Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

They have room under the lux and they could get more by offloading h Gomez or culver to a team with cap space (maybe use one of the 2nds to incentivize if needed)... then I would focus on splitting the MLE between a shooter at the 1/cg and a defensive big. You're talking 5 mil each and you could offer a player option in year 2 or 3 also. There's plenty you can be doing now. Rosas is definitely an idiot, but I'll give him a little time here to see what he comes up with and see if any bargains fall into his lap.

Portis back to Bucks for 2 years and 9M. That seems like a good deal.

Its a big gamble. Rosas is really putting his nuts on the table. He must have had an idea of what he could accomplish.

D-Loser wrote:

jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

They have room under the lux and they could get more by offloading h Gomez or culver to a team with cap space (maybe use one of the 2nds to incentivize if needed)... then I would focus on splitting the MLE between a shooter at the 1/cg and a defensive big. You're talking 5 mil each and you could offer a player option in year 2 or 3 also. There's plenty you can be doing now. Rosas is definitely an idiot, but I'll give him a little time here to see what he comes up with and see if any bargains fall into his lap.

I'm not saying there not moves they can make. I just wanted to know what Lip would do if he had the keys.

Jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

If I had been GM we wouldn't have Juancho on a $7M contract. We wouldn't have signed Ricky to a $17M contract last summer, which has now converted to Price's $13M contract. We wouldn't have traded both of our picks this year for DLO. So we'd have a lot more financial flexibility. Of course, we wouldn't have Edwards, McDaniels, Naz Reid or Vanderbilt either. :) Gersson obviously hasn't been all bad.

As for what I would do right now? I'd be trying to acquire a good defensive big without giving up too much. According to Rosas, that's the type of player we need to get. But when I see reports that the Wolves are interested in Markkanen and Gallo, I scratch my head. It's not that Rosas has done anything particularly bad this summer. It's my concern about what he might do. I still scratch my head over Gersson giving up so much for DLO given the style Gersson said he wanted to play and the fact that our other max player is also a poor defender.

The post you're responding to is just stating a fact -- i.e., that the Wolves haven't established themselves as a desired destination for free agents because of how poorly they've played the last two seasons. Finishing with the 3rd and 6th records in succession doesn't typically make your team a desired place for good players.

Having said all that, if you read my posts you should also notice that I actually see the current roster as a potential playoff team. And that's do in large part to Gersson's decisions to draft Edwards and McDaniels last year. It's also why I don't think Gersson needs to panic and make a big-time trade this summer. He simply needs to acquire a good defensive big as he indicated at his draft night press conference. You asked what I would do. Well, that's what I'd do. And that's what Gersson should do. I've mentioned Tony Bradley, I Hartenstein and WCS as three I'd be interested in who shouldn't cost must to get. Maybe there are others. We'll see.

lipoli390 wrote:

Jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

If I had been GM we wouldn't have Juancho on a $7M contract. We wouldn't have signed Ricky to a $17M contract last summer, which has now converted to Price's $13M contract. We wouldn't have traded both of our picks this year for DLO. So we'd have a lot more financial flexibility. Of course, we wouldn't have Edwards, McDaniels, Naz Reid or Vanderbilt either. :) Gersson obviously hasn't been all bad.

As for what I would do right now? I'd be trying to acquire a good defensive big without giving up too much. According to Rosas, that's the type of player we need to get. But when I see reports that the Wolves are interested in Markkanen and Gallo, I scratch my head. It's not that Rosas has done anything particularly bad this summer. It's my concern about what he might do. I still scratch my head over Gersson giving up so much for DLO given the style Gersson said he wanted to play and the fact that our other max player is also a poor defender.

The post you're responding to is just stating a fact -- i.e., that the Wolves haven't established themselves as a desired destination for free agents because of how poorly they've played the last two seasons. Finishing with the 3rd and 6th records in succession doesn't typically make your team a desired place for good players.

Having said all that, if you read my posts you should also notice that I actually see the current roster as a potential playoff team. And that's do in large part to Gersson's decisions to draft Edwards and McDaniels last year. It's also why I don't think Gersson needs to panic and make a big-time trade this summer. He simply needs to acquire a good defensive big as he indicated at his draft night press conference. You asked what I would do. Well, that's what I'd do. And that's what Gersson should do. I've mentioned Tony Bradley, I Hartenstein and WCS as three I'd be interested in who shouldn't cost must to get. Maybe there are others. We'll see.

