Camden wrote:I guess I'm not following why Hield's age is a reason not to make that trade. The Wolves are in win-now mode whether we like it or not. Yes, they need to be developing more talent, but they also need to be racking up wins and making the playoffs as early as next year. They have even more incentive to win given that Golden State owns their 2021 first-round pick and obviously the more wins Minnesota accumulates the lower that pick will be. They also have a potentially unhappy All-NBA player that might want out -- if you buy into Darren Wolfson's game of telephone rumor. Winning can cure all, so to speak. The Wolves should be making a concerted effort to be the best team they can be in the present.
Let's also talk about Hield's age. He's 27 and turns 28 in December this year. Hield is younger than C.J. McCollum, Kyrie Irving, Victor Oladipo, Kawhi Leonard, and Rudy Gobert -- all of which are considered to be either in their primes or entering their primes. Most fans and followers of the NBA still consider their best basketball ahead of them. Hield is also approximately just six months older than trade rumor darling Bradley Beal. This board would welcome a trade for any of those players and wouldn't think twice about their ages. So, really, the discussion should be about what caliber of player Hield is, does he fit with our main pieces, is he obtainable, and what would it take to acquire him. His age is a non-factor in determining whether or not he should be a target.
I can't speak for others, but my hesitation isn't related to Buddy's age. He's only 3 years older than KAT and DLO, so he fits their trajectory. I raised the age issue only in relation to Malik Beasley because I see the two as mutually exclusive - i.e., Beasley won't want to-resign here if we trade for Buddy. I see the 23-year-old Beasley having substantial upside, including the potential to become a good defender whereas Buddy is likely to remain a poor defender given his age. I recognize that Buddy is an elite perimeter shooter. My problem is that adding Buddy means adding a poor defender along-side another poor defender in our backcourt. One of the keys to Golden State's success is that fact that Klay Thompson is both an elite shooter AND an elite defender. Having two bad defenders as our starting backcourt is a prescription for failure over the long haul and that's true even if we can pair KAT with a defensive big, which itself is unlikely. Even worse is that we'd be giving up one of our two young defensive wings (Culver or Okogie) and our one defensive front-court player, James Johnson, to get him. We'd also be giving up our #17 pick. In my view, that's too high a price to pay for another poor defensive starting guard alongside DLO.
I recognize that Beasley is also a poor defender. But at his age with his gritty attitude and toughness, I see him at least having the potential to become good on that end of the floor. Moreover, we don't have to give up any additional assets to get him. By the way, I'm not part of any Beasley hype. I'm projecting who I think he can be based on what he did in college, what he's done so far in the NBA and what I see when I watch him play. He had one year of college and put up better numbers than Buddy did in his freshman year. In fact, Beasley's freshman stats were nearly identical to Buddy's sophomore stats. Beasley has been a high-percentage 3-point shooter his entire NBA career thus far, albeit on limited attempts. And while I'm not relying exclusively on his 14 games with the Wolves, I'm not going to ignore those games either since they provide the most recent record of his NBA production. I understand that Beasley might not end up as good as Buddy. But there's enough evidence to suggest he could end up as good on the offensive end and he's young enough to have the potential to develop into a good defender. Importantly, we don't have to give up valuable assets to get him.
Trading for Hield would not be a dumb move like so many past moves by the Wolves organization. It's just a move I wouldn't make.
