Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

MikeAz wrote:Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

Man, we're getting pretty desperate. We are so, so thin on the wing. I consider Jamal Crawford a liability at this point in his career. Yet he is our #1 backup wing and would have to step in as a starter if either Butler or Wiggins went down! Not good!

That's a huge concern going into this season. I'm also not sold on Crawford, and in no way is he a starter on a playoff team. I was pleased that Anthony Morrow was in town yesterday for a workout, and hope we can work out a deal for him that will give us a little more SG depth.

As you know, I've been worried about our bench at the wing position ever since we used the rest of our cap space on Taj and then used our one cap exception to sign Crawford. We have no one (except maybe Belly if he's healthy) who can come off the bench and play effectively at the SF position. Crawford can give some offensive punch in limited minutes at the SG position, but he can't be relied upon to start at that spot if Butler goes down and he can't be relied on for extended minutes off the bench at this point in his career. When I asked Thibs about our lack of depth at the wing position, he quickly mentioned that Crawford was 6th man of the year. Of course, that was 2 years ago. He's now 37 years old and history shows that every season beyond age 35 is a crap shoot for NBA players.

It comes down to Thibs and Layden overpaying for both Taj and Jamaal. As a result, we couldn't sign CJ Miles or retain Bazz. Now Bazz and Gerald Green seem to be the only SFs left who might be willing to sign with us for the vet minimum, but it looks like Bazz probably won't. We didn't bring Green in so it appears our front office isn't intersted in him. I'd like to see us sign Morrow for more wing depth and 3-point shooting. But I just cringe at the thought of who would start at either wing position if either Butler or Wiggins missed a stretch of games due to injury. I think we can make it work if Belly comes back 100% from his foot injury, but he was wearing a boot just a couple months ago and foot injuries are somewhat dicey. If he's healthy, I think he can fill in failure effectively as a wing starter in the even Butler or Wiggins goes down.

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

MikeAz wrote:Kirk Hinrich anybody?

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/905884304374460417

Man, we're getting pretty desperate. We are so, so thin on the wing. I consider Jamal Crawford a liability at this point in his career. Yet he is our #1 backup wing and would have to step in as a starter if either Butler or Wiggins went down! Not good!

That's a huge concern going into this season. I'm also not sold on Crawford, and in no way is he a starter on a playoff team. I was pleased that Anthony Morrow was in town yesterday for a workout, and hope we can work out a deal for him that will give us a little more SG depth.

As you know, I've been worried about our bench at the wing position ever since we used the rest of our cap space on Taj and then used our one cap exception to sign Crawford. We have no one (except maybe Belly if he's healthy) who can come off the bench and play effectively at the SF position. Crawford can give some offensive punch in limited minutes at the SG position, but he can't be relied upon to start at that spot if Butler goes down and he can't be relied on for extended minutes off the bench at this point in his career. When I asked Thibs about our lack of depth at the wing position, he quickly mentioned that Crawford was 6th man of the year. Of course, that was 2 years ago. He's now 37 years old and history shows that every season beyond age 35 is a crap shoot for NBA players.

It comes down to Thibs and Layden overpaying for both Taj and Jamaal. As a result, we couldn't sign CJ Miles or retain Bazz. Now Bazz and Gerald Green seem to be the only SFs left who might be willing to sign with us for the vet minimum, but it looks like Bazz probably won't. We didn't bring Green in so it appears our front office isn't intersted in him. I'd like to see us sign Morrow for more wing depth and 3-point shooting. But I just cringe at the thought of who would start at either wing position if either Butler or Wiggins missed a stretch of games due to injury. I think we can make it work if Belly comes back 100% from his foot injury, but he was wearing a boot just a couple months ago and foot injuries are somewhat dicey. If he's healthy, I think he can fill in failure effectively as a wing starter in the even Butler or Wiggins goes down.

Wolfson has reported that the Wolves have interest in Green and told someone this week not to rule him out. There are still guys that can provide depth at SF including these guys not mentioned in you post.

