The Ascent Begins - Wolves at Pistons GDT

[WildWolf2813]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

See I don't mind the deal now that they went back to the WCF because I questioned whether they'd ever make it back to that point. Some franchises can sell the farm with the payoff being the finals or maybe even a ring. This team does it for the WCF because we shouldn't dare to dream. There's a lot of teams who we think are gonna be amazing who ultimately might not make it as far as we did. I just think we're angry because it feels like this team has peaked and they might have, but never forget that you root for the worst franchise in North American sports and we might have not appreciated the run from last year. I sure as hell did because we might not back for another 20 years.

[Q-is-here]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

You're a passionate fan with a right to your opinion, but no matter how much you rip Connelly, it doesn't change the fact that the team he built in Denver won a title and the team he helped build in Minnesota was a contender and made it to the WCF.

Now it sucks that we are basically a .500 team this year, but it's not like we have zero draft capital, zero players of value, and zero young talent on the roster. We do have draft capital, we do have players with value around the league, and we do have young talent on the roster. These are all facts no matter how miserable you feel about the team right now!

[Wolvesfan21]

The sooner TC realizes Ant isn't him, the better off we will be in the long run. It's the same old problem for the Wolves. Hang on to your best player and be somewhat competitive, or take the OKC/Boston approach, accumulate a bevy of assets, and try it again. It sucks for us that KAT was never a #1 and I'm telling you Ant won't be either. The last thing I want to see is us bang our head against the wall for the next 6-7 years like we did with KAT before realizing Ant can't get us to the top. The worst feeling for me as a Wolves fan was putting my hopes behind Ant this year, and then seeing what he really is without KAT. He's a really good player who needs a great player for a running mate. I know this isn't a popular stance, but this isn't my first rodeo and I know what I'm talking about.

1 million percent disagree, it has nothing to do with KAT. Conley looks cooked and shooting like 35% (can't make a bunny), Jaden has shot the ball like poo and played defense like poo for the first few weeks, Rudy is overall playing bad/simply not moving well and Randle just ISO screws up the spacing and turns it over too much. Half the team is playing below or WAY below their expected level. Not to mention we had DDV really struggle to shoot to start the year (until recently) and Naz has been hot and cold, certainly not up to his potential either.

The one guy playing above his expected level is NAW. That's it! I would say Ant is doing fine, he's shooting a career high so he's making progress. His passing which was always behind is making nice progress as well.

Now if you want to argue about the guys surrounding Ant and the roster construction fine. One guy will never carry a team these days, so yeah sure we agree on that. Lets see what we do for Randle. Lets see what Dilly, Minott and all the other young guys turn into OR see if some miracle happens and these guys start playing like they are capable of.

[Lipoli390]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

You're a passionate fan with a right to your opinion, but no matter how much you rip Connelly, it doesn't change the fact that the team he built in Denver won a title and the team he helped build in Minnesota was a contender and made it to the WCF.

Now it sucks that we are basically a .500 team this year, but it's not like we have zero draft capital, zero players of value, and zero young talent on the roster. We do have draft capital, we do have players with value around the league, and we do have young talent on the roster. These are all facts no matter how miserable you feel about the team right now!

TC inherited a 46-win team that took the team with the best record in the West to 6 games in the playoffs. That season Ant wasn’t nearly the player he is today. TC took over and traded a ton of assets for Rudy. By the time the dust settles on this third season under TC, the Wolves will have been no better than a borderline playoff team with fewer than 46 wins. One season making the Western Conference finals is not vindication. TC’s own stated goal when he came here was to build a sustainable winner. He obviously hasn’t done that. He did build a sustainable winner in Denver. But of course, he stayed the course with the core he assembled organically and didn’t disrupt the team’s growth with a needless hale Mary. So TC’s rein in Denver was a success, but his rein here thus far can’t be called a success and it’s reasonable to label it a failure.

