Rate the Wolves Off-Season So Far

[Lipoli390]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/745454 ... ics-spurs/

In the linked article, David Aldridge ranks the Wolves as having had the 19th best (11th worst) offseason in the NBA. If you can’t open the article, I’ll boil it down to David’s view that the Wolves gave up too much for what they got. He pointed out that the Wolves gave up more for Ball than the Sixers gave up for Brown, a proven star, with a Finals MVP under his belt, who is still in his prime.

I see David’s point, but I look at it a bit differently in two ways. When you’re in a win-now mode the question is whether the team is better after the trade than before and does not turn on how the deal compares to others. That’s a close call. Essentially, the Wolves traded Randle and Naz for LaMello and Green. The question then, to me, is this: Are we a better team with the latter two than the former? I think so because of the positive synergies that come from replacing pairing Ball with Ant.

Ball should optimize Ant on both sides of the ball more than Randle and Ball did. In fact, Randle’s presence on the court created a negative synergy with Ant (and others) because of Randle’s propensity to hold the ball and clog the lane. That doesn’t include the negative chemistry that Randle apparently generated. Moreover, the Wolves had no one last season to take ball pressure of Ant. We had a Donte, a shooting guard, playing PG next to Ant and no one other than Ant who could reliably bring the ball up or handle the ball in the half-court offense. That had to limit what Ant was able to do offensively and likely drained energy he needed to reach his defensive potential. Further, we’re not losing any defense going from Randle and Naz to Ball and Green; in fact, we might be gaining defensively.

I am concerned that we’re losing rebounding; I consider that a serious issue. But Ball is one of the best rebounding PGs in the League and Ant can be a significantly better rebounder than he’s been. Perhaps the burden that Ball takes off Ant’s shoulders will give Ant the extra energy and desire to ramp up his rebounding. Taking my cue from the Howls and Growls video I posted in another thread, playing Jaden and Green as our two forwards should unlock Jaden’s rebounding, which has been limited by the fact that he’s been chasing the oppositions team’s best offensive players around the court at the point of attack.

David’s point about the Sixers getting Brown for less than we gave up for Ball and Green is worth addressing. After reading the article, I asked myself this questions: Would Brown have been a better acquisition than Ball for what we gave up to get Ball and Green? No doubt that Brown is a better, more accomplished player than Ball right now. But there are three reasons I think Ball was a better acquisition. First, Brown’s contract is much bigger and likely to get bigger very soon, which would have pushed the Wolves about the second apron. That fact alone made acquiring Brown untenable in my view. Second, Brown is a high usage SG, which doesn’t fit as well with Ant as a true PG like Ball. Yes, Ball was high usage last season, but Ball’s skill-set allows him to dial down his usage without undermining his on-court value to the team. In fact, Ball will likely be more of a positive at a lower usage rate playing with an offensive star like Ant. Third, because of his age and contract, Brown’s age is a shorter-term proposition than Ball. Trading for Ball rather than Brown makes a lot more sense for a Wolves team with such limited future draft capital. At age 24 with 3 years left on his contract, Ball provides the Wolves with a stable, likely improving longer-term along-side Ant and Jaden. That’s important because it often takes a year or two of knocking at the door to actually get through the door.

I acknowledge there are legitimate concerns about what the Wolves have done thus far this off-season and there are certainly teams that I believe have done better. But I disagree with David’s assessment of the Wolves off-season. I think it’s far too negative and focuses on the wrong things. That doesn’t mean the Wolves can’t still improve on their off-season before the season starts. I still believe the team needs to add another rotation big - preferably a rebounding PF - to fill some of the gap left with the loss of Randle and Naz. I don’t think we need to go out and get a starting PF and I don’t think we have the assets to get that sort of quality starter without giving up a player we should keep. Starting Green and Jaden together will be a bad defensive matchup for us at PF some games, but will also be a bad defensive matchup for the other team in those and many other games. I have some confidence in Trey Lyles to help off-set some of the bad matchups for Jaden at PF, but I’d still like to see us bring in a Kevin Love or someone else who can physically hold up against the bulkier PFs.

