Minnesota Sports Forum

The Utah Jazz are signing Greg Monroe to a 10-day deal.

So there is only a couple weeks left in the season. At this point I don't know what the Wolves are waiting for in terms of signing a player. One thing they could do is sign a guy say the last day of the season using part of the mid-level (starts being pro-rated January 10) which would pay a player more than they would have received otherwise on a vet min deal which gets prorated starting at the beginning of the season. If my math is right they could pay someone out of the mid-level about double what they have left under the Lux tax. They could even sign a player to a multi year offer. This would really only make sense or work for a player with a couple years of NBA experience or less. I guess in theory they could even just sign Knight for a chunk of actual NBA money and he would be available for the playoffs. Obviously they could also sign a different player to a similar deal like board legend Moses Brown. =)

Another possibility is if they think they can sign a player or players better than Jake Layman they could waive him and sign not just 1 player but they could sign multiple players toward the end of the season since a vet min deal would be not much money. I think letting Layman go is somewhat unlikely as McDaniels is injured so if there was another injury or even foul trouble they could use a guy like that and Layman doesn't totally suck and has been around all season. They stuck with this roster so it would be a bit of a surprise even to let Jake go even though he is the least utilized player on the roster with an NBA contract. He has played a few less minutes than Bolmaro.

What do I actually expect the wolves to do? Probably sign a vet guy eventually or maybe simply sign a young player to a multi-year non guaranteed deal which does happen toward the end of NBA seasons. It's also possible they do nothing. I would be frustrated with that last outcome. At the very least it would come off as cheap...at the end of the season...really cheap.

I honestly don't understand why the Wolves didn't sign Monroe. We needed another big even before McDaniels went down and Naz tweaked his hamstring. And Monroe played well when here. I'm not aware of any other available free agent bigs.

lipoli390 wrote:I honestly don't understand why the Wolves didn't sign Monroe. We needed another big even before McDaniels went down and Naz tweaked his hamstring. And Monroe played well when here. I'm not aware of any other available free agent bigs.

Tacko Fall told me to tell you he isn't returning your calls or text or faxes anymore after you disrespected him like this. =)

I'm still in on Greg Monroe but some other names Willy Cauley Stein is available. Does anyone know what happened to Harry Giles? He isn't even playing in the G-league. I see he was treating about Duke in the tourney so he is still like around and stuff. Will the Cavs sign Moses Brown for the rest of the season? They will have to make that decision in a few days since that will be the end of his 2nd 10 day contract. Noah Vonleh turns 27 this August. Dude is still pretty young I'm not saying we should sign him but it seems like he should be older by now.

A FA that could be interesting if McDaniels can't return would be Glen Robinson. If he is still the guy he has been for a few years prior to not signing with anyone this season he would be a solid rotation guy.

Below is the most comprehensive list of current FAs I could find. It's kinda fun looking at this list and being like oh hey what ever happened to that guy?

https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/current_free_agents

I still think 22-year old Reggie Perry is going to turn into a very good NBA player at some point. He's available and provides an intriguing blend of size and skills at the four or five. I also think 23-year old Micah Potter is an NBA-caliber big with a modern skill set.

None of this matters, however. The Wolves should have signed a big weeks ago -- actually, they should have added a veteran at the trade deadline -- and doing so now after two more-proven options are off the board would be quite peculiar. Either Minnesota's being a cheap franchise or Sachin Gupta's vacationing in the Bahamas. Who the hell knows at this point. It'd be nice to get some sort of help there, but it'll also feel like, "Wow, we could have used this 15 games ago."

Camden wrote:I still think 22-year old Reggie Perry is going to turn into a very good NBA player at some point. He's available and provides an intriguing blend of size and skills at the four or five. I also think 23-year old Micah Potter is an NBA-caliber big with a modern skill set.

None of this matters, however. The Wolves should have signed a big weeks ago -- actually, they should have added a veteran at the trade deadline -- and doing so now after two more-proven options are off the board would be quite peculiar. Either Minnesota's being a cheap franchise or Sachin Gupta's vacationing in the Bahamas. Who the hell knows at this point. It'd be nice to get some sort of help there, but it'll also feel like, "Wow, we could have used this 15 games ago."

Micah Potter is a new name I'd like to hear more about him.

I'd also like to know what you see in Reggie Perry that make you say you think he will be a good player in the future. I do like him but I also don't know what differentiates him from a number of other guys. He is certainly undersized to play center.

I don't think they wanted to spend money on a big they weren't gonna use. Even if they had signed someone, the playing time woulda been scant compared to the guys they have already, so unless KAT gets injured, I don't see them adding a guy when they'd rather use Knight if it comes to that.