Rudy was obviously a key to the team’s success last season. But KAT was obviously a key as well and there’s no reason this team could not have taken the 46-win team TC inherited and done just as well last season without giving all those assets for Rudy Gobert. And of course, the Rudy deal led directly to giving KAT away this season. Yet we’re still over the second apron with the second highest payroll in the NBA. Rudy and Randle are a terrible fit with Ant yet those two bigs are largely untraceable without giving away draft picks to entice buyers. Meanwhile, Naz and NAW are both positioned to leaver as free agents next summer with no compensation in return and no ability to deal them in sign-and-trades because we’re over the second apron.

So I’d say TC has put this organization in a pretty bad spot, WELL short of the sustainable winner he said he wanted to build here.

We do have some intriguing young talent in Dilly, TSJ, Minott, Miller and Clark. And we still have Ant who TC inherited from his predecessor. And I haven’t lost all faith in Jaden. Yes, we have some draft assets, but we only have half of our own 1st round picks over the next 8 years along with one heavily protected first from Detroit. One of our 4 first rounders is subject to a swap with Utah. We can’t trade any of our own future first round picks under CBA rules and we don’t have a full stock of 2nd round picks either. We have zero draft picks in 2027. I wouldn’t say all is lost or that this thing can’t be turned around over the next several years, but it will take a level of front office acumen we haven’t seen under TC or any of his predecessors.

[Wolvesfan21]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

We got 6 guys rotting on the bench already. We don't need more players. Now if your argument was to use those picks on another guy or guys. IDK, we had a pretty damn good year last year. Rudy is a HOF player and won DPOY last year on OUR team. Like sure he's not playing well right now. But it's not over yet.

I think some fans were more then happy with winning 20 games and playing the lotto every year. I'd rather have a winning team.

[Wolvesfan21]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

You're a passionate fan with a right to your opinion, but no matter how much you rip Connelly, it doesn't change the fact that the team he built in Denver won a title and the team he helped build in Minnesota was a contender and made it to the WCF.

Now it sucks that we are basically a .500 team this year, but it's not like we have zero draft capital, zero players of value, and zero young talent on the roster. We do have draft capital, we do have players with value around the league, and we do have young talent on the roster. These are all facts no matter how miserable you feel about the team right now!

TC inherited a 46-win team that took the team with the best record in the West to 6 games in the playoffs. That season Ant wasn’t nearly the player he is today. TC took over and traded a ton of assets for Rudy. By the time the dust settles on this third season under TC, the Wolves will have been no better than a borderline playoff team with fewer than 46 wins. One season making the Western Conference finals is not vindication. TC’s own stated goal when he came here was to build a sustainable winner. He obviously hasn’t done that. He did build a sustainable winner in Denver. But of course, he stayed the course with the core he assembled organically and didn’t disrupt the team’s growth with a needless hale Mary. So TC’s rein in Denver was a success, but his rein here thus far can’t be called a success and it’s reasonable to label it a failure.

Rudy was obviously a key to the team’s success last season. But KAT was obviously a key as well and there’s no reason this team could not have taken the 46-win team TC inherited and done just as well last season without giving all those assets for Rudy Gobert. And of course, the Rudy deal led directly to giving KAT away this season. Yet we’re still over the second apron with the second highest payroll in the NBA. Rudy and Randle are a terrible fit with Ant yet those two bigs are largely untraceable without giving away draft picks to entice buyers. Meanwhile, Naz and NAW are both positioned to leaver as free agents next summer with no compensation in return and no ability to deal them in sign-and-trades because we’re over the second apron.

So I’d say TC has put this organization in a pretty bad spot, WELL short of the sustainable winner he said he wanted to build here.

The team still played pretty damn well without KAT. Sure he played great in the first two series but then like he always does, when the pressure gets too big he folds up shop and shoots 30%. Getting rid of KAT was the best move we could do. He's not a playoff winner. He plays close to his or any NBA player standard and we make the finals. He threw up all over himself. Now we lose to Boston probably, most likely. Getting rid of KAT was the best move we could ever do.