[Wolvesfan21]

I'd give the Wolves a B maybe B+. Getting a legit second scorer / elite passing PG is what we really needed to see Ants offensive game get unlocked. Now doubling Ant comes with even greater risk. Prior we didn't really have the guys who could really make teams pay for doubling Ant. So I see that trade as a potential huge win for us.

As far as Brown, he just makes too much money and that seems to be the general consensus as to why he was traded for what seems like less. While Ball makes a fair contract, in this current CBA you simply have to really consider contract size based on performance a ton.

So sure Brown is a better player I think, relative to contract Ball is the better value.

[Q-is-here]

I'm not sure how to rate the offseason as it relates specifically to the 2026-27 season. The end result may be similar to this past season which on paper looks like stagnation.

Longer term, Connelly has assembled what could be a very compelling core of players age 26 and younger that could gel together and eventually compete for a title. We need some things to fall in place though, including the eventual replacement of Rudy by an ascendent Joan Beringer as our starting Center. It's premature to assume that will happen, but he clearly has a ton of upside that if eventually fulfilled could be a game-changer that goes well beyond "athletic big that hustles and dunks". Step 1 is to play real rotation minutes this season and prove that he can at least be a net neutral as Rudy's backup. Then we can move onto Step 2....He's still so young!

The other big factor is keeping Ant and Ball healthy (again, this goes beyond this season). Does the Wolves vaunted medical staff help LaMelo move past his chronic ankle issues? Even though he had a relatively healthy year last season, he only played 28 MPG. We're going to need more than that from him if he's truly our 2nd best player.

And lastly, does Ant have another step that he can take that solidifies him as a top 6 or 7 player in the NBA? I don't think he has to be a perennial MVP candidate for the Wolves to eventually compete for a title, but he has to take another step - or even half step at this point - to be a truly finished product.

[60WinTim]

I’ve been missing a lot because we are on a month long RV trip to Nova Scotia. But I also see that I haven’t really missed much after all!

While the offseason is well on its way to an A, it is still an incomplete for me. The fact that TC has not filled the 14th roster spot, yet, has me convinced a trade is forth coming. Evans can be traded starting August 10th. Green can be aggregated starting September 10th. So, we likely have to wait a bit before making an offseason analysis.

[Monster]

I think Aldridge having the position that the Wolves gave up more for Ball than Brown is a fair point. I'll push back with some more points.

The Browns trade is sort of an odd slander of 2 pretty good players in Brown (VERY good just paid a lot) and George who if healthy is still a pretty good player but obviously overpaid. I will not be surprised at all if George on the Celtics ends up putting up at least 20ppg and mostly being his usual versatile efficient self. That's not a bad return for a team still looking to win games. I'd guess if George is still healthy and playing well an extension could come after this season to lower his 2027 cap number. He could end up being a very worthwhile player for Boston...or an expiring contract trade chip.

It seems like the Wolves gave up 1 less actual 1st round draft pick than the Sixers did for Brown. There is a bunch of stuff going back and forth in both trades that's stuff but probably not exactly worth being wildly concerned about.

The Wolves took back a similar amount of money with Ball and Green as the Celtics did with George. Green while overpaid this year is definitely a useful player and a contract that could be used to add another player. That's worth something in addition to filling a roster spot instead of paying a vet min guy.

After this year the difference between Brown and Ball gets pretty big. It's like 18 million more for Brown than Ball. That's a pretty big number. Nobody was looking to dump Naz but they did move on from his salalry so they will likely have more financial flexibility after their trade than the Celtics will...depending on what happens with George.

Personally I don't include Randle as part of the Ball deal. Randle clearly wasn't coming back and he was dealt to facilitate the Wolves adding a different player whether ina trade or FA or whatever. That was another example of how salaries of players really determines their value. I still think dumping Randle for nothing was pretty good for the Wolves.

