Camden wrote:As it stands right now, Minnesota has approximately $873K to work with, which means that they have just enough wiggle room to sign a free agent to a pro-rated vet minimum salary for the rest of the season and stay below the luxury tax threshold.
However, Taurean Prince has two incentives in his contract that pose a potential conflict in the Wolves being able to make such a move. His contract includes a $335K bonus if his team posts a defensive rating below 105 with him on the floor. He gets another $335K if he attempts 7.6-plus three-pointers per 36 minutes and shoots better than 41.5-percent on those. Those bonuses are not baked into the Wolves current cap number. My understanding is that if they triggered it would mean the team could NOT sign a free agent without going over the luxury tax threshold.
Prince currently has a 109.9 defensive rating and attempts 6.4 three-point attempts per 36 minutes on 39.3-percent shooting. If I was a gambling man, I'd wager that Prince won't receive either of those incentives, but it's a potential roadblock for the front office to consider.
I'm glad you brought this up. At some point it's likely gonna be pretty unlikely for these incentives to be met. Still the Wolves may want to wait a bit longer to feel even more certain one way or another. Honestly if I signed a vet min guy and somehow Prince actually fulfilled the 3 pointer incentive I would probably be kinda like "sweet!!!" because that would mean he was absolutely hitting a bunch of 3's at a high rate and likely helping the team win games etc.
Further clarification from Larry Coon's NBA CBA FAQ on what I laid out in a previous post on vet min and prorated salaries. There is some other interesting stuff to consider even if it won't apply to the Wolves this year.
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q22
Minimum salaries begin to pro-rate starting on the first day of the regular season -- see question number 28).
Any salaries below the applicable minimum salary in contracts that pre-date the current CBA are automatically revised upward to the applicable minimum salary.
When a player has been in the NBA for three or more seasons, and is playing under a one-year, 10-day or Rest-of-Season contract at the minimum salary, the league reimburses the team for part of his salary -- any amount above the minimum salary for a two-year veteran. For example, the minimum salary for a two-year veteran in 2017-18 is $1,471,382, so for a ten-year veteran, with a minimum salary of $2,328,652, the league would reimburse the team $857,270. Only the two-year minimum salary is included in the team salary, not the player's full salary. They do this so teams won't shy away from signing older veterans simply because they are more expensive than younger veterans.
Other notes on league reimbursement of minimum-salary contracts:
The team is reimbursed even if the player is waived during the season, as long as the player was paid more than the minimum salary for a two-year veteran.
If the player is traded mid-season the reimbursement is pro-rated between the two teams, in proportion to the amount of time he spent with each team.
For a Rest-of-Season contract (see question number 28) the reimbursement threshold (the two-year veteran minimum salary) itself is pro-rated. For example, the minimum salary for a two-year veteran in 2017-18 is $1,471,382. If a team signs a ten-year veteran to a Rest-of-Season contract on the 60th day of this 177-day season, the league would reimburse the team for any salary paid above $972,608, which is 117/177 of $1,471,382. The pro-rated $972,608 amount also would be included in the team salary.
1 A player is credited with a year of service for each season in which he is on a team's active list or inactive list for at least one day during the regular season. This includes players who are on 10-day and Two-Way contracts.
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q28
28. When a player signs mid-year for the rest of the season, is his salary pro-rated? What is a "Rest-of-Season" contract?
A "Rest-of-Season" contract is exactly what its name implies -- it is a contract signed after the start of a season, which is in effect for the remainder of that season.
With the exception of minimum-salary contracts, salaries do not pro-rate during the season. However, the exceptions that enable players to be signed are subject to pro-ration (see question number 26). For example, a team that has not used its Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception could use its full amount to sign a player on the last day of the regular season. By that day this exception will have pro-rated down to less than half its original value. However a player could sign a rest-of-season contract on that day for the entire pro-rated amount, earning it all for just one game.
