Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:04 pm
Based on what Hoopshype listed as next year’s salaries for Naz and Randle under their new contracts and factoring in the release of Minott and Garza, my calculation shows that our payroll would be $197.8M. That would be about $10M under the projected $207.8M second apron threshold. So it looks like we could pay the full $5.7 taxpayer MLE to a free agent or take back $5.7M in a NAW sign-and-trade, while also signing two vet minimum players with a cap hit of $1.8M each, and end up just below the second apron.
They can only add 1 non rookie on a vet min contract
Yup. And Lip’s number doesn’t include DDV’s 750K of unlikely bonuses, which also count towards the 2nd apron.
It sure seems like the Wolves plan is to only go with 14 roster spots. Their biggest need is another ball handler, almost surely a PG. Tyus looks to be the best bet and the full TMLE might just get him. Then they’ll add a FA big on a vet minimum contract, which could be Garza, unless someone else more intriguing pops up on the radar. It’s tough though, because that player may not see much playing time.
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:04 pm
Based on what Hoopshype listed as next year’s salaries for Naz and Randle under their new contracts and factoring in the release of Minott and Garza, my calculation shows that our payroll would be $197.8M. That would be about $10M under the projected $207.8M second apron threshold. So it looks like we could pay the full $5.7 taxpayer MLE to a free agent or take back $5.7M in a NAW sign-and-trade, while also signing two vet minimum players with a cap hit of $1.8M each, and end up just below the second apron.
They can only add 1 non rookie on a vet min contract
Yup. And Lip’s number doesn’t include DDV’s 750K of unlikely bonuses, which also count towards the 2nd apron.
It sure seems like the Wolves plan is to only go with 14 roster spots. Their biggest need is another ball handler, almost surely a PG. Tyus looks to be the best bet and the full TMLE might just get him. Then they’ll add a FA big on a vet minimum contract, which could be Garza, unless someone else more intriguing pops up on the radar. It’s tough though, because that player may not see much playing time.
Sounds about right, Tim. We can add one FA at the taxpayer MLE max of $5.7M and one vet minimum, which gets us to 14. I don’t think we need a 15th, especially with several 2-way contract players.
We do have a few trade exceptions $8,780.488 million from trading Kyle Anderson last year that expires July 6th, and $4,686,880 from the Kat trade that expires on 10/02. I'm not sure if we can use those in the first apron or not. Possibly getting a decent player at that 8.78 million figure, or maybe using that 4.68 one and than part of the Tax payer mle.
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 29, 2025 10:04 pm
Based on what Hoopshype listed as next year’s salaries for Naz and Randle under their new contracts and factoring in the release of Minott and Garza, my calculation shows that our payroll would be $197.8M. That would be about $10M under the projected $207.8M second apron threshold. So it looks like we could pay the full $5.7 taxpayer MLE to a free agent or take back $5.7M in a NAW sign-and-trade, while also signing two vet minimum players with a cap hit of $1.8M each, and end up just below the second apron.
They can only add 1 non rookie on a vet min contract
Yep. Based on what we know about the salaries of Naz and Randle under their new deals, it looks like the Wolves front office executives has given themselves just enough room under the 2nd apron to use the full taxpayer MLE on a free agent and also sign one more free agent at the vet minimum. I believe the cap hit for a vet minimum player with 2 years experience or more would be $2,296,274. If we sign a free agent at the full taxpayer MLE of $5.7M and a free agent with 2 years experience or more, the total salary would be $7,996,274. That works since we appear to be a bit over $8M under the 2nd apron after releasing Minott and Garza. The question is whether we have another $1,272,870 of room under the 2nd apron to sign another rookie free agent. I think we do but I’m not sure.
If we’re going to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE to fill our 14th roster spot, I want the player to be someone, unlike Ingles, who could step into the rotation if necessary. Beyond that, I think the player we sign should be a backup PG or C. Between the two, I’d opt for a defensive center because that’s where we’re most vulnerable to injury. If Conley or Dilly does down or either proves be incapable, we have a number of guards — Ant, Donte, TSJ, Clark - who can keep the team on track on both sides of the ball. If Rudy goes down, we have no answer defensively in our front court with Randle and Naz. So I’d focus on using the MLE on a defensive-oriented center and if we have room for a 15th guy I’d sign someone like Dinwiddie or even Jordan McLaughlin.