Overall I think the Ball deal makes more sense for the Wolves than acquiring Brown but of course that depends on Ball staying healthy and how the Wolves build out their roster going forward. They will have more ability to build out their roster with Ball than they would with Brown.

[BeenLurkin]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/745454 ... ics-spurs/

In the linked article, David Aldridge ranks the Wolves as having had the 19th best (11th worst) offseason in the NBA. If you can’t open the article, I’ll boil it down to David’s view that the Wolves gave up too much for what they got. He pointed out that the Wolves gave up more for Ball than the Sixers gave up for Brown, a proven star, with a Finals MVP under his belt, who is still in his prime.

I see David’s point, but I look at it a bit differently in two ways. When you’re in a win-now mode the question is whether the team is better after the trade than before and does not turn on how the deal compares to others. That’s a close call. Essentially, the Wolves traded Randle and Naz for LaMello and Green. The question then, to me, is this: Are we a better team with the latter two than the former? I think so because of the positive synergies that come from replacing pairing Ball with Ant.

Ball should optimize Ant on both sides of the ball more than Randle and Ball did. In fact, Randle’s presence on the court created a negative synergy with Ant (and others) because of Randle’s propensity to hold the ball and clog the lane. That doesn’t include the negative chemistry that Randle apparently generated. Moreover, the Wolves had no one last season to take ball pressure of Ant. We had a Donte, a shooting guard, playing PG next to Ant and no one other than Ant who could reliably bring the ball up or handle the ball in the half-court offense. That had to limit what Ant was able to do offensively and likely drained energy he needed to reach his defensive potential. Further, we’re not losing any defense going from Randle and Naz to Ball and Green; in fact, we might be gaining defensively.

I am concerned that we’re losing rebounding; I consider that a serious issue. But Ball is one of the best rebounding PGs in the League and Ant can be a significantly better rebounder than he’s been. Perhaps the burden that Ball takes off Ant’s shoulders will give Ant the extra energy and desire to ramp up his rebounding. Taking my cue from the Howls and Growls video I posted in another thread, playing Jaden and Green as our two forwards should unlock Jaden’s rebounding, which has been limited by the fact that he’s been chasing the oppositions team’s best offensive players around the court at the point of attack.

David’s point about the Sixers getting Brown for less than we gave up for Ball and Green is worth addressing. After reading the article, I asked myself this questions: Would Brown have been a better acquisition than Ball for what we gave up to get Ball and Green? No doubt that Brown is a better, more accomplished player than Ball right now. But there are three reasons I think Ball was a better acquisition. First, Brown’s contract is much bigger and likely to get bigger very soon, which would have pushed the Wolves about the second apron. That fact alone made acquiring Brown untenable in my view. Second, Brown is a high usage SG, which doesn’t fit as well with Ant as a true PG like Ball. Yes, Ball was high usage last season, but Ball’s skill-set allows him to dial down his usage without undermining his on-court value to the team. In fact, Ball will likely be more of a positive at a lower usage rate playing with an offensive star like Ant. Third, because of his age and contract, Brown’s age is a shorter-term proposition than Ball. Trading for Ball rather than Brown makes a lot more sense for a Wolves team with such limited future draft capital. At age 24 with 3 years left on his contract, Ball provides the Wolves with a stable, likely improving longer-term along-side Ant and Jaden. That’s important because it often takes a year or two of knocking at the door to actually get through the door.

I acknowledge there are legitimate concerns about what the Wolves have done thus far this off-season and there are certainly teams that I believe have done better. But I disagree with David’s assessment of the Wolves off-season. I think it’s far too negative and focuses on the wrong things. That doesn’t mean the Wolves can’t still improve on their off-season before the season starts. I still believe the team needs to add another rotation big - preferably a rebounding PF - to fill some of the gap left with the loss of Randle and Naz. I don’t think we need to go out and get a starting PF and I don’t think we have the assets to get that sort of quality starter without giving up a player we should keep. Starting Green and Jaden together will be a bad defensive matchup for us at PF some games, but will also be a bad defensive matchup for the other team in those and many other games. I have some confidence in Trey Lyles to help off-set some of the bad matchups for Jaden at PF, but I’d still like to see us bring in a Kevin Love or someone else who can physically hold up against the bulkier PFs.

