lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
But is he lazy?
James Johnson has had an interesting career.
He was mostly a middling player when he arrived in Miami after having to settle for a one-year $4M deal. With the Heat pushing him... he dropped about 40 lbs and his body fat went from about 15% to less than 7%. They paid him well for it... 4 years and $60M.
And then, apparently... James Johnson ate his way back out of shape. He was reprimanded and benched earlier this season for arriving out of shape.
At least the Wolves get him in the last year of that deal, so if he wants another one... we're probably going to see the guy get back into shape.
Hicks123 wrote:I talked to a guy tonight that is loosely involved with Wolves. Stated it was a luxury tax move. They needed the shed the difference in contract values.
That's EXACTLY what this feels like. They took on more salary from GSW so they simply made a move to save Lux Tax. As if it would effect Glens lifestyle in someway having that extra 1.24 million. Probably really a net negative investment though as DIeng is the better player, so if you lose out over say this year and next year on ticket sales/concessions/mech/etc. Might not be a smart move. That million could have been brought back in the long run and then some.
Long term not a big deal really, it's just more cheap ass Glen being cheap ass Glen. Scrooge in the corner counting his money.
At the end of the day it's a really bad move to pay luxury tax for a bottom 5 team. If you even recover from that you are now in repeater tax territory really early in the rebuild when (if) you actually get good and that run becomes dead in the water before it even begins. Glen is never gonna pay a 200 million dollar tax bill so why have him pay 2 million now and force yourself to break something up down the line just for the sake of a bottom 5 team now? If the trade was made purely to get under the tax it's worth it long term to not potentially kill a good run before it even starts. Even if on the court the trade makes zero sense.
Your point about repeater tax is noteworthy, I didn't see that angle. Let's see if they continue to spend up and over into the future though, that is the question. It could ultimately be Scrooge coming out.
I did have some hope of retaining Dieng at a lower cost beyond next season though, now that he moved it's highly unlikely he comes back, because he has been maybe one bright spot on a bad/tanking team. He's played fairly well this season anchoring the defense when KAT is out and shooting the 3 at a nice clip. He still has issues, but he is a nice serviceable backup.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
But is he lazy?
James Johnson has had an interesting career.
He was mostly a middling player when he arrived in Miami after having to settle for a one-year $4M deal. With the Heat pushing him... he dropped about 40 lbs and his body fat went from about 15% to less than 7%. They paid him well for it... 4 years and $60M.
And then, apparently... James Johnson ate his way back out of shape. He was reprimanded and benched earlier this season for arriving out of shape.
At least the Wolves get him in the last year of that deal, so if he wants another one... we're probably going to see the guy get back into shape.
In fairness, Pat Riley has really high standards for how in shape you have to be (which is fine. They're called lofty standards)
and even if he doesn't, the next time Joel Embiid wants to fight Towns, James Johnson is a black belt in karate and is undefeated in 7 MMA bouts. He might tread softly.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
But is he lazy?
James Johnson has had an interesting career.
He was mostly a middling player when he arrived in Miami after having to settle for a one-year $4M deal. With the Heat pushing him... he dropped about 40 lbs and his body fat went from about 15% to less than 7%. They paid him well for it... 4 years and $60M.
And then, apparently... James Johnson ate his way back out of shape. He was reprimanded and benched earlier this season for arriving out of shape.
At least the Wolves get him in the last year of that deal, so if he wants another one... we're probably going to see the guy get back into shape.
In fairness, Pat Riley has really high standards for how in shape you have to be (which is fine. They're called lofty standards)
and even if he doesn't, the next time Joel Embiid wants to fight Towns, James Johnson is a black belt in karate and is undefeated in 7 MMA bouts. He might tread softly.
Maybe the Wolves should take notes.
I get that a couple of titles gives an organization more clout to demand such things from its players. That Riley brings even more rings to every discussion.
But the key thing here is that they have lofty standards. Accountability is sorely needed in the Wolves organization. Hopefully, that's among the many "culture defining" characteristics of the Rosas regime.
Because right now... with virtually everybody brand new... now is the time to implement it.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
But is he lazy?
James Johnson has had an interesting career.
He was mostly a middling player when he arrived in Miami after having to settle for a one-year $4M deal. With the Heat pushing him... he dropped about 40 lbs and his body fat went from about 15% to less than 7%. They paid him well for it... 4 years and $60M.
And then, apparently... James Johnson ate his way back out of shape. He was reprimanded and benched earlier this season for arriving out of shape.
At least the Wolves get him in the last year of that deal, so if he wants another one... we're probably going to see the guy get back into shape.
In fairness, Pat Riley has really high standards for how in shape you have to be (which is fine. They're called lofty standards)
and even if he doesn't, the next time Joel Embiid wants to fight Towns, James Johnson is a black belt in karate and is undefeated in 7 MMA bouts. He might tread softly.