The minimum salary begins to pro-rate on the first day of the regular season. The minimum salary on a Rest-of-Season contract is based on the fraction of the season remaining when the contract is signed. For example, if there are 177 days in the season, then a minimum salary contract signed on the 60th day of the season is worth 117/177 of the full minimum salary amount.1 If a player signs a multi-year minimum salary contract partway through a season, then the first season is pro-rated and the salary in subsequent seasons is the full minimum salary.
Raises are based on the actual salary in the first season of the contract. For example, if a free agent signs a two-year contract on the last day of the regular season and the salary for the first season is $1 million, then the second season salary may range from $950,000 to $1.05 million (plus or minus 5% of the first season salary).
10-day contracts (see question number 80) are also pro-rated. The salary on a 10-day contract is based on the number of days actually covered by the contract (a 10-day contract lasts 10 days or three games, whichever is longer).
The G-League salary in a Two-Way contract (see question number 82) is pro-rated as well, if the contract is signed during the season. In addition, the 45 day maximum for NBA service on a Two-Way contract is also pro-rated.
1 It is not considered a minimum-salary contract if a player signs for more than the pro-rated minimum -- i.e., the player cannot be signed using the Minimum Player Salary exception (see question number 25), the player cannot be traded as a minimum-salary player (see question number 88), and the team cannot receive reimbursement for a portion of the player's salary (see question number 22).
For what it's worth, my preferences would be as follows:
1. Claim Moses Brown on waivers. You can't teach 7'2, 245-pounds with a 7'5 wingspan and a 9'5 standing reach. That physical makeup is very attractive, especially for a team that lacks imposing size. Brown is raw, unrefined, and sometimes goofy, but there's no denying the kid is large, covers a lot of ground, and mobile for his size. Brown turned 22-years old in October and it's unlikely he's played his best basketball yet, in my opinion. I thought he showed enough with Oklahoma City to keep me intrigued despite the mistakes and negative plays. I'd specifically make the claim -- versus signing him outright as a free agent -- because his current contract is about as team-friendly as it gets. His $1.8M for 2022-23 is non-guaranteed and his $2.0M for 2023-24 is a team option. That's a no-risk move.
2. Sign Robin Lopez through the rest of the season. It's assumed that Lopez will be bought out, though nothing is guaranteed. He'll also have a number of suitors if he does so let's get right to it. He's a mammoth at 7'0, 280-pounds and plays an ugly brand of basketball. He can't shoot -- outside of a nifty runner or hook in the paint on occasion. He's not gifted in the post. He's not a switchable defender. He's not athletically gifted. All of that. However, he's a banger inside. He's more than willing to get physical. He's an okay rim protector and he's capable of playing drop coverage, which is a function that this team doesn't have with their current bigs. That's all I'd want from him. Not to mention, throw him on Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, Jonas Valenciunias, etc. for 10-15 minutes to give Karl-Anthony Towns a breather during those matchups.
3. Sign Greg Monroe through the rest of the season. Monroe signed a 10-day contract with Milwaukee on February 5th. His stay there is likely coming to an end with the Bucks trading for Serge Ibaka and Brook Lopez expected back sometime this season. We've already seen what Monroe looks like with this team and the returns were decent given the circumstances. He's a big, strong body that battles on both ends and just flat out knows how to play in this league. There are going to be nights where it makes sense to play Monroe over Naz Reid, and vice versa, but it would be nice to give Chris Finch that flexibility.
KiwiMatt wrote:Greg Monroe would certainly help come Play in / Play offs.
Moses Brown would be a prospect for the future.
Depends which way we want to go with the 15th roster spot I suppose.
Honestly at this point if we are gonna sign a big because we need help in that area I lean towards signing someone who actually knows to play basketball and help now. I'm usually in on getting a younger guy with some potential but if we re gonna sign a guy that might play every once in a while it's probably better to just get a vet.
