Wolves traded Kat

[guest81]

I think people mistake the idea what KAT should be and what KAT actually is. He should be a number 2 option on a championship team but he isn't. His numbers go down from the regular season to the postseason every year. Yea he played good defense at times against jokic but he also no showed at least 3 times in that series, no showed the mavs series, and also no showed the grizzlies and rockets series. Again this is a guy whose making supermax money and at no point had shown that he is a supermax player. In fact when kat was out, naz played the kat role better then kat played it

[60WinTim]

I think people mistake the idea what KAT should be and what KAT actually is. He should be a number 2 option on a championship team but he isn't. His numbers go down from the regular season to the postseason every year. Yea he played good defense at times against jokic but he also no showed at least 3 times in that series, no showed the mavs series, and also no showed the grizzlies and rockets series. Again this is a guy whose making supermax money and at no point had shown that he is a supermax player. In fact when kat was out, naz played the kat role better then kat played it

Yup! I actually liked this trade from the start, but it has grown on me even more this morning and afternoon. But I'm not even sure who the most likely starter is between Naz and Randle. On paper, Randle is the more accomplished player. But the Naz/Rudy combo was pretty good last year.

BTW, welcome to a rare "new member", guest81! Were you ever on the Enjin boards?

[Coolbreeze44]

One thing I disagree with KG on is TC. Behind Ant I think he's the best asset we have. I listened to a lot of radio this morning and no one is saying the Wolves got fleeced. In fact most are saying we came out of this pretty well for a lot of reasons. Financial flexibility, DDV's value, and KAT's durability among them. Hang in there with TC, he's extremely smart and I'm sure has a plan.

Yep, I think they'll be fine so long as TC doesn't bolt this offseason. My biggest concern would be Glen keeping control of the team, TC understandably leaving, and Glen hiring a bum to replace him.

Yeah, can't have that.

[guest81]

I think people mistake the idea what KAT should be and what KAT actually is. He should be a number 2 option on a championship team but he isn't. His numbers go down from the regular season to the postseason every year. Yea he played good defense at times against jokic but he also no showed at least 3 times in that series, no showed the mavs series, and also no showed the grizzlies and rockets series. Again this is a guy whose making supermax money and at no point had shown that he is a supermax player. In fact when kat was out, naz played the kat role better then kat played it

Yup! I actually liked this trade from the start, but it has grown on me even more this morning and afternoon. But I'm not even sure who the most likely starter is between Naz and Randle. On paper, Randle is the more accomplished player. But the Naz/Rudy combo was pretty good last year.

BTW, welcome to a rare "new member", guest81! Were you ever on the Enjin boards?

Lurker for years. Was actually on the old espn and sportsline forums.

To your point, i think you could have different games with different starting lineups. When you had kat however, you can't just ask that guy to come off the bench for a multitude of reasons

[Q-is-here]

I think people mistake the idea what KAT should be and what KAT actually is. He should be a number 2 option on a championship team but he isn't. His numbers go down from the regular season to the postseason every year. Yea he played good defense at times against jokic but he also no showed at least 3 times in that series, no showed the mavs series, and also no showed the grizzlies and rockets series. Again this is a guy whose making supermax money and at no point had shown that he is a supermax player. In fact when kat was out, naz played the kat role better then kat played it

Yup! I actually liked this trade from the start, but it has grown on me even more this morning and afternoon. But I'm not even sure who the most likely starter is between Naz and Randle. On paper, Randle is the more accomplished player. But the Naz/Rudy combo was pretty good last year.

BTW, welcome to a rare "new member", guest81! Were you ever on the Enjin boards?

Lurker for years. Was actually on the old espn and sportsline forums.

To your point, i think you could have different games with different starting lineups. When you had kat however, you can't just ask that guy to come off the bench for a multitude of reasons

Hard seeing Randle coming off the bench...he's pretty established and has an ego, next contract to play for, etc. I hope we flip him and slot Naz in as the starter.

[Coolbreeze44]

Yup! I actually liked this trade from the start, but it has grown on me even more this morning and afternoon. But I'm not even sure who the most likely starter is between Naz and Randle. On paper, Randle is the more accomplished player. But the Naz/Rudy combo was pretty good last year.

BTW, welcome to a rare "new member", guest81! Were you ever on the Enjin boards?

Lurker for years. Was actually on the old espn and sportsline forums.

To your point, i think you could have different games with different starting lineups. When you had kat however, you can't just ask that guy to come off the bench for a multitude of reasons

Hard seeing Randle coming off the bench...he's pretty established and has an ego, next contract to play for, etc. I hope we flip him and slot Naz in as the starter.

Would be interested in your thoughts on the trade overall Q

[Monster]

Yup! I actually liked this trade from the start, but it has grown on me even more this morning and afternoon. But I'm not even sure who the most likely starter is between Naz and Randle. On paper, Randle is the more accomplished player. But the Naz/Rudy combo was pretty good last year.

