Young and Cheap

[bleedspeed]

Who will be this teams next Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes, Robbie Hummel, GR3, or Lorenzo Brown? It would be great to have the next Doug West.

[Monster]

Who will be this teams next Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes, Robbie Hummel, GR3, or Lorenzo Brown? It would be great to have the next Doug West.

Do you think we could trade that guy to get the next Anthony Peeler? :)

Also I wouldn't mind having GR3 right now. He turns 26 in January. He doesn't have "upside" but seems like a guy that probably is kinda decent as a bench dude. It will be interesting to see what the Warriors can get out of some of the wing type players they signed.

[bleedspeed]

As long as we can trade the next Peeler guy for the next Sam Cassell.

[Monster]

As long as we can trade the next Peeler guy for the next Sam Cassell.

...and then don't trade the next Cassell for the next Marko Jaric. Also we need to tell that Sam Cassell guy to calm down his celebrations a bit.

[kekgeek]

I want to 1st say I am completely fine with what Rosas did this offseason but with that said there is an argument that every player we added this offseason is worse than every player we added this offseason. We added Napier, Graham, Wallace (Im guessing he is getting cut), Bell, Layman who were all non rotation pieces in the playoffs for their team and we added Vonleh who started on the worst team in the NBA.

Sure the guys we brought in are cheap and young and have some potential upside and they don't hamstring us but at the moment all the players we added in are below average NBA basketball players. In the end more than likely the players we added are roster filler. Also if one of the young guys do shock and get better we don't have their bird rights. I like what we did with the rookie contracts but they are 2nd round pick and an undrafted pick and history shows they will be nothing in the NBA (Not saying they can't preform)

We are worse today than we were at this time last year. We are going to end up wasting year 1 of 3/4 year Towns window.

So at the moment what I am seeing is a strategy don't tie up cap space and hope and pray a small contract pays off big. What I am fine with but its not like we don't have a ton of cap space next year and we are losing our starting PG next offseason with no obvious replacement. We currently have 1 Star, 1 above average player in cov and 1 average player in Teague the rest are at this moment below average NBA players.

[Lipoli390]

I want to 1st say I am completely fine with what Rosas did this offseason but with that said there is an argument that every player we added this offseason is worse than every player we added this offseason. We added Napier, Graham, Wallace (Im guessing he is getting cut), Bell, Layman who were all non rotation pieces in the playoffs for their team and we added Vonleh who started on the worst team in the NBA.

Sure the guys we brought in are cheap and young and have some potential upside and they don't hamstring us but at the moment all the players we added in are below average NBA basketball players. In the end more than likely the players we added are roster filler. Also if one of the young guys do shock and get better we don't have their bird rights. I like what we did with the rookie contracts but they are 2nd round pick and an undrafted pick and history shows they will be nothing in the NBA (Not saying they can't preform)

We are worse today than we were at this time last year. We are going to end up wasting year 1 of 3/4 year Towns window.

So at the moment what I am seeing is a strategy don't tie up cap space and hope and pray a small contract pays off big. What I am fine with but its not like we don't have a ton of cap space next year and we are losing our starting PG next offseason with no obvious replacement. We currently have 1 Star, 1 above average player in cov and 1 average player in Teague the rest are at this moment below average NBA players.

You're right, geek. There's no getting around that the Wolves are worse now than we were a year ago as measured by the track record of the players we've added versus the ones we've lost. The trade off is that we have a lot more upside as well as the additional future salary flexibility you mentioned. We need to accept the fact that Rosas really had no choice. This organization wasn't in a position this summer to land anything close to another all-star to pair with KAT. The Wolves entered the summer with no cap space and no attractive assets they could use to acquire major talent. So Rosas had to take a step or two back and build for the long term. I don't consider what Rosas has done to be wasting one of KAT's 5 contract years. Spending more to retain or acquire a few solid vets, even if possible, would have likely given the Wolves a better record next season (and hence lower draft picks), while still leaving the Wolves out of the playoffs. Meanwhile the Wolves wouldn't have had as many young players with upside or as much playing time to offer the young players for their development. And the Wolves would have likely had less salary flexibility going forward. The result would have been a true waste of KAT's early contract years because it would have provided no long-term path for building a contender around KAT.