[Lipoli390]

You simply don't empty out the draft pick chest and put us in cap hell for a 30 year old one way player who needs to be sat during certain situations due to his limitations and who most of the league and team dislikes. It was stupid. It changed the trajectory of the team. He screwed this team over with one trade. We will now be paying for it for years. Nothing like one good year of basketball so we can go back to another 10 years of ineptitude. You won't change my mind on Connelly and I won't change yours. I hate him. He has been beyond awful in my opinion.

We got 6 guys rotting on the bench already. We don't need more players. Now if your argument was to use those picks on another guy or guys. IDK, we had a pretty damn good year last year. Rudy is a HOF player and won DPOY last year on OUR team. Like sure he's not playing well right now. But it's not over yet.

I think some fans were more then happy with winning 20 games and playing the lotto every year. I'd rather have a winning team.

We were a team on the rise that won 46 games the season before TC arrived, not a 20-win team. I never envisioned sticking with the same exact players going forward from there, but there were better uses of the assets we gave up for Rudy and we didn’t have to give up all those assets to improve on this team’s 46 wins. The improvement from Ant and Jaden alone would have elevated this team. Look around at the best teams in the League and you’ll see that none of them gave up some similar to what we gave up for a player like Rudy and put themselves in the financial and on-court situation we’re in right now.

[Phenom]

Damn this is getting brutal from both the fans and the on court product. It feels so long ago that the team beat Denver in game 7 and had many of us BELIEVING that they were finals bound.

My frustration stems from having high expectations but as WildWolf alluded to, it's a stark change from watching all of those hopeless teams for so many years.

This team needs to get it's mojo back, starting with Ant.

I think the biggest problem might be Finch, unfortunately. He seems to revert back to his habits and phrases and wonders why his players do too.

I'm genuinely curious if TC would let him go but I'm skeptical since he is taking a wait and see approach to ownership. Maybe if TC was desperate to keep his job but nobody is putting the screws to him anytime soon and he will land on his feet with someone else if he wants to.

[Coolbreeze44]

If you still believe Ant can be the centerpiece of an NBA champion, I'm envious of you. I wish I had that hope because I would be enjoying this team much more.

The way I see it, we knew cap problems were coming and so we took our best shot last year. We came close but ultimately lost to a couple of superstars in a superstar league. TC then tried pivoting by handing the keys to a flawed human being. That has turned out to be a mistake but I guess it was worth a shot.

However, it isn't all bad. We can load up on players and draft capital by trading Ant, Rudy and Randle. We should be able to get 5 first rounders and a couple of good young players in those transactions. We already have good supporting players in NAZ, NAW, Jaden, and hopefully Dillingham and Shannon. You always need a little luck, but couldn't we do a competitive rebuild like the Vikings did? Get a guy like Tyrese Maxey and a couple of firsts for Ant. A retool doesn't have to take that long if your GM has a good vision and strategy for it.

[Phenom]

If you still believe Ant can be the centerpiece of an NBA champion, I'm envious of you. I wish I had that hope because I would be enjoying this team much more.

The way I see it, we knew cap problems were coming and so we took our best shot last year. We came close but ultimately lost to a couple of superstars in a superstar league. TC then tried pivoting by handing the keys to a flawed human being. That has turned out to be a mistake but I guess it was worth a shot.

However, it isn't all bad. We can load up on players and draft capital by trading Ant, Rudy and Randle. We should be able to get 5 first rounders and a couple of good young players in those transactions. We already have good supporting players in NAZ, NAW, Jaden, and hopefully Dillingham and Shannon. You always need a little luck, but couldn't we do a competitive rebuild like the Vikings did? Get a guy like Tyrese Maxey and a couple of firsts for Ant. A retool doesn't have to take that long if your GM has a good vision and strategy for it.

Do you think Boston, Dallas, Denver, Golden State, Memphis, Miami, Utah, or San Antonio would trade for Ant (assuming there were no cap restrictions)?