Minnesota Sports Forum

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:24 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:05 pm

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 7:04 pm

Do you really believe that both Randle and Rudy are on tradable contracts without having to sweeten the deals. We have Jaden, Ant and Naz under deals, but who else? We don't have any significant room to sign a FA other than on the mle and that might be next to nothing if they re-sign Ayo (which will likely be another overpaid deal with a player option).

Joan Beringer and Terrence Shannon, Jr. are on reasonable deals so you forgot about them.

Joan couldn't even get on the court under Finch, and Shannon didn't exactly light it up either.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:54 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:50 pm

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:25 pm

I would say easiest, but the only stat that matters in the end!

That includes playoff wins too, right?

Those don't matter

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 7:04 pm

guest81 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 6:55 pm

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 6:46 pm

You want to look at stats like on/off whereas I look at wins/losses. 46 before Connelly, and now 49 four years later with older talent, almost no draft picks for future building, and in cap hell.

Before we lose ANt in the not too distant future, how about trying him in a different system with a different coaching staff. I wouldn't even mind bringing back the same talent. I was looking back at Utah and I wondered why Quin Snyder left the Jazz with two years left on his deal. Who does that? Did he come to the realization that he could not make it work with Rudy and Mitchell? Was he not on the same page as the front office?

They have all their young players under deals. They're under the second apron. They have no bad contracts. How are they in cap hell?

Do you really believe that both Randle and Rudy are on tradable contracts without having to sweeten the deals. We have Jaden, Ant and Naz under deals, but who else? We don't have any significant room to sign a FA other than on the mle and that might be next to nothing if they re-sign Ayo (which will likely be another overpaid deal with a player option).

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 10:00 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:54 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:50 pm

That includes playoff wins too, right?

Those don't matter

Only the last one.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:54 pm

mjs34 wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:24 pm

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2026 9:05 pm

Joan Beringer and Terrence Shannon, Jr. are on reasonable deals so you forgot about them.

Joan couldn't even get on the court under Finch, and Shannon didn't exactly light it up either.

The point on Joan is that he is on a rookie deal and considered a fairly high-potential big man. He's a positive, young asset under team control. Yet just like Finch, you've ignored him!

kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 10:31 am I do this about once a year about the 2021-22 Minnesota Timberwolves because people use their wins in the regular season as a reason why the Rudy trade was bad. People love to romanticize that roster, so lets look at it.

Starters:
Dlo- Had his last productive season of his career (Shocker under finch), almost out of the league currently.
Ant- Still a top 10 player in the leauge
Jaden- Still on roster doing well
Jared Vanderbilt- Out of the late series playoff rotation for the Lakers (Shocker put up career highs on his last year under Chris Finch)
Kat- Still a top 25 player in the league but for the knicks

Bench:
Naz- Still on roster and is good
Beasley- After having 3 terrible stints with teams he refound his Chris Finch form with the pistons before off court issues have him out of the league
Pat Bev- Last productive year in the league under Chris Finch. Out of the leauge
Bolmaro- Not an NBA player
Nate Knight- Not an Nba Player
Jake Layman- Out of the NBA
Jordan Mclaughlin- Had his best years under finch, now the last guy on the spurs roster
Greg Monroe- Out of the league
Jaylen Nowell- Best year under finch, out of the league
Taurean Prince- Average off the bench on a bad Bucks team
Josh Okogie- Role player for the Rockets
Chris Silva- Out of the leauge
Mckinley Wright- Out of the league


So of that amazing 21-22 roster, 18 players under contract during that season at some point
3 Players are still on the wolves and all considered core pieces to the Wolves
9 Players are currently out for the league
6 Players currently on other teams, but only 2 in a playoff rotation and Kat is the only above average player at all.

So shocker that team that made the playoffs in that romanticize year, Chris Finch got the max out of the team of players who 13 of the 15 are either out of the league or not in a playoff rotation in games that matter. So mad we gave up on that future.. woooo.


Another common thing is that we are in cap hell because of the Rudy trade. This is what the cap would look like if we stayed still and didnt do the Rudy trade.