This isn't ideal, but it's the only realistic choice Rosas had. I give him a lot of credit for taking this approach, probably knowing that this season will be an ugly one for the Wolves.

[Lipoli390]

While I generally am on board with the approach here, it's hardly earth shattering. None of this is all that ingenious or shrewd for someone that is paid very well to have a coherent strategy. The real question is how many of these guys outperform their contract and develop into plus-level players. We'll see.

Definitely not ingenious or super shrewd. But it's the first time I've seen a Wolves front office do it. Personnel decisions by prior Wolves regimes have been inconsistent and often incoherent - e.g., giving Gorgui a big contract then 9 months later giving a huge free agent contract to Taj Gibson; talking about the team's poor defense but then signing free agents like Crawford, Teague and Rose,etc. So while not ingenious, it's refreshing to see a Wolves' front office simply act sensibly with a consistent, coherent long-term strategy to build a sustainable contender around KAT. It may not work out in the end, but this is a good start.

Covington and Teague are interesting anomalies on the roster right now. I'm among those who think the Wolves will be pretty bad this season -- winning 30-35 games. But with the talent on this team, it could surprise us and compete for a playoff position. Keeping Covington and Teague for now makes sense just in case the team gives us that sort of surprise. If not, then both can bring back good longer-term value at the trade deadline.

I think this is hyperbole. What is the long-term strategy to build around KAT exactly? Having young-ish, mostly unproven cheap assets to supplement the mostly bloated contracts around KAT isn't a strategy unto itself - it's just common sense business. Where are the shooters and defenders? All these signings are mostly unproven (or proven to be poor) in the two areas we need the most.

I'm not suggesting Rosas is a poor GM or inadequate. I just think it's way too early to say much of anything about his moves. Yes, he's made some cheap signings that doesn't hamstring us even more than we already are. Yay I guess?

Lol. Q - Words like sensible, coherent and consistent aren't usually referred to as hyperbole in any context. :) I don't think it's too early to describe Gersson's moves as coherent, consistent and sensible that reflect beginning steps in a strategy to build a contender around KAT. It's obviously way too early to declare his strategy a success or failure. I guess Rosas could have re-signed Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose. Or maybe he could have brought back Ricky Rubio. Those would have been inspired moves. (Sorry for the sarcasm). Or how about pursing D'Angelo Russell. Oh wait, he did that. Shockingly, the Wolves didn't have the cap room or assets to make that happen. :)

Note that I didn't use words like exciting, brilliant, inspired, stellar, great, exceptional...etc to characterize what Rosas has done so far. That's because I'm not excited and don't see anything brilliant, stellar, great or exceptional in any of the moves Rosas made this offseason. But I think the did about as well as could be expected given the hand he was dealt by the prior Wolves regime. He's clearly looking longer term and I found his moves consistent and coherent as part of a longer term strategy. It will be couple years before we'll know whether Rosas is successful or not.

[bleedspeed]

As long as we can trade the next Peeler guy for the next Sam Cassell.

...and then don't trade the next Cassell for the next Marko Jaric. Also we need to tell that Sam Cassell guy to calm down his celebrations a bit.

I forgot about that you win some and you lose many as a Wolves fan.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I remember $7 beer tray nights at JD Beamers in St.Cloud. About 10 cups.

#youngandcheap

[TAFKASP]

I remember $7 beer tray nights at JD Beamers in St.Cloud. About 10 cups.

#youngandcheap

I remember getting a pitcher of Bullfrog and an order of Lumpia in the PI for a couple bucks!