It's also a fact that the Wolves have largely been one of the NBA's worst franchises for nearly 2 decades. That's not easy to overcome and that rep every wolves GM good or horrendously bad has had to deal with...and in some cases contributed to that "legacy". Think about this: Rosas is about 6 months away from being the longest tenured wolves GM since Davis Kahn. The leadership turnover (including coaches) has been bad and in some cases like Flip unfortunate. I believe that if Flip had not passed on that the Wolves were headed towards being a team that was run reasonably well and not a laughingstock anymore. The bar isn't too high...which goes back to Lip's point this team kinda sucks and some hell most of it of that doesn't have anything to do with Rosas who I think has been a mixed bag but for sure seems to have an ability to find guys outside of the lottery which is a skill we haven't seen much around this franchise...again it's a low bar...we suck.

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Jester1534 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:There are really only two teams that have a decided advantage over all others in free agency - the Lakers and Heat. The Clippers might be a third. Those are the two or three teams in destination cities - places that the modern NBA player tens to find attractive based on the climate and glitz. Other teams have to earn it. Milwaukee has earned its places as a team attractive to a vet PG like George Hill. Golden State has built a team from the ground up that remains an attractive destination for free agents who want to win.

The Wolves have thus far failed to build a foundation through the draft that free agents find attractive. Our weather is bad. Our metro size and culture are OK. But we had the 6th worst record in the League last season and the 3rd worst the season before. And we also are capped out and close to the luxury tax line, which means we can't make it financially attractive to sign here either. Build it and they will come. The Wolves front office has thus far failed to build anything worth coming to in the minds of the free agents who could move the needle.

Lip I'm going to be honest here. I read a lot of your posts and see you say things about bad management/organization but I have no idea what you want them to do? Not saying Rosas isn't an idiot or them team isn't in abad position because of him. But if you were GM right now this very second what would you do to make this team better?

If I had been GM we wouldn't have Juancho on a $7M contract. We wouldn't have signed Ricky to a $17M contract last summer, which has now converted to Price's $13M contract. We wouldn't have traded both of our picks this year for DLO. So we'd have a lot more financial flexibility. Of course, we wouldn't have Edwards, McDaniels, Naz Reid or Vanderbilt either. :) Gersson obviously hasn't been all bad.

As for what I would do right now? I'd be trying to acquire a good defensive big without giving up too much. According to Rosas, that's the type of player we need to get. But when I see reports that the Wolves are interested in Markkanen and Gallo, I scratch my head. It's not that Rosas has done anything particularly bad this summer. It's my concern about what he might do. I still scratch my head over Gersson giving up so much for DLO given the style Gersson said he wanted to play and the fact that our other max player is also a poor defender.

The post you're responding to is just stating a fact -- i.e., that the Wolves haven't established themselves as a desired destination for free agents because of how poorly they've played the last two seasons. Finishing with the 3rd and 6th records in succession doesn't typically make your team a desired place for good players.

Having said all that, if you read my posts you should also notice that I actually see the current roster as a potential playoff team. And that's do in large part to Gersson's decisions to draft Edwards and McDaniels last year. It's also why I don't think Gersson needs to panic and make a big-time trade this summer. He simply needs to acquire a good defensive big as he indicated at his draft night press conference. You asked what I would do. Well, that's what I'd do. And that's what Gersson should do. I've mentioned Tony Bradley, I Hartenstein and WCS as three I'd be interested in who shouldn't cost must to get. Maybe there are others. We'll see.

It's also a fact that the Wolves have largely been one of the NBA's worst franchises for nearly 2 decades. That's not easy to overcome and that rep every wolves GM good or horrendously bad has had to deal with...and in some cases contributed to that "legacy". Think about this: Rosas is about 6 months away from being the longest tenured wolves GM since Davis Kahn. The leadership turnover (including coaches) has been bad and in some cases like Flip unfortunate. I believe that if Flip had not passed on that the Wolves were headed towards being a team that was run reasonably well and not a laughingstock anymore. The bar isn't too high...which goes back to Lip's point this team kinda sucks and some hell most of it of that doesn't have anything to do with Rosas who I think has been a mixed bag but for sure seems to have an ability to find guys outside of the lottery which is a skill we haven't seen much around this franchise...again it's a low bar...we suck.

Well said, Monster. It's a long-term thing with a lot of bad decisions by different Wolves PBOs/GMs. A low bar, indeed.

I will state firmly that after seeing the amounts being paid to extremely average, non-difference making players in FA, the Wolves need to sit back and wait. Need to wait until frenzy ends and pick up some scraps that will help. Not sure if that guy even exists, but holy smokes, a team could kill any future flexibility by jumping into fray right now.

All I have to say is.....Duncan Robinson......5 years - $90M. Or Gary Trent Jr.....3 years - $54M. What has happened to these owners brains? INSANE!!!!!

Oh, and remember yesterday when someone insinuated that Derozen would take minimal cash to play fo Lakers.....Ummmmm......no.