AbeVigodaLive wrote:Gorgui Dieng was never a great player. Heck, we never even had any illusions that he'd ever be a great player. He was here for a lot of losing. He contributed to that losing.
He wasn't good enough. Simple as that.
But that doesn't make him a bad player. And as we've heard over the years, he definitely wasn't a bad guy. He helped others. And he didn't seem to need to let everybody know he was helping others. He didn't hide from bad stuff. He didn't pass the buck. He was a pro.
G. Dieng had a positive VORP every single season for 7 years, despite playing for mostly crappy teams. He looked slow. He looked awkward. He looked "meh." And apparently, officials thought so too.
I've just now conducted an official study on first-step travels in the NBA since October 2013. The slow-footed, gangly Gorgui Dieng has been called for 32,109 of them. By comparison, LeBron James has been called for them twice. And James Harden has yet to be called for a travel. Ever.
Despite that, and despite that perpetual look of "Awww, c'mon, you're kidding me. You can't call that!" on his face after those travels... and despite him not being quite strong enough to hold up against the biggest guys... or fast enough vs. the fastest guys... or versatile enough to shed the backup center tag... I think he was a decent player. Relatively speaking.
Again... he's always had a positive VORP. And when he got his chances to play more, he often responded. He even rounded out his game with three point shooting in year #7.
He was a pro. Nothing more. Definitely nothing less. For a franchise like the Wolves who've entertained many rebuilds and failed restarts... that's about all we can ask for.
G. Dieng was a memorable Timberwolves player. He competed. Sometimes, that's good enough.
Very nice. Totally agree on the traveling calls. Never understood why they called him and then let LeBron and harden do their Olympic floor exercises:)
leado01 wrote:Geez Abe . . . are you available for my eulogy?
In loving memory of lead01....A friend, a brother, a son...but most importantly, a heroic Timberwolves fan that rooted for his team through thin and thinner; the bad times and the even worse; through the valleys and into the depths of hell....
I talked to a guy tonight that is loosely involved with Wolves. Stated it was a luxury tax move. They needed the shed the difference in contract values.
Hicks123 wrote:I talked to a guy tonight that is loosely involved with Wolves. Stated it was a luxury tax move. They needed the shed the difference in contract values.
Glen being cheap? ( insert Nic Cage "you don't say" face)
This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
$1.24M makes a difference to Glen. I can't wait to opine in-depth about the Mark Madsen game leading to one more ping pong ball leading to Brandon Roy leading to Randy Foye... and $1M+ in Glen's pockets.
Hicks123 wrote:I talked to a guy tonight that is loosely involved with Wolves. Stated it was a luxury tax move. They needed the shed the difference in contract values.
That's EXACTLY what this feels like. They took on more salary from GSW so they simply made a move to save Lux Tax. As if it would effect Glens lifestyle in someway having that extra 1.24 million. Probably really a net negative investment though as DIeng is the better player, so if you lose out over say this year and next year on ticket sales/concessions/mech/etc. Might not be a smart move. That million could have been brought back in the long run and then some.
Long term not a big deal really, it's just more cheap ass Glen being cheap ass Glen. Scrooge in the corner counting his money.
Hicks123 wrote:I talked to a guy tonight that is loosely involved with Wolves. Stated it was a luxury tax move. They needed the shed the difference in contract values.
That's EXACTLY what this feels like. They took on more salary from GSW so they simply made a move to save Lux Tax. As if it would effect Glens lifestyle in someway having that extra 1.24 million. Probably really a net negative investment though as DIeng is the better player, so if you lose out over say this year and next year on ticket sales/concessions/mech/etc. Might not be a smart move. That million could have been brought back in the long run and then some.
Long term not a big deal really, it's just more cheap ass Glen being cheap ass Glen. Scrooge in the corner counting his money.
At the end of the day it's a really bad move to pay luxury tax for a bottom 5 team. If you even recover from that you are now in repeater tax territory really early in the rebuild when (if) you actually get good and that run becomes dead in the water before it even begins. Glen is never gonna pay a 200 million dollar tax bill so why have him pay 2 million now and force yourself to break something up down the line just for the sake of a bottom 5 team now? If the trade was made purely to get under the tax it's worth it long term to not potentially kill a good run before it even starts. Even if on the court the trade makes zero sense.
