Who's the target? Jimmy Buckets?

[TheFuture]

Giving up Wiggins for Paul George as a one year rental would end up being the worst trade in franchise history.

Trading Wiggins for Butler would be slightly better, but I'm not comfortable on the chance of losing him in 2 years when Wiggins is only 24-25.

We found our 3 potential stars after 10 years of waiting; the bench is the issue. I vote to ride it out. Let's not be the next OKC.

I would let shabazz walk and overpay 1 or 2 FAs this off season on two year deals. Any of Gibson, tucker, james or amir johnson, Patterson, bogdanovic, ingles, sefolosha.

Ideally those two are Ingles and Patterson. Ingles is a RFA but Utah has Hayward and Hill to pay while doling out big money to Gobert already.

Draft BPA at any position.

Rubio/LaVine/Wiggins/Patterson/Towns

Bench: Ingles/Gorgui/Belly/Dunn/Tyus/Aldrich/rookie/2 vets on cheap 1 year deals.

[thedoper]

Would Lavine and 8 be enough for Blake Griffin? My targets would be primarily 4s then wings and pgs.

Top tier: Ibaka and Milsap

Then: Taj

Then: Galanari and Patty Mills

[Coolbreeze44]

The only reason we should consider trading one of our young stars is the redundancy of Wiggins and Lavine. After 13 years of futility we finally have some young studs to build around. In what sane world do you jettison that plan at this point? We are still in the position that a lot of the teams would love to find themselves in, a realistic chance to contend for a championship for several years. We have another huge draft asset to use as another building block to our core, and plenty of financial flexibility to add the right pieces. I hope the front office avoids the temptation to try and improve marginally by dealing one of core pieces. That would be a mistake. Stay the course, add to what we have, and i believe we will be rewarded sooner than later.

[TheFuture]

The only reason we should consider trading one of our young stars is the redundancy of Wiggins and Lavine. After 13 years of futility we finally have some young studs to build around. In what sane world do you jettison that plan at this point? We are still in the position that a lot of the teams would love to find themselves in, a realistic chance to contend for a championship for several years. We have another huge draft asset to use as another building block to our core, and plenty of financial flexibility to add the right pieces. I hope the front office avoids the temptation to try and improve marginally by dealing one of core pieces. That would be a mistake. Stay the course, add to what we have, and i believe we will be rewarded sooner than later.

Seems we had the same thought this morning. Add talent via the draft and FAs this off season.

Wiggins should be untouchable and trading LaVine after his injury would be selling extremely low.

Something else to keep in mind ... We should lose our pick next year. I want a top ten talent from this draft on a rookie contract when we are paying Towns, Wiggins, LaVine, and Gorgui.

[Coolbreeze44]

The only reason we should consider trading one of our young stars is the redundancy of Wiggins and Lavine. After 13 years of futility we finally have some young studs to build around. In what sane world do you jettison that plan at this point? We are still in the position that a lot of the teams would love to find themselves in, a realistic chance to contend for a championship for several years. We have another huge draft asset to use as another building block to our core, and plenty of financial flexibility to add the right pieces. I hope the front office avoids the temptation to try and improve marginally by dealing one of core pieces. That would be a mistake. Stay the course, add to what we have, and i believe we will be rewarded sooner than later.

Seems we had the same thought this morning. Add talent via the draft and FAs this off season.

Wiggins should be untouchable and trading LaVine after his injury would be selling extremely low.

Something else to keep in mind ... We should lose our pick next year. I want a top ten talent from this draft on a rookie contract when we are paying Towns, Wiggins, LaVine, and Gorgui.

Yeah, the temptation to start blowing this thing up already is something I expect from some fans but not the front office. Wig should be untouchable along with Towns. You only consider moving Ricky if we can get Fultz or Ball. As disappointing as this season was, I still like where we're at. We still have plenty of assets to fill in the blanks. I believe Thayden is of the same mindset.

[WildWolf2813]

I think they're gonna give either Patterson or Gibson a 4 year $70 mil deal (I'm leaning more towards them signing Patterson).


What I don't wanna see again is veteran signings who don't contribute much to anything like Rush and especially Hill.

