Keepers for Next Season

[Monster]

We have a logjam at the 2. Nowell, Beasley, Culver, Ant, and DLO all can play the 2. Beasley is by far the most tradeable asset in terms of us having a reasonable succession plan (we've been doing just fine without him) and him bringing back real value as a 20PPG sharpshooter on a good contract.

At PF, it seems like everyone we try there is more effective in a bench role vs. a starting role. Vando has been fantastic off the bench - both earlier in the season and now. But when he started at PF, all of his flaws were more glaring (bad hands, turnovers, cheap fouls).

Juancho has been great lately but he has mostly played the 3 and just doesn't have the defensive chops to start next to KAT.

McDaniels can definitely play some 4, but wouldn't he ideally be a starting 3 with Ant starting at the 2?

Bottom-line....still feels like we need to solidify that starting 4 slot in order to maximize how we use the other guys as well.

To break the logjam at the 2, I'd start out by dealing Culver. At this point, the best we can probably get would be an expiring vet contract and a future 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that's what we'll need to do. I agree that Beasley is the only valuable trade asset we have other than KAT, Ant, McDaniels and Naz. So I would definitely shop him this summer. But the Wolves shouldn't overlook the value Beasley provides this team. Right now he's the Wolves' only true 3-point marksman other than KAT. That's especially important give the Wolves' emphasis on 3-point shooting. He could play a critical role on this team as a 6th man. He is also our only proven high-caliber offensive player who can step in as a starter if Ant were to miss a stretch of games. So yes, I'd shop him. But I'd drive a heard bargain before trading him and not trading him could turn out to be the best move of all.

At this point it's possible the most value Culver has to the team the next few months is an expiring contract to match salaries. The fact that he was hurt this year might suggest injuries are a problem or maybe a team or 2 will think that was part of what held him back this year and think is still a possible reclamation project there. Ultimately I agree we probably need to move him for anything we can get. I wouldn't want to trade him for some guy that probably won't play anyway. It would be interesting to deal him for a front court player that's also been a disappointment.

What about Mo Bamba? Kevin Knox? This is a sad post...

[rapsuperstar31]

We have a logjam at the 2. Nowell, Beasley, Culver, Ant, and DLO all can play the 2. Beasley is by far the most tradeable asset in terms of us having a reasonable succession plan (we've been doing just fine without him) and him bringing back real value as a 20PPG sharpshooter on a good contract.

At PF, it seems like everyone we try there is more effective in a bench role vs. a starting role. Vando has been fantastic off the bench - both earlier in the season and now. But when he started at PF, all of his flaws were more glaring (bad hands, turnovers, cheap fouls).

Juancho has been great lately but he has mostly played the 3 and just doesn't have the defensive chops to start next to KAT.

McDaniels can definitely play some 4, but wouldn't he ideally be a starting 3 with Ant starting at the 2?

Bottom-line....still feels like we need to solidify that starting 4 slot in order to maximize how we use the other guys as well.

To break the logjam at the 2, I'd start out by dealing Culver. At this point, the best we can probably get would be an expiring vet contract and a future 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that's what we'll need to do. I agree that Beasley is the only valuable trade asset we have other than KAT, Ant, McDaniels and Naz. So I would definitely shop him this summer. But the Wolves shouldn't overlook the value Beasley provides this team. Right now he's the Wolves' only true 3-point marksman other than KAT. That's especially important give the Wolves' emphasis on 3-point shooting. He could play a critical role on this team as a 6th man. He is also our only proven high-caliber offensive player who can step in as a starter if Ant were to miss a stretch of games. So yes, I'd shop him. But I'd drive a heard bargain before trading him and not trading him could turn out to be the best move of all.