If all added up and considering full season stats without lineup contexts then yeah we sent out more rebounds then we brought back overall maybe? But Julius and Naz playing together lineups were bad. And neither of those guys ever rebounded as much as you’d want a PF or Center to rebound. And if you consider the lineup goes from last year having some mix of Donte/Julius and Conely/Naz and this year it will have Trey Lyles/Lamelo/jaden hopefully playing a different role and focusing more on rebounds…I guess I have a tough time seeing the rebounding get any worse than it was…and it was bad. I think there’s reason to hope it’s at worst a wash and maybe there’s improvement with better Vibes. Rebounding is effort and game plan. If they went off script last year and the vibes got better we could see a rise to league average.

[FNG]

It's way too early too rate the offseason because there is more uncertainty with this Wolves iteration than I can remember. But Aldridge did it, so I'll weigh in. Right now I would agree with his 19th best (11th worst) and give the offseason a C-. Sure they brought in a borderline superstar (and he was more than borderline at the end of last season) in Ball, but 3 key rotation players are gone or hurt...plus Conley. It's odd that I give TC a C-, because I'm about as excited for this season to begin as any...it's easy to get excited about an Ant/Ball backcourt. But then there's the uncertainty:

-Can Ball stay healthy?
-Is Joan really ready to play good meaningful minutes...what happens if Rudy misses games?
-Do we have a real PF? If Jaden is forced to play PF and one of our many guards is forced to play SF, are we going to have to suffer through games where opponents get 15-20 offensive rebound?

But all teams have question marks. It's more fun to talk about how my C- grade would become an A+:

-the Wolves add one more big and Finchy is able to play Jaden primarily at the 3
-Ball plays 70 plus games and helps Ant become a 30+ scorer.
-Joan plays close to the way he played in his one summer league game. He proves that he can block out on defensive rebounds, defend without fouling or leaving his feet too often, and show that the offensive flash we saw in SL was real.

Tall order, but if all three of these things happen, I rate the offseason a huge success and we challenge for a chip, especially if two gifted athletes (Ball and Ant) realize there are two ends of the court. But right now? C-.(which is a passing grade you know, as I often told my parents ).

[Monster]

I finally read the blurb from Aldridge. It's interesting that he gave Brown credit for driving winning last season but he didn't mention Ball's impact on the same thing. Also no mention of Green as any kind of value coming back. I get he was keeping these things short but I think it would have been worthwhile to include some mention of what Ball did last year.

I also think it's worth mentioning that they were able to keep players like Ayo, Bones (at the vet min) and Clark on a cheap 3 year deal. Will these deals all work out? Maybe or maybe not but those are the types of deals some of the good teams like OKC did to build up their roster. Lyles on a non-guaranteed vet min ain't too shabby either. Keep in mind Landry Shamet was only signed to a vet min deal last season for the Knicks and he was a key part of getting the Knicks to the Finals.

As I have mentioned in another post somewhere that while the Wolves have little draft assets (nothing for this coming season) they do have some players as assets. Green is the only bad contract right now but it's an expiring and he is also a player teams likely wouldn't mind taking on if they were moving a contract player they also didn't want etc.

The Wolves grade is gonna depend on so many factors one of which is what you think their goals was or should be for the off-season. I think this board had a couple goals we would have all agreed on. Below are couple of the them.

1. Move Randle and get something in return. The Wolves traded him for nothing but it allowed them to use that salary space to add a different player. That's an A imo

2. Add something to the PG spot next to Edwards. Well Ball was a pretty big move there. This goal was accomplished whether or not you agree with the value of it or if it is the right move but something happened here that definitely has legit potential to fill the biggest hole of the roster for years. I'm going with another B this could be a + or minus or even an A- but there is some risk here but the upside is pretty big so I'll go B.