Here’s a list of free agent centers who might be gettable, ranked by their defensive rating last season:
1. Paul Reed - 103.3
2. Mo Bamba 106.2
3. Charles Bassey 110.0
4. Kai Jones 110.9
5. Thomas Bryant 112.5
6. Moussa Diabate 113.2
7. Alex Len 113.8
8. Mason Plumlee 114.9
The free agent centers I’d really Ike to get are Luke Kornet (109.7), Kevon Looney (107.9) or Precious Achiuwa (111.1) but I don’t think we’d be able to sign any of them even if we offer the full taxpayer MLE of just under $5.7M. Mo Bamba might not be gettable.
If we can sign one of these centers perhaps we can have just enough room under the 2nd apron to sign someone like Dinwiddie or JMac.
I’ve always thought of Plumlee as a better defender than his 114.9 defensive rating last season. Playing for the Suns certainly didn’t help. I think he’d be an easy get for the vet minimum. I’m not sure how much of the taxpayer MLE it would take to get any of the others.
(Q - if you want to do a deeper dive into the defensive metrics of these guys, that would be great.)
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:55 pm
If we’re going to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE to fill our 14th roster spot, I want the player to be someone, unlike Ingles, who could step into the rotation if necessary. Beyond that, I think the player we sign should be a backup PG or C. Between the two, I’d opt for a defensive center because that’s where we’re most vulnerable to injury. If Conley or Dilly does down or either proves be incapable, we have a number of guards — Ant, Donte, TSJ, Clark - who can keep the team on track on both sides of the ball. If Rudy goes down, we have no answer defensively in our front court with Randle and Naz. So I’d focus on using the MLE on a defensive-oriented center and if we have room for a 15th guy I’d sign someone like Dinwiddie or even Jordan McLaughlin.
Here’s a list of free agent centers who might be gettable, ranked by their defensive rating last season:
1. Paul Reed - 103.3, +1.9 (97th percentile)
2. Mo Bamba 106.2, +.1 (57th percentile)
3. Charles Bassey 110.0,-1.6 (5th percentile)
4. Kai Jones 110.9, +0.0 (56th percentile)
5. Thomas Bryant 112.5, -1.0 (19th precentile)
6. Moussa Diabate 113.2, +.7 (79th percentile)
7. Alex Len 113.8, -3.1 (1st percentile)
8. Mason Plumlee 114.9 -1.2 (14th percentile)
The free agent centers I’d really Ike to get are Luke Kornet (109.7), Kevon Looney (107.9) or Precious Achiuwa (111.1) but I don’t think we’d be able to sign any of them even if we offer the full taxpayer MLE of just under $5.7M. Mo Bamba might not be gettable.
If we can sign one of these centers perhaps we can have just enough room under the 2nd apron to sign someone like Dinwiddie or JMac.
I’ve always thought of Plumlee as a better defender than his 114.9 defensive rating last season. Playing for the Suns certainly didn’t help. I think he’d be an easy get for the vet minimum. I’m not sure how much of the taxpayer MLE it would take to get any of the others.
(Q - if you want to do a deeper dive into the defensive metrics of these guys, that would be great.)
Lip, I'll add my favorite defensive stat, which is Defensive estimate plus minus, above next to your data. I also added the percentile to give an idea of how it looks comparatively.
I would question your assumption that Kornet (87th percentile) and Looney (96th percentile) would cost more than we can afford. Our TPMLE would give Kornet a big raise and Looney's last deal was made when he was still starting a good portion of games. He's since been demoted to being a regular bench big, albeit a good one.
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:55 pm
If we’re going to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE to fill our 14th roster spot, I want the player to be someone, unlike Ingles, who could step into the rotation if necessary. Beyond that, I think the player we sign should be a backup PG or C. Between the two, I’d opt for a defensive center because that’s where we’re most vulnerable to injury. If Conley or Dilly does down or either proves be incapable, we have a number of guards — Ant, Donte, TSJ, Clark - who can keep the team on track on both sides of the ball. If Rudy goes down, we have no answer defensively in our front court with Randle and Naz. So I’d focus on using the MLE on a defensive-oriented center and if we have room for a 15th guy I’d sign someone like Dinwiddie or even Jordan McLaughlin.
