Who's got the damn GDT?

[slimcalhoun27 [enjin:6640095]]

Lip....who on this Roster actually could demand legit assets back? Love is a All Star...of course he does, and Pek is playing solid healthy basketball....but beyond that....who is worth the trade and is playing to his Salary potential in your opinion?

[Lipoli390]

Slim - Good question. As you noted, Love has huge trade value. Pekovic should have substantial trade value to a team that has a defensive presence at the PF position. Ricky still has substantial trade based on his unique passing ability, his defense, his excellent rebounding at he PG position and his personality which helps put people in seats. Barea must have some value to a contending team based on what he did for Dallas a few years ago and on his reasonable contract which has only one year left at $4.3 million after this season. Dante probably has some trade value as well. That's about it unless there's a contending team desperate for a spot up shooter like Martin at the trade deadline -- desperate enough to give us value for a 31 year old with three years $7.5 million per year left on his contract after this season.

I honestly don't know what I'd do if I were in charge.

[TravisT [enjin:6669699]]

By the way, did anyone read Flip's comment the other day attributing our losing ways in part on our youth? Has Flip looked at our roster lately? Let's see -- in our starting lineup we have the 25 year old Love in his 6th season, the 28 year old Pekovic in his 4th NBA season after years of pro ball in Europe, the 27 year old Brewer in his 7th season, the 31 year old Martin in his 10th season, and the 23 year old Rubio who's been playing pro ball since age 14. Then we have our bench made up of the 29 year old Barea, the 26 year old Dante in his 6th season, the 25 year old Budinger, the 25 year old Shved and the 31 year old Turiaf. Then there is the 27 year old Price. Sorry Flip, but age has absolutely no place as part of any explanation for the Wolves woes this season. Just another example of Flip's penetrating insight. And this is the guy who will lead the rebuilding process. Wow. But he does love Minnesota and the local sports media pundits love him.

+1

I was actually waiting for some sort of a statement in regards to the team's so-called 'youth' from the brain trust. In life, I guess you could consider them young, but in NBA life most are or should be in their primes with the exception of Ricky (if you still believe he can improve). Flip is a joke. Being a native Minnesotan, part of me was sucked into that feel good story of the local boy coming back and saving this team, but that was quickly washed away when Flip made a comment over the summer saying that this job is easier than he thought. I know he was probably being a little sarcastic, but it just turned me off. He just seems like a general fan running the team.

I want a shrewd business man with a great eye for talent and player chemistry. What Flip did was sign some decent players, threw them all into a bucket and said 'go play'. He created a team of players that do not compliment one another. How in the hell can you have 4 SF's on the team (Bazz, Bud, Brewer, Luc), but not one of them is a legit starting caliber SF? How can you trade away Williams who, yes, may have not had a perfectly defined roll on the team as of yet, but who does besides Love and Pek? Williams was still on a cheap rookie contract, very young and explosive and still had potential to be a player in this league. He was maddening, for sure, but we already know what we're getting with Luc and it's not much. I'd rather have the young player who still could blossom at some point (especially if we trade Love or he flat-out leaves) Finally, how could you pass up on Burke, but instead keep JJ? Burke - who could develop behind Ricky and be used as insurance in case Ricky completely shits the bed.

Bottom line is Flip is off to a bad start and there's really nothing he can do about it right now to make it better. We don't have the assets to improve the current situation. This team, unfortunately, was built to win now. The only untapped resources are Dieng and Bazz, but we all know Rick will never play them and neither would fetch squat in a trade to improve our immediate future. Rubio is who he is so other than the 2 rookies, where is the potential for better days ahead? Time to trade Love and start over. As someone else said, re re re re rebuild. That should be the team's motto.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Agreed with the post above me except for one little part. D-Will was not on a "cheap rookie contract." He makes $5M this year and $6M next year. In no way, shape or form is that cheap. He had to be moved this year even if the main reason was contract itself.

[TAFKASP]

Slim - Good question. As you noted, Love has huge trade value. Pekovic should have substantial trade value to a team that has a defensive presence at the PF position. Ricky still has substantial trade based on his unique passing ability, his defense, his excellent rebounding at he PG position and his personality which helps put people in seats. Barea must have some value to a contending team based on what he did for Dallas a few years ago and on his reasonable contract which has only one year left at $4.3 million after this season. Dante probably has some trade value as well. That's about it unless there's a contending team desperate for a spot up shooter like Martin at the trade deadline -- desperate enough to give us value for a 31 year old with three years $7.5 million per year left on his contract after this season.

I honestly don't know what I'd do if I were in charge.

I agree with everything you say here though I differ somewhat on Martin in that I think cap space is value enough when it comes to moving him. I wouldn't expect anything of basketball value in return other than an expiring/shorter term contract.

[TravisT [enjin:6669699]]

Agreed with the post above me except for one little part. D-Will was not on a "cheap rookie contract." He makes $5M this year and $6M next year. In no way, shape or form is that cheap. He had to be moved this year even if the main reason was contract itself.

My fault. Should've checked that first. I understand the reasoning for trading Williams, but I'd still would have rather seen him stick around and hopefully develop into an important player on the team.