if a KAT trade necessitates J-Mac playing PF, is he still worth a major extension?

[WildWolf2813]

Just dealing in reality, say we got RJ Barrett or some wing back as the featured young guy in return, even when these sites like NBA Analysis bring up trade rumors, it usually ends with the concept of McDaniels playing PF alongside Gobert. I think moving him exclusively to the 4 hurts his value more than we wanna admit. His best attributes are best featured as a wing. He's a very poor rebounder, very slim for his height, and not a major shooter in volume. He guards the opposition's best wing or PG even. That's harder to pull off with him at the 4. If the goal is to play super small again, then playing Rosas-ball has a ceiling to what they can be. Any KAT trade really impacts what McDaniels' value will be going forward. He's being utilized as best as he can be right now. I don't think this team can get away with J-Mac guarding the best wings if it means our PG is stuck having to cover the Mobley's and Green's and Zion's and Randle's.

[TheFuture]

Jaden should just be a lock at SF. He doesn't rebound well enough to be a full-time "4", and his versatility guarding 1-4 and helping is best utilized by just assuming he is our defacto 3. In my mind, the two roster locks moving forward are Ant at 2 and Jaden at 3. Don't mess with them, figure out the rest around them. Whether that means KAT is a PF for good, or if we swing a trade for a PF and KAT has to slide back to C.

[LongGame]

Agree, Ant and JMac at the 2 and 3 are set and work around that. If you get an opportunity you can’t pass up (with Ant moving to PG or JMac moving to PF) so be it, but it would have to be pretty compelling to me as a billionaire owner to move those pieces from their natural positions.

[TheFuture]

Agree, Ant and JMac at the 2 and 3 are set and work around that. If you get an opportunity you can’t pass up (with Ant moving to PG or JMac moving to PF) so be it, but it would have to be pretty compelling to me as a billionaire owner to move those pieces from their natural positions.

I thought about putting that caveat in there about Ant potentially sliding to pg (CoolBreeze44 called it long ago) but I don't think he has the makeup to be a full-time pg. I see him as a 2 through and through and Jaden, considering his frame and agility, a 3 through and through.

[Monster]

What has anyone seen from the current wolves front office that would remotely suggest they are going to put McDaniels at PF? They keep adding more bigger players and resigned Naz Reid. Any trade suggestions that result in McDaniels at PF should be dismissed immediately as severely poorly thought out.

Someday when McDaniels gets older and isn’t as agile he may end up playing a lot of PF but that’s likely years away. We might be surprised at that point how he rebounds (not amazing but not terrible) when he isn’t chasing perimeter players around on defense.

[LongGame]

Agree, Ant and JMac at the 2 and 3 are set and work around that. If you get an opportunity you can’t pass up (with Ant moving to PG or JMac moving to PF) so be it, but it would have to be pretty compelling to me as a billionaire owner to move those pieces from their natural positions.

I thought about putting that caveat in there about Ant potentially sliding to pg (CoolBreeze44 called it long ago) but I don't think he has the makeup to be a full-time pg. I see him as a 2 through and through and Jaden, considering his frame and agility, a 3 through and through.

Obviously you have to match up on defense, but I feel like there is less need to define offensive positions (you have lots of point forwards) and Ant could be an elite distributor given his offensive skills. Just my opinion, but I think he is a far better all-around player than Ja today (with zero improvement).

[Lipoli390]

I agree it makes no sense to move Jaden to the PF position. If the Wolves trade KAT they’ll have to count on Naz as the team’s PF next to Rudy. Depending on how quickly Rudy declines, it wouldn’t be long before they’d need to find a new center too. If the Wolves trade Rudy, they’d need to find a mobile good defensive PF like Aaron Gordon to play next to KAT. That’s what TC did with Jokic and he should have looked for someone similar to Aaron Gordon rather than going after Rudy. Vando was the right fit next to KAT. The Wolves simply needed to get a better version of Vando to start next to KAT. Alas, that’s not what happened.

The case for trading KAT includes the fact that Naz seems like a better fit next to Rudy than he does next to KAT. However, Naz played well nexts to both late last season. I’d rather trade Rudy, keep our all-star center and bring in a complementary PF. But it’s all academic until next summer because this team is clearly moving forward next season with Rudy at Center and KAT at PF. The good news is that Jaden will remain at the SF position. Whether Edwards plays PG or SG isn’t particularly important in my mind. The important question in my mind is who will play alongside Ant in the backcourt for those 15-25 games Mike Conley is likely to miss.