Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:I'm not saying Karl-Anthony Towns won't leave or be traded, or that Minnesota is a destination that players should want to play at, but I am saying that the rumor from Darren Wolfson is silly and shouldn't have even surfaced on SKOR North. That kind of barber talk, locker room chat about hypotheticals in the far future means nothing in the present. It's the same kind of thing we do here for fun and most, if not all, of us have no real sources behind it. Maybe Wolfson wanted some clicks or just wanted to throw a discussion topic out there, but it means little to nothing to me.

Also, the optics of Towns leaving this franchise and one of his best friends behind would be pretty horrendous for his reputation -- and it's not all that great to begin with after the Jimmy Butler situation and Joel Embiid beef.

You're right on all points, Cam. Calling Wolfson's report silly is charitable. It's ridiculous and laughable. And of course, it's classic Wolfson. I still remember Wolfson's Payne report during the 2014 draft. As soon as the Wolves were on the clock, Wolfson tweeted that the Wolves were going to draft Payne. About a minute later, the Wolves drafted Zach LaVine. I happen to know that Flip didn't suddenly change his mind and pass on Payne at the last minute I favor or Zach. I know that because Flip told me two weeks before the draft during a lunch I'll never forget that he was going to draft LaVine if available. Maybe Wolfson's source was the same guy who fed him the KAT rumor. Or maybe Wolfson just makes things up. Nothing he reports is worth discussion and this is all the time I'm going to put into responding.

BizarroJerry wrote:Parity boys. Not parody.

LOL, that was a classic fail on my part.

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Parity boys. Not parody.

To further crystallize the difference...:

Parity = the NFL

Parody = the Minnesota Timberwolves

Everyone understand now?

:D

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Still wish we had traded KAT during last season. This team is not going to make the playoffs next year and I think it's easy to see why. Our two best players are terribly overrated, well Russell isn't rated that high I guess, but you get my point. Can't build a good team on a shaky foundation. We really need to get lucky with our pick/asset to have a chance. The pick we gave up with Wiggins is going to be very high and I disagree with Cam on the future evaluation of that trade. I think we are going to be regretting it after this season. Not because we gave up Wiggins, but because Russell is going to underwhelm and the draft pick is going to turn out to be a great asset.

Cool - I think you and Cam frame the debate well.

Cam is right that, one way or another, getting Russell was going to require us to give up future picks. If we had signed him last summer, we probably would have had to give up future picks to get other teams to offload player salaries. As it turned out, we gave up those picks to trade for Russell in February.

The question is whether we should have traded our nearly unprotected 2021 first round pick (and our 2nd rounder) to pair Russell with KAT. I lean towards answering no because adding Russell means our two foundational pieces are poor defenders. Moreover, I don't trust Russell to be a consistently high level performer. However, I can see Cam's side of the argument. If Cam is right about Russell, then I can see the Wolves having some success. As we've seen with the Nuggets, you can win with a core C/PG combo that isn't good defensively, provided they both deliver consistently at an elite level on the offensive end and have a strong defensive supporting cast.

In my view, trading KAT was never the answer. The answer has always been pairing him with an elite two-way player who is especially strong on the defensive end. That's what the Wolves should have pursued with their future draft assets. But again, Cam could be right about Russell and I hope he is. I also agree with Cam that we're a better team after the trade for Russell than we were before. And unlike you, I actually think the Wolves could be a playoff team next season - 7th or 8th seed. I just don't see this team as a championship contender with KAT and Russell as our two core stars. Then again, Denver's success suggests that I could be wrong in that regard. And I don't think KAT is overrated. He's an elite offensive big and terrific rebounder. He's just bad defensively and has played with minimal talent around him. The one season he had a talented player to play with, namely Butler, the Wolves made the playoffs. That's the type of player Rosas needed to bring in and it's not Russell in my view.

If KAT really wants out now after Rosas went out of his way to land Russell, then Rosas will join the ranks of David Kahn as one of the worst PBOs in Wolves history. I don't think Rosas is that dumb. I suspect Rosas was in close contact with KAT when he made the Russell deal and that KAT was excited about bringing him his friend to team with him. So we'll see. I'm skeptical, but I hold out more hope than you.

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Parity boys. Not parody.

To further crystallize the difference...:

Parity = the NFL

Parody = the Minnesota Timberwolves

Everyone understand now?

Haha. Exactly right.

Being as realistic as I can possibly be, I think the best case scenario for the Wolves would be to finish 12th in the West next year. And it wouldn't shock me at all if they are 14th or 15th. For fun let's break it down:

Teams Who Will Definitely Finish Ahead of the Wolves:

1) Lakers
2) Clippers
3) Nuggets
4) Rockets
5) Jazz
6) Mavericks
7) Trailblazers
8) Grizzlies
9) Pelicans
10) Warriors

Team Who Will Probably Finish Ahead of the Wolves:

Thunder

Teams Battling for 12th - 15th Spots In Order of Likely Finish:

12) Suns
13) Wolves
14) Spurs
15) Kings

I would say that the Wolves could finish ahead of the Blazer, Grizz and Pelicans. Then you never know with injuries how another team could fall down. Any star that goes down for the season from the top 6 could push them under .500.

I think 7-8 seed is possible IF mostly healthy.

I'm not ready to put 7-10 on Cool's list firmly above the Wolves just yet. I need to see how the rest of the off-season goes and who else they add to this bunch. I also think he might be giving too much credit to some of those teams, namely the Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Warriors. The first two have proven nothing yet and the Kevin Durant-less Warriors are a bad basketball team even with Klay Thompson coming back.

WolvesFan21 wrote:I would say that the Wolves could finish ahead of the Blazer, Grizz and Pelicans. Then you never know with injuries how another team could fall down. Any star that goes down for the season from the top 6 could push them under .500.

I think 7-8 seed is possible IF mostly healthy.

Injuries can always play a factor, no doubt. But I can't fathom a scenario where the Wolves finish ahead of the Blazers. Portland should be top 4 next year.

"Gersson Rosas responds to a question about whether Karl-Anthony Towns is in the bubble by emphasizing that the program is voluntary and came together quickly in recent weeks. Also said some players are there now that won't be there later and some may join that aren't there now."

Kat is one of 2 players not in the bubble right now.

Where there is smoke there is fire just saying