Minnesota Sports Forum

Would

khans2k5 wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:Did we have anyone on this board who preferred Noah Vonleh over Julius Randle a couple years ago? I'm watching this Thunder/Blazers game and I noticed Vonleh after he turned the ball over and it made me wonder. Also, whatever he's attempting with his hair... Yikes.

I was definitely on the Vonleh train but that's been a disaster. I don't really understand when 6'10 240 lb bigs with shooting touch fail in this league. Rebound the ball and learn the PnPop and you're already competent. Must be a between the ears thing.

I was on that train too. Crazy how he has failed to a similar degree as Anthony Bennett.

I just listened to this podcast with Woj and Bobby Marks. There wasn't anything earth shattering but there was some moderately interesting commentary. They basically didn't really see any moves that were going to happen even among guys that are obviously available but there are teams looking for deals. They said virtually every team still has a shot at the playoffs so that's going to keep some teams from making deals for a while.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vertical-podcast-with-woj/id1065985281?mt=2

Camden wrote:

You don't think adding Ibaka would do wonders for this team? I do. He's a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat from all over the floor, he's adequate in transition, he's capable on the glass, he's still one of the best rim protectors in basketball, he has winning pedigree, and he's been pretty durable throughout his career. The only drawback is that he's a free agent this summer, but we'll have the cap space to offer what he's likely to ask for anyway. That's the dream pickup as far as availability, need, cost, and our situation goes.

I think he would be a big improvement. I wonder if the Magic would do Pek, Hill/Payne, and Shabazz for Biyombo and Hezonja. Even if Biyombo is overpaid he would be a legit physical presence next to KAT.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

Camden wrote:

You don't think adding Ibaka would do wonders for this team? I do. He's a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat from all over the floor, he's adequate in transition, he's capable on the glass, he's still one of the best rim protectors in basketball, he has winning pedigree, and he's been pretty durable throughout his career. The only drawback is that he's a free agent this summer, but we'll have the cap space to offer what he's likely to ask for anyway. That's the dream pickup as far as availability, need, cost, and our situation goes.

I think he would be a big improvement. I wonder if the Magic would do Pek, Hill/Payne, and Shabazz for Biyombo and Hezonja. Even if Biyombo is overpaid he would be a legit physical presence next to KAT.

I doubt either team is better off atter that proposed Biyombo deal, bleed. I know that I don't want his contract on our books.

I think Biyombo is a better fit then Dieng. At this point he is a 3 year deal at $18M a year vs Dieng at 4 years and $16M. I would only want to take on Biyombo if they basically paid us to take him and that price would be Hezonja. I would love Gordon, but that is not happening. The downside is you are giving the Magic room to sign Ibaka. If you are serious about signing him as a FA you don't do it.

Q12543 wrote:Not a bust, but just not the kind of guy that fits on our team. He is almost like the Center version of Shabazz. Unless he gets touches in the low post, he's useless. So if he's your starting Center, he now becomes somewhat the center of gravity and create even less spacing than Dieng does now. I honestly believe he'd make our offense and defense worse.

If KAT and Wiggins were elite defenders, I could see being able to plug him in. But the last thing we need is another weak defender that needs a lot of shots on this team.

I'll defer to your knowledge on this one as you are much closer to the situation. I'm just thinking Philly has to move a big at some point, and I'd like to see us get a big body like that. But if he isn't willing to bang, he probably isn't the right fit.

Camden wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:Serge Ibaka, Kenneth Faried, Greg Monroe, Nerlens Noel, Luol Deng, Donatas Motiej?nas, and Kosta Koufos. Those would be my trade targets while keeping in mind that some of these guys need a new contract this summer.

I don't know...I really struggle with how any of these guys significantly move the needle as replacements over any of our existing big rotation (with Dieng and/or Aldrich being the primary guys moved or knocked out of the rotation).

The bottom line is our "big three" have to step it up defensively and get smarter offensively. Hopefully that will happen with time (?). But I feel like that is by far our best hope to becoming competitive and then all you need are "good enough" role players and specialists around them to fill in the holes. Everything else feels like shuffling of the deck chairs.

I don't disagree with your second point, but we likely don't agree on the first point. Personally, I think we have one star big (Towns), one elite bench big (Dieng), two depth bigs (Aldrich and Bjelica), and two warm bodies (Hill and Payne). We're lacking a starting quality big to go next to Towns and one rotational big, but Aldrich is what we have for now.

You don't think adding Ibaka would do wonders for this team? I do. He's a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat from all over the floor, he's adequate in transition, he's capable on the glass, he's still one of the best rim protectors in basketball, he has winning pedigree, and he's been pretty durable throughout his career. The only drawback is that he's a free agent this summer, but we'll have the cap space to offer what he's likely to ask for anyway. That's the dream pickup as far as availability, need, cost, and our situation goes.

Ibaka seems like a big fish for us to catch, but upon further scrutiny, I'm not so sure. How much better is he defensively than Dieng?

Let's look at OKC, where he was replaced in the starting lineup by a rookie. OKC is actually better defensively this year than last year. Or how about Orlando? They haven't moved the needle at all defensively with Ibaka and are still middle-of-the pack. Now one man does not make or break a defense, but to me these two data points are quite telling given how much he's slated to demand in the open market.

He's now averaging less than 8 boards per game as well, which to me is problematic on a team where the two wings do very little to help on the boards. I do like the fact he can stretch the floor more than Dieng, but otherwise, it's hard for me to quantify how he is much better when you consider the price we'd have to pay.

By the way, if KAT and Wiggins played defense like the superstars we all hope they can become, Dieng would be a perfectly adequate fit next to them on the front line.

Disagree with that. Regardless of the pieces around him, Dieng is always going to struggle to defend in space. We've speculated that the reason Towns has to defend power forwards is to allow him to avoid some fouls, but another potential reason is because Thibs knows Dieng has trouble defending on the perimeter. Pair that with his inability to defend bulky/stronger bigs and consistently protect the rim and I think he's a misfit in the starting lineup. Off the bench, I think he's great.

Rubio for Faried would by my number 1 target now. I really don't know if Denver wants a PG or not because Mudiay is both terrible and their future at the position. Ricky would help stabilize that position for them to try for a playoff push. Faried is almost exactly what this team needs. He plugs in at the 4 and he brings a passion and energy this team needs out on the court. He's always been efficient and in the right situations (like for team USA) he's shown to be a good interior defender and rebounder. It pushes Dieng to the bench giving us a much needed stabilizing force for our bigs off the bench who have been very inconsistent.

I'm not a fan of Ibaka because he just keeps getting worse every year defensively and on the boards and that's where we would need his impact the most.

As for OKC, they're running out Westbrook, Oladipo, Roberson, Sabonis, and Adams. I'm not an expert, but that group looks really good defensively and as you said, the numbers support their effectiveness as well. Sabonis doesn't block/alter shots at the rim, but he's capable of doing everything else at a level well above the average rookie. And Oladipo instead of Waiters is like Leonard over Muhammad. There's a massive difference there.

Ibaka was a key ingredient in the top-level defenses OKC trotted out there over the past eight years. I'm not gonna ignore that unless there are better reasons to do so.