2024 Wolves Free Agency

[KG4Ever]

Rob has to be licking his chops, he's going to get plenty of minutes this season unless he is a complete train wreck!

My nightmare scenario is he is another Jarret Culver who was thrown in the fire too early and his confidence was a wreck. JC was selected 6 overall in a better regarded draft. But I think RD will shoot a lot better than JC, but my worry is he could get abused a lot as a defender, and while he may outshoot JC, he may not shoot as well as the guys whose minutes he is replacing (Morris and JMac) and will likely turn the ball over more than those two guys. I hope my fears are misplaced, but only the start of the season will tell me if they are. Defense and turnovers are likely to be worse and will require time to remedy, but the one hope is that his shooting translates in a big way.

[FNG]

Free agent F Joe Ingles has agreed on a one-year deal to join the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources tell ESPN. Ingles reunites with his old Jazz teammates Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley Jr.

Let's gooooo. Its like an even slower Slowmo with a 3.

I might be the only one here not excited with Jingles. He's frickin old and I don't want him in the way of unleashing Lenny Miller. Hope he is willing to be a mentor and won't stunt Lenny Miller or even Shannon's minutes much.

KG- TC and the Wolves are in win-now mode, as they should be. Ingles is exactly the kind of veteran a championship team needs on their bench, while Miller is a raw 20-year-old. Finchie is going to play the guys he thinks put us in the best position to win a championship. If he sees Miller outperforming Ingles in practice, Miller will get his playing time...and we'll all be very happy here. But I don't expect that will happen. TC has put together the makings of a very solid rotation IF the rookies can contribute, and I expect Miller to only see the court in garbage time. But I would love to be surprised.

As for Ingles, yes, he is old. But he still played 17 MPG on a 47-win Orlando team, and led the Magic in on/off among players with more than 1000 minutes. His true shooting percentage of 61% is close to his career mark...very good for a wing. And his ability to hit the open shot as well as facilitate (6.3 assists per 36) were big factors in the Magic scoring 8.4 more points per 100 possessions when he was on the court compared to off. And he also has a great reputation for toughness on defense. I don't know how many minutes there will be available for Joe if our rookies play as well as we hope they will, but we know he will make shots when he plays. This is a great pickup!

[Phenom]

Rob has to be licking his chops, he's going to get plenty of minutes this season unless he is a complete train wreck!

My nightmare scenario is he is another Jarret Culver who was thrown in the fire too early and his confidence was a wreck. JC was selected 6 overall in a better regarded draft. But I think RD will shoot a lot better than JC, but my worry is he could get abused a lot as a defender, and while he may outshoot JC, he may not shoot as well as the guys whose minutes he is replacing (Morris and JMac) and will likely turn the ball over more than those two guys. I hope my fears are misplaced, but only the start of the season will tell me if they are. Defense and turnovers are likely to be worse and will require time to remedy, but the one hope is that his shooting translates in a big way.

Culver didn't have any defining skills he could fall back on. Not one. He was a poor mans jack of all trades. The NBA also seemed to be too much for him mentally and emotionally. I remember how people actually alluded to him being out of the state of Texas made him too uncomfortable. Dilly played ball all over the place since high school and he offers NBA caliber scoring right now. I'll be shocked if he goes the way of JC.

[Q-is-here]

Rob has to be licking his chops, he's going to get plenty of minutes this season unless he is a complete train wreck!

It's a roll of the dice by Tim Connelly for sure, as each passing day and each additional non-PG vet signing makes it more and more obvious that this guy is Conley's main backup PG on Day 1.

I think Ingles and even Dozier to a degree are bench wings that can help settle things down and run a competent pick and roll so that not everything falls on Dillingham as the initiator when he's in the game and Conley is sitting. He'll probably always have NAW or Ant as his 2-guard, both of whom can also be secondary initiators.

Shannon Jr. might have a hard time breaking into this rotation now.....

[Coolbreeze44]

TC has said from the jump that Dillingham is going to play right away. I think we should believe him. The issue is what happens when Conley has to miss a game? Can we put Rob out there for 30+ minutes? It's going to be baptism by fire because Ant and NAW can only be effective at PG for short spurts. I think the kid is going to face more pressure than we are thinking.

[Monster]

Rob has to be licking his chops, he's going to get plenty of minutes this season unless he is a complete train wreck!

My nightmare scenario is he is another Jarret Culver who was thrown in the fire too early and his confidence was a wreck. JC was selected 6 overall in a better regarded draft. But I think RD will shoot a lot better than JC, but my worry is he could get abused a lot as a defender, and while he may outshoot JC, he may not shoot as well as the guys whose minutes he is replacing (Morris and JMac) and will likely turn the ball over more than those two guys. I hope my fears are misplaced, but only the start of the season will tell me if they are. Defense and turnovers are likely to be worse and will require time to remedy, but the one hope is that his shooting translates in a big way.

Culver didn't have any defining skills he could fall back on. Not one. He was a poor mans jack of all trades. The NBA also seemed to be too much for him mentally and emotionally. I remember how people actually alluded to him being out of the state of Texas made him too uncomfortable. Dilly played ball all over the place since high school and he offers NBA caliber scoring right now. I'll be shocked if he goes the way of JC.

