Minnesota Sports Forum

Something to ponder. What if all we did was the DLO and Dieng trade?

C - KAT
PF - James Johnson
SF - Covington
SG - Okogie
PG - Russell

I know there is a lot of excitement about Beasley, but that lineup right there is a really nice combination of defense, shooting, ball handling, and toughness.

Q12543 wrote:Something to ponder. What if all we did was the DLO and Dieng trade?

C - KAT
PF - James Johnson
SF - Covington
SG - Okogie
PG - Russell

I know there is a lot of excitement about Beasley, but that lineup right there is a really nice combination of defense, shooting, ball handling, and toughness.

If they would play Johnson and KAT together.

Q12543 wrote:Something to ponder. What if all we did was the DLO and Dieng trade?

C - KAT
PF - James Johnson
SF - Covington
SG - Okogie
PG - Russell

I know there is a lot of excitement about Beasley, but that lineup right there is a really nice combination of defense, shooting, ball handling, and toughness.

I'll take Beasley over Covington for the following reasons: First, Beasley gives us both 3-point shooting and other offensive skills, including ballhandling and dribble penetration, that Covington doesn't provide. Second Beasley is 24 years old while Covington is 29, which means that Beasley matches up much better than Covington with KAT and with the organization's goal of building a sustainable championship contending team. Third, we also received what will likely be the 16th or 17's pick in next June's draft. Beasley looks like a good defender as well. My concern is whether we can sign Beasley to a reasonable deal that' similar to the one Covington has.

I think Covington was off this year. Something about the way he was moving wasnt right. I think it was smart to move on. Like Beasley's attitude a lot and with the RFA I think we will retain him for a decent price.

Coaching Staff: Due to age, how liked he was by the core of the team and his relationship with the franchise Ryan Saunders was an easy hire as head coach. I think he was viewed as a coach that can be influenced and grow with a young team. The assistants may be more qualified or even better suited for the role but giving Ryan a chance was a logical first option.

Draft: I think moving up by trading a player I had no interest in keeping was great. Jarrett Culver provides a potential two way player that if everything hit could be really nice player. He's young, viewed as hard working and carries one of the lowest off court drama / concern profiles I can remember. I think people are worried he won't be a system fit, and that he can't shoot. I think he'll get better! Nowell in the 2nd round was a spark plug off the bench, scoring potential combo guard that for the investment cost made sense.

Free Agency and Trades: Rosas avoided all mistake contracts which is huge! One Mark Blount, Dieng or name your overpriced dud kills a team like MN. He obtained guys on cheap deals getting guys borderline free (Nets players, Layman) and dangled opportunity at potential fits like J. Bell and Vonleh, yet gave no long term promises with out seeing the fit first. Evaluation of Un-drafted talent and the deals he got them for display a knack for uncovering cheap talent. He can pitch to future FA's that he will try and get them to contending teams or desirable destinations if things don't work out (Teague, Covington, Wiggins, Vonleh, Bell, Napier).

Beasley's age and athletic ability was an upside play, and the draft pick is another asset for future trades or talent via the draft. Hernangomez wasn't playing a lot for DEN but is a PF that can space and switch on D. James Johnson brings toughness and can space and switch on D, in addition to some point forward skills and being an active cutter. Spielman is the new big O, but can actually shoot well and has sneaky athleticism

Wow, it didn't post my full post?
Basically went on saying Evans as a former 1st is cheap depth, Vanderbilt was a highly regarded high school athlete and is a young project. Th e DLO deal was semi forced to appease KAT but having a good pick and roll duo can lead to big things. Defense is the obvious concern and losing a potential lotto pick could really hurt. If your Rosas though you can't sit on your hands losing and rumors of un-happy KAT so all things considered in his first year as GM, I'm moderately encouraged that we are in good hands.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Something to ponder. What if all we did was the DLO and Dieng trade?

