Minnesota Sports Forum

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Guys, forget the KG trade for a minute and comment on the fact that it's all we did today. And tell me what the plan could possibly be with this terribly constructed roster right now.

Gary Neal's people pushing for a buyout didn't help matters. Budinger being a broken man didn't help either.

Fact is, we have maybe 4 of the 10 worst players in the NBA right now (Neal, Budinger, Bennett, LaVine). You're not gonna get anything for those guys.

All we can do is buy them out and/or wait for them to expire

Zero hope for Lavine, huh?

Hated the selection then. Still hate it now.

Met the guy a couple of times. Good kid. Good attitude. Too bad he sucks at basketball.

I'm more interested with that story of you meeting him and what was said rather than your opinion on his skill level, to be honest. What's Zach, the person, like?

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Guys, forget the KG trade for a minute and comment on the fact that it's all we did today. And tell me what the plan could possibly be with this terribly constructed roster right now.

Gary Neal's people pushing for a buyout didn't help matters. Budinger being a broken man didn't help either.

Fact is, we have maybe 4 of the 10 worst players in the NBA right now (Neal, Budinger, Bennett, LaVine). You're not gonna get anything for those guys.

All we can do is buy them out and/or wait for them to expire

Zero hope for Lavine, huh?

Hated the selection then. Still hate it now.

Met the guy a couple of times. Good kid. Good attitude. Too bad he sucks at basketball.

Hey everybody is entitled to their opinion. Saying he sucks at basketball seems like you have some other agenda though.

maelstrom11 wrote:Why Flip made the move.

Its pretty easy to figure out that Thad was going to OPT IN @9-10million next year. In my opinion thats not what you want on a re-building team.

This deal says good-bye to an overpaid sub-par PF that will not make us a playoff team. Save the 10 million for next year.


In exchange, in comes KG. His deal ends after this year.....Its likely we re-sign him for a reasonable extension....(less than 3mil per year for 1 or 2 more) Now we have energetic vet, HOF mentor, who can get a look at his team of the future.....KG will be owner in a few years.

No other deals were there for the taking that yielded what this deal yields. Stauskas?? no thanks.

Flip knows that we have enough young talent to look at for 2-3 years and its time to put teachers and mentors around them. How many more 1st round picks, 2-3 years removed from the draft do you want on the team boys? We already have 6..and a 7th coming.
Wig, Dieng, Zach, Payne, AB, bazz next years first.......

Time to mix in some vets.......KG is #1 on my list for that and it looks like he's embraced this move so better yet.....

Bingo, maelstrom...you get it!

I've been listening to a lot of "smart" people in town today talking about how Flip was worried about Thad opting out. What Flip was really worried about was Thad opting IN. He knows the Young experiment has not been a success, and the thought of paying him $10 million to grab another 5 1/2 boards per game just didn't sit well with him. We should be sending the Nets a fruit basket for taking our problem off our hands.

The Wolves have been the worst defensive team in the league with Young and Williams logging big minutes, and Flip has gracefully made those problems go away. I'm excited to see how improved our defense is going to be now.

Camden wrote:"No other deals were there for the taking that yielded what this deal yields. Stauskas?? no thanks."

I don't know where to begin with this. Young player with the potential to significantly help in a category we're fucking terrible at (three-point shooting) or a 38-year old PF that we could have signed in the off-season? How is this even a debate let alone you siding with the wrong option?

Long-term asset (Stauskas in this case) >>> Old man, "mentor", great story, reunited and it feels.... like shit because we overpaid like hell for him.

Zzzzzzzzing!! You hear that, boys? That's Flip getting fleeced again.

Yep, how could Flip let this gem slip through his fingers?????

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2991042/nik-stauskas

longstrangetrip wrote:

Camden wrote:"No other deals were there for the taking that yielded what this deal yields. Stauskas?? no thanks."

I don't know where to begin with this. Young player with the potential to significantly help in a category we're fucking terrible at (three-point shooting) or a 38-year old PF that we could have signed in the off-season? How is this even a debate let alone you siding with the wrong option?

Long-term asset (Stauskas in this case) >>> Old man, "mentor", great story, reunited and it feels.... like shit because we overpaid like hell for him.

Zzzzzzzzing!! You hear that, boys? That's Flip getting fleeced again.

Yep, how could Flip let this gem slip through his fingers?????

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2991042/nik-stauskas

Should I link Anthony Bennett's stats, or you saying you'd trade Shabazz for him? Okay, moving on...

Edit: You said you'd rather have Bennett over Shabazz. My bad. I remembered the specifics after posting initially.

Camden wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

Camden wrote:"No other deals were there for the taking that yielded what this deal yields. Stauskas?? no thanks."

I don't know where to begin with this. Young player with the potential to significantly help in a category we're fucking terrible at (three-point shooting) or a 38-year old PF that we could have signed in the off-season? How is this even a debate let alone you siding with the wrong option?

