CoolBreeze44 wrote:I've become a Bazz fan too, but I don't think he's a candidate to start. If you start Ricky, Wiggins, Bazz, Garnett, and Towns, you don't have one guy who can do all these things:
- Be a ball handler
- Get to the rim
- Finish when you get there
We really need a 2nd ball handler on the court, and the guy who can hopefully do all these things is Zach. I'm not saying he should be handed the starting spot, but it's in the team's best interest if he wins it.
I agree with what you say but I do think Wiggins ability to handle the ball will take a step forward this year. It may not be enough but we will see.
The problem with a Ricky/Wiggins/Bazz trio is the shooting. Bazz improved, but there was no volume to his 3pt shooting game. Wiggins regressed due to his big minutes and Ricky has his own issues. Also the games are just going to slow down a lot more if we are using possessions posting up both Wiggins and Bazz. I think you pair each up with a shooter (either Martin or Lavine) to have a better balance. Unless Wiggins' jump shot gets back to where it was when he started last year I think he and Bazz should be the backup plan in case of injuries.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Here is what I would do: Do not pick up his option for next year but keep him on the roster and see if he can earn his way into the rotation. If he can't, we definitely made a good decision to not pick up the option. If he can, we can always try to sign him to a market level contract after the season is over. I really don't think you cut ties with a former #1 overall pick without giving it a little more time to pan out. You definitely don't sell for pennies on the dollar right now or outright waive the guy. He's still an asset even if that asset has been devalued over his first two years. See how things go, too much can happen over the next year.
I'm not sure how it's possible to sell AB for pennies on the dollar when a) he hasn't performed like a dollar, and b) we basically got him as a throw in to the Love trade. He simply isn't valued that highly around the league right now, but then again, he wasn't before either. It's more like getting pennies on the pennies...
sjm34 wrote:I am conflicted with AB. On one hand I see the lack of motivation and focus, and wonder if he will ever be more than Derrick Williams, but I also see a full tool box when it comes to skills.
I think it was really unfair for Flip to expect a 20 year old PF to be putting the ball on the floor and attacking the basket. That is something that comes with confidence and experience. Flip's system didn't promote that either, and with Mo Williams consistently freezing out younger players, it made it impossible for Bennett to get touches on the low block (where he was getting position).
I would pickup his option if I was going to still be in the development mode, but unfortunately our coach is our POBO, and he just can't help himself. This is why Flip shouldn't hold both positions. I would like to see them give Bennett big minutes early on and see how he handles it. I think he is more fragile mentally and needs that vote of confidence from the coaching staff. Absent of that, we might as well move him, but he has almost no value to any team without the option. Who wants to put time into a young player who will be a FA.
I have no problem with the money side because we aren't going to be a contender for at least a couple of seasons.
So if you were Flip, would you or wouldn't you pick up his option? And if you did pick up his option, what would you do about KG and Bjelica, because I can pretty much guarantee you those two would be ahead of him in the rotation based on merit. That's an awful lot of money to pay a 3rd string PF. So I guess you would look to trade the rights to Bjelica?
TeamRicky wrote:If we had unlimited roster size, I'm all for keeping AB. However, we don't and what if the guy we would have kept on our roster becomes a star. What has changed for us to have any real hope that AB will become a good player in the league? What has he done this offseason? The guy should come in lean and chiseled and be outworking everybody on the roster. His career may be on the line and he should be as hungry as can be. And if not, let him go and use your resources on someone else.
I don't think there are any other fringe rotation guys on the team or unsigned young free agents with the potential of Bennett that we'd be missing out on if we kept AB. Forget that he was the top pick. He was still a high lottery talent going into that draft. As crappy as he played last year, he showed improvement basically across the board in only 2 more MPG's. I think KG and Bjelica will get most of the minutes though and we've seen Bennett struggle when he gets table scrap minutes. I'm just gonna be pissed off when we trade Bennett for shit only to have him show even more improvement and possibly become a rotation player next year for someone else because people feel like they can peg a kid as a bad player when he's a 20 year old kid.
So when you say you'll be pissed, I'm assuming you mean at Flip and Milt?
TeamRicky wrote:If we had unlimited roster size, I'm all for keeping AB. However, we don't and what if the guy we would have kept on our roster becomes a star. What has changed for us to have any real hope that AB will become a good player in the league? What has he done this offseason? The guy should come in lean and chiseled and be outworking everybody on the roster. His career may be on the line and he should be as hungry as can be. And if not, let him go and use your resources on someone else.
I don't think there are any other fringe rotation guys on the team or unsigned young free agents with the potential of Bennett that we'd be missing out on if we kept AB. Forget that he was the top pick. He was still a high lottery talent going into that draft. As crappy as he played last year, he showed improvement basically across the board in only 2 more MPG's. I think KG and Bjelica will get most of the minutes though and we've seen Bennett struggle when he gets table scrap minutes. I'm just gonna be pissed off when we trade Bennett for shit only to have him show even more improvement and possibly become a rotation player next year for someone else because people feel like they can peg a kid as a bad player when he's a 20 year old kid.
So when you say you'll be pissed, I'm assuming you mean at Flip and Milt?
I'll probably be a little miffed at everyone who dragged Bennett through the trash on the board, but yes mostly Flip and Bennett. Did I miss anyone? Who else would I be pissed at for making a bad move than the GM and coach?
