Letting NAZ Walk...

[60WinTim]

This has not been highlighted enough -- what happens if you let NAZ walk?

For the sake of this exercise, assume Randle is back at 31 mil next season, whether he opts in, or signs an extension (which might be for less). Assume, also, the Wolves take two bigs at #17 and #31 in the draft -- call them Thing 1 and Thing 2. And also assume that the Wolves keep the 3 players they could potentially release to save money/free up a roster spot: Garza, Minott and Miller. The roster depth looks something like this:

PG: DDV, Dilly, Mike (I would retain Bones on a 2-way, too!)
SG: ANT, Clark
SF: Jaden, Shannon, Minott
PF: Randle, Thing 1, Miller
C: Rudy, Thing 2, Garza

The amazing thing that happens in this scenario is your salaries drop more than 4 mil BELOW the LUXURY TAX! Forget the Aprons, you are not even paying any luxury tax. This also means you have the FULL MLE at your disposal if you feel the need beef up the frontcourt, or add a PG because you want to move on from DDV (which would put you back in luxury tax territory, but not the aprons).

One could argue that re-signing NAZ is a better use of cap space than creating the full MLE, but that fails to address two questions: #1) can a Randle/NAZ frontcourt work on a championship team?, and #2) can NAZ be a starting PF on a championship team if you move off of Randle?

I am uncomfortable with both of those questions...

[FNG]

This has not been highlighted enough -- what happens if you let NAZ walk?

For the sake of this exercise, assume Randle is back at 31 mil next season, whether he opts in, or signs an extension (which might be for less). Assume, also, the Wolves take two bigs at #17 and #31 in the draft -- call them Thing 1 and Thing 2. And also assume that the Wolves keep the 3 players they could potentially release to save money/free up a roster spot: Garza, Minott and Miller. The roster depth looks something like this:

PG: DDV, Dilly, Mike (I would retain Bones on a 2-way, too!)
SG: ANT, Clark
SF: Jaden, Shannon, Minott
PF: Randle, Thing 1, Miller
C: Rudy, Thing 2, Garza

The amazing thing that happens in this scenario is your salaries drop more than 4 mil BELOW the LUXURY TAX! Forget the Aprons, you are not even paying any luxury tax. This also means you have the FULL MLE at your disposal if you feel the need beef up the frontcourt, or add a PG because you want to move on from DDV (which would put you back in luxury tax territory, but not the aprons).

One could argue that re-signing NAZ is a better use of cap space than creating the full MLE, but that fails to address two questions: #1) can a Randle/NAZ frontcourt work on a championship team?, and #2) can NAZ be a starting PF on a championship team if you move off of Randle?

I am uncomfortable with both of those questions...

interesting, Tim. Couldn't we also sign NAW at a reasonable amount if NAZ is gone? Puts us into lux tax, but probably below second apron, right?

I probably would prefer to keep Naz as a 6th man...unlike the prevailing opinion here, I don't see him as a starter in the NBA, at least not yet. But he is a valuable player off the bench and a fan favorite, so I suspect TC/Finchy prefer keeping Naz over NAW.

[Q-is-here]

I think your scenario Tim here works better assuming the MLE is used to go out and get a decent bench Center (Looney!), which would then allow Jaden to slide down to PF for spells. I certainly don't want to rely on Rookie Thing to shore up our bench defense! Naz's bench offense gets replaced by Shannon and Dillingham, two guys that know how to get buckets and absolutely deserve more playing time next season.

The benefit of this is our paint defense doesn't completely crater every time Rudy sits. I don't think I can stand another season of Kek counting all the consecutive possessions the opposition scores when Rudy goes to the bench!

This would be your 9-man rotation:
PG - DDV, Dilly
SG - Ant, Clark
SF - Jaden, Shannon
PF - Randle, Jaden
C - Rudy, Looney or some other vet big

Having said all that, I have a strong feeling this isn't good enough for new ownership and Connelly and we can expect one or two bigger changes, whether Naz is back or not.

[Wolvesfan21]

Naz is extension eligible at like 21 mill per or something from us which is a really fair deal for him and us, So unless some team (Brooklyn) is completely idiotic and wants to pay Naz 25 mill plus and use up all their cap space then him resigning is pretty much guaranteed.

At the very least you use Naz as a sign and trade in a Durant type of deal (Ju and Naz for Durant). I don't see a scenario where him walking makes any sense, again barring a crazy overpay by one of the couple teams with decent cap room. Use it all n a backup/potential starter? I think he was even ranked 17th in FA list. So be real here, there are 16 guys I could see Brooklyn probably going after instead.

Maybe Brooklyn themselves want to be cheap and potentially make more money that way. Not even use their cap space this year. If you're not close why spend the dough? Honestly I wouldn't until I get that game changing superstar then you start going up to and over the cap to contend.

[60WinTim]

All good points! Well, except for the part about keeping both Randle and NAZ...

