Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:The Wolves need to learn how to draft guys like Donte Divencenzo. He was drafted 17th overall and I would trade two Culvers for him.

Camden wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:The Wolves need to learn how to draft guys like Donte Divencenzo. He was drafted 17th overall and I would trade two Culvers for him.

Eh, I wouldn't go that far. Culver might not be anything special, but neither is DiVincenzo and he's had more time to develop than the former. Ideally, Minnesota would draft someone a lot better than either players appear to be.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:The other issue with KAT defensively is that even if he does buckle down and get better on that end, he is so valuable on offense that he can't afford foul trouble or even exert too much energy on that end. So even without his defensive positioning issues, he still is a bit capped out on how good defensively he can be given his role on the other end of the court. This is why some advocate he should play PF instead of C.

Practically speaking though, KAT isn't going anywhere this offseason, no matter how poorly we perform. However, I think due to the position he plays and his primary weakness as a defender makes it nearly impossible to build anything but a moderately decent playoff team around him at best.

I guess one approach would be to just seek to entertain and go all-out for ball handlers and shooters to try to build a top 5 offensive team and accept the fact that the only way we win is by out-gunning teams.

I disagree with your conclusion that we can't be more than a moderately decent playoff team around KAT. Add an elite two-way wing like Giannis, Kawhi, or Paul George and the Wolves could become a championship contender with KAT. The same result if, in the alternative, the Wolves would move KAT to PF and add a Rudy Gobert equivalent. By the way, none of the players I mentioned were top 5 picks. The Wolves, like any team aspiring to contend for a championship, needs two all-stars in their prime. Right now, we have only one. For the Wolves, the other allstar needs to be an excellent defender - although I think this team would be a contender even if our other star were the defensively-challenged James Harden.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:The other issue with KAT defensively is that even if he does buckle down and get better on that end, he is so valuable on offense that he can't afford foul trouble or even exert too much energy on that end. So even without his defensive positioning issues, he still is a bit capped out on how good defensively he can be given his role on the other end of the court. This is why some advocate he should play PF instead of C.

Practically speaking though, KAT isn't going anywhere this offseason, no matter how poorly we perform. However, I think due to the position he plays and his primary weakness as a defender makes it nearly impossible to build anything but a moderately decent playoff team around him at best.

I guess one approach would be to just seek to entertain and go all-out for ball handlers and shooters to try to build a top 5 offensive team and accept the fact that the only way we win is by out-gunning teams.

I disagree with your conclusion that we can't be more than a moderately decent playoff team around KAT. Add an elite two-way wing like Giannis, Kawhi, or Paul George and the Wolves could become a championship contender with KAT. The same result if, in the alternative, the Wolves would move KAT to PF and add a Rudy Gobert equivalent. By the way, none of the players I mentioned were top 5 picks. The Wolves, like any team aspiring to contend for a championship, needs two all-stars in their prime. Right now, we have only one. For the Wolves, the other allstar needs to be an excellent defender - although I think this team would be a contender even if our other star were the defensively-challenged James Harden.

That player is not on the roster now. None of our existing prospects will even be close to George or Leonard, even at their peaks. So by the time we draft and develop that type of player, KAT will have wanted out and lost via a forced trade.

Like I keep saying, building around KAT requires the same three things a team needs if they are starting from scratch. He's the worst type of star player to build around because of the position he plays.

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:The other issue with KAT defensively is that even if he does buckle down and get better on that end, he is so valuable on offense that he can't afford foul trouble or even exert too much energy on that end. So even without his defensive positioning issues, he still is a bit capped out on how good defensively he can be given his role on the other end of the court. This is why some advocate he should play PF instead of C.

Practically speaking though, KAT isn't going anywhere this offseason, no matter how poorly we perform. However, I think due to the position he plays and his primary weakness as a defender makes it nearly impossible to build anything but a moderately decent playoff team around him at best.

I guess one approach would be to just seek to entertain and go all-out for ball handlers and shooters to try to build a top 5 offensive team and accept the fact that the only way we win is by out-gunning teams.

I disagree with your conclusion that we can't be more than a moderately decent playoff team around KAT. Add an elite two-way wing like Giannis, Kawhi, or Paul George and the Wolves could become a championship contender with KAT. The same result if, in the alternative, the Wolves would move KAT to PF and add a Rudy Gobert equivalent. By the way, none of the players I mentioned were top 5 picks. The Wolves, like any team aspiring to contend for a championship, needs two all-stars in their prime. Right now, we have only one. For the Wolves, the other allstar needs to be an excellent defender - although I think this team would be a contender even if our other star were the defensively-challenged James Harden.

That player is not on the roster now. None of our existing prospects will even be close to George or Leonard, even at their peaks. So by the time we draft and develop that type of player, KAT will have wanted out and lost via a forced trade.

Like I keep saying, building around KAT requires the same three things a team needs if they are starting from scratch. He's the worst type of star player to build around because of the position he plays.

You can get the same value for KAT 3 years from now as right now. No team can offer anything close to fair value. Unless you get a top pick like Zion plus quality fillers, or Doncic plus quality fillers top pick, then it's not even considerable. 4 1st round picks which would all be late picks are nearly worthless. Name the last late 1st rounder that has been an all star? If you get a prospect in the next 3 years who might be projected to be a superstar, then maybe it's worth discussing.

Just dumping KAT like the KG trade, suck just to suck isn't a good strategy. So I agree we could trade him, if the deal makes sense. I don't see a prospect in next years draft that looks legit yet, maybe in the next few seasons.