C - KAT
PF - James Johnson
SF - Covington
SG - Okogie
PG - Russell

I know there is a lot of excitement about Beasley, but that lineup right there is a really nice combination of defense, shooting, ball handling, and toughness.

I'll take Beasley over Covington for the following reasons: First, Beasley gives us both 3-point shooting and other offensive skills, including ballhandling and dribble penetration, that Covington doesn't provide. Second Beasley is 24 years old while Covington is 29, which means that Beasley matches up much better than Covington with KAT and with the organization's goal of building a sustainable championship contending team. Third, we also received what will likely be the 16th or 17's pick in next June's draft. Beasley looks like a good defender as well. My concern is whether we can sign Beasley to a reasonable deal that' similar to the one Covington has.

Good counter-argument. I do think we are somewhat imagining things with Beasley that simply have not come to fruition in reality - plus-level defense, dribble drive penetration (the guy almost never gets to the line), play making, etc. He looks to me to be more of a pure shooter, which is a good thing, but not a whole lot else. I think we need to keep Nowell in the mix to hedge our bets in the event Beasley gets overpriced as an RFA. Nowell could be a much, much cheaper version of Beasley.

Duke13 wrote:I get the frustration with Culver, but despite his broken shot, he fits well into the modern game, can handle the ball, initiate/create offense, and guard multiple positions.

"Other than that how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Something to ponder. What if all we did was the DLO and Dieng trade?

C - KAT
PF - James Johnson
SF - Covington
SG - Okogie
PG - Russell

I know there is a lot of excitement about Beasley, but that lineup right there is a really nice combination of defense, shooting, ball handling, and toughness.

I'll take Beasley over Covington for the following reasons: First, Beasley gives us both 3-point shooting and other offensive skills, including ballhandling and dribble penetration, that Covington doesn't provide. Second Beasley is 24 years old while Covington is 29, which means that Beasley matches up much better than Covington with KAT and with the organization's goal of building a sustainable championship contending team. Third, we also received what will likely be the 16th or 17's pick in next June's draft. Beasley looks like a good defender as well. My concern is whether we can sign Beasley to a reasonable deal that' similar to the one Covington has.

Good counter-argument. I do think we are somewhat imagining things with Beasley that simply have not come to fruition in reality - plus-level defense, dribble drive penetration (the guy almost never gets to the line), play making, etc. He looks to me to be more of a pure shooter, which is a good thing, but not a whole lot else. I think we need to keep Nowell in the mix to hedge our bets in the event Beasley gets overpriced as an RFA. Nowell could be a much, much cheaper version of Beasley.

Q - I think that stats support your assessment that Beasley has not established himself as anything more than a pure shooter. So I'll admit I'm reaching a bit. I watched a lot of video highlights of Beasley after the deal was announced and I saw some nice ball-handling and dribble penetration in his game. Also, he made some nice passes, showed some good instincts and played well defensively in the game against the Clippers Saturday night. It might just be a matter of having opportunity. He was a good rebounder in college and got some nice boards on Saturday night. His minutes were limited in Denver and I think his role in the offense was limited there as well. These other facets to his game might emerge with the increased playing time and more freedom he's likely to get with the Wolves the rest of this season.

Having said all that, I agree with you completely on keeping Nowell in the mix as a hedge. I could easily see Nowell being as good or better than Beasley and, as you indicated, at a much cheaper price. I do worry that Beasley will get overpriced to the point where the Wolves can't justify signing him.

We'll have to see how Beasley performs over the next two months as a starter with heavy minutes. I hope the Wolves start to give Nowell some more playing time over the next couple months as well. Nowell should be getting all of Crabbe's minutes. I really don't understand having Allen Crabbe on this roster.

One game in... Beasley looks awesome.
And he does come with his share of supporters around the league. I'm optimistic he pans out.

But what's the deal with Nowell? I know many were optimistic from his college days. And he's done well in the G League. And he's only played 102 NBA minutes.

But... yikes. He's looked awful whenever I see him. The guy is struggling to make layups or even catch passes.