Maybe the Wolves should take notes.
I get that a couple of titles gives an organization more clout to demand such things from its players. That Riley brings even more rings to every discussion.
But the key thing here is that they have lofty standards. Accountability is sorely needed in the Wolves organization. Hopefully, that's among the many "culture defining" characteristics of the Rosas regime.
Because right now... with virtually everybody brand new... now is the time to implement it.
There is a big BUT here. Buuuuut, the very player the team is building around and catering to shows crappy leadership skills and zero accountability for his defense. That's still a problem and hard to hit the reset button on, even though nearly everyone else on the roster is new.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
But James' value will come in simply being a goon which is never a bad thing to have.
In the long run this is a transaction with little lasting consequence, but for a team that we all know is soft, at least there's one guy who isn't. While he's here, hopefully that rubs off on at least the bigs like Spellman and Hernangomez.
But is he lazy?
James Johnson has had an interesting career.
He was mostly a middling player when he arrived in Miami after having to settle for a one-year $4M deal. With the Heat pushing him... he dropped about 40 lbs and his body fat went from about 15% to less than 7%. They paid him well for it... 4 years and $60M.
And then, apparently... James Johnson ate his way back out of shape. He was reprimanded and benched earlier this season for arriving out of shape.
At least the Wolves get him in the last year of that deal, so if he wants another one... we're probably going to see the guy get back into shape.
In fairness, Pat Riley has really high standards for how in shape you have to be (which is fine. They're called lofty standards)
and even if he doesn't, the next time Joel Embiid wants to fight Towns, James Johnson is a black belt in karate and is undefeated in 7 MMA bouts. He might tread softly.
Maybe the Wolves should take notes.
I get that a couple of titles gives an organization more clout to demand such things from its players. That Riley brings even more rings to every discussion.
But the key thing here is that they have lofty standards. Accountability is sorely needed in the Wolves organization. Hopefully, that's among the many "culture defining" characteristics of the Rosas regime.
Because right now... with virtually everybody brand new... now is the time to implement it.
There is a big BUT here. Buuuuut, the very player the team is building around and catering to shows crappy leadership skills and zero accountability for his defense. That's still a problem and hard to hit the reset button on, even though nearly everyone else on the roster is new.
Yeah. You're right.
I'm a big "Players matter more" guy. And the Wolves are gonna go as far as their star player takes them. If he's lazy and unaccountable... it permeates the entire organization.
A young happy-to-be-here coach doesn't have the clout.
A middle-aged suit in his first GM role doesn't have the clout.
lipoli390 wrote:This trade makes no sense. Let's be honest with ourselves - James Johnson is NOT going to decline his player option worth around $18 million next season. He's old, out of shape and not nearly as good a player as Gorgui. Note that I understand Gorgui is simply a decent player as Abe described him. The only plausible rationale is the minor salary savings - about $1.24 million less next season. This deal seems ridiculous to me. I'll add it to the long list of inexplicable deals the Wolves have made over the years. The Wolves would have been much better off keeping Gorgui and actually playing him next to Towns. But alas... At the end of the day, it's not going to make a material difference in the long-term prospects for this team.
Can I make a case for the deal. I am mostly with you that it is more then likely a lux tax deal and it seems like it is mostly Glenn Taylor saves money deal.
But here is my thought process. Gorgui is a very solid NBA player but he is never moving the needle and yesterday we saw how little the NBA values Centers. I mean Drummond was traded for expiring and a project late 2nd round pick. Now I think it is unlikely but if James Johnson gets to where he was 2 years ago he has a shot at being valuable asset to playoff teams. Even if Gorgui plays really well he doesn't have trade value because he is a center. Now it is unlikely but a wing in James Johnson in theory can get something back for him (Im saying like a 2nd round pick). Also this trade opens up a lot of minutes for Naz.
In the end it will probably end up just being a money saving move for Taylor but I can see the thought process in the deal.
After the roster overhaul came to a close at 2 p.m. central on February 6th, the Wolves were not only remade but much more expensive. Rosas added so much salary in the sequence of moves that the team now sits $1.8 million over the league's luxury tax line. Not only does Taylor need to incur approximately $10 million in additional salary on the books, but he is also going to have to pay out a tax payment of nearly $3 million to the teams around the league that are not a luxury taxpayer.
A team source confirmed that the sequence of moves did, in fact, push the franchise into the tax and that Taylor approved the added expense.
There are definitely times in the past where Glen Taylor has cut corners to save or make money with the Wolves. This is not one of those times. He agreed to pony up some serious extra funds to make this roster overhaul happen. I'd have to think that's not an easy thing to do when your team is 15-35. And yes, with some savvy buyouts, the Wolves could actually still get below that threshold, but for Taylor to essentially get out of the way and be an open checkbook for Rosas to work with -- I say kudos.
