Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Sat Jun 24, 2023 3:24 pm Great point about SloMo and point guard. He's the reason Zach LaVine only started one game at UCLA...SloMo was much better running the point.

I'm also comfortable with a Conley/JMac/SloMo triad at the point. We gotta keep JMac around for three reasons...his stellar assist to turnover ratio, his contract, and he has the best looking wife/girlfriend on the roster (in my humble opinion).

You’re absolutely right about JMac’s wife/girlfriend. That’s reason enough to keep him.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 24, 2023 3:41 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Sat Jun 24, 2023 3:24 pm Great point about SloMo and point guard. He's the reason Zach LaVine only started one game at UCLA...SloMo was much better running the point.

I'm also comfortable with a Conley/JMac/SloMo triad at the point. We gotta keep JMac around for three reasons...his stellar assist to turnover ratio, his contract, and he has the best looking wife/girlfriend on the roster (in my humble opinion).

You’re absolutely right about JMac’s wife/girlfriend. That’s reason enough to keep him.

It wasn’t just Anderson that kept Lavine from starting. There was also Norman Powell,Jordan Adam’s (drafted but got hurt and didn’t make it) and there there was coaches son Bryce Alford that I think some people made fun of or were upset that he was getting those minutes but he ended up having a pretty nice college career partly due to him shooting bf almost 40% from 3 in college.

Speaking of girlfriends I noticed last night a tweet video of McDaniels girl on social media. I don’t think I even know he was dating someone.

Several of you guys are much more knowledgeable than I with respect to what is legal in trades when you are over the cap. Answer this for me please. Let's say we get to the trade deadline next winter, and things are clicking so well that TC does not want to unload any of our core guys...but he still wants (needs?) to stay under the apron. Can he trade Naz and get only draft picks in return? Or can he trade Naz for an expiring contract and picks? The other team gets a high-scoring center they can use, and the Wolves unload Naz's $14 million without picking up a matching contract that would hurt us with respect to the apron in 2014-5. Is that possibly what TC might have in mind?

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 7:15 pm Several of you guys are much more knowledgeable than I with respect to what is legal in trades when you are over the cap. Answer this for me please. Let's say we get to the trade deadline next winter, and things are clicking so well that TC does not want to unload any of our core guys...but he still wants (needs?) to stay under the apron. Can he trade Naz and get only draft picks in return? Or can he trade Naz for an expiring contract and picks? The other team gets a high-scoring center they can use, and the Wolves unload Naz's $14 million without picking up a matching contract that would hurt us with respect to the apron in 2014-5. Is that possibly what TC might have in mind?

Yes, he certainly could. Taking back picks only would require the other team to have cap space or a trade exception to take on Naz's salary. The more likely scenario is we take back an expiring contract.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 7:21 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 7:15 pm Several of you guys are much more knowledgeable than I with respect to what is legal in trades when you are over the cap. Answer this for me please. Let's say we get to the trade deadline next winter, and things are clicking so well that TC does not want to unload any of our core guys...but he still wants (needs?) to stay under the apron. Can he trade Naz and get only draft picks in return? Or can he trade Naz for an expiring contract and picks? The other team gets a high-scoring center they can use, and the Wolves unload Naz's $14 million without picking up a matching contract that would hurt us with respect to the apron in 2014-5. Is that possibly what TC might have in mind?

Yes, he certainly could. Taking back picks only would require the other team to have cap space or a trade exception to take on Naz's salary. The more likely scenario is we take back an expiring contract.

Yep. I’ll add that the Wolves wouldn’t have to trade Naz by the Feb. deadline. They could instead trade him next summer. If things are really going that well next season, it probably makes sense to keep all our guys, including Naz, until the season is over. The Wolves have done a nice job of setting things up to go in a number of different directions next summer without the need to take any desperate actions or give away picks to clear salary. As we’ve all discussed, having KAT, Rudy, Ant and Jaden on the roster will make it very difficult to assemble a competitive team without exceeding the second apron. Naz Reid’s contract is preciously the sort of contract you want with your core of max players. The bottom line is that having more than two or three max (or near max) players is untenable under the new CBA.

But the Wolves won’t be over the second apron next summer because most of their contracts will expire a year from now or are at the team’s option. Unless something weird happens with Ant and Jaden, I would expect the Wolves to extend both of them - Ant at the max of $36M and Jaden somewhere in the $25-30M range at least. If they decide to keep both Rudy and KAT then they’ll probably have to trade Naz to a team under the cap in exchange for draft picks. The advantage of trading at the February deadline is that they could also trade Naz to teams over the cap in exchange for an expiring contract and picks. Otherwise, I still think there’s a good chance KAT or Rudy gets traded next summer. And who knows. Maybe Miller or Minott is so impressive that the Wolves decide to trade Jaden for a bunch of picks.

I think the question I have about salary and roster spots is whether the Wolves are gonna sign Clark to an NBA deal or use a 2-way roster spot. I’m not sure which way would be more valuable. If Clark doesn’t play all year it seems unlikely anyone is gonna come along and steal him away from the Wolves next offseason unless something has changed in how RFA coming off the first year of a 2 way deal works. It feels like Clark picked at 53 and injured makes more sense as a 2 way guy than a guy getting a full NBA salary. On the other hand they could sign him cheaper than some guys they could add on a 2 way that have more NBA experience. It would be nice to see them find a way to make a small Move to save a little money so they can tiptoe around the tax and have a full roster including all three 2-way guys.

Below is a somewhat interesting tweet from Dane Moore. Take it for whatever.

https://twitter.com/danemoorenba/status ... vZFquP67pw

“i've heard there's still some CBA confusion on the ability to have two-ways while leaving a roster spot open (to save $). could be a factor in why fewer have been signed? i think that's what's happening with the wolves, who haven't signed a two-way, as they tiptoe around the tax.”

After the All-Star Break this past season, Naz Reid recorded 242 points in 312 minutes of playing time (0.78 points per minute).

The only center to average more points per minute after the All-Star Break in 2022-23 was Joel Embiid (min. 50 minutes).

Jake Fischer
@JakeLFischer
·
14h
Naz Reid coming off the free agency board will have some ripple effects. Not sure exactly how wide-reaching, but Reid was seen as the premier backup/spot-start big on the market similar to how Isaiah Hartenstein last summer was at top of a few teams’ lists for that type of spot.

Mike Conley
@mconley11
·
13h
Naz Reid!!!!

Jon Krawczynski
@JonKrawczynski
·
10h
Why was it important for the Wolves to sign Naz?
1. One of the best development stories in franchise history. Important to reward those players that put in the work.
2. Numbers are numbers, but just watch the reaction of teammates when he enters the game. They love playing w/him