Wolves Offseason Forward Options

[60WinTim]

I know it's only summer league and it's only "back stiffness", but does Joan missing 2 consecutive games and Rocco's futility on defense (last night he made Garza look like Wemby!) increase the urgency for TC to bring in some size? I was hoping that Rocco might be the answer if either or both of Rudy and Joan were out, but his defensive struggles against summer league "talent" makes that unrealistic right now...goodness, if he can't stop a Chinese center who averaged a whopping 2.2 PPG last season, how is he going to look against true NBA centers? Does Lyles start in that scenario at center? Jaden???? With our current lack of depth at the "big" positions, we need both Rudy and Joan to stay healthy. Let's hope the back stiffness is nothing.

It's probably worth saying that the Chinese center you are referring to isn't some random 2nd round pick or summer league fodder. He was picked one selection before Beringer and him not doing well or not playing much last year probably doesn't mean a whole lot since the Blazers were also pretty stacked in the front court. He turned 21 last month.

Rocco's lack of progress (at least based on three SL games, which is pretty sparse) is a legit concern, as I thought watching him last year in the G-League he was on track to potentially be a viable 3rd string Center, meaning he'd be the "backup to the backup". Now I've gone wobbly on that assumption.

TKR may have to be the backup to the backup. He is simply not a modern day PF and looks way more natural at Center.

Yeah, none of Rocco, Freeman or TKR look to be an adequate "backup to the backup" for this coming season. Lyles would be serviceable as 3rd center. And whoever roster spot #14 is, he will likely be an option at the 4 or 5.

While I seriously doubt LeBron is heading to Minnesota, don't forget that his story is as much about the documentary on himself than it is about the team he picks. Maybe KG is running a distraction, and the plan is LeBron picks Minnesota and stays at KG's place for the season. But they are creating the intrigue now to add more spice to the documentary!

[AbeVigodaLive]

It always felt like Trey Lyles played better vs. the Timberwolves than vs. other teams.

Kelly Olynyk is another guy... another UFA. Batum... another Wolves killer.

Have to think we're seeing one of those in a Wolves jersey this winter.

[Monster]

It's probably worth saying that the Chinese center you are referring to isn't some random 2nd round pick or summer league fodder. He was picked one selection before Beringer and him not doing well or not playing much last year probably doesn't mean a whole lot since the Blazers were also pretty stacked in the front court. He turned 21 last month.

Rocco's lack of progress (at least based on three SL games, which is pretty sparse) is a legit concern, as I thought watching him last year in the G-League he was on track to potentially be a viable 3rd string Center, meaning he'd be the "backup to the backup". Now I've gone wobbly on that assumption.

TKR may have to be the backup to the backup. He is simply not a modern day PF and looks way more natural at Center.

Yeah, none of Rocco, Freeman or TKR look to be an adequate "backup to the backup" for this coming season. Lyles would be serviceable as 3rd center. And whoever roster spot #14 is, he will likely be an option at the 4 or 5.

While I seriously doubt LeBron is heading to Minnesota, don't forget that his story is as much about the documentary on himself than it is about the team he picks. Maybe KG is running a distraction, and the plan is LeBron picks Minnesota and stays at KG's place for the season. But they are creating the intrigue now to add more spice to the documentary!

I like TKR and Freeman to some extent but it seems like there should be some better options out there to use a 2-way deal on for a player that might actually need to play. TKR brings some stuff but I was hoping to see a more refined game than what I saw in summer league regardless of whether he is or would be playing PF or C. It's summer league and there is a decent chunk of time between now and the start of the season to add to the roster for even for some player to be more ready to contribute.

[Lipoli390]

Current list of available PF free agents except for a few I excluded because they wouldn’t upgrade our size at that position. All but Duran are UFAs.

For most I’ve included their age, and their most recent season stats considering of games played, minutes per game, points per game and rebounds per game along with some other stats. For a couple of them I went back a couple seasons for a more complete data set if they played very little last season:

1. Jalen Duren (RFA)
2. Jonathan Kuminga - 23.8yo, 5.6r
3. Kevin Love - 37yo, 5.8r
4. Dwight Powell - 34yo, 12g, 14.3m, 4.1r
5. Oscar Tshiebwe - 26.6yo, 27g, 16.6m, 6.6r
6. Jeremy Sochan - (2024-25) 23.1yo, 54g, 25.3m, 6.5r, 2.4a, 0.8b, 53.5%, 31%/1.7, 70%/2.3
7. Olynyk - (2024-25) 35yo, 44g, 20.3m, 8.7p, 4.7r, 2.9a, 0.8s, 50%, 42%/1.8, 77%/2.5
8. Mason Plumlee - 2.7r
9. Anthony Gill - 33.7yo, 6’7/230/7’2ws, 55g, 17.3m, 5.8p, 2.9r, 63%
10. Trendon Watford - 25.7yo, 6’7.5/237/7’2.25ws, 53g, 16.3m, 6.5p, 3.3r, 2.5a, 51.5%, 78%/1.5
11. Olivier-Maxence Prosper - 24yo, 6’6.75/230/7’1, 35.0/40.5 vertical, 53g, 18.6m, 10p, 3.5r, 0.8s, 55%, 40.5%/2.8, 75.4%/2.2
12. Keshad Johnson - 25.5yo
13. EJ Liddell - 25.5yo
14. Trey Jemison - 26.5yo
15. Maxi Kleber - 34.4yo

[60WinTim]

I find Prosper kind of intriguing...

