Minnesota Sports Forum

Ben Bentil is a free agent. Does anyone else want to sign him? I know Thibs liked him and he and Dunn built up chemistry in college. He might be an ideal cheap pickup since we now have a D-League to develop him and 17 roster spots to fill.

TeamRicky wrote:Ben Bentil is a free agent. Does anyone else want to sign him? I know Thibs liked him and he and Dunn built up chemistry in college. He might be an ideal cheap pickup since we now have a D-League to develop him and 17 roster spots to fill.

That's an interesting name. He is in theory the sort of combo forward this team could use and he is a 3 point shooter. Can he play defense? He was a guy that was kinda sorta in demand on the fringes. The Celtics liked him enough to put a $250,000 guarantee in his salary for a 2nd rounder and then when the Pacers signed him they gave him $50,000. He played in China for a few games to replace Blache who was injured. Later after he came back and was playing with Indiana's d league team the Mavs signed him to a 10 day contract. Maybe he could be in the mold of the Morris twins or Tobias Harris. That's an optimistic hope for him but watching the Wizards last week I had thought a guy like Morris would really be a nice player here.

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:Rubio Lavine Reddick Wuggins Towns death lineup

Like it offensively. They'd get destroyed on defense and probably on the boards too.

Folks have mentioned Wiggins before in hypothetical small-ball 4 lineups. It just doesn't work. You need someone stronger than him.

sign reddick and draft Markkanen and get some modern NBA spacing

Did you forget about our defense? Neither Redick or Markkanen help us there. Jonathan Isaac or Jayson Tatum are the kind of two way players we need to draft and we need a 3 and D guy like Sefolosha, James Johnson, Tucker or Patterson. I do like Redick, but if he's looking for more than $12 million a year, I'd pass and try to get Morrow, Jerebko or Babbitt on a much cheaper deal.

you consistently come up with the craziest cap numbers for players I"ve seen from anyone on this board lol, I think you're going to have a heart attack from the cap number for who we sign no matter who it is

Yep all the "middle tier guys" like Patterson, Gay, Gibson, reddick, JaMychal green, tucker are all going to get in the 14 to 20 mil range and probably closer to 20.

And the other cheaper names like Sefolosha, marrow, babbitt, Jerebko aren't we just switching out names instead of rush, hill, Aldrich

I'd say Sefelosga is a tier above those other guys. He has started a lot of games for playoff teams and is a legit defender and can hit some shots.

Also Redick right now probably is a better defensive player than most of the players on the Wolves so he would absolutely help defensively but he won't be here to help.

I was listening to that realgm draft podcast Duke posted and they were really high on Jayson Tatum I need to go back and look more into him.

He can play defense. Definitely. But nobody has ever counted of Sefolosha offensively. He's a career 5.9 ppg scorer with a high of 8.5 ppg. And he's not a volume three point shooter. He shoots them when he's wide open... remember, teams dared him to shoot those shots when he was in OKC because it meant Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and/or Harden wasn't shooting them.

He's basically a richer man's Anthony Roberson offensively. There's a definite place for those guys in the league because they're so good on D... just know that they're 5th options offensively for a reason.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

BloopOracle wrote:Rubio Lavine Reddick Wuggins Towns death lineup

Like it offensively. They'd get destroyed on defense and probably on the boards too.

Folks have mentioned Wiggins before in hypothetical small-ball 4 lineups. It just doesn't work. You need someone stronger than him.

sign reddick and draft Markkanen and get some modern NBA spacing

Did you forget about our defense? Neither Redick or Markkanen help us there. Jonathan Isaac or Jayson Tatum are the kind of two way players we need to draft and we need a 3 and D guy like Sefolosha, James Johnson, Tucker or Patterson. I do like Redick, but if he's looking for more than $12 million a year, I'd pass and try to get Morrow, Jerebko or Babbitt on a much cheaper deal.

you consistently come up with the craziest cap numbers for players I"ve seen from anyone on this board lol, I think you're going to have a heart attack from the cap number for who we sign no matter who it is

Yep all the "middle tier guys" like Patterson, Gay, Gibson, reddick, JaMychal green, tucker are all going to get in the 14 to 20 mil range and probably closer to 20.

And the other cheaper names like Sefolosha, marrow, babbitt, Jerebko aren't we just switching out names instead of rush, hill, Aldrich

I'd say Sefelosga is a tier above those other guys. He has started a lot of games for playoff teams and is a legit defender and can hit some shots.

Also Redick right now probably is a better defensive player than most of the players on the Wolves so he would absolutely help defensively but he won't be here to help.

I was listening to that realgm draft podcast Duke posted and they were really high on Jayson Tatum I need to go back and look more into him.

He can play defense. Definitely. But nobody has ever counted of Sefolosha offensively. He's a career 5.9 ppg scorer with a high of 8.5 ppg. And he's not a volume three point shooter. He shoots them when he's wide open... remember, teams dared him to shoot those shots when he was in OKC because it meant Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and/or Harden was shooting them.

He's basically a richer man's Anthony Roberson offensively. There's a definite place for those guys in the league because they're so good on D... just know that they're 5th options offensively for a reason.

Sure. Would you agree/disagree he is a better player than the other guys listed? That was my point. I'm not suggesting he is a significant difference maker but I think he is a bit better than rearranging the deck chairs type of guy.

