Minnesota Sports Forum

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 8:51 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 8:14 pm

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 3:18 pm
It's funny because the best thing that could happen would be to find a bargain bin guy who can play at that level like Jerome and such players.
But
You can't go into the fall with that as your plan lol, you just can't.

So I don't really know what the answer is. I'm more and more inclined to believe that Morant will end up being the chosen route, so I'm over here trying to talk myself into it. And it's just really hard to buy into a guy who peaked when he was 22 and it's been four full years since

I'm not convinced they would take Morant even if Memphis paid them handsomely to make it happen. I'm not against it because you could probably get him and get something back to but it just seems like Morant is a guy that has more than one issue and he is getting paid a bunch of money. He is a guy that a team that kinda doesn't have anything to lose can be like sure we will take him like the Wizards did adding Trae Young. Injuries are a big problem for him he has never played 70 regular season games and he relies on his athletic ability right?

Connelly has always looked to add some legit type of players at spots where the Wolves needed guys. He hasn't always added the right guys but he has tried to address it. I'd guarantee him adding some sort of worthwhile guard this off-season in addition to resigning Ayo. There are gonna be guys available for the vet min that will fit that profile.

Legit ball handling point guards who are as good of playmakers as Ja are too scares for a team in need like the Wolves to pass up on. Or at least I think that will be the FO logic. It was an entirely safe bet that Trea wasn't a serious player, teams can still talk themselves into Ja, especially considering that is contract isn't back breaking.

I'm not saying I fully endorse the move but the guy has averaged 8 apg the last few year and in the short time he played this year, he registered 24 potential apg. Considering what he'd likely cost to acquire, it's making more and more sense to me. You can keep Rudy with him too cause of you'd be able actually run PnR, or trade him too I'd be fine with either.

From 23-25 Ja Morant and Des Bane (comparable archetype to Ant) had a 8.8 NRTG

I'm presenting the positive information here and the optimistic view, because Ja seems like a lost cause to me. I don't like a guy that has done almost nothing to improve his game through 7 seasons.

That's said we're in a beggars can't be choosers situation and the stars seem like they're aligning

You have laid this out well but what if trading for Ja is just creating a new problem and one that's expensive? Gobert and Ja being on the same team does create some spacing problems too. Meanwhile isn't part of some people's desire to move on from Randle is giving more runway for young players? Having said that the team needs more talent but is Ja the guy we want taking a lot of shots? And what about the playoffs? I think one of my concerns is his percentage of shots at the rim keeps going down. That's sort of natural for a player as they age but still.

I get the Wolves do likely need to do something but doing the wrong thing could be worse than just running it back. I'm not totally against adding Morant especially depending on what the total deal is. One positive about the Wolves situation is they don't have any bad contracts...of course that kinda creates problems because there are only so many guys to put in a deal. The Wolves don't need to dump anyone purely to save money.

I think the Wolves may be better off looking for ways to add a player that's cheaper than either Randle or Gobert in a deal not one that's more expensive.

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 10:54 pm I kinda don't wanna trade for the solution unless it involves Randle or Gobert (though I'd be more hesitant on Gobert). I'm sick of effectively using whatever "flexibility" we were supposed to get by trading KAT just to patch up things Connelly whiffed on. That's not flexibility. That's praying for a mulligan.

Reach option:

Kyrie.


Realistic option:

Quickley in a Gobert trade.

Very realistic FA option:

Tyus Jones on a vet min to replace Bones.


What I expect:

Ayo back, Conley back in the Ingles role, one of our draft picks being our third string G League PG, signing another PG on a two way, and either Jones or Bones coming back

OR

if Ayo leaves, the Gobert to Toronto proposal I offered earlier where Quickley starts for us and Jones signs.

I was looking at various players with some salaries in a trade and I noticed Quickly is signed for 3 more seasons as 32.5 million...he could be worth that but if he isn't that's a lot of money for a rotation player.

Monster wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 10:10 am

WildWolf2813 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 10:54 pm I kinda don't wanna trade for the solution unless it involves Randle or Gobert (though I'd be more hesitant on Gobert). I'm sick of effectively using whatever "flexibility" we were supposed to get by trading KAT just to patch up things Connelly whiffed on. That's not flexibility. That's praying for a mulligan.

Reach option:

Kyrie.


Realistic option:

Quickley in a Gobert trade.

Very realistic FA option:

Tyus Jones on a vet min to replace Bones.


What I expect:

Ayo back, Conley back in the Ingles role, one of our draft picks being our third string G League PG, signing another PG on a two way, and either Jones or Bones coming back

OR

if Ayo leaves, the Gobert to Toronto proposal I offered earlier where Quickley starts for us and Jones signs.

I was looking at various players with some salaries in a trade and I noticed Quickly is signed for 3 more seasons as 32.5 million...he could be worth that but if he isn't that's a lot of money for a rotation player.

