Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves

[Monster]

Some examples of big trades gone right or wrong have been mentioned. A former Wolf was part of 2 of them. There is something to consider with both.

The Celtics gave up quite a bit to get KG when he what turned 31. That worked out pretty well along with acquiring Ray Allen. They only won a single championship but it was easily worth it. So,e will say the Wolves should have gotten more in the deal but there were some intruiging assets in that deal. Jefferson was the only one worth anything really (Ellington was drafted with one Boston pick) and Kahn wisely dealt him for 2 future first rounders which in hindsight probably was actually not a stupid move which was a bit rare for mr Kahn. Note the Wolves and the Jazz have sole trade history.

Next trade was the one people jump on as the one to consider when teams give up massive future unprotected picks and how it doesn't work out. Some of what gets lost is that KG and Pierce were old like 36 and 37 and had clearly shown signs they were slowing down let's say the nets were trading for them at say 33 years old that probably would have been less horrific. Pierce was on a 1 year deal and only played a season for the Nets. KG played 108 games before being traded to MN. Gobert is more like the 31 year old KG than the ill fated Nets deal.

Still it was an absolute ton to give up but again Gobert Edwards Towns and some other either legit worthwhile players or young guys that look like they could be worthwhile is kinda impressive. The Wolves do have a legit big 3 and it's not like nobody else is on the roster even though they traded away 5 players.

[Q-is-here]

Let's also not forget that Ayton got his ass sat on the bench a couple times in that Dallas series by Monty Williams. I'm surprised to hear some of DLO's biggest critics not mention that fact considering the same thing happened to DLO in the playoffs and that's all we heard from some of his haters! Is that suddenly not important when it involves a player you like???

[Q-is-here]

Some examples of big trades gone right or wrong have been mentioned. A former Wolf was part of 2 of them. There is something to consider with both.

The Celtics gave up quite a bit to get KG when he what turned 31. That worked out pretty well along with acquiring Ray Allen. They only won a single championship but it was easily worth it. So,e will say the Wolves should have gotten more in the deal but there were some intruiging assets in that deal. Jefferson was the only one worth anything really (Ellington was drafted with one Boston pick) and Kahn wisely dealt him for 2 future first rounders which in hindsight probably was actually not a stupid move which was a bit rare for mr Kahn. Note the Wolves and the Jazz have sole trade history.

Next trade was the one people jump on as the one to consider when teams give up massive future unprotected picks and how it doesn't work out. Some of what gets lost is that KG and Pierce were old like 36 and 37 and had clearly shown signs they were slowing down let's say the nets were trading for them at say 33 years old that probably would have been less horrific. Pierce was on a 1 year deal and only played a season for the Nets. KG played 108 games before being traded to MN. Gobert is more like the 31 year old KG than the ill fated Nets deal.

Still it was an absolute ton to give up but again Gobert Edwards Towns and some other either legit worthwhile players or young guys that look like they could be worthwhile is kinda impressive. The Wolves do have a legit big 3 and it's not like nobody else is on the roster even though they traded away 5 players.

As others have said, they probably really wanted Jaden and the Wolves had to give up draft picks instead. My guess is if Jaden was included it would have been one or two picks less. But then folks would be screaming about how TC got bamboozled into giving up Jaden in the trade!

The fact remains that the Wolves landed a HOF Center without giving up its three most prices assets: Ant, KAT, and Jaden.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

"What the Timberwolves believe is that they weren't going to out-small ball Golden State... They're going to start big and they are going to stay big and see if the rest of the league can handle them."

This. A million times this. To hell with small ball. Make teams adjust to us and exploit them.

[WildWolf2813]

"What the Timberwolves believe is that they weren't going to out-small ball Golden State... They're going to start big and they are going to stay big and see if the rest of the league can handle them."

This. A million times this. To hell with small ball. Make teams adjust to us and exploit them.

Sounds great in theory. Now they have to execute it. If they can't master the style they wanna use, then everyone will rightfully call Connelly a fool.


I'm still just unhappy that we all but locked ourselves into D'Lo

[mrhockey89]

I see a lot of hate on the Wolves pairing big men, with suggestions that they think they're going to old school ball with a Duncan/Admiral pairing. I don't like that comparison...

I think the better comp is when Dallas acquired Tyson Chandler. He was the exact piece they needed to propel them to a championship. Dallas already had a historically good 3 point shooting big man who couldn't keep up with PFs defensively. They paired two 7' big men with almost eerily similar strengths to Towns/Gobert, and not only did they figure out how to make it work, but they won the title. Dallas let Chandler go soon after and Dallas saw that Chandler was that missing piece as they dwindled back down out of contention.

Was Dirk/Chandler better than Towns/Gobert? Nope. Dallas also had Kidd, but we have other pieces too. I'm curious why people are so concerned with this not being a fit? Are we really worried about Towns getting blown by only to have a PF attack the best rim protector in the league?