I feel like Culver can still turn it around at some point, he has played just 97 games so far. He was known as a gym rat coming into the league and at times looked like a solid defender. He needs to fix his shot if he is ever going to be a rotational player, but even Wiggins is shooting well from 3 all of a sudden in his 8th season. Culver isn't a need for this team with our glut of pg/sg/sf's, but his trade value is pretty bad right now. Getting a stop 3 pick would significantly improve our team. Landing Cade changes everything and gives us a superstar to pair next to Ant, and would make it easier to move Beasley for a big. Drafting Mobley gives us that defensive blocking machine next to Towns and would allow us to keep Beasley as our 6th man flamethrower. Sadly our chances of keeping our pick this year are not good, and we are going to have to get creative to round out our roster.

[Lipoli390]

We have a logjam at the 2. Nowell, Beasley, Culver, Ant, and DLO all can play the 2. Beasley is by far the most tradeable asset in terms of us having a reasonable succession plan (we've been doing just fine without him) and him bringing back real value as a 20PPG sharpshooter on a good contract.

At PF, it seems like everyone we try there is more effective in a bench role vs. a starting role. Vando has been fantastic off the bench - both earlier in the season and now. But when he started at PF, all of his flaws were more glaring (bad hands, turnovers, cheap fouls).

Juancho has been great lately but he has mostly played the 3 and just doesn't have the defensive chops to start next to KAT.

McDaniels can definitely play some 4, but wouldn't he ideally be a starting 3 with Ant starting at the 2?

Bottom-line....still feels like we need to solidify that starting 4 slot in order to maximize how we use the other guys as well.

To break the logjam at the 2, I'd start out by dealing Culver. At this point, the best we can probably get would be an expiring vet contract and a future 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that's what we'll need to do. I agree that Beasley is the only valuable trade asset we have other than KAT, Ant, McDaniels and Naz. So I would definitely shop him this summer. But the Wolves shouldn't overlook the value Beasley provides this team. Right now he's the Wolves' only true 3-point marksman other than KAT. That's especially important give the Wolves' emphasis on 3-point shooting. He could play a critical role on this team as a 6th man. He is also our only proven high-caliber offensive player who can step in as a starter if Ant were to miss a stretch of games. So yes, I'd shop him. But I'd drive a heard bargain before trading him and not trading him could turn out to be the best move of all.

At this point it's possible the most value Culver has to the team the next few months is an expiring contract to match salaries. The fact that he was hurt this year might suggest injuries are a problem or maybe a team or 2 will think that was part of what held him back this year and think is still a possible reclamation project there. Ultimately I agree we probably need to move him for anything we can get. I wouldn't want to trade him for some guy that probably won't play anyway. It would be interesting to deal him for a front court player that's also been a disappointment.

What about Mo Bamba? Kevin Knox? This is a sad post...

I like your idea of swapping Culver for a young front-court disappointment. Mo Bamba would be a great get for Culver, but I'd take Kevin Knox too. Sadly, I don't think Culver would be enough to get Bamba and I'm not even sure we could get Knox straight up for him.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Yep. After two years... it's tough to look at Culver as the #6 pick.

It's a lot easier to look at him as an $6.4M contract who has been a pretty bad basketball player who hasn't been able to make any lasting mark for a team that's gone 39 - 89 the past two seasons.

If he was a shooter who struggled with other parts... I can see teams more willing to take a flyer. But for a hustle guy who can't shoot at all... those guys can be found in the G league with more upside for a fraction of the cost. There's just too much to fix with his shot. Sadly, it's been "too bad to even see the court" bad.

[Monster]

We have a logjam at the 2. Nowell, Beasley, Culver, Ant, and DLO all can play the 2. Beasley is by far the most tradeable asset in terms of us having a reasonable succession plan (we've been doing just fine without him) and him bringing back real value as a 20PPG sharpshooter on a good contract.

At PF, it seems like everyone we try there is more effective in a bench role vs. a starting role. Vando has been fantastic off the bench - both earlier in the season and now. But when he started at PF, all of his flaws were more glaring (bad hands, turnovers, cheap fouls).

Juancho has been great lately but he has mostly played the 3 and just doesn't have the defensive chops to start next to KAT.

McDaniels can definitely play some 4, but wouldn't he ideally be a starting 3 with Ant starting at the 2?

Bottom-line....still feels like we need to solidify that starting 4 slot in order to maximize how we use the other guys as well.