Quickly is probably a tad over paid, and as others have said, I don't know a ton about his game, but on paper he's a perfect fit.
Or I should he's a perfect fit if the goal is to remove players like Randle and Rudy and better support Ant and Jaden as the centerpieces of the team.

I think by adding IQ, you're saying, "we want and think McDaniels can be the 2nd best player on the team"

I personally like that small style complimentary type of move as opposed to one of the more distributive moves. However, that's cause I think Jaden can be a secondary star on a contender--- which the fanbase is pretty divided on.

Monster wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 10:08 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 8:51 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 8:14 pm

I'm not convinced they would take Morant even if Memphis paid them handsomely to make it happen. I'm not against it because you could probably get him and get something back to but it just seems like Morant is a guy that has more than one issue and he is getting paid a bunch of money. He is a guy that a team that kinda doesn't have anything to lose can be like sure we will take him like the Wizards did adding Trae Young. Injuries are a big problem for him he has never played 70 regular season games and he relies on his athletic ability right?

Connelly has always looked to add some legit type of players at spots where the Wolves needed guys. He hasn't always added the right guys but he has tried to address it. I'd guarantee him adding some sort of worthwhile guard this off-season in addition to resigning Ayo. There are gonna be guys available for the vet min that will fit that profile.

Legit ball handling point guards who are as good of playmakers as Ja are too scares for a team in need like the Wolves to pass up on. Or at least I think that will be the FO logic. It was an entirely safe bet that Trea wasn't a serious player, teams can still talk themselves into Ja, especially considering that is contract isn't back breaking.

I'm not saying I fully endorse the move but the guy has averaged 8 apg the last few year and in the short time he played this year, he registered 24 potential apg. Considering what he'd likely cost to acquire, it's making more and more sense to me. You can keep Rudy with him too cause of you'd be able actually run PnR, or trade him too I'd be fine with either.

From 23-25 Ja Morant and Des Bane (comparable archetype to Ant) had a 8.8 NRTG

I'm presenting the positive information here and the optimistic view, because Ja seems like a lost cause to me. I don't like a guy that has done almost nothing to improve his game through 7 seasons.

That's said we're in a beggars can't be choosers situation and the stars seem like they're aligning

You have laid this out well but what if trading for Ja is just creating a new problem and one that's expensive? Gobert and Ja being on the same team does create some spacing problems too. Meanwhile isn't part of some people's desire to move on from Randle is giving more runway for young players? Having said that the team needs more talent but is Ja the guy we want taking a lot of shots? And what about the playoffs? I think one of my concerns is his percentage of shots at the rim keeps going down. That's sort of natural for a player as they age but still.

I get the Wolves do likely need to do something but doing the wrong thing could be worse than just running it back. I'm not totally against adding Morant especially depending on what the total deal is. One positive about the Wolves situation is they don't have any bad contracts...of course that kinda creates problems because there are only so many guys to put in a deal. The Wolves don't need to dump anyone purely to save money.

I think the Wolves may be better off looking for ways to add a player that's cheaper than either Randle or Gobert in a deal not one that's more expensive.

I really don't know the answer to your question cause it's the same one I'm wondering. It's also just a fairly compelling argument to me that you have the opportunity to add a relatively young PG while likely giving up nothing of value.
I would be very cautious about it, because it's honestly pretty hard for me to buy in on a guy who peaked at 22... Four years ago. But he can dish and at the end of the day I do think Ja is a serious competitor who wants to win. He might just also be an idiot

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 12:19 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 10:08 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2026 8:51 pm

Legit ball handling point guards who are as good of playmakers as Ja are too scares for a team in need like the Wolves to pass up on. Or at least I think that will be the FO logic. It was an entirely safe bet that Trea wasn't a serious player, teams can still talk themselves into Ja, especially considering that is contract isn't back breaking.

I'm not saying I fully endorse the move but the guy has averaged 8 apg the last few year and in the short time he played this year, he registered 24 potential apg. Considering what he'd likely cost to acquire, it's making more and more sense to me. You can keep Rudy with him too cause of you'd be able actually run PnR, or trade him too I'd be fine with either.

From 23-25 Ja Morant and Des Bane (comparable archetype to Ant) had a 8.8 NRTG

I'm presenting the positive information here and the optimistic view, because Ja seems like a lost cause to me. I don't like a guy that has done almost nothing to improve his game through 7 seasons.

That's said we're in a beggars can't be choosers situation and the stars seem like they're aligning

You have laid this out well but what if trading for Ja is just creating a new problem and one that's expensive? Gobert and Ja being on the same team does create some spacing problems too. Meanwhile isn't part of some people's desire to move on from Randle is giving more runway for young players? Having said that the team needs more talent but is Ja the guy we want taking a lot of shots? And what about the playoffs? I think one of my concerns is his percentage of shots at the rim keeps going down. That's sort of natural for a player as they age but still.