Dlo: 6 Million
Ant: 49 Million
Jaden: 26 Million
Vando: 12 Million
Kat-: 57 Million
Naz: 23 million
Okogie-: 3 Million
Kessler: Currently 14 million cap hold, is a RFA and is in one of the more interesting contract situations in the league for a guy who has been ok but hurt a lot.
George: 6.5 Million
Clayton Jr: 4 million

So a total of 205.5 million approximately (Not including the pay jump Kessler will get this off season). Wolves current roster is 192 million going into this next season, or 206 if you include Ayo cap hold. So shocker the wolves would be in a similar cap situation if they didn't do the Rudy trade and let it run its course with a team where 13 of the 18 players are out of the league or out of playoff rotations.

Im SOOOOO PISSED that we didn't run it back because who wouldn't like a worse team in a similar salary cap situation. We just 2 more 1sts. What was Tim Connelly thinking!!!!

Welp you are all welcome for the annual breakdown of what contracts actually look like instead of hindsight grass is always greener because we didn't win a championship with Rudy. The argument is always the wolves lost trade flexibility with the Rudy trade and I can hear that argument, you just tell me the player that made the wolves more of a contender then Rudy the last couple of years that would of been realistic. Because like I outlined Chris Finch the guy who can't coach, put the majority of the players on 21-22 year having the best years of their careers and their value plummeted when they left him.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 10:57 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 10:31 am I do this about once a year about the 2021-22 Minnesota Timberwolves because people use their wins in the regular season as a reason why the Rudy trade was bad. People love to romanticize that roster, so lets look at it.

Starters:
Dlo- Had his last productive season of his career (Shocker under finch), almost out of the league currently.
Ant- Still a top 10 player in the leauge
Jaden- Still on roster doing well
Jared Vanderbilt- Out of the late series playoff rotation for the Lakers (Shocker put up career highs on his last year under Chris Finch)
Kat- Still a top 25 player in the league but for the knicks

Bench:
Naz- Still on roster and is good
Beasley- After having 3 terrible stints with teams he refound his Chris Finch form with the pistons before off court issues have him out of the league
Pat Bev- Last productive year in the league under Chris Finch. Out of the leauge
Bolmaro- Not an NBA player
Nate Knight- Not an Nba Player
Jake Layman- Out of the NBA
Jordan Mclaughlin- Had his best years under finch, now the last guy on the spurs roster
Greg Monroe- Out of the league
Jaylen Nowell- Best year under finch, out of the league
Taurean Prince- Average off the bench on a bad Bucks team
Josh Okogie- Role player for the Rockets
Chris Silva- Out of the leauge
Mckinley Wright- Out of the league


So of that amazing 21-22 roster, 18 players under contract during that season at some point
3 Players are still on the wolves and all considered core pieces to the Wolves
9 Players are currently out for the league
6 Players currently on other teams, but only 2 in a playoff rotation and Kat is the only above average player at all.

So shocker that team that made the playoffs in that romanticize year, Chris Finch got the max out of the team of players who 13 of the 15 are either out of the league or not in a playoff rotation in games that matter. So mad we gave up on that future.. woooo.


Another common thing is that we are in cap hell because of the Rudy trade. This is what the cap would look like if we stayed still and didnt do the Rudy trade.

Dlo: 6 Million
Ant: 49 Million
Jaden: 26 Million
Vando: 12 Million
Kat-: 57 Million
Naz: 23 million
Okogie-: 3 Million
Kessler: Currently 14 million cap hold, is a RFA and is in one of the more interesting contract situations in the league for a guy who has been ok but hurt a lot.
George: 6.5 Million
Clayton Jr: 4 million

So a total of 205.5 million approximately (Not including the pay jump Kessler will get this off season). Wolves current roster is 192 million going into this next season, or 206 if you include Ayo cap hold. So shocker the wolves would be in a similar cap situation if they didn't do the Rudy trade and let it run its course with a team where 13 of the 18 players are out of the league or out of playoff rotations.

Im SOOOOO PISSED that we didn't run it back because who wouldn't like a worse team in a similar salary cap situation. We just 2 more 1sts. What was Tim Connelly thinking!!!!

Welp you are all welcome for the annual breakdown of what contracts actually look like instead of hindsight grass is always greener because we didn't win a championship with Rudy. The argument is always the wolves lost trade flexibility with the Rudy trade and I can hear that argument, you just tell me the player that made the wolves more of a contender then Rudy the last couple of years that would of been realistic. Because like I outlined Chris Finch the guy who can't coach, put the majority of the players on 21-22 year having the best years of their careers and their value plummeted when they left him.

