Importance of Wolves Young Players

[Lipoli390]

Monster - I knew we were up there in pace last season. But we played pretty small with Ant, Beverly and Vando or McDaniels. Replacing Vando with Gobert fundamentally changes the equation in my view.

I agree with Cool that our best bet will be to bludgeon teams in the half court. One thing that actually excites me is the DLO/Gobert pick-and-roll combo. Playing fast against the many smaller/faster teams doesn't seem optimal given the makeup if this team.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I saw on social media Moore had signed his deal.

Lip I agree that young players have increased in importance. I would even include Nate Knight in this conversation. Naz Reid is on an expiring contract and I'm not exactly sure there is a reasonable path to him being resigned. Back to Knight let's say he becomes a guy that is a solid dirt cheap bench player. I see him as a guy that could end up filling Reid's spot. Those guys have value when you are filling out a roster. McLaughlin has arisen to become the backup PG here on a similar path. Like you said this offseason the Wolves likely will have at least 1 more opportunity to add to the roster a younger player. It should be worth noting that the Wolves are still a pretty young team.

One of the things the Wolves can do to continue adding younger players to the roster is...adding/keeping younger players to the roster. Yes that's obvious but it will be potentially easier to do that when they don't have those pesky 1st round picks (some years 2nd round picks) taking up a roster spot. :) Roster spots have value and while I certainly would rather have a 1st round pick having a roster spot to have a player instead has some value also. It doesn't always need to be a young player either.

Somewhat like Vanderbilt last offseason...I'll breathe a sign of relief when Nowell gets signed to some sort of long term deal here. I hope we don't screw this up like Dallas did with Brunson. I few less certain about Nowell resigning than I did about Vanderbilt. I also think Nowell's upside is higher.

If I were TC and Finch I would have locked down Nowell before the Gobert trade, if possible. With an increased role he's going to be scoring 15 points per game. He could even knock DLO out of the lineup finishing games too when DLO is off (which was too often last season).

I saw enough from Nowell last season to know he is an offensive machine. The question I have a little bit is his defense, but guys will get paid when they are effective on offense.

I don't see a scenario where we keep DLO, Nowell, Ant and Jaden plus max contracts to Gobert and KAT. You could end up being WAY over the Lux tax in 3-4 years.

My first priority this off-season would have been to resign Nowell. I would think he'd be agreeable to a 4/50 deal. I think he's already better than Dlo and most importantly this would have given us tons of leverage with Dlo also. I think Nowell can definitely start next to Ant. I don't think he's as good as Brunson, but who knows if he gets there this year. I don't care about Naz, but I think it's a mistake if they don't get nowell locked up here this offseason.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I don't think there's any chance Minnesota allows D'Angelo Russell to simply walk in free agency at this point given how they're set up over the next several years. They'd be giving up not only a good player but a significant salary slot with no way to replace either. The latter part is more important if you believe the Timberwolves need to upgrade from him or trade for a better player at another position. You will need salary to match. It's either extend him or trade him at this point.

Yeah, absolutely cannot let him walk now. Waiting til the deadline brings potential chemistry issues too.

I think 4/80 - 90 is fair on both sides, 4/100 I can live with, but he knows he has extra leverage now, more per is likely.

I'd prefer to find a taker this offseason for those reasons.

But that has it's own added issues - we have no backup plan at PG that is anywhere near the talent, other teams know that too. No firsts to work with, or any talent to spare. That was one of my main gripes about jumping the Gobert trade before extending our players who can walk.

No chance he gets 4 years.

Then, his price probably goes up quite a bit.

If we know the Wolves are hamstrung a bit at the position... his handlers definitely know it.

Other things that will impact the hefty price tag...

1) The Wolves success. They could/should win 50+ games.
2) Russell's impact. He should be a key cog in the machine (contract year), even if not ideally for many of us.
3) The NBA is going to sign a crazy huge new tv deal. More money will be available. A lot more money. Billions more. Salaries will get even crazier.
4) He's making $31M now... and if #1 and #2 and #3 happen... there's NO WAY he's taking less than $30M per year. In fact, he probably won't settle for any type of salary decrease. Why should he? Will the Wolves really let him walk and start over with a new PG on the cheap while trying to win a title.

[Note: Yikes. It makes me squeamish to think about D. Russell on this team long-term with a salary closer to $40M... which is about double what I would want to pay him.]

