lipoli390 wrote:Monster - I think you're probably right about Cousins not being a bad guy. But he's had that cloud of being a bad teammate hanging over him even since he's been in the League.
Cousins actually seems like kind of a fun, engaging guy at times. But yeah, he sure seems to burn out his welcome with teammates quite quickly. I would argue that Finchy's and TC's up-close familiarity with Cousins is more of a reason they will avoid him rather than seek him.
My problem with Cousins is all related to what he does on the court. Yes, he's big and strong and would give us a formidable size advantage off the bench. But his downfall has been poor decision making on both ends. He fouls too much, shoots from outside too much, and turns it over too much. He'd be a legit starting Center for most teams if he simply cut out the dumb stuff. And yes Demarcus, those are real fouls you are committing (only Cousins has a bigger victim complex than KAT).
I don't think Cousins is a bad guy, I just think he's a whiner and we don't need any more of that. He can also be a hothead in a bad way at times.
In terms of actual size and skills, I think the key is a big-ish guy who can rebound and defend. If he can hit a 3 once in a blue moon, that's a bonus.
But whenever you're signing a guy for the 15th roster spot, you know they're going to ride the bench a ton. And while they need to be able to play when called upon, their personality is going to have a relatively larger impact on the team than what they do on the court because they just won't be on the court that much. So in that sense, I think it's really important to get a guy who's just a straight-up good dude--a guy who is going to keep a positive attitude no matter how little he plays, a guy who is likable, a guy who is going to praise and support his teammates, a guy who is going to work his ass off in practice and have fun in a way that is infectious for others. Every workplace has people who are like that--people who might not necessarily be the best at doing the job everyone does, but they are just straight-up respected and well-liked by everyone because of their personalities and approach to the job. The sort of people who, when you're working with them, it doesn't actually feel like work. I have no way of knowing what these guys are like behind the scenes, but that's the sort of guy they should be looking for.
Remember how bad the Celtics were for a stretch last year, and at the beginning of this year? There were all sorts of reports about how bad their chemistry was, and then by the middle of this season, maybe because of some personnel changes and maybe because Smart, Brown, and Tatum finally grew up a bit, that team just really got a LOT better really fast. I'm not saying a random 15th guy can do that on their own. But I do think that it could help push the team in either direction based on their personality.
I'm a teacher, and I can tell you that in every class there's a critical tipping point at which the personality of the class can go either in a good way or a bad way. If you get enough good personalities, it pushes those kids who kind of just go with the majority in a good direction and at least silences or maybe even improves the attitudes of the bums. But if you get enough kids with bad attitudes, it can really poison the culture of the whole class, even if you have a few good kids in there. A 15th player on our roster won't play much, but his personality could be the tipping point in either direction. We had a fun team culture last year, but we lost a few guys who helped set that and we have some new guys who are kind of unknown personalities to us. This is why I think it's important to get another good personality on the team, which we should be able to do if we have enough info from around the league.
WildWolf2813 wrote:I still want a young PG project if possible.[/.
This. And it would have been nice to do a little better from 10-13 on this list. Imo those guys are all 14-15 material on a good team. I'm fine with Naz and Forbes or rivers at 14-15, but why are we not loading up on a couple young, high ceiling, cheap guards - this is clearly the position where we need to find a diamond in the ruff. Also, are you telling me there's not better bigs out there than Nate knight? That guy bugs me. Why are we wasting spots on guys who we know suck like Forbes, rivers and knight when we could be taking swings on 2-3 more guys like minott.
Eh, Bryn Forbes and Austin Rivers definitely don't suck. They're both legitimate NBA players who can provide solid spurts of play when called upon and will serve as situational options off the bench as well as insurance in the case of injury. I do agree that they aren't high-upside talents, but that wasn't necessarily what Tim Connelly was aiming for with some of these roster spots. He wanted stability and reliability and that's pretty much what you get with them. They're not sexy additions, but they make sense.
I also would have liked a young point guard added to the roster, but outside of Mac McClung I didn't see an available prospect that was worth the spot or seemed exciting.
WildWolf2813 wrote:I still want a young PG project if possible.[/.
This. And it would have been nice to do a little better from 10-13 on this list. Imo those guys are all 14-15 material on a good team. I'm fine with Naz and Forbes or rivers at 14-15, but why are we not loading up on a couple young, high ceiling, cheap guards - this is clearly the position where we need to find a diamond in the ruff. Also, are you telling me there's not better bigs out there than Nate knight? That guy bugs me. Why are we wasting spots on guys who we know suck like Forbes, rivers and knight when we could be taking swings on 2-3 more guys like minott.
I'm curious what eligible bigs you would prefer to sign on a 2-way contact over Knight.
Camden wrote:Eh, Bryn Forbes and Austin Rivers definitely don't suck. They're both legitimate NBA players who can provide solid spurts of play when called upon and will serve as situational options off the bench as well as insurance in the case of injury. I do agree that they aren't high-upside talents, but that wasn't necessarily what Tim Connelly was aiming for with some of these roster spots. He wanted stability and reliability and that's pretty much what you get with them. They're not sexy additions, but they make sense.
I also would have liked a young point guard added to the roster, but outside of Mac McClung I didn't see an available prospect that was worth the spot or seemed exciting.
Yes. If the Wolves were interested in a young high-upside PG, Mac McClung was the guy.
I wasn't sure where to post this and didn't find it important enough to start a new thread, but Tim Connelly mentioned that the Timberwolves might not be done this off-season as far as moves made. He said they still have "a couple of" roster spots still to play with and that they were working on a couple of their guys, which I took to mean that they were looking to extend several of their current players. I would expect those to be D'Angelo Russell, Jaylen Nowell, and possibly even Naz Reid, though he would undoubtedly be lesser priorities than the first two.
Camden wrote:I wasn't sure where to post this and didn't find it important enough to start a new thread, but Tim Connelly mentioned that the Timberwolves might not be done this off-season as far as moves made. He said they still have "a couple of" roster spots still to play with and that they were working on a couple of their guys, which I took to mean that they were looking to extend several of their current players. I would expect those to be D'Angelo Russell, Jaylen Nowell, and possibly even Naz Reid, though he would undoubtedly be lesser priorities than the first two.
Cam - I saw those comments as well yesterday. I thought his reference to a couple roster spots to "play with" suggested that he might have be alluding to possibly trading Naz and filling the open spot. I was reading his remarks pretty literally (probably too literally). I took "couple" to mean two spots. I viewed "play with" as manipulate (open up or fill) rather solidify with a contract extension.
Here's my version of Doogie-like speculation. I think they're going to extend Nowell and trade Naz. I think it's 50-50 now on whether they'll extend DLO or let him play out the season. I think there's zero chance they trade DLO.