I don't see any comparison between Dillingham and Culver whatsoever. If you want to compare him to someone it would be TSJ. Adding in another guy picked too high Culver and Dunn were older players that had iffy shooting and playmaking skills with excellent defense. I didn't fully understand how either of them were considered such high prospects. Culver was supposed to be a playmaker at his size but that wasn't the case. Meanwhile Dilly played one season at UK a place known for producing excellent offensive guards and he put up excellent shooting and scoring numbers better than other all star UK guard before him.

[Lipoli390]

It would seem that the Wolves are done with free agency after signing PJ Dozier. After an excellent A- draft that I believe could have been even better if the Wolves had kept pick 37, the Wolves have had a poor C- free agency. They lost the two players from last season they wanted back, Slo Mo and Morris, and ended up with Joe Ingles and PJ Dozier. I like the Ingles signing, but the PJ Dozier signing is a nothing burger.

Now the dust has settled on free agency and the Wolves are left with a 165 pound 19 year old rookie as the primary backup for our 37 year old PG. I love Rob Dillingham long term as a potentially foundational player for Wolves 2.0 and he might provide an offensive spark in some games next season, but we can’t rely on him as our primary PG backup if we’re serious about getting back to the Conference finals and competing for a championship next season. Mike Conley played 76 games last season. That’s simply not going to happen next season. Here’s how many games Mike played in his previous 10 seasons:

2022-23 - 67
2021-22 - 72
2020-21 - 51
2019-20 - 47
2018-19 - 70
2017-18 - 12
2016-17 - 69
2015-16 - 56
2014-15 - 70

I don’t see a 37 year old Mike Conley playing more than 60-65 games next season. That means 10-16 fewer games with Conley than last season. It means around 20 games without him. If Mike suffers a significant injury, then it gets even more problematic.

I feel very good about our depth up front and at the SG position. We have great depth at center with Rudy, KAT, Naz and Luka. We have very good depth at PF with KAT, Naz and if necessary, Jaden along with some more experienced young talent in Minott and Miller. We have a lot of wing depth behind Jaden and Ant with NAW, Joe Ingles, and even Naz as a SF, along with a bevy of young talent in Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and possibly Josh Minott or Leonard Miller. In contrast, we have the 19 year old rookie, Rob Carrington, as our one true PG behind Mike Conley. Maybe we can be comfortable relying on Dozier behind Conley, but I don’t see it. That means relying a lot on NAW and Ant as our lead guard, which is essentially what we did last season when Conley played 76 games. That’s a pretty precarious situation for the Wolves in my view.

[60WinTim]

Spotrac lists the PJ Dozier signing as fully guaranteed. Like some posters, I am fine with this signing, especially if you look what he has done since rehabbing his way back from a torn ACL.

I know there are some here who don't approve of PJ. I listed the more veteran players that might be willing to take a non-rotational vet minimum contract with the Wolves: Patty Mills, Isaiah Thomas, Seth Curry, Ish Smith and Corey Joseph. For those that wanted someone different than PJ, which of those 5 names would you have preferred. If you have someone else, let us know and tell us why you think they would choose the Wolves.

[kekgeek]

Jmac signs a one year deal with the kings

[Wolvesfan21]

It would seem that the Wolves are done with free agency after signing PJ Dozier. After an excellent A- draft that I believe could have been even better if the Wolves had kept pick 37, the Wolves have had a poor C- free agency. They lost the two players from last season they wanted back, Slo Mo and Morris, and ended up with Joe Ingles and PJ Dozier. I like the Ingles signing, but the PJ Dozier signing is a nothing burger.

Now the dust has settled on free agency and the Wolves are left with a 165 pound 19 year old rookie as the primary backup for our 37 year old PG. I love Rob Dillingham long term as a potentially foundational player for Wolves 2.0 and he might provide an offensive spark in some games next season, but we can’t rely on him as our primary PG backup if we’re serious about getting back to the Conference finals and competing for a championship next season. Mike Conley played 76 games last season. That’s simply not going to happen next season. Here’s how many games Mike played in his previous 10 seasons:

2022-23 - 67
2021-22 - 72
2020-21 - 51
2019-20 - 47
2018-19 - 70
2017-18 - 12
2016-17 - 69
2015-16 - 56
2014-15 - 70

I don’t see a 37 year old Mike Conley playing more than 60-65 games next season. That means 10-16 fewer games with Conley than last season. It means around 20 games without him. If Mike suffers a significant injury, then it gets even more problematic.

I feel very good about our depth up front and at the SG position. We have great depth at center with Rudy, KAT, Naz and Luka. We have very good depth at PF with KAT, Naz and if necessary, Jaden along with some more experienced young talent in Minott and Miller. We have a lot of wing depth behind Jaden and Ant with NAW, Joe Ingles, and even Naz as a SF, along with a bevy of young talent in Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and possibly Josh Minott or Leonard Miller. In contrast, we have the 19 year old rookie, Rob Carrington, as our one true PG behind Mike Conley. Maybe we can be comfortable relying on Dozier behind Conley, but I don’t see it. That means relying a lot on NAW and Ant as our lead guard, which is essentially what we did last season when Conley played 76 games. That’s a pretty precarious situation for the Wolves in my view.

I'm fine with NAW or Ant at the point in the starting lineup if need be. I would actually rest Conley even more then last year. Keep him fresher and less risk of injury for the playoffs and as we've seen home court hardly matters (weren't we worse at home record wise even?). 60 games is fine for Bite Bite.

Also more time for Dilly to play minutes as well or others if they surprise to the upside. Dilly could even become a decent starter himself by seasons end if things go really well. ROY maybe? He's got a good a chance as any.