Grade The Trade #10: Young/KG (Final Trade to date)

[mjs34]

To quote myself:

"[flip] has wanted KG back in Minnesota for the longest. I believe he even said he tried to get KG within the K-Love trade. Are you kidding me? That means at season's start, Flip valued KG worth a first-rounder."

THIS is why none of us can realistically assume that the Wolves got the best value for Thad Young. Flip had a target on KG and his best chip to get him was Young.

Plenty of rumors, and I understand rumors aren't always truthful, suggested that other teams had interest in acquiring Young. Let's not forget that Toronto had been linked to Thad. Also, Sacramento was in the market for a stretch forward too. Guess what those teams didn't have, though? Kevin "NBA Jesus" Garnett.

Stefan Bondy: Misconception that the Thaddeus Young-KG trade evolved quickly and suddenly near deadline. Billy King had been working on it all year. Twitter @SBondyNYDN

Darren Wolfson: Billy King to Nets website: "We're NOT making (trade) calls. Calls are coming in." Funny, #Twolves will say Nets did the calling on Thad. Twitter @DarrenWolfson

My opinion: Flip worked relentlessly to get KG in Minnesota. That was a main goal for him. He saw an opportunity to do it and did. It's over now, but yes, it was a bad trade. Now we get to overpay KG for his services AS A FREE AGENT... which is what we could have done in the first place. Whatever.

He valued Thad as worth a first rounder, so I have no trouble seeing the same thing for KG.

I don't remember Toronto being linked. I remember a sportswriter said he might make sense for them.

What does SAC looking for a stretch 4 have to do with Thad? He shot about a third of his attempts outside of ten feet, and made about a third of those.

We wouldn't have the money to overpay KG if we didn't make the trade, not saying that is going to happen. Either way we moved a bad contract for an expiring, and I don't see how that is a bad deal. What we do going forward with KG has little to do with the trade. That would be like calling the Buddinger deal bad based on signing him to his ridiculous 3 year deal.

[TheGrey08]

1) Last summer some said they wanted Thad over the MIA 1st. I said it back then and I'll say it again, we shouldn't have given more than a 2nd for him. I think Flip was hard lined given the fact Thad was supposedly on the block for a year.

2) It was reported that Thad also asked to be traded. Who knows if that had any affect on things.

3) Saying we could have gotten more for that is just another assumption. We simply don't know.

4) Just b/c Flip tried getting KG in the initial Love deal does NOT equate to him willing to give up a 1st for him. I tend to believe Flip really didn't want to give up a 1st, but we needed the Sixers as a 3rd wheel. Thad also could still have gone to NJ in that deal with KG to the Wolves and without involving a 1st as well, but it's speculative. Lets also not forget this always had to go through KG with his no trade clause and I believe it was said that KG wasn't ready to part ways with the Nets last summer.

5) Acting like the KG trade was 100% for ticket sales is a bit ridiculous. Signing him this summer would have accomplished that very same thing. Multiple injuries kept lingering after that trade and when you have so many guys out, I don't fault them for not playing him. If and only if he for some reason doesn't play next year then I might think it was all a ploy.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Before the trade, the idea around the league was that KG was on his last legs and this was his last year for sure, so much so that the Nets weren't even show if KG was playing this year until he showed up at training camp. Hate Thad as much as you want, but he has more value then THAT.

Forget that nobody would of given anything of value for Thad, no other team in the league would of given up ANYTHING to get KG, except his number 1 biggest fan

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Q, you always talk about a player having one skill that he excels at. What is that for Thad? He was a poor offensive player (TS% of 49), a terrible rebounder (5.1/gm), a lousy defender. What am I missing?

Fair question. Before he became a Timberwolf, he actually was a fairly efficient scorer that also defended people well. Go back and look at his On/Off ratings. The guy is almost always a net positive - even with the Wolves!

I said from the very beginning that his ideal role was a super-sub off the bench, meaning 26-30 MPG and often being on the floor at the end of 2nd and 4th quarters. This is where he has traditionally excelled since teams tend to go smaller as the game wears on. But Flip chose to use him as his starting PF. Combine that with everyone going down to injury and him taking on too big of a role, and it just didn't work out.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Let's take a look at Thad's actual trade value for those of you who seem to think he had more than what we got.