Here’s a list of free agent centers who might be gettable, ranked by their defensive rating last season:
1. Paul Reed - 103.3, +1.9 (97th percentile)
2. Mo Bamba 106.2, +.1 (57th percentile)
3. Charles Bassey 110.0,-1.6 (5th percentile)
4. Kai Jones 110.9, +0.0 (56th percentile)
5. Thomas Bryant 112.5, -1.0 (19th precentile)
6. Moussa Diabate 113.2, +.7 (79th percentile)
7. Alex Len 113.8, -3.1 (1st percentile)
8. Mason Plumlee 114.9 -1.2 (14th percentile)
The free agent centers I’d really Ike to get are Luke Kornet (109.7), Kevon Looney (107.9) or Precious Achiuwa (111.1) but I don’t think we’d be able to sign any of them even if we offer the full taxpayer MLE of just under $5.7M. Mo Bamba might not be gettable.
If we can sign one of these centers perhaps we can have just enough room under the 2nd apron to sign someone like Dinwiddie or JMac.
I’ve always thought of Plumlee as a better defender than his 114.9 defensive rating last season. Playing for the Suns certainly didn’t help. I think he’d be an easy get for the vet minimum. I’m not sure how much of the taxpayer MLE it would take to get any of the others.
(Q - if you want to do a deeper dive into the defensive metrics of these guys, that would be great.)
Lip, I'll add my favorite defensive stat, which is Defensive estimate plus minus, above next to your data. I also added the percentile to give an idea of how it looks comparatively.
I would question your assumption that Kornet (87th percentile) and Looney (96th percentile) would cost more than we can afford. Our TPMLE would give Kornet a big raise and Looney's last deal was made when he was still starting a good portion of games. He's since been demoted to being a regular bench big, albeit a good one.
Thanks, Q! Very interesting to see these different metrics in combination. If you’re right about Kornet and/or Looney, then if I were in TC’s position, I’d pursue them both vigorously and see if we can land one or the other for $5.7M or less. If we can’t get one of those two, Paul Reed looks really good to me. The combination of metrics also reflect fairly positivity on Mo Bamba and Moussa.
I really think we need to sign one of these better defensive bigs. I understand the risk of going forward with only Conley and Dilly at PG, but the risk of Rudy going down for an extended time and the impact it would have on our defense is really concerning. If we can use the TMLE to sign Looney or Kornet, maybe we’re have enough room under the 2nd apron to sign a Dinwiddie type for the vet minimum. If we hadn’t re-signed Ingles, we could then we could definitely use the vet minimum to sign a guy like Dinwiddie or even JMac. That’s why I really dislike the Ingles signing.
I haven't seen this reported anywhere, but in the "transactions" section on spotrac it says Leonard Miller's contract became fully guaranteed today for next season. This always seemed like a done deal, but it's nice to see it in print.
What I have not seen is the status of a QO for Bones Hyland. I suspect he will wind up being our 3rd PG. I know some of you are less than impressed, but I am pretty comfortable with him joining the roster. I hope it goes down.
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 30, 2025 1:55 pm
If we’re going to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE to fill our 14th roster spot, I want the player to be someone, unlike Ingles, who could step into the rotation if necessary. Beyond that, I think the player we sign should be a backup PG or C. Between the two, I’d opt for a defensive center because that’s where we’re most vulnerable to injury. If Conley or Dilly does down or either proves be incapable, we have a number of guards — Ant, Donte, TSJ, Clark - who can keep the team on track on both sides of the ball. If Rudy goes down, we have no answer defensively in our front court with Randle and Naz. So I’d focus on using the MLE on a defensive-oriented center and if we have room for a 15th guy I’d sign someone like Dinwiddie or even Jordan McLaughlin.