I went back and looked up Greg Monroe's measurements at the combine. 6'9.75" without shoes and 7'2.25" wingspan. He isn't massive but he is plenty big. He was 247 then and one of the worries was he had that body fat percentage of 11%. He has never been fast or whatever but he moves well for a center and has always seemed to have a fairly strong base. It feels like he would be a good player to add especially for a young team. If the ball ends up in his hands he has some ability to do something with it or find someone. He isn't the only option I would consider but he seems like a solid one. I've always kinda like Monroe.
Also FWIW his numbers per 36 in the g-league are 20 points 12 rebounds 6 assists 2.9 steals and 2.4 blocks.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:Oh oh. Don't let FNG see the Moses Brown stuff.
He was -18.5 last year for the Thunder.
Abe, Abe, Abe...you're not keeping up, man. We've determined on this board that outscoring your opponent while you're on the court is not an important measure. Haven't our Wolves proven that to us over the last 20 years? And if we are going to look at a silly stat like on/off, we should be much more concerned about the -132.2 he put up with Portland in 2019-20!
All seriousness aside, Moses Brown is an intriguing prospect. We had a lot of discussion about him last fall, and I posted what a huge fan favorite he was in Dallas...the fans were making Jason Kidd's life miserable by clamoring for him to start ahead of Powell, Cauley-Stein and Kleber! So not having seen him play, I was excited to see if he would get any minutes in the back to back we had against Dallas back in December. But what I saw was perhaps the most raw player in the league. He looked clumsy and completely lost at times on the court. I'm guessing that half of this board have more polished basketball skills than he.
But all that said, there's a reason he excited the Mavs fans so much. He's huge, runs the floor well, has a Vando-like relentless quality, and a great attitude. To take a chance on him you have to know he made 36% of his 128 free throws in college, so he's probably not going to be in the all-star weekend 3-point contest in the near future. But of the waived big men out there, I'd agree with Cam and Lip on taking a flyer on this guy. If nothing else, it would be fun!
Camden wrote:For what it's worth, my preferences would be as follows:
1. Claim Moses Brown on waivers. You can't teach 7'2, 245-pounds with a 7'5 wingspan and a 9'5 standing reach. That physical makeup is very attractive, especially for a team that lacks imposing size. Brown is raw, unrefined, and sometimes goofy, but there's no denying the kid is large, covers a lot of ground, and mobile for his size. Brown turned 22-years old in October and it's unlikely he's played his best basketball yet, in my opinion. I thought he showed enough with Oklahoma City to keep me intrigued despite the mistakes and negative plays. I'd specifically make the claim -- versus signing him outright as a free agent -- because his current contract is about as team-friendly as it gets. His $1.8M for 2022-23 is non-guaranteed and his $2.0M for 2023-24 is a team option. That's a no-risk move.
2. Sign Robin Lopez through the rest of the season. It's assumed that Lopez will be bought out, though nothing is guaranteed. He'll also have a number of suitors if he does so let's get right to it. He's a mammoth at 7'0, 280-pounds and plays an ugly brand of basketball. He can't shoot -- outside of a nifty runner or hook in the paint on occasion. He's not gifted in the post. He's not a switchable defender. He's not athletically gifted. All of that. However, he's a banger inside. He's more than willing to get physical. He's an okay rim protector and he's capable of playing drop coverage, which is a function that this team doesn't have with their current bigs. That's all I'd want from him. Not to mention, throw him on Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, Jonas Valenciunias, etc. for 10-15 minutes to give Karl-Anthony Towns a breather during those matchups.
3. Sign Greg Monroe through the rest of the season. Monroe signed a 10-day contract with Milwaukee on February 5th. His stay there is likely coming to an end with the Bucks trading for Serge Ibaka and Brook Lopez expected back sometime this season. We've already seen what Monroe looks like with this team and the returns were decent given the circumstances. He's a big, strong body that battles on both ends and just flat out knows how to play in this league. There are going to be nights where it makes sense to play Monroe over Naz Reid, and vice versa, but it would be nice to give Chris Finch that flexibility.
I agree with your priority order, Cam.