Matt Barnes
Dunlevey
Alan Anderson
Derrick williams
Brandon Rush

Let's also remember it looks like there are 7 teams that have an open spot for a 15th player (a couple have 13) right now. We know some of those teams won't add another player. So the spots that are open are few. Most teams are pretty set.

In addition Wiggins can easily slip over and play SF as a defender. It may not be ideal but it's not like he can't do it for a few games.

The Wolves are still in a good position to get some worthwhile players and probably at least one player most of use would have been willing to spend a few million on a couple months ago. In addition there will be some guys cut and or buyouts.

We're bringing back caged lion?

thedoper wrote:We're bringing back caged lion?

Lol. I guess we could do worse. :)

lipoli390 wrote:

thedoper wrote:We're bringing back caged lion?

Lol. I guess we could do worse. :)

I'm pretty sure this is his candy bar

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I still want us to re-sign Bazz for a number of reasons: (1) He's a scorer who can give us scoring punch off the bench and he's also a good rebounder unlike a lot of scorers in the league; (2) He's a natural SF unlike any other bench player currently on our roster; (3) He's improved his defense to the point where he's become a legitimate 2-way player who can be effective as a starter for a stretch of games if necessary; (4) He's young, which means he's body's likely to hold up and he stil has upside for improvement; and (5) Our bird rights on Bazz would allow us to keep him beyond this year without having to use any of our MLE, which could then be used on another player or two. Alas, it appears Bazz will likely go elsewhere.

So what now? Here's my list of the free agents I'd consider if up to me:'

1. Dante Cunningham - Can play PF & SF. Good defender who seems to have developed a 3-point shot to stretch the floor. Good teammate. Not yet on downside of career at age 30.

2. Anthony Morrow - A true 3-point marksman and the the best 3-point shooter left. At age 32, he's not yet in that post 35 danger zone that I think we should avoid.

3. Gerald Green - The best true SF left. He's also a pretty good 3-point shooter with the athleticism to run.

4. Isaiah Canaan - Good 3-point shooter and also good pentrator. Tough and pretty good defender. Still young with some upside at age 26.

5. Aaron Brooks -- Vet PG and good 3-point shooter

6. Thomas Robinson - Excellent rebounder and high energy player.

I really want Shabazz back too.

Give me Shabazz, Canaan, and Cunningham.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I really want Shabazz back too.

Give me Shabazz, Canaan, and Cunningham.

Well...

https://twitter.com/dwolfsonkstp/status/907272962046341120

"FA Marcus Thornton among a few players working out for #Twolves today, I hear. Also: buzz on slightly growing optimism on retaining Shabazz."

I spent a bit of time doing a bit of rea search about Canaan yesterday. A couple thoughts.

It seems he is actually a defensive player or somewhere around average or at least not a liability. I really wasn't aware of that part of his game so credit to Lip for bringing it up.

Before last year he basically took a massive number of 3's and kinda struggled percentagewise from everywhere else (didn't take many other shots in general) which led to his pathetic looking FG%. Last year for the Bulls he oddly took more 2's shot better on them in general and really struggled from 3. My guess is he is more of the 3 point shooter he was before and if he is sort of a 3 and D PG who can get hot and maybe even win you a game or 2 I'll take it.

He isn't really a PG other than bring the ball up and probably make the right pass moving the ball. That's ok we don't exactly need a ball dominate guy. Looking at 82games he played a lot with another PG when he was with the Sixers playing with Ish Smith or TJ McConnell.

Supposedly Butler and Gibson have put in a good word to Thibs about him. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in that but from those 2 guys it seems like a worthwhile endorsement to mention.

A thread discussing the merits of Canaan and Thomas Robinson really makes me long for the return of the NBA season...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:A thread discussing the merits of Canaan and Thomas Robinson really makes me long for the return of the NBA season...

Amen, let's get this shit started. Can't wait to see Butler and Towns on the floor together!