Ramifications of the draft on Love deals

[Monster]

Here's the scary part about keeping Love. They could very well end up doing better and still miss the playoffs. The west somehow just got a lot better. The Nuggets look really good, NO got Asik and will be healthier with another year on Davis's belt. Mavs just brought back the piece that won them the title. Nobody in the playoffs got any worse.

Only team you can feel comfortable in saying the Wolves are clearly better then are the Jazz and Lakers

And the Kings but yeah the West is ridiculous. Lets see how things play out by the time the season starts.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

But the reality is that the Wolves have virtually no assets to get better while still retaining Love. We are well over the cap, and without giving away assets, we have no way to shed guys like LRMAM, Shved, Bud or Barea to improve our cap situation. Even if we got rid of all 4 guys for nothing in return, which isn't possible, we would only be about $7M under cap, which isn't enough to get a true impact player in FA. I bring this up because I don't see this team improving from a year ago given the circumstances. Should we win a few more close games than we did a year ago, sure, but we need to remember that we missed the playoffs by 9 games, not 2. And, we were EXTREMELY healthy last season, so we really don't have that angle to fall back on as we had in previous years.

So the person that wrote that we can get significantly better and still not make the playoffs has a very good point. We can actually win 20% more games and still miss the playoffs. Tough to imagine we will get a whole lot better with our core already set.

[mrhockey89]

I agree with the suggestion from Cam that we should wait to see what LeBron does because Cleveland would likely offer Wiggins to the Wolves for Love.

Lip, though I generally agree that Flip isn't looking to unload Shabazz, Flip also said in a radio interview the other day that one player he's been getting a lot of inquiries about the availability of from other GMs is Shabazz, and being he's not an untouchable, there's always going to be potential there if Flip thinks he can find a player on another team that makes our team better.

[Phenom]

Interestingly, it seems that the Wolves options have increased slightly since the draft is over. I think it would be hard to deal with Boston now since the team would have a big void at the 4 barring another trade. I am not interested in making Olynyk or Sullinger our main cog at the 4. I like Smart quite a bit but I suppose a 3 way could move Smart for a starting 4 but probably unlikely now.

Chicago is a little more interesting to me now than before the draft. If they swing and miss on Melo, they now have McDermott to add in the deal.

Cleveland obviously has a great piece if LeBron happens to want to return. We'll see. Still concerned about who replaces Love in that lineup. Don't like Bennett or T. Thompson.

Golden State still works for me since Lee still comes to bridge the gap to the next 4. It sure would be fun to see Ricky with Klay and Zach on the wings. There is a bit of a glut on the wings but its nice to have options. I would rather have GRIII than Barnes. Might be time to focus on Draymond Green in the deal.

I am intrigued by Parsons but I'm not sold that Houston wants to deal him for anyone. His cap hold is small enough to not interfere with their cap space all that much. I think they really want to sign a free agent and then keep him. We'll see once the big names fall.

The Lakers, all of the sudden, have become an option at least as a last resort. Julius Randle would be a good get and maybe even Pau comes in a sign and trade to win now.

I still think the Warriors deal happens but I feel a little better about the other options if it falls through. Still not buying the keep Love talk.

[Monster]

But the reality is that the Wolves have virtually no assets to get better while still retaining Love. We are well over the cap, and without giving away assets, we have no way to shed guys like LRMAM, Shved, Bud or Barea to improve our cap situation. Even if we got rid of all 4 guys for nothing in return, which isn't possible, we would only be about $7M under cap, which isn't enough to get a true impact player in FA. I bring this up because I don't see this team improving from a year ago given the circumstances. Should we win a few more close games than we did a year ago, sure, but we need to remember that we missed the playoffs by 9 games, not 2. And, we were EXTREMELY healthy last season, so we really don't have that angle to fall back on as we had in previous years.

So the person that wrote that we can get significantly better and still not make the playoffs has a very good point. We can actually win 20% more games and still miss the playoffs. Tough to imagine we will get a whole lot better with our core already set.

I think Flip is basically expecting to improve from within. Wait thats stupid...I agree, but then again its not.

This is actually a really young team. Martin, JJ and Turiaf are the only guys 30 or over and those guys aren't old by any means. the next oldest guy is Brewer and Pek at 28. This team has 4 guys 23 or younger. Keep in mind that the reality is last year was a team that hadn't played together much becasue either new players to the team or injury. There is some real hope of young guys getting better and players in general playing better together. Flip might be able to get more out of this team than Adelman did last year becasue of all the circumstances there. Heck Kevin Love will likely be better since he has done that every year he has been in the league that he has been healthy.

Flip wants Shved at PG like many here wanted. Maybe he has Dieng play a big chunk of meaningful minutes at both PF/C. Maybe some zone defense mixed in has some good results. This is a homer post, but I don't think the idea I am suggesting here is crazy either. We all know probably 2 guys have to improve a good chunk to get us to that next level. There are some guys that could be pretty significant if they improve or in Bud's case stay healthy. I still say Love ain't going anywhere.

[TheGrey08]

But the reality is that the Wolves have virtually no assets to get better while still retaining Love. We are well over the cap, and without giving away assets, we have no way to shed guys like LRMAM, Shved, Bud or Barea to improve our cap situation. Even if we got rid of all 4 guys for nothing in return, which isn't possible, we would only be about $7M under cap, which isn't enough to get a true impact player in FA. I bring this up because I don't see this team improving from a year ago given the circumstances. Should we win a few more close games than we did a year ago, sure, but we need to remember that we missed the playoffs by 9 games, not 2. And, we were EXTREMELY healthy last season, so we really don't have that angle to fall back on as we had in previous years.

Not exactly.. Rubio was the only guy on the roster to play every game. One of 5 guys to play 69+ games.
Bud 41, Love 77, Martin 68, Pek 54, Turiaf 31. I left out the guys below Martin who had all the Coaching DNPs that cloud the games lost due to injury. (like Dieng with 60, LRMaB 64, Shved 63)

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

The Grey,
My point about health was relative to the few seasons prior to last. Two years ago was about the worst that could happen to a team related to injury related missed games. Martin ONLY missing 14 games probably won't be repeated (likely to miss more IMO), Bud missing 1/2 the games doesn't impact our record one way or another, and Pek playing 50-60 games will more than likely be the norm for his career. Therefore I don't consider the fact that he missed 20+ games an injury riddled season, but rather the norm of what we should expect (I realize that sounds strange). Our main cogs, and the players we expected to stay healthy, did just that.

I also agree that we have some upside with young guys on the roster, but I am certainly not laying my hopes at the feet of Bud and Shabazz. Even if they improve, there mediocre skills don't really allow for much more than a serviceable 10-12 man off bench. My hope stems from Dieng, and now guys like Lavine. Dieng is probably right now the guy I expect the most consistent improvement in 2014, but unfortunately, he plays C and not a wing position which is really where we need a guy to take a major leap in production.

[MikeAz [enjin:6636981]]

Klay and LaVine don't mesh in my opinion, I hope that deal is dead. Golden State really bungled that one IMO, now they have to overpay Klay and are stuck with that Lee contract. Anyways, I agree with most of the others here, the LeBron situation has only strengthened the Wolves hand, I'm guessing he's gone by the time camp opens up in the fall.

[Papalrep]

Klay and LaVine don't mesh in my opinion, I hope that deal is dead. Great Post Courtesy Move On.Org

[TheGrey08]

Point taken, but we should expect players to be healthy enough to play most games especially out of starters. IE: I expect Pek to play most games, but won't be shocked if he doesn't. If Martin's minutes are kept down he should play most games as well. If we're playing averages, yeah the injuries weren't terrible.