Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:We added cap flexibility into the bump year next year and a player who can run an offense with decisiveness and get everyone the ball. Was there more of a homerun to get rid of a player who had their course run on the team? Probably not.

On Conley's contract, not only is it a 6 mil discount from Dlo, it is very team friendly as a facilitator if used before the draft. In terms of longer term planning this was a good deal. For this year's team, we are taking a hit unless Ant has another jump he can take. On the second point I wouldn't be shocked. I am happy this is clearly Ant's team now.

Regarding the "taking a hit" this year, if we measure only Conley vs. DLO, I agree. But I think we have to wait to see if Conley unlocks something in Gobert that DLO couldn't. It may not be Ant who picks things up - it very well could be Gobert. At least, that's the hope. We'll see...

We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

Carlos Danger wrote:

thedoper wrote:We added cap flexibility into the bump year next year and a player who can run an offense with decisiveness and get everyone the ball. Was there more of a homerun to get rid of a player who had their course run on the team? Probably not.

On Conley's contract, not only is it a 6 mil discount from Dlo, it is very team friendly as a facilitator if used before the draft. In terms of longer term planning this was a good deal. For this year's team, we are taking a hit unless Ant has another jump he can take. On the second point I wouldn't be shocked. I am happy this is clearly Ant's team now.

Regarding the "taking a hit" this year, if we measure only Conley vs. DLO, I agree. But I think we have to wait to see if Conley unlocks something in Gobert that DLO couldn't. It may not be Ant who picks things up - it very well could be Gobert. At least, that's the hope. We'll see...

34-year-old Conley sure unlocked Rudy last season...a 9.2 positive rating in 1601 minutes (compared to Dlo's +,2)! Those extra 9 points are going to come in handy I think! The problem is that despite Conley still having a positive on/off rating this season (unlike the guy we traded), it's common knowledge that the human body totally breaks down at 34. We can only hope that he has something left in the tank to replicate that 9.2 rating from last season.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

May be that exciting young PG ends up being Ant ultimately, whether that's his formal positional label or not. I go back and forth on this because Ant has bouts of stupidity and loose handles....but then I look at how much attention he attracts and some of the strides he's made this year with DLO playing off the ball and it's a little less of a stretch.

Q-was-here wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

May be that exciting young PG ends up being Ant ultimately, whether that's his formal positional label or not. I go back and forth on this because Ant has bouts of stupidity and loose handles....but then I look at how much attention he attracts and some of the strides he's made this year with DLO playing off the ball and it's a little less of a stretch.

My thoughts exactly Q. I want Ant seeing how NBA offense is run from Mike Conley. Just the fact that Ant has come this far on pure athleticism is crazy. If he continues to develop real PG skills with a professional modelling team play it would be a huge next step.

thedoper wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

May be that exciting young PG ends up being Ant ultimately, whether that's his formal positional label or not. I go back and forth on this because Ant has bouts of stupidity and loose handles....but then I look at how much attention he attracts and some of the strides he's made this year with DLO playing off the ball and it's a little less of a stretch.

My thoughts exactly Q. I want Ant seeing how NBA offense is run from Mike Conley. Just the fact that Ant has come this far on pure athleticism is crazy. If he continues to develop real PG skills with a professional modelling team play it would be a huge next step.

Well, let's pause for a moment. Mike Conley Jr.'s still a heavy pick-and-roll player. That part of him hasn't changed. And Anthony Edwards has already taken some strides there this season, though there's definitely some more room to grow.

Are we expecting Chris Finch to change his inner calculus and adopt/encourage more pick-and-roll sets into his offense? I mean, that has been the logical thing to do given the personnel we've had all season long prior to the recent trade and it never really happened. Minnesota is middle of the pack in pick-and-roll usage despite having some elite/near-elite weapons. Will he encourage Conley Jr. to call for more ball screens or have him adapt to his motion/flow offense -- therefore not playing to his strengths either? Finch has some thinking to do. We can't keep doing the same shit with Rudy Gobert.

From a talent mesh and outcome standpoint, I'm on the fence.

From a chemistry standpoint, I'm on the TC bandwagon from what I have read about Conley Jr.

Since I am a t-pups rube, I choose the TC band wagon! Let's do this

Q-was-here wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

May be that exciting young PG ends up being Ant ultimately, whether that's his formal positional label or not. I go back and forth on this because Ant has bouts of stupidity and loose handles....but then I look at how much attention he attracts and some of the strides he's made this year with DLO playing off the ball and it's a little less of a stretch.

If their mission is to turn Ant into poor man's Luka, this entire thing is gonna fail. He's not that. He needs someone to direct traffic for him when he's not trying to iso guys to death. Over 2+ seasons we've gone from "hey let's try him as a small ball 4" to "hey maybe he can run point." If we had any of those things we wouldn't need to shoehorn into uncomfortable positions.

Next thing you know we're gonna want Jaden McDaniels to be the tallest shooting guard of all-time.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

Camden wrote:We might need a new poll to see how many here have actually watched more than 5-10 games Mike Conley Jr. has played this season. I too would love this trade if it was 2018, but it's not and he's a different guy than he once was. I think a lot of you will be surprised.

I don't think anyone's expecting him to be great. All he's expected to do is play solid enough defense and not turn the ball. He's the gift for everyone who wanted Jordan McLaughlin himself to start.

The Conley acquisition would be much more exciting if we had a young PG who could learn something from him in other to take over for him in 2024-25.

May be that exciting young PG ends up being Ant ultimately, whether that's his formal positional label or not. I go back and forth on this because Ant has bouts of stupidity and loose handles....but then I look at how much attention he attracts and some of the strides he's made this year with DLO playing off the ball and it's a little less of a stretch.

If their mission is to turn Ant into poor man's Luka, this entire thing is gonna fail. He's not that. He needs someone to direct traffic for him when he's not trying to iso guys to death.

You do realize that we just got done with a long stretch of games with literally one healthy PG on the roster (DLO) and he largely shared ball handling responsibilities with Ant? I didn't think we fared too badly all things considered. And that's the 21-year old Ant, not the 25-year old Ant of the future that is probably a better decision maker.

I do agree that Ant can probably never carry the usage and play making responsibilities of Doncic or Houston Harden, but we don't need a top 20 NBA PG next to him either.