Ha, good stuff Kek! I documented a number of times how "fools goldish" that season was...I doubt that a team has ever had so much good fortune with opponent's stars being out. I periodically posted the number of wins we had against teams not missing a key starter...not sure we ever got to 5! So it was inevitable we were going to have a quick exit in the playoffs playing a Memphis team at full strength. All those wins that season were fun, but it was painfully clear our squad was going nowhere without a major shakeup. Enter TC, and just a few short years later we have 5 playoff series wins under our belt. Who knows what the future holds for our guys, but TC (and Finchy) has given us three terrific seasons.

FNG wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 10:57 am

kekgeek wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 10:31 am I do this about once a year about the 2021-22 Minnesota Timberwolves because people use their wins in the regular season as a reason why the Rudy trade was bad. People love to romanticize that roster, so lets look at it.

Starters:
Dlo- Had his last productive season of his career (Shocker under finch), almost out of the league currently.
Ant- Still a top 10 player in the leauge
Jaden- Still on roster doing well
Jared Vanderbilt- Out of the late series playoff rotation for the Lakers (Shocker put up career highs on his last year under Chris Finch)
Kat- Still a top 25 player in the league but for the knicks

Bench:
Naz- Still on roster and is good
Beasley- After having 3 terrible stints with teams he refound his Chris Finch form with the pistons before off court issues have him out of the league
Pat Bev- Last productive year in the league under Chris Finch. Out of the leauge
Bolmaro- Not an NBA player
Nate Knight- Not an Nba Player
Jake Layman- Out of the NBA
Jordan Mclaughlin- Had his best years under finch, now the last guy on the spurs roster
Greg Monroe- Out of the league
Jaylen Nowell- Best year under finch, out of the league
Taurean Prince- Average off the bench on a bad Bucks team
Josh Okogie- Role player for the Rockets
Chris Silva- Out of the leauge
Mckinley Wright- Out of the league


So of that amazing 21-22 roster, 18 players under contract during that season at some point
3 Players are still on the wolves and all considered core pieces to the Wolves
9 Players are currently out for the league
6 Players currently on other teams, but only 2 in a playoff rotation and Kat is the only above average player at all.

So shocker that team that made the playoffs in that romanticize year, Chris Finch got the max out of the team of players who 13 of the 15 are either out of the league or not in a playoff rotation in games that matter. So mad we gave up on that future.. woooo.


Another common thing is that we are in cap hell because of the Rudy trade. This is what the cap would look like if we stayed still and didnt do the Rudy trade.

Dlo: 6 Million
Ant: 49 Million
Jaden: 26 Million
Vando: 12 Million
Kat-: 57 Million
Naz: 23 million
Okogie-: 3 Million
Kessler: Currently 14 million cap hold, is a RFA and is in one of the more interesting contract situations in the league for a guy who has been ok but hurt a lot.
George: 6.5 Million
Clayton Jr: 4 million

So a total of 205.5 million approximately (Not including the pay jump Kessler will get this off season). Wolves current roster is 192 million going into this next season, or 206 if you include Ayo cap hold. So shocker the wolves would be in a similar cap situation if they didn't do the Rudy trade and let it run its course with a team where 13 of the 18 players are out of the league or out of playoff rotations.

Im SOOOOO PISSED that we didn't run it back because who wouldn't like a worse team in a similar salary cap situation. We just 2 more 1sts. What was Tim Connelly thinking!!!!

Welp you are all welcome for the annual breakdown of what contracts actually look like instead of hindsight grass is always greener because we didn't win a championship with Rudy. The argument is always the wolves lost trade flexibility with the Rudy trade and I can hear that argument, you just tell me the player that made the wolves more of a contender then Rudy the last couple of years that would of been realistic. Because like I outlined Chris Finch the guy who can't coach, put the majority of the players on 21-22 year having the best years of their careers and their value plummeted when they left him.

Ha, good stuff Kek! I documented a number of times how "fools goldish" that season was...I doubt that a team has ever had so much good fortune with opponent's stars being out. I periodically posted the number of wins we had against teams not missing a key starter...not sure we ever got to 5! So it was inevitable we were going to have a quick exit in the playoffs playing a Memphis team at full strength. All those wins that season were fun, but it was painfully clear our squad was going nowhere without a major shakeup. Enter TC, and just a few short years later we have 5 playoff series wins under our belt. Who knows what the future holds for our guys, but TC (and Finchy) has given us three terrific seasons.