I definitely put Thabo in a higher tier than Marrow, Jerebko, etc. He just fits so well in what we need. Veteran presence, defensive mindset, been on winning teams, can hit the wide open 3 fairly consistently, rebounds like a real small forward as opposed to Wiggins and Rush, etc., etc.. Yeah, he's not going to single-handedly win us 8 more games, but he can definitely be part of the solution.

Q12543 wrote:I definitely put Thabo in a higher tier than Marrow, Jerebko, etc. He just fits so well in what we need. Veteran presence, defensive mindset, been on winning teams, can hit the wide open 3 fairly consistently, rebounds like a real small forward as opposed to Wiggins and Rush, etc., etc.. Yeah, he's not going to single-handedly win us 8 more games, but he can definitely be part of the solution.

Very confused by your rebounding comment.

Thabo averages 3.9 rebounds per game and Wiggins averaged 4.1 rebounds per game

Mr. Brightside wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I don't see any realistic trades that would bring a needle-moving player here without giving up assets that would negate most if not all the deal's value. But I'd be interested in any ideas.

Any interest in trading the 6th pick to Denver for Kenneth Faried? Wouldn't help with floor spacing, but he's a tough, relentless rebounder.

What about the 6th pick to Boston for Jae Crowder? Literally the perfect 3 and D player to have mixed in with LaVine and Wiggins. Boston then flips both first rounders and Avery Bradley for Jimmy Butler/Paul George.

6th pick for Tobias Harris? Provides floor spacing. Detroit may want to shuffle the roster a bit.

Swing a trade for John Henson? Would provide rim protection. On a good contract. Don't think it would take much with the emergence of Thon Maker.

Just spitballin' ideas. Any of these interest anyone?

Some interesting ideas, Brightside. But I don't think I'd go for any of them if I were Thibs. I've always been a big fan of Faried. But he's been having back trouble lately. That scares me. Back issues rarely get better, especially in a big athlete approaching age 30. You'll note his minutes have declined in recent years. So I'd pass on any Faried deal. Harris is intriguing as a potential scorer, but I don't like his defense and slow feet. I'd rather end up with Isaac, Monk or Zach Collins. Henson is the most intriguing as someone we might be able to get without giving up our pick. He's definitely a shot-blocker. The problem is that's all he is. And other than shot-blocking he's physically weak and easily bullied in the paint so overall he's a poor defender. At $12.5 million per year, I'm not sure I'd want him even if we could get him in a swap for Adrian Payne.

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I definitely put Thabo in a higher tier than Marrow, Jerebko, etc. He just fits so well in what we need. Veteran presence, defensive mindset, been on winning teams, can hit the wide open 3 fairly consistently, rebounds like a real small forward as opposed to Wiggins and Rush, etc., etc.. Yeah, he's not going to single-handedly win us 8 more games, but he can definitely be part of the solution.

Very confused by your rebounding comment.

Thabo averages 3.9 rebounds per game and Wiggins averaged 4.1 rebounds per game

To be fair...

Per 36 Minutes: Wiggins - 4.0 reb... Sefolosha - 6.0 reb (with a high of 8.2 in 2015).

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I definitely put Thabo in a higher tier than Marrow, Jerebko, etc. He just fits so well in what we need. Veteran presence, defensive mindset, been on winning teams, can hit the wide open 3 fairly consistently, rebounds like a real small forward as opposed to Wiggins and Rush, etc., etc.. Yeah, he's not going to single-handedly win us 8 more games, but he can definitely be part of the solution.

Very confused by your rebounding comment.

Thabo averages 3.9 rebounds per game and Wiggins averaged 4.1 rebounds per game

That's only because Wiggins plays a lot more minutes. As we've discussed many times, Wiggins is an anemic rebounder for a small forward, but as a shooting guard, it becomes much less of an issue. Go look at their rebound percentages or rebounds per 36 minutes; Thabo is much better. He also gets more steals. I think starting Thabo next to Wiggins would be a good look. Same with PJ Tucker.

Mr. Brightside wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I don't see any realistic trades that would bring a needle-moving player here without giving up assets that would negate most if not all the deal's value. But I'd be interested in any ideas.

Any interest in trading the 6th pick to Denver for Kenneth Faried? Wouldn't help with floor spacing, but he's a tough, relentless rebounder.

What about the 6th pick to Boston for Jae Crowder? Literally the perfect 3 and D player to have mixed in with LaVine and Wiggins. Boston then flips both first rounders and Avery Bradley for Jimmy Butler/Paul George.

6th pick for Tobias Harris? Provides floor spacing. Detroit may want to shuffle the roster a bit.

Swing a trade for John Henson? Would provide rim protection. On a good contract. Don't think it would take much with the emergence of Thon Maker.

Just spitballin' ideas. Any of these interest anyone?

Some interesting ideas, Brightside. But I don't think I'd go for any of them if I were Thibs. I've always been a big fan of Faried. But he's been having back trouble lately. That scares me. Back issues rarely get better, especially in a big athlete approaching age 30. You'll note his minutes have declined in recent years. So I'd pass on any Faried deal. Harris is intriguing as a potential scorer, but I don't like his defense. I'd rather end up with Isaac, Monk or Zach Collins.