1. He controls his destiny this summer with his opt out. You can immediately remove any team not fighting for a playoff spot because acquiring Thad would not meet any short or long-term franchise goals.

2. His 9 million dollar salary. That immediately eliminated the ability to trade him for a late first round pick with nothing else attached. 9 million is very difficult to match for a playoff contender when most just don't have bad contracts to salary match. They have high paid guys and low paid guys and their high paid guys actually serve a winning purpose on their team such that it would affect chemistry to bring in Thad at the cost of a rotation player.

3. He wasn't playing well this year. Nothing about his play was a ringing endorsement for him being the missing piece to put someone over the top. He didn't play well enough for someone to take a real chance on him especially with him being able to leave this summer for nothing.

These 3 reasons are exactly why he most likely could not have retrieved more in a trade than KG. KG was the perfect blend of a big enough contract who wasn't a significant rotation player for them to mess with team chemistry and on-court play. Thad said he was opting out. In that scenario he no longer serves a purpose on our team in the short or long-term. If he was a great leader then we should have kept him, but he was not a leader so trading him for a leader makes sense even if they are both expirings. How well do you guys think he'd be playing now with even less vets playing than when he was actually here? Keeping Thad doesn't change our injury history so he leaves for nothing and KG probably retires. Now that he's in the building Flip is much more likely to get him to sign on for 2 more years than trying to do that with no contact with KG until free agency or we get hit with tampering.

[TRKO [enjin:12664595]]

I voted Meh instead of bad because we got out of Young's contract for next year. We got nothing in return for him really.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Wait Khan, isn't getting KG to sign for 2 more years a bad thing? I have no clue why it would be considered good

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Wait Khan, isn't getting KG to sign for 2 more years a bad thing? I have no clue why it would be considered good

This team lacks leadership outside of Rubio. KG signing for 2 years is a great bridge deal for us like Martin. We can't turn the whole ship over to the under 25's. We need some veteran leaders in place. Plain and simple. We aren't a playoff team next year and possibly the year after so having guys like KG be veteran leaders on the team is important for the next two years until our 20 year olds mature. He won't be in the way of anybody's development so I see it as a win-win. We aren't getting a quality starting 4 for his salary next year so I don't see the problem with keeping him on as a backup.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

KG is a much better basketball player than actor. My son and I were at the Twins game yesterday and watched closely throughout his process of throwing out the first pitch. When he first came out of the dugout, there was a half-hearted effort to feign a limp, but as he got into it a little more, he forgot that he was "hurt". By the end, he was prancing around with Hunter and Tyus Jones like he was a 20-year-old kid. I'm now 100% convinced that he is on the bench for lottery purposes only, and that he will contribute next year like he did in the five games he played this year. Yes, we only went 2-3 in those games, but 4 of the games were against playoff teams including Portland, Memphis and the Clippers, and the 5th was against an inspired Denver team dying to show up the deposed Brian Shaw...the Warriors wouldn't have beaten the Nuggets that night. We outscored our opponents in those five games, and KG's 20 minutes in those games was instrumental in our stellar play. While his stats weren't overwhelming, he helped us both offensively and defensively, and was the most valuable contributor on the court.

His knee is fine, and while I'd like it if he would accept $5 million a year, he's worth much more than that to us. Flip is only going to get away with 5 if KG gives us the home town discount, and although he and his agent have always gotten whatever they could get in the past, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him sign under market. I sense that it is not about the money for KG at this stage of his career...it's about being part of an extraordinary turnaround for the franchise where he originally made his mark. That's much more important than $ for KG at this stage of his career. Being part of this turnaround will help complete his legacy, and ultimately prove his value more than joining Allen and Pierce to win a championship.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Just because he wasn't limping doesn't mean he's able to play NBA level basketball. It probably takes a little more effort to play in the NBA then it is to throw a pitch. It's not like he hasn't had knee issues in the past