Q - I especially like adding Looney with a portion of the MLE, which probably means letting Garza go if we do in fact draft 2 bigs.

I just want to add that this whole Bones thing is flying under the radar. If you skip the first 30 seconds, here is 10 minutes of Bones dropping dimes in the NBA.

https://x.com/BonesGotBizzy/status/1928565979472113832

[Q-is-here]

All good points! Well, except for the part about keeping both Randle and NAZ...

Q - I especially like adding Looney with a portion of the MLE, which probably means letting Garza go if we do in fact draft 2 bigs.

I just want to add that this whole Bones thing is flying under the radar. If you skip the first 30 seconds, here is 10 minutes of Bones dropping dimes in the NBA.

https://x.com/BonesGotBizzy/status/1928565979472113832

Tim, another Free Agent Center we could sign at a reasonable price is Luke Kornet. I kind of put him and Looney in a similar category of dirty-work guys that know their role and do it well. Neither are offensive options like Naz is, but they are vet bigs that can hold down the paint, set good screens, and don't turn the ball over.

BTW, I think going out and getting a guy like Looney or Kornet makes sense in almost any scenario.

[Wolvesfan21]

All good points! Well, except for the part about keeping both Randle and NAZ...

Q - I especially like adding Looney with a portion of the MLE, which probably means letting Garza go if we do in fact draft 2 bigs.

I just want to add that this whole Bones thing is flying under the radar. If you skip the first 30 seconds, here is 10 minutes of Bones dropping dimes in the NBA.

https://x.com/BonesGotBizzy/status/1928565979472113832

Tim, another Free Agent Center we could sign at a reasonable price is Luke Kornet. I kind of put him and Looney in a similar category of dirty-work guys that know their role and do it well. Neither are offensive options like Naz is, but they are vet bigs that can hold down the paint, set good screens, and don't turn the ball over.

BTW, I think going out and getting a guy like Looney or Kornet makes sense in almost any scenario.

I like Brook Lopez despite him being 36. Is he too expensive though?

[60WinTim]

All good points! Well, except for the part about keeping both Randle and NAZ...

Q - I especially like adding Looney with a portion of the MLE, which probably means letting Garza go if we do in fact draft 2 bigs.

I just want to add that this whole Bones thing is flying under the radar. If you skip the first 30 seconds, here is 10 minutes of Bones dropping dimes in the NBA.

https://x.com/BonesGotBizzy/status/1928565979472113832

Tim, another Free Agent Center we could sign at a reasonable price is Luke Kornet. I kind of put him and Looney in a similar category of dirty-work guys that know their role and do it well. Neither are offensive options like Naz is, but they are vet bigs that can hold down the paint, set good screens, and don't turn the ball over.

BTW, I think going out and getting a guy like Looney or Kornet makes sense in almost any scenario.

I like Brook Lopez despite him being 36. Is he too expensive though?

He would definitely be on the list of guys to contact. And there are others. Clint Capela would be thought, too.

[AbeVigodaLive]

All good points! Well, except for the part about keeping both Randle and NAZ...

Q - I especially like adding Looney with a portion of the MLE, which probably means letting Garza go if we do in fact draft 2 bigs.

I just want to add that this whole Bones thing is flying under the radar. If you skip the first 30 seconds, here is 10 minutes of Bones dropping dimes in the NBA.

https://x.com/BonesGotBizzy/status/1928565979472113832

Tim, another Free Agent Center we could sign at a reasonable price is Luke Kornet. I kind of put him and Looney in a similar category of dirty-work guys that know their role and do it well. Neither are offensive options like Naz is, but they are vet bigs that can hold down the paint, set good screens, and don't turn the ball over.

BTW, I think going out and getting a guy like Looney or Kornet makes sense in almost any scenario.

I'm always shocked at Looney's age. He's only 29. He looks like he's closer to 39.

Meanwhile, I was thinking like Kornet more for the upside. But, he's actually slightly older than Looney.

I do feel like he's on the upswing though. He reinvented himself the past couple of seasons from a floor-spacing shooting big to more of a traditional center... and it seems to be working.

[WildWolf2813]

If they let Naz walk, whatever their plans were failed because the front office really expected Naz to be 80% of KAT at a fraction of the cost and that might not be the case one way or another.

I'm not terribly excited for the free agent crop outside of Yabusele and that's in a backup role. Considering Finch likely won't draft any big at 17 or 31 to be in the rotation, let alone start, they better have someone in mind to add to the big man group because assuming we don't re-sign Randle to a long term deal (regardless of what happens to Naz this better not happen). I don't see starters in free agency. I see players that help around the margins possibly, but not much for bigs.


I wouldn't be too opposed to adding Larry Nance Jr.

Steven Adams would definitely help with toughness but there's matchups where he just can't play. Luke Kornet screams backup, but at least we'd have one for Gobert while his successor is getting reps in Iowa. I'm just iffy on Looney. I'm not sure our offense is souped up enough to justify him being out there for long stretches.