To break the logjam at the 2, I'd start out by dealing Culver. At this point, the best we can probably get would be an expiring vet contract and a future 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that's what we'll need to do. I agree that Beasley is the only valuable trade asset we have other than KAT, Ant, McDaniels and Naz. So I would definitely shop him this summer. But the Wolves shouldn't overlook the value Beasley provides this team. Right now he's the Wolves' only true 3-point marksman other than KAT. That's especially important give the Wolves' emphasis on 3-point shooting. He could play a critical role on this team as a 6th man. He is also our only proven high-caliber offensive player who can step in as a starter if Ant were to miss a stretch of games. So yes, I'd shop him. But I'd drive a heard bargain before trading him and not trading him could turn out to be the best move of all.

At this point it's possible the most value Culver has to the team the next few months is an expiring contract to match salaries. The fact that he was hurt this year might suggest injuries are a problem or maybe a team or 2 will think that was part of what held him back this year and think is still a possible reclamation project there. Ultimately I agree we probably need to move him for anything we can get. I wouldn't want to trade him for some guy that probably won't play anyway. It would be interesting to deal him for a front court player that's also been a disappointment.

What about Mo Bamba? Kevin Knox? This is a sad post...

I like your idea of swapping Culver for a young front-court disappointment. Mo Bamba would be a great get for Culver, but I'd take Kevin Knox too. Sadly, I don't think Culver would be enough to get Bamba and I'm not even sure we could get Knox straight up for him.

Yeah I don't think we could get Bamba either he is getting more run now since the trade. I think Knox might be gettable though I think they consider him a PF now and they have a lot of bigs. They have some perimeter players on 1 year deals (Burks and Elfrid Payton) so Culver might make some sense there and I could see Thibs liking him for a few reasons. Rose and Taj are also on 1 year deals but I'd be shocked if Rose wasn't back and Taj...why not?!? Lol if we can't get Knox for Culver...I think we need to revisit that talk about Culver having negative trade value. I don't even value Knox that highly I wouldn't mind taking a flyer on him but I'm not sure I actually like him much more than Culver.

Also while I was looking over the Knicks salaries...Terrance Ferguson turns 23 in a few days and was basically dumped a couple times at the trade deadline ending with the Knicks waving him. I thought he was going to be a more player worthwhile by now.

[FNG]

I'm going to take this in another direction, because...well, that's what I do. I think we need to keep KAT...he's a uniquely talented offensive player and improving defensive player. But everyone else is available to be traded if we think we are getting more value in return. I recognize it might be impossible to get value back for a player like Jaden, whose stats don't reflect his value and potential. But if some savvy GM saw what many of us see and was willing to pony up, I would even trade a guy like Jaden.

Since it's Pile on Dlo Day for me, I'm going to lead with this. We need to move him and his contract this off-season, and I think a sign and trade for John Collins might make sense for both teams. For the Wolves, it rids them of a huge Rosas mistake...paying max money to a guy that Lip totally nailed in a post earlier today. While he in consistently bad on defense, he is incredibly inconsistent on offense...he's either red hot (and on those nights, I blur my eyes and say...hmmm, maybe he's worth it), or terribly off. There's no in between. And that adds up to a player who has been a consistently bad on/off player almost his entire career...in fact, still dead last on the Wolves this season among regular rotation players. I challenge anybody to find another player getting paid close to $30 million who ranks dead last on his team in on/off...it's am unsustainable situation. We need to move him if we want to have any chance of success, and Atlanta is a perfect target. They know they are going to lose Collins because they can't pay him, and where else are they going to get a young, flashy max player. And maybe he flourishes next to Young. And the Wolves add a young PF who can defend, rebound and score at a consistent 60 eFG%. Get it done, Rosas!

And moving Dlo makes it imperative that we keep Ricky until the end of his contract (I believe I am the only one here with Ricky on the KEEP list, although Pork hasn't weighed in yet ;-) ), whether we get a top 3 pick or not. Assuming we do not keep our pick, I would like to see this rotation next year.

