Wolves traded Kat

[Lipoli390]

Disappointed with the trade.

Towns is the best player in the trade. Different tier level player compared to Randle, Donte or whatever the Pistons pick turn out to be.

He was key in us sweeping the Suns and beating the Nuggets in the playoffs. He can carry your offense in Ant’s off nights and you have a winning chance againsts any team on any given night with Elite talents like him and Ant as teamates.

Now its Ant and a bunch of very good players. We have to see. Chances of Naz and Jaden stepping up are high. Randle can play. But they are not on Towns level skills and talent wise.

[Lipoli390]

The hard part for me is not what we're giving up, it's what we're getting. I am NOT a Randle fan. Are there any restrictions to moving him?

Cool - I’m also bothered by what we’re giving up. KAT has his flaws, but he was key to this team making the West Finals last season. We now go from having two stars (Ant and KAT) to having one (Ant) and teams with only one star don’t make conference finals. I know Randle has all-star credentials, but he’s one of those guys who is FAR less than his stats suggest and whose negatives significantly exceed his positives on overall team impact. He’s a particularly bad fit on the Wolves because he’s a ball-hog on a team that needs to run through Ant and Mike with more touches for Jaden and a poor 3-point shooter who takes a lot of threes. Then there’s his sour attitude and thin skin.

I’d like to believe TC has another step in the works to move Randle, but I don’t think he does. If there were another piece to this, I think it would have happened as part of the Knicks deal with a 4th team like Miami involved. Now we’re left to swap Randle along (without aggregating) for less salary in return in a League where Randle doesn’t have much value for all the reasons I mentioned and more. But let’s hope I’m wrong.

[Lipoli390]

I think they will be able to rest Conley and Ingles more now. Having a guy like Donte will make it easier to mix in some young guys with him on the floor.

So does Donte wind up bumping NAW out of the rotation? Especially if Rob is finding some success with limited minutes at PG?

Donte has been in 4 places now, he's okay but nothing to get excited about. NAW is going to play a lot because of his defense.

I like Donte. He was the only solid value we received in return for KAT and I’m glad we got him. But you’re right that we shouldn’t get too excited over him. Beware of focusing too much on a player’s career year or career playoff series. Players approaching 30 always eventually find their mean. There’s a reason Donte has played for 4 different teams and signed for a sub mid-level contract. He’s a very good bench player and will help us if he stays healthy. But I wouldn’t go ga ga over him.

[Lipoli390]

You guys are going to be very disappointed in the version of Joe Ingles we're getting. He's a traffic cone whose best asset is the toughness he brings.

Cool - You might think I’m trolling you as I respond to each of your posts in this thread. . But honestly, I like your balanced assessments of the deal and surrounding context. I agree with your take here on Ingles. And TC’s apparent insistence on getting Donte in the KAT deal suggests he has a similar take on Ingles. Unlike Ingles, Donte can come off the bench for three-point scoring punch but also defend. Ingles will be entertaining, but I’m not sure we’re see a lot of him on the court and I can see TSJ ultimately being ahead of Ingles off the bench.

[kekgeek]

I’ve been seeing things Randle might not be ready to start the year. If that the case Garza and Miller better be ready to step up

[kekgeek]

The combo of Randle and Mitchell has had really good offensive numbers last 2 years (equivalent to the 2nd and 11th best offense in the NBA), so I think the Randle and Gobert spacing situation is greatly overblown