[BloopOracle]

How about Aaron Gordon? He has to be soured on the Magic after that whiteboard debacle and he's played pretty well at PF the second half of the season

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

I believe we absolutely have to bolster the two forward positions. Here would be my targets, by tier:

Tier I guys:
SF - Jimmy Butler, Paul George
PF - Paul Milsap (Unrestricted Free Agent)

- We'd have to trade Wiggins to have any chance at Butler or George. However, both are legit SFs that can score, rebound, pass, and defend and have at least 4 or 5 years left of peak performance years. We would have to hope LaVine eventually recovers fully from his injury and becomes our starting SG.
- Millsap would cost us a bundle, but we wouldn't have to trade anyone to get him. The guy can defend really well and give us a lot more scoring punch than Gorgui. The downside is that he is getting old.

Tier 2 guys:
SF - Robert Covington (team option), Rudy Gay (player option)
PF - Taj Gibson (unrestricted free agent)

- Covington is a great wing defender and rebounder. He gets a bunch of steals too. I'm not a big fan of Gay as a 1st or 2nd option scorer, but on our squad he could be re-purposed to focus on defense and rebounding since KAT and Wig would do more of the scoring. He could also play small ball 4.
- Taj Gibson could start next to KAT and hold his own, with Dieng and Bjelly still getting some minutes at the 4.

Tier 3
SF - PJ Tucker
PF - James Johnson

- Both these guys are UFAs this offseason, so wouldn't cost us any players to get either one. I could see Tucker as a starting SF that plays 25-28 minutes per game, with LaVine and Wiggins still getting significant time together against smaller lineups.
- James Johnson is more of a small-ball 4, so he'd likely come off the bench and sub for Dieng or whoever else we might have starting at 4. Given how Bjelly played defensively this season off the bench, I'm not sure James Johnson would be a big priority for me.

Even though he's getting a little long in the tooth I'd love to see Milsap starting next to Towns. You say we could possibly get him just by spending a bundle. But could we afford giving him the max without jeopardizing signing our young guys? Front load the deal? While I know we have money to spend I guess I don't know if we are position to make a big move like this. Q or someone else please explain.

This is greedy but how nice would it be for the Wolves to get ultra lucky and get a top 3 pick this year? All of a sudden a lot of options would be on the table. We could take a Fultz or Ball because we still need a point guard even if they are not ready to start next year. Or package the pick and get something stellar in return. Technically we have still have never moved up in draft position. Maybe Saunders is up there imploring the basketball gods that these hardcore fans have suffered enough.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

How about Aaron Gordon? He has to be soured on the Magic after that whiteboard debacle and he's played pretty well at PF the second half of the season

I like him as a defense to small ball. I'm not a huge fan of him as a starter against bigger West front lines unless Towns steps his game up and becomes a true anchor defensively. If Towns doesn't step up defensively I don't think Gordon/Towns provides enough resistance at the rim to have a good defense. I still think rim protection should be the top thing we look to add this offseason. Ibaka would be my top priority. He's still young and can be really good defensively while stretching the floor. He's not a great rebounder, but Towns seems to want all the rebounds anyway.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The only reason we should consider trading one of our young stars is the redundancy of Wiggins and Lavine. After 13 years of futility we finally have some young studs to build around. In what sane world do you jettison that plan at this point? We are still in the position that a lot of the teams would love to find themselves in, a realistic chance to contend for a championship for several years. We have another huge draft asset to use as another building block to our core, and plenty of financial flexibility to add the right pieces. I hope the front office avoids the temptation to try and improve marginally by dealing one of core pieces. That would be a mistake. Stay the course, add to what we have, and i believe we will be rewarded sooner than later.

Agree with the first sentence in bold.

Don't know about the second bolded sentence though. I don't know how realistic championship contention is. The Wolves are very very far away right now. And it goes beyond a better bench. The two marquee players of the future have to improve exponentially themselves. Wiggins is obviously promising, but after three years, he's not a sure thing. At some point, the age angle can't be his crutch.

That being said, this offseason should be interesting. And telling. I'm cool with only changes around the margins... finding the right kind of player to complement Wiggins and Towns. And a quality veteran starter. Anything less than .500 from this team next season (Wiggins in Year 4... Towns in Year 3) is a very very bad sign. Elite basketball players (difference makers) figure out a way to win sooner than later.