KAT/Reid
Collins/Vando/Juancho (with the backup PF determined by whether we need offense or defense)
McDaniels/Okogie/Juancho
Edwards/Beasley/Nowell
Rubio/J-Mac

We seem to be about a .500 team this season with KAT healthy, and the above lineup would be better than this year's because of the huge upgrade at PF and the natural improvement of our young players...and Beasley would essentially give us close to what Dlo is giving us this year. That team would clearly be a playoff team in my opinion, and would make our 2022 pick less valuable. If we get lucky and keep our pick, and if we are able to get Collins, I would target Suggs as our pick. He could develop for a season under the tutelage of Rubio, and then become our starting PG beginning with the 2023 season. A starting lineup of KAT/Collins/Jaden/Ant/Suggs would be an outstanding young starting lineup, with great potential scoring punch backing them up off the bench along with a couple defensive stoppers.

I think the future is bright for this young franchise, but it all starts with getting value back for Dlo this off-season. If Rosas can't do that, we are doomed to mediocrity until Dlo 's contract runs out.

[thedoper]

Theres no way we move DLo this offseason. Focusing on DLo deals may as well include a trade for Lebron.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Agree, DLO is likely going nowhere.

I also don't see Culver getting moved unless he is a complete throw-in, as he will yield us nothing back. I don't mind having a worker like him on the roster. He's beyond the gifting minutes phase and will now have to earn his way onto the floor. Let him come to camp as our 3rd string SG and see if he pushes anyone. If not, he'll be a good teammate.

C - KAT/Reid
PF - TBD/Vanderbilt or Juancho
SF - McDaniels/Edwards
SG - Edwards/DLO/Nowell
PG - DLO/Edwards/Bolmaro

Besides helping us get a starting PF, moving Beasley would also allow Edwards to start at SG and McDaniels at SF. Edwards and DLO would effectively share ball-handling duties and we'll see Edwards start to morph more and more into a lead guard.

[Lipoli390]

Agree, DLO is likely going nowhere.

I also don't see Culver getting moved unless he is a complete throw-in, as he will yield us nothing back. I don't mind having a worker like him on the roster. He's beyond the gifting minutes phase and will now have to earn his way onto the floor. Let him come to camp as our 3rd string SG and see if he pushes anyone. If not, he'll be a good teammate.

C - KAT/Reid
PF - TBD/Vanderbilt or Juancho
SF - McDaniels/Edwards
SG - Edwards/DLO/Nowell
PG - DLO/Edwards/Bolmaro

Besides helping us get a starting PF, moving Beasley would also allow Edwards to start at SG and McDaniels at SF. Edwards and DLO would effectively share ball-handling duties and we'll see Edwards start to morph more and more into a lead guard.

I'm with FNG is preferring to move DLO. While I think it's unlikely that Rosas is open to moving DLO, I don't think it's entirely out of the question. I think Rosas is going to be heavily influenced by Chris Finch and that could cause Rosas to open his mind to moving DLO. As I indicated in another thread this afternoon, I think a DLO for Myles Turner deal is realistic and something I'd pursue.

Having said all that, moving Beasley for a PF is probably more realistic and likely. We already know that the Hawks were interested in Beasley, but insisted on also getting a future 1st round pick in exchange for Collins. I still think Rosas was wise to turn that deal down. I wouldn't give up a future 1st along with Beasley in exchange for Collins - especially since it's likely we'd have to give him a max or near-max deal to get him in a sign-and-trade. Maybe Indiana would be interested in swapping Turner for Beasley straight-up with LaVert playing the point. I'd pull the trigger on that deal if I were Rosas. And if they wanted us to throw in Culver, I'd do that as well.

[FNG]

Theres no way we move DLo this offseason. Focusing on DLo deals may as well include a trade for Lebron.

We don't want LeBron...doesn't fit our window :) .

I think you're probably right about Dlo, Doper, but give your reason. Is it because Finch believes in him and wants to keep him, or because other teams might be wary of taking on a max player who will be on his 5th team at age 26. Put another way, who says no to a sign and trade swap of Dlo for Collins?