georges-Hunt. Strong looking guy that shot the 3 well in the D-league last year. Seems decently skilled but not super exciting athletically for a guard.