WildWolf2813 wrote:I don't think they wanted to spend money on a big they weren't gonna use. Even if they had signed someone, the playing time woulda been scant compared to the guys they have already, so unless KAT gets injured, I don't see them adding a guy when they'd rather use Knight if it comes to that.

I think that's the most logical explanation. But if that is their explanation, I'm not sure I'm persuaded by it.

The money is trivial so long as signing a player wouldn't push the team over the luxury tax threshold and we already know it wouldn't. This team has an open roster spot as it looks ahead to this last stretch of games fighting for 6th place, at least one likely play-in game and then the playoffs. We've been deficient in the rebounding department all season and have had questionable depth at the PF and C positions. One of our PFs, McDaniels, has been out the last week and will likely remain out for a while. It's hard to accept this organization's failure to fill that last roster spot right at this point in the season, especially knowing that Monroe was available and had played well for the Wolves earlier this season.

Perhaps the organization is holding the final roster spot for Nathan Knight since 2-way players aren't eligible for the playoffs. I guess I can understand that since Knight is familiar with the team and its offensive/defensive schemes. And he's been playing fairly well lately. As I think about it, that's probably what's going to happen.

lipoli390 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:I don't think they wanted to spend money on a big they weren't gonna use. Even if they had signed someone, the playing time woulda been scant compared to the guys they have already, so unless KAT gets injured, I don't see them adding a guy when they'd rather use Knight if it comes to that.

I think that's the most logical explanation. But if that is their explanation, I'm not sure I'm persuaded by it.

The money is trivial so long as signing a player wouldn't push the team over the luxury tax threshold and we already know it wouldn't. This team has an open roster spot as it looks ahead to this last stretch of games fighting for 6th place, at least one likely play-in game and then the playoffs. We've been deficient in the rebounding department all season and have had questionable depth at the PF and C positions. One of our PFs, McDaniels, has been out the last week and will likely remain out for a while. It's hard to accept this organization's failure to fill that last roster spot right at this point in the season, especially knowing that Monroe was available and had played well for the Wolves earlier this season.

Perhaps the organization is holding the final roster spot for Nathan Knight since 2-way players aren't eligible for the playoffs. I guess I can understand that since Knight is familiar with the team and its offensive/defensive schemes. And he's been playing fairly well lately. As I think about it, that's probably what's going to happen.

The more I think about it the more I wonder if McDaniels injury put a pause button on them signing a player. It sounds like he is recovering well but if he can't return for the playoffs they are a Prince or Edwards injury away from playing Layman or maybe even Vanderbilt or Bolmaro as a SF at times if they don't want to play a guard there. If that's the case as much as I believe in Jake Layman if say Glen Robinson was available I would at least want to wait and see what happens with McDaniels injury before using up that roster spot.

I do think to some extent Knight gets a little lost in the shuffle and hard to really assess how good he is or isn't because he hasn't gotten many opportunities to play at the NBA level this year and he isn't playing in the g-league. Statistically speaking he has improved in pretty much every way over last season except his foul rate. Should there be any credit given him for playing some legit minutes filling in a handful of games for 2 straight playoff teams? I still think that Knight has the theoretical skill set to be a guy that can play with any of the Wolves bigs as he is pretty mobile and might be able to actually play PF which his physical size at that position would be a big asset no pun intended. =). Idk If I would be all about him having a roster spot locked up for next season but signing him so he could play in the playoffs might be a sign of goodwill not only to Knight but other similar players that will continue to see the Wolves as a franchise that will reward guys if they prove themselves as worthwhile players.

Minnesota's been playing with fire at the center spot all year and the only time I felt reassured about our depth was when Greg Monroe was signed on a hardship waiver to round out the center spot. We've seen how a banged up or foul-troubled Karl-Anthony Towns puts more pressure on Naz Reid to produce. We've seen Reid deal with back spasm and other various issues putting pressure on Towns to play the majority of the game. Not to mention, we rarely get to see big lineups with Towns playing with Reid, or someone else, because we need them to spell each other. That's just not a smart strategy moving forward because our depth is in shambles and our flexibility is hindered.

It also needs to be said, but Jarred Vanderbilt is the de facto third center on the team. When one of Towns or Reid are unable to play for whatever reason, Chris Finch rolls with Vando at the five. That's their best solution as it stands now and it's far from a good one. Nathan Knight is an emergency play only.

Frankly, it's irresponsible roster management to be approaching April with still just two centers on the roster. Very lucky that Towns and Reid have largely stayed healthy to this point. I really hope that continues because I don't see any additions coming down the stretch.