The wolves have training camp plus 4 days to make that decision. If he has a great SL and camp perhaps. Otherwise play 2015-2016 and trade him at deadline, walk at end of year or negotiate a better contract next year.
TeamRicky wrote:If we had unlimited roster size, I'm all for keeping AB. However, we don't and what if the guy we would have kept on our roster becomes a star. What has changed for us to have any real hope that AB will become a good player in the league? What has he done this offseason? The guy should come in lean and chiseled and be outworking everybody on the roster. His career may be on the line and he should be as hungry as can be. And if not, let him go and use your resources on someone else.
I don't think there are any other fringe rotation guys on the team or unsigned young free agents with the potential of Bennett that we'd be missing out on if we kept AB. Forget that he was the top pick. He was still a high lottery talent going into that draft. As crappy as he played last year, he showed improvement basically across the board in only 2 more MPG's. I think KG and Bjelica will get most of the minutes though and we've seen Bennett struggle when he gets table scrap minutes. I'm just gonna be pissed off when we trade Bennett for shit only to have him show even more improvement and possibly become a rotation player next year for someone else because people feel like they can peg a kid as a bad player when he's a 20 year old kid.
So when you say you'll be pissed, I'm assuming you mean at Flip and Milt?
I'll probably be a little miffed at everyone who dragged Bennett through the trash on the board, but yes mostly Flip and Bennett. Did I miss anyone? Who else would I be pissed at for making a bad move than the GM and coach?
I just find it funny how pissed you would be "at people", including folks on this board, if AB got traded and turned out to be good, as if fans that post here have influence on what the POBO and GM do. Unless - aha! - Cam is Flip!
sjm34 wrote:I am conflicted with AB. On one hand I see the lack of motivation and focus, and wonder if he will ever be more than Derrick Williams, but I also see a full tool box when it comes to skills.
I think it was really unfair for Flip to expect a 20 year old PF to be putting the ball on the floor and attacking the basket. That is something that comes with confidence and experience. Flip's system didn't promote that either, and with Mo Williams consistently freezing out younger players, it made it impossible for Bennett to get touches on the low block (where he was getting position).
I would pickup his option if I was going to still be in the development mode, but unfortunately our coach is our POBO, and he just can't help himself. This is why Flip shouldn't hold both positions. I would like to see them give Bennett big minutes early on and see how he handles it. I think he is more fragile mentally and needs that vote of confidence from the coaching staff. Absent of that, we might as well move him, but he has almost no value to any team without the option. Who wants to put time into a young player who will be a FA.
I have no problem with the money side because we aren't going to be a contender for at least a couple of seasons.
So if you were Flip, would you or wouldn't you pick up his option? And if you did pick up his option, what would you do about KG and Bjelica, because I can pretty much guarantee you those two would be ahead of him in the rotation based on merit. That's an awful lot of money to pay a 3rd string PF. So I guess you would look to trade the rights to Bjelica?
This is reportedly KG's last year so I'm not sure why he is taken into account when deciding Bennett's option. When Bennett actually plays that year if we pick the option up, KG won't be in the rotation. We also don't have to decide on the option until October so I'm not sure why you're demanding us to take a side now. All sorts of things could happen between now and October to either pick up or deny the option.
So if we picked up the option he'd be a high priced backup, but given the jump in cap that will probably be right in line with MLE priced backups next off season. I think people are getting too attached to the money aspect of it. The cap is jumping almost 30 million next summer. Bennett's option will look a lot smaller under the new cap and we'd still have around 30 million in cap space to work with anyway with Bud and KG for sure coming off the books.
TeamRicky wrote:If we had unlimited roster size, I'm all for keeping AB. However, we don't and what if the guy we would have kept on our roster becomes a star. What has changed for us to have any real hope that AB will become a good player in the league? What has he done this offseason? The guy should come in lean and chiseled and be outworking everybody on the roster. His career may be on the line and he should be as hungry as can be. And if not, let him go and use your resources on someone else.
I don't think there are any other fringe rotation guys on the team or unsigned young free agents with the potential of Bennett that we'd be missing out on if we kept AB. Forget that he was the top pick. He was still a high lottery talent going into that draft. As crappy as he played last year, he showed improvement basically across the board in only 2 more MPG's. I think KG and Bjelica will get most of the minutes though and we've seen Bennett struggle when he gets table scrap minutes. I'm just gonna be pissed off when we trade Bennett for shit only to have him show even more improvement and possibly become a rotation player next year for someone else because people feel like they can peg a kid as a bad player when he's a 20 year old kid.
So when you say you'll be pissed, I'm assuming you mean at Flip and Milt?
I'll probably be a little miffed at everyone who dragged Bennett through the trash on the board, but yes mostly Flip and Bennett. Did I miss anyone? Who else would I be pissed at for making a bad move than the GM and coach?
I just find it funny how pissed you would be "at people", including folks on this board, if AB got traded and turned out to be good, as if fans that post here have influence on what the POBO and GM do. Unless - aha! - Cam is Flip!
It has more to do with a lack of patience on this board than influencing decision. People often jump the gun regarding prospects. I mean we're talking about a 16 win team giving up on a 21 year old because he won't have a spot in the rotation this year and he costs too much money. It's not our money and dumping him doesn't all of a sudden generate a bunch of cap space to sign a better replacement this year and next year the cap is jumping so much an extra 7 million won't mean anything significant then either because everyone is going to have money to sign players.
