Jaden

[FNG]

I'm as frustrated with Jaden's season as most here, but I would not be looking to move him...especially now when his value is low. While he struggled to defend SGA this week (but who doesn't!), I still see him as an elite defender with his length, athleticism, and effort. Cason Wallace has carved out a nice role for himself in the Thunder lineup despite making less than 30% of his threes, so why can't Jaden. IF he can progress to his career 35% 3-point percentage, he can be a valuable member of our starting lineup. Stay the course with Jaden.

[Wolvesfan21]

Lip I did a pretty big breakdown of the wolves financials next year based on apron projections.

This is what I said: Back to the Naz contract. The main goal I would say is to stay out of the 2nd apron. Currently according to Spotrac the 2nd apron projection next year is 208 million. Wolves are projected to have 193 million in salary with Naz/Randle picking up their player options. If Naz and Randle both decline their options the wolves will be at 148 million in salary. Giving them 60 million to work with in resigning Naz and Naw in free agency (it will be a little less because of min contracts, etc.), the projected 1st apron is 196 million. So that is 48 million to work with. I also believe if Randle opts out and they renounce his rights the wolves could use the full MLE. So 48 million to bring back Naz, Naw and a MLE player (or Randle).

I haven’t seen your breakdown, Kek. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Randle will pick up his $30M option. Naz Reid’s option is $15M. There’s no way he’ll opt in, which means the Wolves will need to use their Bird rights to sign him a far more than $15 to avoid losing him to free agency. I suspect it will take around $30 million to keep him, which would bump that $193M to at least $203M with at least two roster spots to fill. That’s cutting it close and it would definitely leave no room to re-sign NAW without hitting the second apron. And I wonder whether that $208M projection will hold given the low ratings the NBA has been experiencing this season.

I brought this up the other day. Who is giving Naz Reid 30 million? The Nets are the only possible answer from what I have seen. As a second apron team, the Wolves can't sign and trade him. The Nets will have other options such as Jimmy and Brandon Ingram as well as the possibility to trade for current salaries around the league. The odds seem low to me that the Wolves can't offer a competitive salary to Naz below that number.

I don't see it either, 25 might be rich unless he explodes the second half/playoffs. He's not that superstar who really moves the needle that teams will clamor for. We all love him and like his game, but it's still a bit one way. Love the hustle on defense though even if he should rebound better and defend the rim better. He does do it better as a 4 though on the move. When squared up he I think just lacks length and some skill. Down low is just bad. So you got to get him into a role.

The main thing is very few teams have much if any cap room so it's a bad year to be a FA as far as the players go. Good news for the Wolves and fans, slightly bad news for NAW and Naz (Does it really matter if you make 20 or 30 million a year though? Cmon can't feed your family on that, heres lookin at you Spree).

[Q-is-here]

Ant's net rating with player pairings the last three years with guys that overlap his tenure:

Pairing - 2022-23/23-24/This season:
Ant/Jaden - +3.9/+3.3/-.1
Ant/Naz - +1.2/+8.4/+4.5
Ant/NAW - +5.8/+7.3/+9.6
Ant/Conley - n.a./+6.2/+1.4
Ant/Rudy - +1.2/+8.9/+2.4