Long-term asset (Stauskas in this case) >>> Old man, "mentor", great story, reunited and it feels.... like shit because we overpaid like hell for him.

Zzzzzzzzing!! You hear that, boys? That's Flip getting fleeced again.

Yep, how could Flip let this gem slip through his fingers?????

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2991042/nik-stauskas

Should I link Anthony Bennett's stats, or you saying you'd trade Shabazz for him? Okay, moving on...

Right now I have similar thoughts about Stauskas and AB...very good college players who aren't cutting it in the NBA. We already have AB on the roster and many reputable analysts are still saying he has a chance to be something good, so I'm on board with Flip keeping him and trying to develop him. But suggesting that Flip missed the boat by not trading for a guy shooting 33% and sporting a sub-6 PER boggles my mind.

KG is a better veteran presence on the team than Thad. That does hold long-term value because KG can help our young guys become smarter basketball players. He has been one of the best defensive anchors of all-time. He knows how to get guys to play the right way around him defensively. If he can pass that knowledge onto our young players successfully, that does hold long-term value. Thad was not a veteran leader this year and didn't do anything to make his teammates better players. He was just a body who could get stats. That's not what this team needs. KG's long-term value lies in his wisdom of the game that he can pass down to the young players. That is why Flip believes this trade was made with the future in mind (in addition to KG being a future owner which it won't hurt to have a relationship built up with the best players on the team when they are this young). We have a terrible record as is. Trading away all the vets for more pieces doesn't need to happen simply because we are already really bad. You don't need to tear down to the studs when you are already basically at rock bottom. Martin's value will go up next year because his game is not the type that will age poorly (he can shoot and score the ball with his athleticism already being mostly gone) and he will have 1 less year on his deal. Bud has no value even as an expiring. Pek still has a role on this team as a good scorer while our young guys build their offensive chops. It never hurts to keep guys on the team who just know how to play basketball. We saw how bad it was without Ricky, Martin and Pek in terms of just understanding how to play on both ends of the court. I don't agree with going full Philly because I don't think they'll ever be able to get out of the hole they dug. This way we don't have as far to go to get out of our hole next year and in the future. Finally, I think Dieng benefits the most from having KG on the team. He can learn to be a smarter rim protector which could step his game up to be a starter worthy C when he is currently just a good rotation big.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Guys, forget the KG trade for a minute and comment on the fact that it's all we did today. And tell me what the plan could possibly be with this terribly constructed roster right now.

Gary Neal's people pushing for a buyout didn't help matters. Budinger being a broken man didn't help either.

Fact is, we have maybe 4 of the 10 worst players in the NBA right now (Neal, Budinger, Bennett, LaVine). You're not gonna get anything for those guys.

All we can do is buy them out and/or wait for them to expire

Zero hope for Lavine, huh?

Hated the selection then. Still hate it now.

Met the guy a couple of times. Good kid. Good attitude. Too bad he sucks at basketball.

Hey everybody is entitled to their opinion. Saying he sucks at basketball seems like you have some other agenda though.

No agenda here. I just don't think he's any good at it.

These "many reputable analysts" you speak of. Other than the biased Flip Saunders, and the big-board-altering Chad Ford, who is there?

I see one main difference between Stauskas and Bennett. Even if both players never reach their ceiling, I do expect Stauskas to become a specialist/rotation player of sorts due to his shooting, despite his poor shooting percentages in spotty minutes this year. Bennett just doesn't have that one skill that I can pick out and say that it could be his calling card.

He physically overmatched college players in a weak conference for a year, got drafted No. 1 because of that one season + his youth, hasn't performed at all for 1 1/2 years, now he's a bust. That's the story with Bennett.

I'll be the first to say I was wrong about Stauskas. I've been disappointed with his play in his first year and was hoping he'd get traded out of Sac Town. Hate that fit with McLemore already there. If George Karl doesn't get production out of him next year, I'll sign him to my "whoops, I was wrong" list.

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

WildWolf2813 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Guys, forget the KG trade for a minute and comment on the fact that it's all we did today. And tell me what the plan could possibly be with this terribly constructed roster right now.

Gary Neal's people pushing for a buyout didn't help matters. Budinger being a broken man didn't help either.

Fact is, we have maybe 4 of the 10 worst players in the NBA right now (Neal, Budinger, Bennett, LaVine). You're not gonna get anything for those guys.

All we can do is buy them out and/or wait for them to expire

Zero hope for Lavine, huh?

Hated the selection then. Still hate it now.

Met the guy a couple of times. Good kid. Good attitude. Too bad he sucks at basketball.

Hey everybody is entitled to their opinion. Saying he sucks at basketball seems like you have some other agenda though.

No agenda here. I just don't think he's any good at it.

Again, it's your opinion and you're entitled to it. But I'll file this one away for future use. Just own up to it if you ever get called out.