Good post, but I'm not sure we're really hamstrung at the position. How hard is it to find an average starting point guard? I think he's replaceable at less money. We're not going to play with as much pace now, and that may allow Ant to become the de facto point guard. Should be interesting.

You make a good point, Cool. I think how much will need to spend on a PG will depend significantly on the development of Ant. Michael Jordan was the Bulls' de facto PG, which allowed the Bulls to win championships with John Paxon and Steve Kerr as their starting PGs.

Interesting that you believe the Wolves won't play with much pace. The roster seems to support your view. DLO, Gobert and KAT are not face-pace players to say the least. Yet I watched Finch say a couple days ago that the Wolves will still plan fast. It makes no sense to me. You don't play fast with DLO running the offense at the point.

That is interesting. I would think it would be in our best interest now to control tempo and bludgeon teams in the half court. We definitely don't want teams running at us, we want to make them have to set up and play against our half court defense which should be tremendous.

Lip I'm not sure if you know this but the wolves were #1 in pace last year and a guy named Russell was the starting PG. :) #2 in pace was Memphis and they started Stephen Adam's and JJJ. They were also a good defensive team.

How hard is it to find an average starting PG? Tyus Jones got 14 million a year to be a backup. If it was that easy to find a starting PG in the first place the Wolves wouldn't have been looking for one like they have been for a while. If only David Kahn were here to draft all of them for us. Lol Russell isn't the only path to find one but there is a legit challenge in getting one if you can't have much space to get one in FA.

While I agree with Cool that a 4 year deal is unlikely I think Abe makes a bit of a case for why it may make sense IF Russell takes a relatively nice payday for a 4 year deal that's based on what a guy like Brunson got and I think Russell might actually be open to that. Some people think that's too much and I get that (don't totally disagree) but like Abe laid out Russell has some leverage and salaries are gonna go up. The Wolves could sign Russell and start high and have it go down. IF Russell plays reasonably well and stays healthy his contract could be maybe even somewhat of a value contract...which would be good for the Wolves and maybe even in a trade. People said Rubio was a flawed and overpaid player on 2 of his contracts and both times he was traded for value by the Wolves. The Wolves could also add in some incentives to make the initial salary number look better and maybe that last year is only partially guaranteed like the Bucks did with Bledsoe or it has creative guarantees based on criteria like Horford's deal.

Personally I kinda like the 2 year extension idea someone (sorry I forget who!) suggested over the weekend. I'm risk adverse and Russell has injury history that worries me. If it wasn't for that a 4 year deal would be much more appealing to me. First the Wolves and Russell need to see how this is gonna work but an in season or after season extension if it does work is what I would expect. 4 years? Probably not but 3 years with 4th year guaranteed for 5 million or something? Maybe. What is Bledsoe gonna get paid this season with his guaranteed money and a new contract? Probably not anything near what a starter would be. Russell and his reps are gonna be weighing some of that risk that he could end up the next Schroeder/Teague/Bledsoe guys that aren't gonna be getting paid money past 30.

Leading in pace doesn't necessarily mean that you run the most, it can also mean that you take a lot of quick shots right away once you get into your half court offense.

[Monster]

Monster - I knew we were up there in pace last season. But we played pretty small with Ant, Beverly and Vando or McDaniels. Replacing Vando with Gobert fundamentally changes the equation in my view.

I agree with Cool that our best bet will be to bludgeon teams in the half court. One thing that actually excites me is the DLO/Gobert pick-and-roll combo. Playing fast against the many smaller/faster teams doesn't seem optimal given the makeup if this team.

Gobert getting up the court quickly for dunks sounds exciting also.

[Monster]

I don't think there's any chance Minnesota allows D'Angelo Russell to simply walk in free agency at this point given how they're set up over the next several years. They'd be giving up not only a good player but a significant salary slot with no way to replace either. The latter part is more important if you believe the Timberwolves need to upgrade from him or trade for a better player at another position. You will need salary to match. It's either extend him or trade him at this point.

Yeah, absolutely cannot let him walk now. Waiting til the deadline brings potential chemistry issues too.

I think 4/80 - 90 is fair on both sides, 4/100 I can live with, but he knows he has extra leverage now, more per is likely.

I'd prefer to find a taker this offseason for those reasons.