Here’s a list of free agent centers who might be gettable, ranked by their defensive rating last season:
1. Paul Reed - 103.3, +1.9 (97th percentile)
2. Mo Bamba 106.2, +.1 (57th percentile)
3. Charles Bassey 110.0,-1.6 (5th percentile)
4. Kai Jones 110.9, +0.0 (56th percentile)
5. Thomas Bryant 112.5, -1.0 (19th precentile)
6. Moussa Diabate 113.2, +.7 (79th percentile)
7. Alex Len 113.8, -3.1 (1st percentile)
8. Mason Plumlee 114.9 -1.2 (14th percentile)
The free agent centers I’d really Ike to get are Luke Kornet (109.7), Kevon Looney (107.9) or Precious Achiuwa (111.1) but I don’t think we’d be able to sign any of them even if we offer the full taxpayer MLE of just under $5.7M. Mo Bamba might not be gettable.
If we can sign one of these centers perhaps we can have just enough room under the 2nd apron to sign someone like Dinwiddie or JMac.
I’ve always thought of Plumlee as a better defender than his 114.9 defensive rating last season. Playing for the Suns certainly didn’t help. I think he’d be an easy get for the vet minimum. I’m not sure how much of the taxpayer MLE it would take to get any of the others.
(Q - if you want to do a deeper dive into the defensive metrics of these guys, that would be great.)
Lip, I'll add my favorite defensive stat, which is Defensive estimate plus minus, above next to your data. I also added the percentile to give an idea of how it looks comparatively.
I would question your assumption that Kornet (87th percentile) and Looney (96th percentile) would cost more than we can afford. Our TPMLE would give Kornet a big raise and Looney's last deal was made when he was still starting a good portion of games. He's since been demoted to being a regular bench big, albeit a good one.
Thanks, Q! Very interesting to see these different metrics in combination. If you’re right about Kornet and/or Looney, then if I were in TC’s position, I’d pursue them both vigorously and see if we can land one or the other for $5.7M or less. If we can’t get one of those two, Paul Reed looks really good to me. The combination of metrics also reflect fairly positivity on Mo Bamba and Moussa.
I really think we need to sign one of these better defensive bigs. I understand the risk of going forward with only Conley and Dilly at PG, but the risk of Rudy going down for an extended time and the impact it would have on our defense is really concerning. If we can use the TMLE to sign Looney or Kornet, maybe we’re have enough room under the 2nd apron to sign a Dinwiddie type for the vet minimum. If we hadn’t re-signed Ingles, we could then we could definitely use the vet minimum to sign a guy like Dinwiddie or even JMac. That’s why I really dislike the Ingles signing.
We should be trying to find the next Luke Kornet. He wasn't anywhere near our price range he went to the Spurs for 4 years 41 million.
Lip, I'll add my favorite defensive stat, which is Defensive estimate plus minus, above next to your data. I also added the percentile to give an idea of how it looks comparatively.
I would question your assumption that Kornet (87th percentile) and Looney (96th percentile) would cost more than we can afford. Our TPMLE would give Kornet a big raise and Looney's last deal was made when he was still starting a good portion of games. He's since been demoted to being a regular bench big, albeit a good one.
Thanks, Q! Very interesting to see these different metrics in combination. If you’re right about Kornet and/or Looney, then if I were in TC’s position, I’d pursue them both vigorously and see if we can land one or the other for $5.7M or less. If we can’t get one of those two, Paul Reed looks really good to me. The combination of metrics also reflect fairly positivity on Mo Bamba and Moussa.
I really think we need to sign one of these better defensive bigs. I understand the risk of going forward with only Conley and Dilly at PG, but the risk of Rudy going down for an extended time and the impact it would have on our defense is really concerning. If we can use the TMLE to sign Looney or Kornet, maybe we’re have enough room under the 2nd apron to sign a Dinwiddie type for the vet minimum. If we hadn’t re-signed Ingles, we could then we could definitely use the vet minimum to sign a guy like Dinwiddie or even JMac. That’s why I really dislike the Ingles signing.
We should be trying to find the next Luke Kornet. He wasn't anywhere near our price range he went to the Spurs for 4 years 41 million.
Yeah, I'm kind of shocked actually.
Kornet has never earned more than about $2M per year, so good for him to get such a big pay raise at a fairly mature stage in his career (he turns 30 in a few days). It goes to show that some guys peak in that age 28-32 range, when most others sort of plateau or start falling off a bit. I'm thinking of Norman Powell as a wing example of this and TJ McConnell as a guard example.