3. Keep Ayo and resign him. Some would say unless the number is too high or there is a sign and trade that made sense. Well the Wolves brought him back and that was a big goal for them so what grade you give this likely depends on what salary you think he was worth. I'd give this a solid B

4. Continue to add young talent to the roster. The Wolves got younger this off-season and still added young talent. The vet salary match in Green is 26. Ball turns 25 this month. The youth of the roster is great and the Wolves also kept younger players in Clark and Bones. I'm gonna give this a B- or C+

So at least a B overall grade from me for the off-season so far. It's probably not gonna fluctuate too much on what happens with the next signing or maybe a different 2 way player signed but I guess you never know in addition to a trade.

[thedoper]

Ball is polarizing. It will continue if he cant stay healthy and sustain winning. This team is in a high risk situation this year. Our offseason could be anything from a C- to an A in my opinion based on Ball. I think moving early to get a jump on Ayo was a great move, Ball is up in the air but I will always lean optimistic because I am a fan who is not objective. The positive thing is our backcourt is the most exciting thing in basketball right now, I think people shitting on the move are under valuing just how entertaining Ball and Edwards can be together.

Go Wolves.

[Lipoli390]

It's way too early too rate the offseason because there is more uncertainty with this Wolves iteration than I can remember. But Aldridge did it, so I'll weigh in. Right now I would agree with his 19th best (11th worst) and give the offseason a C-. Sure they brought in a borderline superstar (and he was more than borderline at the end of last season) in Ball, but 3 key rotation players are gone or hurt...plus Conley. It's odd that I give TC a C-, because I'm about as excited for this season to begin as any...it's easy to get excited about an Ant/Ball backcourt. But then there's the uncertainty:

-Can Ball stay healthy?
-Is Joan really ready to play good meaningful minutes...what happens if Rudy misses games?
-Do we have a real PF? If Jaden is forced to play PF and one of our many guards is forced to play SF, are we going to have to suffer through games where opponents get 15-20 offensive rebound?

But all teams have question marks. It's more fun to talk about how my C- grade would become an A+:

-the Wolves add one more big and Finchy is able to play Jaden primarily at the 3
-Ball plays 70 plus games and helps Ant become a 30+ scorer.
-Joan plays close to the way he played in his one summer league game. He proves that he can block out on defensive rebounds, defend without fouling or leaving his feet too often, and show that the offensive flash we saw in SL was real.

Tall order, but if all three of these things happen, I rate the offseason a huge success and we challenge for a chip, especially if two gifted athletes (Ball and Ant) realize there are two ends of the court. But right now? C-.(which is a passing grade you know, as I often told my parents ).

If we’re rating TC’s performance this offseason, we can’t count losing Donte before the season to an injury because it was obviously beyond TC’s control. That means, when rating TC’s off-season we can honestly say he gave up two rotation players - Naz and Randle - while adding two - Ball and Green. So the assessment really boils down to a simple one. Are we better with Ball and Green than we would be with Randle and Naz? I think the answer is yes, mainly because of (1) the synergies we get from adding Ball; (2) the addition by subtraction we get from subtracting Randle; and (3) the value of Green either on the court as a very good 3 & D guy or his alternative value as a mid-level expiring contract. That dual value associated with acquiring Josh Green in the Ball deal is a significant positive factor that’s being grossly overlooked.

The draft swaps in the Ball deal are pretty meaningless given where we’re likely to finish relative to Charlotte in those seasons as well as the new anti-tanking rules. Moreover, at this point, giving up one more 1st round pick 7 years down the road, while not ideal, isn’t much of a factor since if things aren’t going well then, we will have likely already traded Edwards and others for a boat load of 1st round picks.

I agree that the it’s premature to grade the Wolves off-season at this point, especially knowing how TC operates, but that’s what David teed up for us. . So preliminarily, I’m giving the Wolves a B. Getting Ball and Green for Randle and maybe TSJ would have been an A+. Giving up Naz was an understandable necessity to get LaMello, but it means I can’t give the Wolves more than a B or maybe a B+.