Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 9:51 pm

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 9:29 pm Sundog - Sorry I outed you, but I thought we owned our fellow Wolves bloggers the truth.

I agree with everyone concerned that Randle's fit is a huge question mark. Obviously, he can play the 4. The question is how effective will the team be on both ends of the court. But if it is being ineffective, it is good to know the Wolves have options, beginning with Naz in the starting lineup.

But what clearly is flying under radar is DDV. Jonny K wrote this:

If they were going to relent to New York’s wishes by finally giving them Towns, DiVincenzo had to be part of the package, team sources said. They see him fitting in right alongside Edwards in the backcourt and his 3-point shooting will be crucial for a team that just gave up its best outside shooter. DiVincenzo can play point guard when Mike Conley needs a breather and can come off the bench to provide firepower and rugged defense as well.

The roles played by NAW and Shake/JMac/Monte are being mostly replaced by DDV. This should be a huge upgrade that easily outweighs the difference between KAT and Randle. And it reduces the dependency on Rob having to hit the floor running to start the season. He has time to grow and develop under the tutelage of Conley.

The upgrade to our backcourt/bench provided by DDV is huge. Where and how Randle fits in remains to be seen, but given how well the team played when KAT went down last year, the frontcourt should be just fine. And we got a first round pick, too, which likely won't convey this year, but will almost assuredly convey in year two or three as Detroit improves and competes for a play-in spot.

Whether Randle sucks or not, this is a good trade.

I do like the DDV part of the deal. He’s a very nice piece to have.

I couldn't get the ESPN trade machine to work very well idk what the deal was maybe that was why Lip couldn't get any deals to work. I tried out the Sportrac trade machine and it's laid out better and IMO gives information in a more easily visible way. I was able to find a few trades even doing a 3 way deal with Detroit to get Randle to Miami. Now I have no idea what teams would actually want Randle and give up things to get him and what the Wolves would even accept for him but it seems like there is options for him to be moved. I'd guess the Wolves value him to the extent they aren't gonna just deal him to offload him. To me in a deal the Wolves would need to get back at least some sort of rotation level big.

I'll also add that Randle at around 30 million next season seems reasonable based on his production the past few years. We will see how things shake out but it doesn't look like many teams will have much cap space next off-season. Randle also has some incentives in his deal which may make him more likely to opt in or leverage that opt in for a longer term deal. Will teams have more space to sign a guy like him in 2026?

Idk still we are talking about a guy that is a legit 20-9 guy and that's has a real chance to appeal to some team that may trade for him. I feel less stuck with him than the Russell situation (and I liked Russell) and at this point Randle is simply a better player than Russell was. The Wolves have Reid already plus some other young talent so it's not just Randle or bust for the PF spot like it basically was with Russell.

On the flip side what happens if Randle opts out? Does that give the Wolves enough flexibility to trade for or sign some non-vet min FAs? I would think so even if we paid Reid quite a bit of money.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 7:35 pm

Sundog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:50 pm Randle has long been a favorite of mine! He’s an absolute bucket, and adds a significant amount of toughness to this team. Randle on this team could have been very important in the playoffs last year when the team struggled to score. He has warts as all players do, but I’m looking forward to seeing him play for the Wolves for as long as he’s here. I’m also looking for to the Wolves getting out of the financial strait jacket that Towns’ massive salary combined with the new CBA put them in, as well as seeing DDV suit up for us, another longtime favorite of mine.

Many, if not most, national guys who analyze the trade lean towards Minnesota coming out ahead, and that the Knicks, while it could work out, have made their bed that their stuck with for quite some time.

My opTIMistic mind tells me this may be Conley's best trade, yet!

There's an easy reason to this: KAT is one of the most hated players in the NBA. We coulda traded KAT for Rocco Baldelli and writers woulda said "wolves did ok, ya never know."

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 9:29 pm

KiwiMatt wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 7:08 pm

Sundog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:50 pm Randle has long been a favorite of mine! He’s an absolute bucket, and adds a significant amount of toughness to this team. Randle on this team could have been very important in the playoffs last year when the team struggled to score. He has warts as all players do, but I’m looking forward to seeing him play for the Wolves for as long as he’s here. I’m also looking for to the Wolves getting out of the financial strait jacket that Towns’ massive salary combined with the new CBA put them in, as well as seeing DDV suit up for us, another longtime favorite of mine.

Nice to get a positive perspective on Julius Randle.

One things for sure, if healthy Randle should replace the production KAT gave us. Even if only in the short term.

What you don’t know, Matt, is that Sundog is Randle’s agent. So take whatever he writes about Randle with 10 grains of salt.

Ha, Lip! More like Tim Connelly’s bobo… this was another baller move by Tim, to sell high on KAT to the team that wanted him most, and get the most from the move in terms of players and financial flexibility.

