Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:09 pm We've talked a lot here about how difficult it has been for Finchie to find minutes for our young players who seem to have potential. Adding two more young players this year with the Utah and Detroit picks would only make the situation worse, so I will be quite surprised if TC ends up keeping both picks. Maybe he can find a team in the lottery who might want our two picks in exchange for their better pick...that would be ideal. More likely though he will trade one of the two picks.

On one hand, many teams have multiple picks and will likely try to consolidate. On the other hand, many teams don't have a good pick and may be looking to buy. It could be a tricky market this time.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:09 pm We've talked a lot here about how difficult it has been for Finchie to find minutes for our young players who seem to have potential. Adding two more young players this year with the Utah and Detroit picks would only make the situation worse, so I will be quite surprised if TC ends up keeping both picks. Maybe he can find a team in the lottery who might want our two picks in exchange for their better pick...that would be ideal. More likely though he will trade one of the two picks.

It's funny you say that when the big complaint we hear from the Rudy trade detractors is that we traded our future away with all those firsts going out the door! Yet here we are wondering how the heck we are going to find playing time for two newly drafted rookies, not to mention the fact we can let NAW walk because of the quality of prior draft picks currently on rookie deals.

As we have talked about before, Connelly will probably surprise us all. He even surprised us this last trade deadline by doing....nothing! I think we were all expecting something to happen, even if it wasn't some huge deal involving Randle.

So much hinges on Julius Randle's player option, but I'm sure TC and Randle's agent are in communication. There shouldn't been any surprises behind closed doors.

I'm still firmly opposed to keeping Randle on this team past this season, both for the bad fit and more so for the financial implications. We cannot afford to lose Naz and we cannot afford to be 2nd Apron offender again, especially being a 'middle of the pack' team.

KiwiMatt wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2025 3:12 pm So much hinges on Julius Randle's player option, but I'm sure TC and Randle's agent are in communication. There shouldn't been any surprises behind closed doors.

I'm still firmly opposed to keeping Randle on this team past this season, both for the bad fit and more so for the financial implications. We cannot afford to lose Naz and we cannot afford to be 2nd Apron offender again, especially being a 'middle of the pack' team.

Yes, what you said.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:59 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:43 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 1:47 pm

There is just no reason to re-sign NAW unless it's at a ridiculous discount. We keep having to shoehorn him and DDV into playing point guard, which does help them each get deserved playing time, but it's led to a lot of disorganized and turnover prone basketball.

I'm hoping our 9-man rotation is something like this next year:

Starting 5 - Rudy, Naz, Jaden, Ant, [insert vet PG to be acquired somehow]
Main bench 4 - DDV, Dillingham, Shannon, Clark
Spot Players - Conley, Miller, [insert C to be acquired somehow]

It's a smaller team with Jaden sliding to the 4 a lot, but I like playing faster and smaller overall. We'd still need another true Center to backup Rudy against certain matchups.

I actually like DDV and Ant backcourt. Better defense then likely any PG you bring in. Ant and DDV will continue to develop their handles and passing as time goes on. It'll only be a benefit to them and the teams chances to win a chip over the next 2-3 years. Point Ant is a good thing. Plus he already has the ball a ton anyways. The turnovers will come down over time. He keeps making progress so I would simply count on it to happen.

I'm more concerned with replacing Randle with a good backup. It's tough finding guys who can defend the rim and shoot the 3 decently. Garza on D is still no bueno for sure.

I agree that in the absence of being able to acquire a staring PG, DDV is probably the next best option. It just isn't his natural position and I'd much prefer a true PG playing next to Ant 100% of the time.

I’m not so sure, Q. I’m thinking that if we want Ant to be the best he can be, then we should think of him playing the same role as MJ and Kobe. Neither of those two played next to a true PG because they each dominated the ball. Instead each was paired with a PG who was primarily a spot-up three-point shooter MJ has Paxon then Kerr; Kobe had Derek Fisher. DDV seems to fit that mold (although he’s not as elite from behind the arc) but with a wider range of skills. Ultimately, Dilly will slide in as our PG and he’s a true PG but he also has a terrific perimeter shot.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2025 12:27 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:59 pm

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:43 pm

I actually like DDV and Ant backcourt. Better defense then likely any PG you bring in. Ant and DDV will continue to develop their handles and passing as time goes on. It'll only be a benefit to them and the teams chances to win a chip over the next 2-3 years. Point Ant is a good thing. Plus he already has the ball a ton anyways. The turnovers will come down over time. He keeps making progress so I would simply count on it to happen.

I'm more concerned with replacing Randle with a good backup. It's tough finding guys who can defend the rim and shoot the 3 decently. Garza on D is still no bueno for sure.

I agree that in the absence of being able to acquire a staring PG, DDV is probably the next best option. It just isn't his natural position and I'd much prefer a true PG playing next to Ant 100% of the time.

I’m not so sure, Q. I’m thinking that if we want Ant to be the best he can be, then we should think of him playing the same role as MJ and Kobe. Neither of those two played next to a true PG because they each dominated the ball. Instead each was paired with a PG who was primarily a spot-up three-point shooter MJ has Paxon then Kerr; Kobe had Derek Fisher. DDV seems to fit that mold (although he’s not as elite from behind the arc) but with a wider range of skills. Ultimately, Dilly will slide in as our PG and he’s a true PG but he also has a terrific perimeter shot.

Lip, back when Jordan and Kobe were winning titles, NBA offensive efficiency and output wasn't nearly as prolific as it is now. You could get away with one super dominant scorer and a great defense. Also, Phil Jackson put in the triangle offense which forced some structure upon those guys so that they didn't dominate the ball as much as they would have otherwise.

All I know is that while Ant is clearly the alpha dog, he needs at least one other smart play maker and orchestrator out there with him. That could come in the form of a conventionally sized PG like Dillingham or it could be a point forward or point center type player like Draymond Green was for Golden State in their peak years. The clearest path is eventually Dillingham, but he isn't ready yet.