BTW, welcome to a rare "new member", guest81! Were you ever on the Enjin boards?

Lurker for years. Was actually on the old espn and sportsline forums.

To your point, i think you could have different games with different starting lineups. When you had kat however, you can't just ask that guy to come off the bench for a multitude of reasons

Hard seeing Randle coming off the bench...he's pretty established and has an ego, next contract to play for, etc. I hope we flip him and slot Naz in as the starter.

We come guest81!

Randle hasn't come off the bench since he played with the Pels. If they don't find a new spot for him it makes sense he would start but might sub out quickly for Naz.

One thing the Wolves could look to acquire at some point is another true center. Towns is closer to that than Naz or Randle. Fortunately acquiring a center than can play some decent minutes if needed isn't that hard to do.

[Wolvesfan21]

*yawns while waking up from post-Summer League hibernation
*spits out coffee when he sees the news

Holy schnikes!!!

Damn, I wasn't necessarily expecting that.

In terms of KAT's trade value, I'd say he's obviously not at his peak, which would have been when GMs were calling him the most promising cornerstone in the league going into his second contract. But this also wasn't his floor either. I think he's redeemed himself (and his trade value) quite a bit in the last couple of years. With a contract as big as his, there's a steep drop-off from highly valuable to toxic asset. So I think this could definitely have been worse in terms of trade value.

In terms of our prospects on the floor, I'm torn. KAT and Rudy showed last year that they really could play well together, which always made sense to me because of KAT's shooting. But I was actually fairly impressed with his defense and even (to some degree) his discipline in the playoffs. KAT did a passable job on KD and Jokic in those defensive schemes last year and that allowed us to defend the rest of those teams well. Could we count on that long-term? Maybe? Obviously, the Mavs were tough to defend with both Towns and Rudy. That might be more of a Rudy problem, but either way, getting a more switchable big at the 4 or 5 should give us the defensive flexibility to match up with them. Offensively, I do think his outside shooting is just otherworldly for a guy that size, and I don't think Finch really exploited that enough honestly. I know Randle is really good, but I worry that the loss of floor spacing from a big will really hurt us. So on one hand, it felt like there was always a bit of a ceiling with KAT and Rudy, but I do think we'll really miss that outside shooting.

I just don't know how to respond to this. I gather it will give us financial flexibility going forward, and ultimately, that's just kind of something we'd have needed. I used to really dislike KAT. I hated his whining. Oh my god, even last year I hated his whining about calls. I hated his lack of discipline. I wanted him and DLO gone ASAP--"no defense, no toughness, no leadership" was my mantra. Even when the Jimmy thing went down I remember thinking if it were Jimmy or KAT, I'd have traded KAT (I loved Jimmy and KAT was probably at his peak value just before that).

But KAT has definitely improved in those areas in recent years, and I was particularly impressed with how he responded to the national attention Ant got.

There was always something a little bit inauthentic about KAT. It felt like he was always kind of trying to say the right thing and be somebody who other people wanted him to be, even when you could kind of tell there was some insecurity or resentment or judgment under the surface. In that sense, for much of his time here, he was very much like a Minnesotan! Friendly on the outside, but you could tell he was probably feeling something different underneath. In the last couple of years, it seems like he got tired of that sometimes and was a bit more reserved, maybe to protect himself. Maybe because the friendliness he displayed started to be a liability on social media, so he started to project a kind of toughness or detachment that was almost as inauthentic as his over-friendliness early on.

Still, after almost a decade, I think it's clear the guy was ultimately a good dude at heart. He's a bit of an awkward goofball, but he's grown up and matured and it does seem like he'd come to a kind of stable place in his life. Ultimately, I think he's kind of an insecure dude, which is a shame, because he has every reason to be proud of himself and his accomplishments. And he has grown up as a person and a player, so we are losing a guy who I think has become a positive contributor to the team culture overall. He'll be missed, but given the financial circumstances and the fact that both Randle and Donte are good players, it remains to be seen whether we'd have been better off keeping him.

I wish him luck! I'd be great to beat NY in the finals next year!

Nice post. KAT has been like a politician in his speeches. Just way too much utter BS. Although I wanted to keep KAT and trade Jimmy at that time, maybe both was the right answer. Although Jimmy did make the Finals once. I didn't think at his age and lack of upper tier skill (he was never a top 5 even 10 player) it'd be impossible to win with him as the main dog. I guess I was right as he's pretty old now and times ticking.

Later on I was on the trade KAT train until really this year when he flipped things a bit with an overall good playoff performance (was shit against the Mavs but maybe he was hurt too much). Still not a good finish.

I think this trade is fine. I really thought we couldn't go on with all 3, KAT Naz and Rude. So now Randle either plays out his deal here freeing up money for Naz or possibly we even trade him for something else. He's a good player, so we'll see.

[Coolbreeze44]

Wonder if we still have interest in Markkanen

[WildWolf2813]

Wonder if we still have interest in Markkanen

with his extension, Markkanen can't be traded for at least a year.