[Coolbreeze44]

"What the Timberwolves believe is that they weren't going to out-small ball Golden State... They're going to start big and they are going to stay big and see if the rest of the league can handle them."

This. A million times this. To hell with small ball. Make teams adjust to us and exploit them.

Hey Cam, we're on the same page

[Coolbreeze44]

"What the Timberwolves believe is that they weren't going to out-small ball Golden State... They're going to start big and they are going to stay big and see if the rest of the league can handle them."

This. A million times this. To hell with small ball. Make teams adjust to us and exploit them.

Sounds great in theory. Now they have to execute it. If they can't master the style they wanna use, then everyone will rightfully call Connelly a fool.


I'm still just unhappy that we all but locked ourselves into D'Lo

I don't think we're locked into DLO unless we extend him. He's still very movable at this point, maybe even this summer. You have to remember Ant and Jaden are going to need to get paid, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to extend Russell.

[kekgeek]

I will say it again because it helps me understand it the best. Wolves add a multi time All NBA guy and a top 2 defender in the NBA and didn't have to give up their top 3 assets or their top 4 talented players. Also returning 8 of their top 11 rotation pieces from last year

[Lipoli390]

Everyone knows I don't like the Gobert deal. I'm not going to get into the Ayton debate in any detail, except to say that we could have obviously gotten him, a much younger player on a much more team-friendly contract, for significantly less than we gave up for Gobert. I would have preferred that. And we could have gotten Dejounte Murray for less than we gave up for Gobert and I would have preferred that as well. I say that while fully acknowledging that Gobert is better than either one.

But even though I'm not fond of the Gobert deal, I'm a little tired of national media blowhards spewing false or grossly distorted narratives related to the deal as they try to create an analytical basis for a pre-determined conclusion. Zach Harper's article in The Athletic is a good example of what I'm referring to. He gave the Wolves a C+ for the deal. That's arguably a fair grade given all the risks we've discussed. But grade aside, he cobbled together justifications for his grade that have little if any basis in fact. Here's an excerpt from his article:

Last reason for this being a risk? Chemistry matters. If the Wolves end up trading Russell after this move, how does KAT process that? Towns and Gobert haven't exactly loved and respected each other on the court over the years, and both players have a history of some chemistry questions involving them in their respective locker rooms. Now they're sharing a locker room, and that has the potential to be volatile. Everything here is a big expensive risk.

Any Wolves fan who understands anything about the NBA knows how ridiculous this is. The fact that Towns and Gobert haven't gotten along as adversaries should be expected unless they're Wes Johnson types who don't give a shit. Of course they didn't get along on the court. They are both highly competitive centers playing for division rivals and going head to head repeatedly in the rough-and-tumble NBA paint. That doesn't even remotely suggest they won't get along as teammates. In fact, quite the opposite. Highly competitive rivals who don't get along playing against one another tend to get along especially well if they become teammates. Zach is simply attempting to create something out of nothing and ends up just flat wrong. Then Zach goes on to say that both players "have a history of some chemistry questions involve in them in their respective locker rooms." I can't speak to any chemistry issues Gobert might have had. But what in the hell is he talking about when it comes to Towns?? We all know KAT's weaknesses like whining on the court, but he's always been known as a good teammate in the locker room. If Harper is referring to the Butler situation, then he's engaging in a gross distortion. KAT's issue with Butler was an anomaly. It was a 21-year old somewhat thin-skinned KAT who didn't take well to the bullying he was getting from the 28-year old Butler, who to that point had a history of not getting along with young players. The issue with KAT resulted when Butler crossed a line into the personal realm, threatening to sleep with KAT's girlfriend.

There are real risks associated with this trade. They've already been discussed ad nauseum. But the national media frenzy, animated by false narratives and gross distortions, is driving me nuts. The Gobert deal was a high-risk maneuver, but it was a calculated risk. Connelly gave up too much in my opinion, but he did not strip the cupboard bare. We still have a fairly deep team of bona fide NBA talent including allstar KAT, budding superstar Ant, potential all-star McDaniels a number of solid NBA players in Prince, Anderson, Forbes, McLaughlin, Naz Reid and Nowell. We also have a couple of talented rookies in Moore and the more developmental project Minott. We have an intriguing Euro-stash player in Spagnolo. There's more work to be done, but this Wolves team has the potential to be a title contender for the next four years. It's not the situation I wanted because I believe we could have gotten to the same place a bit more slowly and with a lot less risk. Nevertheless, it's not a bad situation at all. If the national media are looking for a franchise to ridicule they should look to the Nation's two largest cities - New York (aka Brooklyn Nets and LA (aka LA Lakers). Those are a couple organizations fully deserving of ridicule. And you can criticize them without having to make anything up.