But that has it's own added issues - we have no backup plan at PG that is anywhere near the talent, other teams know that too. No firsts to work with, or any talent to spare. That was one of my main gripes about jumping the Gobert trade before extending our players who can walk.

No chance he gets 4 years.

Then, his price probably goes up quite a bit.

If we know the Wolves are hamstrung a bit at the position... his handlers definitely know it.

Other things that will impact the hefty price tag...

1) The Wolves success. They could/should win 50+ games.
2) Russell's impact. He should be a key cog in the machine (contract year), even if not ideally for many of us.
3) The NBA is going to sign a crazy huge new tv deal. More money will be available. A lot more money. Billions more. Salaries will get even crazier.
4) He's making $31M now... and if #1 and #2 and #3 happen... there's NO WAY he's taking less than $30M per year. In fact, he probably won't settle for any type of salary decrease. Why should he? Will the Wolves really let him walk and start over with a new PG on the cheap while trying to win a title.

[Note: Yikes. It makes me squeamish to think about D. Russell on this team long-term with a salary closer to $40M... which is about double what I would want to pay him.]

Good post, but I'm not sure we're really hamstrung at the position. How hard is it to find an average starting point guard? I think he's replaceable at less money. We're not going to play with as much pace now, and that may allow Ant to become the de facto point guard. Should be interesting.

You make a good point, Cool. I think how much will need to spend on a PG will depend significantly on the development of Ant. Michael Jordan was the Bulls' de facto PG, which allowed the Bulls to win championships with John Paxon and Steve Kerr as their starting PGs.

Interesting that you believe the Wolves won't play with much pace. The roster seems to support your view. DLO, Gobert and KAT are not face-pace players to say the least. Yet I watched Finch say a couple days ago that the Wolves will still plan fast. It makes no sense to me. You don't play fast with DLO running the offense at the point.

That is interesting. I would think it would be in our best interest now to control tempo and bludgeon teams in the half court. We definitely don't want teams running at us, we want to make them have to set up and play against our half court defense which should be tremendous.

Lip I'm not sure if you know this but the wolves were #1 in pace last year and a guy named Russell was the starting PG. :) #2 in pace was Memphis and they started Stephen Adam's and JJJ. They were also a good defensive team.

How hard is it to find an average starting PG? Tyus Jones got 14 million a year to be a backup. If it was that easy to find a starting PG in the first place the Wolves wouldn't have been looking for one like they have been for a while. If only David Kahn were here to draft all of them for us. Lol Russell isn't the only path to find one but there is a legit challenge in getting one if you can't have much space to get one in FA.

While I agree with Cool that a 4 year deal is unlikely I think Abe makes a bit of a case for why it may make sense IF Russell takes a relatively nice payday for a 4 year deal that's based on what a guy like Brunson got and I think Russell might actually be open to that. Some people think that's too much and I get that (don't totally disagree) but like Abe laid out Russell has some leverage and salaries are gonna go up. The Wolves could sign Russell and start high and have it go down. IF Russell plays reasonably well and stays healthy his contract could be maybe even somewhat of a value contract...which would be good for the Wolves and maybe even in a trade. People said Rubio was a flawed and overpaid player on 2 of his contracts and both times he was traded for value by the Wolves. The Wolves could also add in some incentives to make the initial salary number look better and maybe that last year is only partially guaranteed like the Bucks did with Bledsoe or it has creative guarantees based on criteria like Horford's deal.

Personally I kinda like the 2 year extension idea someone (sorry I forget who!) suggested over the weekend. I'm risk adverse and Russell has injury history that worries me. If it wasn't for that a 4 year deal would be much more appealing to me. First the Wolves and Russell need to see how this is gonna work but an in season or after season extension if it does work is what I would expect. 4 years? Probably not but 3 years with 4th year guaranteed for 5 million or something? Maybe. What is Bledsoe gonna get paid this season with his guaranteed money and a new contract? Probably not anything near what a starter would be. Russell and his reps are gonna be weighing some of that risk that he could end up the next Schroeder/Teague/Bledsoe guys that aren't gonna be getting paid money past 30.

Leading in pace doesn't necessarily mean that you run the most, it can also mean that you take a lot of quick shots right away once you get into your half court offense.

Sure. Do you think the Wolves or Memphis played slow last year?