I get the Wolves do likely need to do something but doing the wrong thing could be worse than just running it back. I'm not totally against adding Morant especially depending on what the total deal is. One positive about the Wolves situation is they don't have any bad contracts...of course that kinda creates problems because there are only so many guys to put in a deal. The Wolves don't need to dump anyone purely to save money.

I think the Wolves may be better off looking for ways to add a player that's cheaper than either Randle or Gobert in a deal not one that's more expensive.

I really don't know the answer to your question cause it's the same one I'm wondering. It's also just a fairly compelling argument to me that you have the opportunity to add a relatively young PG while likely giving up nothing of value.
I would be very cautious about it, because it's honestly pretty hard for me to buy in on a guy who peaked at 22... Four years ago. But he can dish and at the end of the day I do think Ja is a serious competitor who wants to win. He might just also be an idiot

Yeah I think we are on the same page. It's not hard to be talked into taking a chance on him but there are 3 reasons I think it's gonna be a tough sell for the Wolves.

1. Like you said he seems like an idiot.
2. He makes 9 million more this year than Randle or like 6 million more than Gobert. That money is significant in building the roster.
3. Injury concerns. His career high in games is 67. I get that he missed various games the last couple seasons because they weren't trying to win but there were also times where Memphis was just fine without him. Maybe we should be looking at making a smaller trade for Scottie Pippen jr...or signing Tyus for cheap. Maybe we have our Scottie pippen Jr impact player already in Pullin.

Now if the Wolves move both Randle and Gobert (which isn't out of the realm of possibility) Morant coming back might be more realistic.

Let's remember that Edwards being the PG for this roster wasn't the plan this year. Conley and dillinghamnl were expected to play plenty of minutes and Hyland was signed because Connelly believed he could help them and he was right about that. Conley struggled and Dillingham wasn't remotely up to the task which is why Hyland got a shot. I think Connelly is gonna do something at that position and there is a clear opening which is a very different situation than the past 2 years where Dillingham and Conley were here. There isn't a potential starting level PG on the roster and there isn't one on the roster at all with Conley being a FA. Players like Tyus Jones or maybe even a Colin Sexron will be interested in coming here. Last year not really. Looking at some other FAs and thinking outside the box a little. I mean how much would it take to sign Anfernee Simons? What do we do in the draft?

ESPN is peddling trades they'd like to see and the list includes Ja for Julius, TJ and Joan.

There's no way in hell TC would include TJ or JB in that deal.

Ja for Julius is still my hit-a-dead-end trade for both teams.

Phenom wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2026 5:00 pm ESPN is peddling trades they'd like to see and the list includes Ja for Julius, TJ and Joan.

There's no way in hell TC would include TJ or JB in that deal.

Ja for Julius is still my hit-a-dead-end trade for both teams.

Yeah that's a laughable trade idea when all the reporting this season is teams have very little interest in acquiring Ja all things considered. If things are really bad with Ja then Memphis might be thrilled to take on Randle save 10 million and hope Randle opts out after this coming year...or they can reroute him for some kind of value which might be a possibility. On the other hand could Memphis actually use a PF?

I'm out on Ja completely. Pretty close to the same on Kyrie, Suggs, and D. Murray.

I'd like to see them push to get 2 of the following players:
Quickley
Giddey
R. Nembhard
A. Nembhard
Pritchard
Kris Dunn
Tyus Jones
Tre Jones
(Would be cool to have both the Jones brothers)
Scotty Pippen
Davion Mitchell
Anthony Black
Cason Wallace
Ajai Mitchell
Marcus Sasser
Coby White
Collin Sexton
Collin Gillespie
TJ McConnell
Miles Mcbride
Scoot
Schroeder
Drag Chris Paul out of retirement
Keon Ellis
Danish Jenkins
Jose Alvarado

TheFuture wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2026 6:27 am I'm out on Ja completely. Pretty close to the same on Kyrie, Suggs, and D. Murray.

I'd like to see them push to get 2 of the following players:
Quickley
Giddey
R. Nembhard
A. Nembhard
Pritchard
Kris Dunn
Tyus Jones
Tre Jones
(Would be cool to have both the Jones brothers)
Scotty Pippen
Davion Mitchell
Anthony Black
Cason Wallace
Ajai Mitchell
Marcus Sasser
Coby White
Collin Sexton
Collin Gillespie
TJ McConnell
Miles Mcbride
Scoot
Schroeder
Drag Chris Paul out of retirement

Not gonna lie, I'd be all for this.
I think you just gotta be able to bring in as many ball handlers as you can.

On another note, go get Herb Jones. Not a PG but he's undervalued and you've got to get a defensive wing or two

Ayo is young, can shoot, play defense, push pace, and is a smart player. Don't know why that isn't the slam dunk answer