In particular, I agree with making a waiver claim on Brown. The cap hit would be about $540K, which would keep the Wolves under the luxury tax line unless Prince hits one of his bonus thresholds. I looks like hitting just one of those bonus thresholds would put the Wolves barely over the luxury tax line, but it's very close. In any event, I think it's highly unlikely that Price hits either of them. So claiming Brown would be a very low risk gamble. While I see Lopez or Monroe as more likely to help us this season and in the playoffs, Brown's overall size, age, upside and really team-friendly contract that you highlighted make him the best choice of the three in my opinion. And I wouldn't completely discount the possibility that he could help us yet this season. He averaged 9 rebounds in 21 minutes a game last season with OKC. That's elite. More than anything, the Wolves need size and defensive rebounding to help down the stretch and in the playoffs. Moses Brown provides both.
Otherwise, I'd be happy to end up with Lopez or Monroe. I'm on the fence in deciding which of the two would be best. And so far, we can't be sure that Lopez will be available. I love Robin's size, toughness and passion. I think he'd quickly become a team and fan favorite. In that sense, I think he'd be great for team chemistry and would add more than the sum total of the numbers he'd put up. On the other hand, Monroe already showed while here that he fits well with this team and is a really savvy vet. There's an argument that he'd be the best alternative to help this team in the playoffs or play-in tournament.
As I've already commented, I'm fine with Gupta's decision to pass on any trade-deadline deals. But I will be unhappy wiht him if he fails to pick up one of these three bigs. I get the luxury tax concern, but that risk of Price hitting either of his bonus targets is minuscule while the potential marginal benefit of adding one of these three bigs has a good chance of being significant.
On Gupta's media availability today he said that they would look at adding a vet min player in early March as that is when they would have room under the Lux tax with the prorated vet min. My guess is they are operating as if Prince might achieve one of his incentives or maybe some other money is spent that we don't know about or maybe someone else has an incentive in their contract. This confirms they were likely very constrained in taking back any additional money in a trade. They may also be saving a few dollars just in case something really bad happens there are a bunch of injuries and they just need to sign a player for a short time etc.
It doesn't matter since it sounds like the wolves aren't going to make a move for a few weeks, but I'll say this again if a player is claimed on waivers their entire salary counts against the cap of the team that gets the player for that season.
So...I'll have to wait a few weeks for my dream of Greg Monroe to rejoin the roster again. In all seriousness waiting a while might not be bad either. Sometimes it takes a while for some players/teams to decide to actually part ways.
I guess the luxury tax makes claiming Brown off the waiver wire untenable if his salary can't be prorated.
Fortunately, signing a free agent to a minimum contract would allow the Wolves to prorate and stay under the luxury tax threshold unless Prince were to hit one of his two bonus targets. I think it would be a mistake to wait until March. Any player signed after March 1 isn't eligible for the team's playoff roster. If the Wolves are interested in signing Monroe or Lopez, they should add that player with playoffs in mind. I think the reported $800k luxury tax room is accurate. It seems like a bad decision to forego signing a FA who could help down the stretch and in the playoffs based on something as unlikely as Prince hitting either of his two bonus targets in the next 27 games.
I don't mean to suggest that adding Monroe or Lopez would be a big needle mover. But either one would be an important hedge against an injury to Naz Reid or KAT and could help the team against certain match-ups and in certain situations. The Wolves are only 1.5 games behind the 6th place Nuggets and 3.5 games behind the 5th place Mavs. Meanwhile, the Wolves are only 3 games ahead of the 8th place Clippers and 3.5 games ahead of the 9th place Lakers. In other words, the margins are thin in the fight for playoff position, which includes the battle to avoid the play-in tournament and avoid falling to 9th place where they'd have to win twice to make the playoffs. And as we know, games often come down to one basket, one stop or one rebound. Filling the Wolves open roster spot with someone who could mitigate the Wolves terrible defensive rebounding and lack of size would likely make a difference in at least a few games out of the next 27, as well as play-in and playoff games. That likely impact far outweighs the minuscule risk of Prince hitting one of his targets.
