Minnesota Sports Forum

khans2k5 wrote:

thedoper wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:We know there's a hole in the frontcourt (unless Towns/Pek is the frontline they want to move forward with) and there's potential for an upgrade at either PG or on the wing. I don't think we should wait on the sidelines another year to see what we have. If they're good enough they'll beat out who we bring in and then we'll have really good depth for the next couple years. I don't think we can afford to potentially tank next year if certain guys don't get better. We need to upgrade now and hope the young guys get better so we're in an even better spot.

Also, you don't save money for potential future role players to go next to Towns and Wiggins. You sign people to deals now while Wiggins and Towns are on rookie deals so they expire when those guys are ready for extensions. Why waste multiple years of guys on rookie deals in the attempt to pay everyone at once for a run in a couple years? Lavine and Wiggins' extensions don't start until the 3rd season after this one and they'll likely be mini-maxes at best (Zach still has yet to get there by a decent margin). So we could 2-3 year max someone easily and get a good player now and not have to worry about it affecting our young guy's extensions. The time to get guys is now so we can start building a winning culture because we have the combination of cap space and youth on rookie deals. Adding role players around stars is the easy part. Let's worry about that bridge when we come to it. Right now we need to start winning so our stars start becoming stars and aren't just always trying to lift up other guys who aren't developing at their pace.

Great points all around here. Now would be a great time to be aggressive because we have the rights to resign all of our youth. The potential problem is being in eventual luxury tax zone which might not sit well with potential owners. Hopefully we get a big spender who wont worry about those issues.

Our young guys may not even qualify for the 25% max so we may end up with 3 max level guys who can only get 20% because of their lack of years and lack of all-star games/MVP's. That's 60 million of the near hundred million. Add in 26 for Ricky and Pek and that's still only 86 million of the hundred million and that's just the soft cap. The tax line probably won't kick in until like 110-115 million. So we could still add another max guy before even hitting the tax line and then Pek comes off the books opening 12 more million. There will be plenty of money for everyone this first round of max's. It's the next round that would force more difficult cuts, but that's 7+ years away.

khans2k5 wrote:

Our young guys may not even qualify for the 25% max so we may end up with 3 max level guys who can only get 20% because of their lack of years and lack of all-star games/MVP's. That's 60 million of the near hundred million. Add in 26 for Ricky and Pek and that's still only 86 million of the hundred million and that's just the soft cap. The tax line probably won't kick in until like 110-115 million. So we could still add another max guy before even hitting the tax line and then Pek comes off the books opening 12 more million. There will be plenty of money for everyone this first round of max's. It's the next round that would force more difficult cuts, but that's 7+ years away.

sjm34 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

Our young guys may not even qualify for the 25% max so we may end up with 3 max level guys who can only get 20% because of their lack of years and lack of all-star games/MVP's. That's 60 million of the near hundred million. Add in 26 for Ricky and Pek and that's still only 86 million of the hundred million and that's just the soft cap. The tax line probably won't kick in until like 110-115 million. So we could still add another max guy before even hitting the tax line and then Pek comes off the books opening 12 more million. There will be plenty of money for everyone this first round of max's. It's the next round that would force more difficult cuts, but that's 7+ years away.

Khans, I think you messed up the percentages. I believe the max is 25%, and can increase to 30% depending on criteria.

Camden wrote:While Barnes is younger than Batum, he can't facilitate the offense at all. That's part of why I really like Batum here. We've needed another handler at one of the wing positions for so long and we can't keep ignoring it. Batum's averaged around 5 APG for his last four seasons. Combine that with his positional versatility (2-small ball 4), 36.2 career 3P% and his consistency on the glass and he's that do-it-all wing player we've sorely needed. He's not a big name All-Star, but he'd improve our team a lot with what he brings.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

Camden wrote:While Barnes is younger than Batum, he can't facilitate the offense at all. That's part of why I really like Batum here. We've needed another handler at one of the wing positions for so long and we can't keep ignoring it. Batum's averaged around 5 APG for his last four seasons. Combine that with his positional versatility (2-small ball 4), 36.2 career 3P% and his consistency on the glass and he's that do-it-all wing player we've sorely needed. He's not a big name All-Star, but he'd improve our team a lot with what he brings.

I like Batum but have a hard time seeing the Hornets letting him go and along with him being 4 years older then Barnes who I think the Warriors will have a hard time matching I would put my efforts towards Barnes.

Mikkeman wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:

Camden wrote:While Barnes is younger than Batum, he can't facilitate the offense at all. That's part of why I really like Batum here. We've needed another handler at one of the wing positions for so long and we can't keep ignoring it. Batum's averaged around 5 APG for his last four seasons. Combine that with his positional versatility (2-small ball 4), 36.2 career 3P% and his consistency on the glass and he's that do-it-all wing player we've sorely needed. He's not a big name All-Star, but he'd improve our team a lot with what he brings.

I like Batum but have a hard time seeing the Hornets letting him go and along with him being 4 years older then Barnes who I think the Warriors will have a hard time matching I would put my efforts towards Barnes.

I think Batum is unrestricted free agent. So it is possible that we can sign him even if Hornets would offer same or more. Since Batum already once signed with us (but Portland matched that), I think there is at least a change that we could get him. But I agree that most probably Charlotte does everything to get him to sign with them. He seems perfect back court pair for Kemba and when Batum missed some games this season, Charlotte has looked pretty bad.

Camden wrote:"Ball handling ability is similar"

No it isn't. Barnes hasn't shown any indication that he can be a facilitator on offense like Batum already is. And beyond their handles, Batum is leaps and bounds the better passer between the two.