Wolves Draft and Free Agency Grades

[Q-is-here]

I'll give an A for the draft. What a move by Connelly to snag Dillingham at #8 without giving up any of his current core guys. And Shannon looks like a potential 2-way stud on the wing.

I'm going to give a B- for free agency. Unlike some here, I really didn't want SloMo back. We cannot afford to have more than one non-shooter in the regular rotation if we want to be a top 10 offense. So I view the Ingles for SloMo swap as a big upgrade offensively due simply to the fact Jingles has to be guarded out there. The spacing will be so much better.

Like you Lip, I'm also disappointed we didn't get a vet PG, whether that be Morris, McLaughlin, or some other respectable vet.

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As Lip mentioned, there is a Part II grade to the draft that we really can't assess for another couple years, especially with Dillingham. I guess my biggest fear with him isn't that he's going to be a bust, but simply that it takes 19 or 20-year old scorers time to adjust to the speed and size of NBA defenses. It may be a couple years before he is a net plus, so while it's impressive Connelly was able to snag him, he's really taking a gamble that Rob can help us more than hurt us this upcoming season. I'm not so sure...

[60WinTim]

Q - I wouldn’t lose hope on the vet PG front. The phrase “partial guarantee” mentioned by Jonny K suggests we may see another candidate or two for that 14th roster spot.

[Monster]

It seemed clear that it was a "protected 2nd round swap". And that was the trade with Toronto. We don't know the year. But if Toronto is bad enough, I assume the swap is voided.

I know we've lamented the Wolves disregard for 2nd round picks in the pre-Connelly era, but I ain't losing sleep over this one. #37 was used to ditch Moore -- both his salary and roster spot. And given we already selected 2 first rounders, and also Jaylen Clark playing for the first time, how many young guys can you bring to camp?

The #37 pick had a lot more value than some future 2nd round pick swap. It made no sense in my view to give up that value simply to get rid of a small contract with only one year left. Penny wise and pound fooling as I see it.

How many guys can we bring to camp? I would think can and WOULD bring a full roster along with three 2-way players to camp. Two of our three 2-way deals haven’t been filled yet. One of our 15 roster spots hasn’t been filled yet. I would have drafted one of the PGs I mentioned at 37 and given him the 2-way deal that Nix had last season. It’s clear that Nix isn’t going to be an NBA player.

What TC did in the 2nd round strikes me as mysteriously bad. That’s why I suspect Glen Taylor might be behind it. I remember when the Wolves sold the 1st round pick they could have used to draft Rudy Gobert. To this day I don’t know whether that was Flip being dumb or Glen Taylor directing him to do it.

One thing I will point out as I have said before. I don't think #37 would be signed on a 2 way deal. Those guys get multi-year contracts. If that guy is so valuable as we can agree you lock them up for a multi-year deal with at least a couple of the years non-guaranteed like we did with Minott a couple years ago. Teams basically treat those picks in the 30's as even cheaper late first round picks.

Jaylen Clark is also on a 2-way deal. I looked it up and had forgotten that he signed a two year deal on a 2-way which makes a lot of sense for both the team and the player.

Trading the 2nd rounders was clearly a financial move Glen Taylor also greenlighted the Wolves spending money to get #8 as well. Was trading #37 to save money? Obviously nobody is saying otherwise. I also think if Connelly or someone on their staff was pounding the table for a guy at #37 they could have stayed there and drafted someone. Of course we will never know though and Glen could have said I'll do this but you gotta save some money elsewhere. At one point there was still some ESPN best available guys we could have even drafted at 53. I didn't study this draft so I will absolutely defer to you on the talent that would have been available to the Wolves at any of the spots in the 2nd. I will say that the fact I am not invested in the draft eligible players has some benefits as well. Trust me I've gotten wrapped up in being excited about picks!

As for that future 2nd round pick we don't even know what it is or isn't. Let's remember that it wasn't that long ago we added in th Russell trade what turned out to be the #37 pick and it didn't seem likely to be that high of a pick as Memphis was a good team. Maybe that future pick turns out to be say #45 in a future draft...of course it could be #53 or worse. It could also be used to add a player in a trade at some point or used to move up in the draft. Let's see what it is and then revisit this.

To be clear I respect your take on trading #37 and again I'm actually not a fan of it either. I just tend to see more overall value in the move than you do and I figured there was a good chance they were gonna give up a small asset (likely a 2nd rounder) to move off of Moore at some point if he didn't make some sort of progress this off-season. I'm saying that I probably had more hope (I think that's actually too strong of a word) for Moore than anyone on this board. Lol ugh...

[Q-is-here]

Q - I wouldn’t lose hope on the vet PG front. The phrase “partial guarantee” mentioned by Jonny K suggests we may see another candidate or two for that 14th roster spot.

Well, I guess we have the right to revise our grades then! We'll see what happens.

[Lipoli390]

I'll give an A for the draft. What a move by Connelly to snag Dillingham at #8 without giving up any of his current core guys. And Shannon looks like a potential 2-way stud on the wing.

I'm going to give a B- for free agency. Unlike some here, I really didn't want SloMo back. We cannot afford to have more than one non-shooter in the regular rotation if we want to be a top 10 offense. So I view the Ingles for SloMo swap as a big upgrade offensively due simply to the fact Jingles has to be guarded out there. The spacing will be so much better.

Like you Lip, I'm also disappointed we didn't get a vet PG, whether that be Morris, McLaughlin, or some other respectable vet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Lip mentioned, there is a Part II grade to the draft that we really can't assess for another couple years, especially with Dillingham. I guess my biggest fear with him isn't that he's going to be a bust, but simply that it takes 19 or 20-year old scorers time to adjust to the speed and size of NBA defenses. It may be a couple years before he is a net plus, so while it's impressive Connelly was able to snag him, he's really taking a gamble that Rob can help us more than hurt us this upcoming season. I'm not so sure...

Q - My low free agency grade isn’t based on my personal preferences. I actually agree with you that Ingles is probably an upgrade over Anderson for the Wolves given the team’s needs going into this season. I’m just taking TC at his word that his free agent priority was to bring back Slo Mo and Morris. The Wolves front office struck out on both their priority FA targets - guys who were already here. I can’t give more than a C- to our front office after those two whiffs. But I’m excited about Ignles.

[TheFuture]

Q - I wouldn’t lose hope on the vet PG front. The phrase “partial guarantee” mentioned by Jonny K suggests we may see another candidate or two for that 14th roster spot.

Well, I guess we have the right to revise our grades then! We'll see what happens.

I mean Tyus is still out there (wishful thinking on a one year homecoming to chase a title on the min.?), Cam Payne, Pat Bev. Mclaughlin isn't signed yet either right?

If Conley goes down during the year then there will be somebody to pick up on the market.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'd be very happy with Cam Payne

[TheFuture]

I'd be very happy with Cam Payne

Same, and he played on the Vet. Minimum last year. Has played with the Suns, Bucks, 76ers, so plenty of experience off the bench for good/playoff teams. Very serviceable, and we can all just go ahead and forget about Nix for good.

[60WinTim]

I'd be very happy with Cam Payne

That was my favorite as well, until Monster (or somebody) posted his run in with the law a few weeks ago…

[TheFuture]

I'd be very happy with Cam Payne

That was my favorite as well, until Monster (or somebody) posted his run in with the law a few weeks ago…

He got into a verbal spat with his lady, cops were called. When the cops showed up, the couple said it was fine, they just had an argument. Yes, he stupidly refused to give his name, then gave a false name, then gave his real name and recanted saying that was a nickname, then willingly went with the police and was released home shortly after. Nothing else has come up about it, so it's a non-story to me.