Time to talk offseason.

[Papalrep]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

[Wolvesfan21]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

Gross. If he wasn't a super duper trash defender I might consider it. He is like a slightly better DLO.

[Lipoli390]

Half the league smokes cannabis prior to the start of a game. The occasional Popeye's isn't going to hurt Ant, if he's eating it every night than yeah that would hurt him. Ant is nowhere near that Zion level or out of shape. This was Ant's first WCF, and it was an eye opener just how well you have to play to win at this level. Ant will improve the diet, and conditioning...believe that! Jordan after getting destroyed year after year by Detroit decided to hit the weight room and strengthen up to make sure that never happened again. It's unfortunate because if everything was clicking this team could have won a title. We had a few big games from Jaden and Naz but for the most part our shooting disappeared in this series from everyone. Conley not being anywhere near 100% hurt us big time, as Finch went away from having him in the game in the clutch multiple times. Conley is the one thing I worry the most about the next two seasons, as him being our only real pg will hurt us as he continues to get older and banged up.

Totally agree, Rap. I share your concern about Mike Conley. He was really important to the Wolves this season but he’s at an age when you can’t count on him. That’s something this team needs to figure out. I was hoping Monte Morris would be the guy we could count on as a nice backstop for Conley. But he looked pretty bad. We’ll see.

I think given more time to get completely right health wise, an offseason, training camp and preseason Monte can contribute positively next year. I think given our position you got to resign him or if for some reason some team offers him way too much then baby Mac. But I think I'd prefer to roll the dice on MM, if not both on cheap deals which seems likely. We for sure need depth just in case for Conley.

I agree, Wolvesfan21. The second apron doesn’t give us the luxury of shopping for a consequential PG in the free agency market. Our best tool is our Bird right to re-sign existing players even if it increases our payroll. That was one of the things I liked about our acquisition of Monte Morris. It made sense for the stretch run this season even though it didn’t pan out, but it also made sense for next season. I agree with you that Monte can improve after a full offseason of recovery and conditioning. He’s already proven to be a much better player than what we saw from him the end of this season. There’s no doubt in my mind that he was still impacted by his long injury layoff. The good news is that his poor play the end of this season will likely shrink his market value substantially so I don’t think it will cost a lot to re-sign him. And again, the 2nd apron doesn’t cap how much we pay to re-sign an existing player using our Bird rights. I also have confidence in JMac. I think he was underutilized this season.

[Lipoli390]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

Gross. If he wasn't a super duper trash defender I might consider it. He is like a slightly better DLO.

Trent Tucker seems like a really nice guy. But I’m so glad I don’t have to listen to him anymore on Wolves broadcasts. He’s simply not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I’ll disagree with you a bit in that I see Trae Young as far above what you termed a “slightly better DLO.” I get where you’re coming from, but Trae is a big-time offensive star. One problem with him, as you noted, is that he’s a poor defender. Another issue is that I don’t see him fitting well with Ant. Trae is far too ball dominant to mesh well with Ant. That was part of why Trae hasn’t measured well with D Murray.

[Phenom]

I saw a report that Glen will meet with Connelly to discuss his future. I hope Tim has been working on his eye contact.

[Lipoli390]

Running it back won't sound sexy to anyone BUT this same team with hitting the next benchmark for ANT, Jaden and maybe NAZ is something I can buy.

If you're not getting better, you're falling behind. Changes have to and will be made.

If ANT and Jaden don't get better then it's already over.

I agree with Cool that if we’re not getting better we’re falling behind. I also share Cool’s sentiment that the three-big composition of the team is questionable. But I also agree with you, Phenom, that we might as well cash out and start over if Ant and Jaden aren’t going to get better.

I’ve been a broken record but I’ll continue with my refrain that the Wolves will only go as far as Ant (and to some extent Jaden) take them. If those two players improve, which is something we should expect, this team is a title contender. We should also expect improvement from the 24-year old Naz Reid who has a trajectory that strongly suggests he’ll continue improving. That would be an extra bonus but also a reasonable expectation. It’s also reasonable to expect more from NAW and Monte Morris than we saw in the Dallas series.

Again, we won 56 games and made it to the NBA finals this season. We could have won the Dallas series if just one of our core players (Ant, KAT, Rudy) had played as well as they played in the prior two series. A reminder that MJ’s Bulls did not finally break through against the Pistons by trading any of the core players. Instead, their core players (and role players) committed themselves to improving their conditioning and sharpening their skills in the off season. Note that the Bulls did not have any core players as young as Ant and Jaden at the time, yet they still improved. I’m not prepared to conclude that KAT can’t still improve, especially after seeing him substantially improve his defense and on-court demeanor in just the past couple years. Isiah Thomas’s Pistons didn’t trade core players after the Celtics knocked them out in the Conference Finals. The Pistons simply came back sharper and more mature the next season when they finally made the finals.

Again, I would certainly consider trading KAT and/or Rudy. But I think the best option is to bring the whole team back and take another shot after an offseason of commitment and improvement from then entire team, especially Ant, Jaden and Naz. If things aren’t going well by February of next year, then we can look to deal one or both of our big-money centers.

[Lipoli390]

I saw a report that Glen will meet with Connelly to discuss his future. I hope Tim has been working on his eye contact.

lol. I just get nauseous at the thought of Glen Taylor making front office personnel decisions. I’m writing as a long-time defender of Glen. But I don’t trust his judgment or decision making and sadly I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t trust his word.

I really wish this ownership situation would get resolved quickly - hopefully with Glen no longer in the picture. Even if Glen’s legal position is sound (which I doubt), he didn’t have to back out of the deal on that legal technicality. He chose to do so, and as a result, he cast a pall on a great season and has created instability that will make it more difficult to retain Tim Connelly and that could impede the organization’s ability to optimize off-season opportunities.

[Coolbreeze44]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

Dejounte make so much more sense.

[rapsuperstar31]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

My first thought is of course terrible defender that takes the ball out of Ant's hands, so no. Trae would space the floor for Ant, and gets doubled himself which wouldn't be possible playing with Ant. Trae led his team to the ECF at a young age, but hasn't had any playoff success since. Trae is also a fantastic passer/lobber, which would be nice for Rudy. Kyrie and Luka have always been considered bad defenders, but they have improved greatly here in the playoffs in a team defensive scheme. Kat was always considered a bad defender at least in the NBA, but bought in this season and played solid defense. Playing with Rudy and a defensive minded system is that something that would improve Trae's defensive effort? I'm thinking no but I guess you never know if Connelly or Finch thinks they can get the best out of Trae. I still would say no to this trade, but I don't know if it's as simple as saying hey he's a bad defender.

[Lipoli390]

Trent Tucker on KFAN - KAT for Trae Young

Dejounte make so much more sense.

I agree, Cool. DeJounte’s a good defender and would, therefore, fit the defensive profile of the team. He’s also less ball-dominant than Trae, which would fit much better with Ant. He’d give us another shot-creator to take some of the pressure off Ant and he has an edge to him that I like.