I think the fact that Finch has already coached Randle, should help Randle transition to our team. Kat had flaws that drove us crazy his charges, stupid fouls, falling down too much so teams end up going 5-4 against us, hooking his arms up, etc, and Randle is going to have his flaws as well that drive us crazy. The biggest flaw is going to be that he is a ball stopper and that isn't gong to mesh well with Ant. Randle while a ball stopper, his bully ball is actually going to work well against a team like Dallas to break down the defense and open up the court for shooters. Kat had been a bad defender for 8 years, Randle was actually considered the better defender before last season. Can Randle buy into the team defense like Kat did? This is potentially a contract year if he opts out, so he going to want to play as well as he can this season.
Getting off of Randle, if Donte can continue playing like he did last season, I think we are going to be a championship level team next season. New York was the team I had the most fun watching in the playoffs after the Wolves. Most of the reason I enjoyed watching them was that half the team was hurt and Donte and Hart specifically were just playing a fun brand of basketball. Donte was making his shot, playing great defense, hustling, and he hit clutch shots. The clutch shots is something we desperately needed as we sucked at making buzzer beaters all year. We lost to Dallas because of late game execution and we couldn't hit big shots at the end of the games. Donte can hit those big shots if we pass it to him.

Randle could honestly miss the season and i think the wolves would be fine. Kat was a great shooter but he wouldn't shoot the damn the ball as much as he should. Naz will get more minutes and will fire as well as Donte

If we don't move Randle at some point he just may opt in next year also. I watched several podcasts and there will be very few teams with cap room this summer and mostly rebuilding teams. Meaning on the open market he could end up getting much less.

Not to mention, he's a good player but he's also been pretty ineffecient in the last couple years, injured too much and a bit of a ball dominant chucker as well (does he make his teammate better?). What team is clamoring for Randle at this point? He's not a super star, just a good player past his prime. He had one really great year and has been basically downhill since. To say he sucks. That is a little too far, but he's not a superstar either. He needs to play better D, score more effectively, simply shoot the three better then 30%.

I did hear someone say he was 53% on corner threes. Maybe open corner threes. Now will he accept that is his main role? It's hard to say. He can opt out and will likely want to prove himself too. I just don't know how it'll work out. Can he play a diminished more effective role and team player in expense of points and dollars? Arguably becoming a more effective player might raise his salary though.

Sundog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:50 pm Randle has long been a favorite of mine! He’s an absolute bucket, and adds a significant amount of toughness to this team. Randle on this team could have been very important in the playoffs last year when the team struggled to score. He has warts as all players do, but I’m looking forward to seeing him play for the Wolves for as long as he’s here. I’m also looking for to the Wolves getting out of the financial strait jacket that Towns’ massive salary combined with the new CBA put them in, as well as seeing DDV suit up for us, another longtime favorite of mine.

We can argue whether it's a small sample size or not... but in 15 career playoff games...

Julius Randle has shot 34.4% fg with 3.9 TOs.

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 1:16 pm

Sundog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:50 pm Randle has long been a favorite of mine! He’s an absolute bucket, and adds a significant amount of toughness to this team. Randle on this team could have been very important in the playoffs last year when the team struggled to score. He has warts as all players do, but I’m looking forward to seeing him play for the Wolves for as long as he’s here. I’m also looking for to the Wolves getting out of the financial strait jacket that Towns’ massive salary combined with the new CBA put them in, as well as seeing DDV suit up for us, another longtime favorite of mine.

We can argue whether it's a small sample size or not... but in 15 career playoff games...

Julius Randle has shot 34.4% fg with 3.9 TOs.

I saw a New York fan say the first year Randle was in the playoffs he was a on a bad team and was basically defended like Ant gets defended with double and triple teams. In Randle's second playoffs he was injured and probably wouldn't have played if it wasn't the playoffs.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 1:41 pm

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 1:16 pm

Sundog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2024 5:50 pm Randle has long been a favorite of mine! He’s an absolute bucket, and adds a significant amount of toughness to this team. Randle on this team could have been very important in the playoffs last year when the team struggled to score. He has warts as all players do, but I’m looking forward to seeing him play for the Wolves for as long as he’s here. I’m also looking for to the Wolves getting out of the financial strait jacket that Towns’ massive salary combined with the new CBA put them in, as well as seeing DDV suit up for us, another longtime favorite of mine.

We can argue whether it's a small sample size or not... but in 15 career playoff games...

Julius Randle has shot 34.4% fg with 3.9 TOs.

I saw a New York fan say the first year Randle was in the playoffs he was a on a bad team and was basically defended like Ant gets defended with double and triple teams. In Randle's second playoffs he was injured and probably wouldn't have played if it wasn't the playoffs.

Maybe the discussion should be why is he never healthy for the playoffs!

To be fair, he's been injured and failed to finish the last three seasons healthy.




[Note: Meh to the spacing in year 1. He was returning from injury the next season... so that one might have some merit. ]