Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:I never think of any player as untouchable. I hope the GMs of the teams I love are on the phone everyday seeing what deals might be available for everyone on our roster. Just to demonstrate that most of you might agree that nobody is untouchable, if OkC offered us Durant for Love, would you make that deal? If the answer is yes, then Love is not untouchable. Yes, I realize that OkC is not going to make that deal, but it doesn't change this fact: If we can trade any player for another player or players, and that deal is likely to make the team better, than you have to make that deal.

Having set those parameters, the guys I would like to unload are Barea, because I find his style of play so frustrating, and Adelman, because I don't think he has the energy to coach anymore. But I would trade anybody else on our roster if the deal clearly made us better.

Well if we're in fantasy land and OKC made that offer, then Love is not untouchable. That's kinda where you have to use your head and determine what's realistic. When's the last time a team has traded a star for a star in any NBA trade? That's not how it works. There's a package of young prospects plus picks as the nucleus of the package plus something else to make contracts work. In that case, Love is untouchable in my eyes. WE should be a team looking to buy a star with what we have (Rubio, Pekovic, Martin) before offering Love on phone deals.

Adelman and Barea have to go. I'll fully agree with that. I also don't want to see Cunningham brought back.

As for you last statement, what realistic Kevin Love trade makes us clearly better? I don't see one and I know you think the same because I've read enough of your posts. I don't take into account NBA trade machine deals like Durant for Love; LeBron for Love because I know that there's a 0% chance of that happening, thus Love is the only guy I'd label as untouchable on this team.

The only two players I think we should keep are Love and Rubio. This team is less valuable than the sum of its parts, meaning all of the parts do not fit together to make a Winning Team. We need to find players that fit/work well with Kevin and Ricky

Keep Love-rubio-pek. Otheres are expendable.

If it comes down to it, il be open to trading pek but i highly doubt we could get equal value for him because of his injury history.

I see three categories -- (1) untouchables, (2) keepers, (3) expendables.

UNTOUCHABLES

I put Love as this team's only untouchables -- untouchable in that he is a true star and there is no remotely realistic scenario in which we could get comparable value in return.

KEEPERS

I see Ricky as our only keeper -- keeper in that I'd be reluctant to deal him because he has special, unique qualities and would not likely land us a top PG in return.

EXPENDABLES

I see everyone else in this category. Pek and Turiaf are probably the only two in this category with meaningful trade value -- which is why Flip should shop them aggressively this summer. I don't see us getting much if anything in return for Martin, Budinger or Brewer. Flip over-paid for all three so we're probably stuck with them.

Lip,

The problem with Turiaf is that he only makes $1.5M. So it's not like he'd garner anything relevant back in return.

There are also reasons why he's on his 6th team in 5 seasons.
And why he's only played 105 games and only 1,400 minutes in the past 3 seasons.

Turiaf is a guy you add at the tail end of a larger trade. That's where he offers some trade value.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Lip,

The problem with Turiaf is that he only makes $1.5M. So it's not like he'd garner anything relevant back in return.

There are also reasons why he's on his 6th team in 5 seasons.
And why he's only played 105 games and only 1,400 minutes in the past 3 seasons.

Turiaf is a guy you add at the tail end of a larger trade. That's where he offers some trade value.

Abe -- I agree. Turiaf's trade value is as part of a package.

worldK wrote:Keep Love-rubio-pek. Otheres are expendable.

If it comes down to it, il be open to trading pek but i highly doubt we could get equal value for him because of his injury history.

World -- unfortunately you are probably right about Pek's value. His current ankle injury is a killer because it it looked like he might have gotten beyond his past ankle problems. But now teams around the League have been reminded and that will make it extra difficult to get good value in return.

Keep: Love, ...? Dante and Turiaf are good, cheap pieces.

Corey and Chase are limited and overpriced. Pek is a great fit on any team that isn't playing a defensively challenged PF 38 mpg. JJ probably shouldn't be playing in the NBA. Martin is soft and destined to become a bad contract.