Memphis will have to get rid of a bunch of players before the season starts. They will be looking for opportunities to offload some players in exchange for assets. Too bad we don't have any draft capital...

[Sundog]

Google tells me Prosper is under contract for next season, not a UFA?

[FNG]

Touché!!!

Ha, love this board because you guys don’t let us get away with anything!

The Wolves are built to depend on 3 point shooting at which Naz is elite for a big man. And they also require versatility, and Naz has played 3 positions with the Wolves. Plus he is a perennial SMOY candidate and fan favorite. And he is both on the same timeline and very close to Ant and Jaden. There is ZERO chance of TC ever moving him!

Is there a PF 25 years old or younger who has level talent and accomplishment equivalent to LaMello and who would be a potential get for the Wolves in exchange for Ayo before or during the upcoming season? If you had mentioned LaMello Ball as a trade target in exchange for Naz and our remaining draft capital I would have considered it plausible even though I didn’t see it coming. Give me a PF name you think would be a plausible acquisition in exchange for Ayo and result in net improvement to the team?

More importantly, the PF position isn’t nearly as important to this team as the PG position and the Wolves are not going to leave themselves with Bones Hyland as the only backup to their new starting PG who has played 70+ games in only 2 of his 6 seasons. Tim Connelly mentioned the importance of having size in the backcourt. Ayo fits that bill perfectly with his 6’10.25 wingspan. Is there anyone who doesn’t wish we had let Randle rather than NAW go last summer?

I guarantee the Wolves are not going to trade Ayo this summer or next season. You can take that to the bank and feel secure in your retirement.

I want to feel secure in my retirement, Lip, but I've learned that betting on what TC is going to do is the quickest way to the poorhouse! We love to throw out possible trades here, and over the few years we have proposed probably hundreds of them. But TC always goes in a different direction than we are thinking, and that's why not one of his big moves has been predicted in this forum (well, maybe trading Ju for cap space was predicted, but I'm not calling that one of his big moves). I actually think TC reads this board and purposely does something we haven't mentioned. "Okay, so Lipoli is saying I'm not going to trade Ayo. I'll show him on December 15!"

I'm fairly confident TC would love to turn Green and TJ into a starting PF, and maybe he can still get it done. But I don't think other teams value either of them that much, and he may be forced to give up Donte or Ayo if the mix and match strategy doesn't work at PF. One thing I think we know for sure...TC isn't done yet, and assuming LeBron goes elsewhere, he's going to do something none of us suspected. That's how he operates.

[Q-is-here]

Google tells me Prosper is under contract for next season, not a UFA?

Correct, he's under contract. But it seems like Memphis has a gazillion PGs and PFs that are "rotation-worthy" on a lot of NBA rosters yet can't possibly all get playing time on the Grizzlies, so they seem like a team that another team with PG or PF needs could do business with.

[Monster]

Current list of available PF free agents except for a few I excluded because they wouldn’t upgrade our size at that position. All but Duran are UFAs.

For most I’ve included their age, and their most recent season stats considering of games played, minutes per game, points per game and rebounds per game along with some other stats. For a couple of them I went back a couple seasons for a more complete data set if they played very little last season:

1. Jalen Duren (RFA)
2. Jonathan Kuminga - 23.8yo, 5.6r
3. Kevin Love - 37yo, 5.8r
4. Dwight Powell - 34yo, 12g, 14.3m, 4.1r
5. Oscar Tshiebwe - 26.6yo, 27g, 16.6m, 6.6r
6. Jeremy Sochan - (2024-25) 23.1yo, 54g, 25.3m, 6.5r, 2.4a, 0.8b, 53.5%, 31%/1.7, 70%/2.3
7. Olynyk - (2024-25) 35yo, 44g, 20.3m, 8.7p, 4.7r, 2.9a, 0.8s, 50%, 42%/1.8, 77%/2.5
8. Mason Plumlee - 2.7r
9. Anthony Gill - 33.7yo, 6’7/230/7’2ws, 55g, 17.3m, 5.8p, 2.9r, 63%
10. Trendon Watford - 25.7yo, 6’7.5/237/7’2.25ws, 53g, 16.3m, 6.5p, 3.3r, 2.5a, 51.5%, 78%/1.5
11. Olivier-Maxence Prosper - 24yo, 6’6.75/230/7’1, 35.0/40.5 vertical, 53g, 18.6m, 10p, 3.5r, 0.8s, 55%, 40.5%/2.8, 75.4%/2.2
12. Keshad Johnson - 25.5yo
13. EJ Liddell - 25.5yo
14. Trey Jemison - 26.5yo
15. Maxi Kleber - 34.4yo

As soon as Lip posted this list I knew as soon as I got home I needed to print it out and post in on my mirror for inspiration!

Kidding aside I also been spending time scouring anything I could find for that possible option that sounds good. I even was like hey what about Bol Bol another Connelly slide due to stuff special. Alas he tore his Achilles playing in Asian in March. He was putting up some pretty good numbers of there although it's not exactly the euro league!

[rapsuperstar31]

Charlie Walton
@CharlieWaltonMN
When .@DanBarreiroKFAN
asked Tim Connelly about Chris Finch's recent comments that Jaden McDaniels might not be Minnesota's starting power forward, Connelly said they have some internal options they are confident in that might be "left-fieldish" to some.