Re: Juancho Hernangomez out 6 months
Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 10:51 am
lipoli390 wrote:monsterpile wrote:lipoli390 wrote:Ultimately, how Rosas handled the Juancho Olympic situation isn't going to make or break the Wolves franchise. But once again, Rosas comes off as a mid-level bureaucrat who ended up in a top executive position he's not equipped to handle. We're all familiar with Gersson's parade of head scratchers. Trading up for a player he didn't know for sure he could get in the 2019 draft then drafting Culver. Hiring Ryan Saunders (the video guy) as head coach. Pursuing a poor defensive PG to pair with a poor defensive center as the core of a poor defensive team and then overpaying for him. Paying Juancho $7M per year for two guaranteed years. Failing to balance the roster with some size. Hard to give Rosas the benefit of the doubt in this latest episode with Juancho.
Thankfully, Rosas or someone in the organization has a pretty good eye for young talent coming out of college. As a result, we have Naz Reid, Edwards and McDaniels. It's not like our front office is entirely clueless. But it's hard not to wonder about Gersson's overall executive judgment.
Saunders wasn't just a video guy but regardless the decision does look like a mistake. Rosas made another move adding Finch and there is a positive vibe about that decision now but the jury is out on whether or not is was a good move. If Rosas went out of his way to get Finch instead of doing a legit coaching search and Finch is not a good coach...that's not gonna be a good look. Let's hope he is right about Finch.
I know Ryan wasn't just a video guy. :) But that's what he seems like. In any event, he was pretty far down in the pecking order of assistants under Thibs. You get the point. No other team in the League would have even considered Ryan for a head coaching position; yet Rosas made him the Wolves head coach. If that were his only egregious mistake I probably wouldn't have even mentioned it.
I'm really impressed with Finch so far. But you're right that the Finch selection will look especially bad if he turns out to be largely unimpressive over time given the lack of any legitimate search process.
This is a crucial summer for Rosas. To his credit, Rosas appears to have assembled enough talent around KAT (namely Ant, McDaniels, DLO, Beasley, Reid, Vanderbilt) to be in the mix for a playoff slot next season. However, I think he'll need to tweak the roster this summer to secure a playoff position. Culver aside, Gersson's front office has shown an ability to spot young talent coming out of college as evidenced by Ant, McDaniels, Reid, Nowell, JMac and Kalen Martin. Unfortunately, Rosas has shown no ability to make savvy trades or free-agent acquisitions. Yet, Rosas is on record saying that any improvement will have to come through trades or development of existing players. I'm hoping for development because I don't trust Rosas when it comes to making deals. My biggest fear is that Rosas, out of desperation, will make a terribly lopsided deal that will set this team back even further. The DLO deal was bad enough in my view and Rosas wasn't even desperate at the time. No telling what Rosas will do this summer if he's intent on making a big splash in a sea of far more savvy NBA executives -- sort of like a sea lion in an ocean of sharks. We all know what happens to the sea lions.
I like your analogy but don't underestimate sea lions. For one thing keep your distance if you are ever near one. They are fascinating creatures. Which GM is the killer whale in your analogy? :) I saw a video recently talking about Killer Whales. When they catch a sea lion in their mouth they thrash them back and forth so much that the seal basically gets separated from their skin and then the whale eats them. Also there are a lot of sharks in the ocean that aren't exactly high level predators they are just little guys. :)
I agree with what you have said in your post although I do think when Rosas dealt for Russell idk if he was desperate but the Wolves literally had nobody at PG. Teague before he was traded was bad (also Napier who was also soon to be a FA struggled) and was a FA to be. They were even playing McLaughlin as a starter and he might have been better than Teague anyway...man Teague dropped off and made me look bad. I'll never forgive you for that Jeff. So yeah they needed a PG and a guard that was more dynamic...most here agreed Wiggins needed to go although I wasn't actually among them but I hadn't watched recent games like other's had. The Wolves didn't really have much in the way of salary cap space to be able to add a guy so...I'd say Rosas was pretty motivated to make a deal at the time. :)
I think at this point Rosas should get a positive overall grade for the Covington trade. Even if he overpaid Juancho, Beasley is a pretty valuable asset and the other first round pick was how the Wolves were able to pick high enough to land Bolmoro and McDaniels. Maybe they could have gotten one of those guys at 32 but either guy looks to be pretty valuable so that's 2 assets (one of those picks and Beasley) for Covington which is what guys like him have been fetching. Also Vanderbilt looks more promising than KBD who I liked quite a bit at the time.
I also thought he Dieng for James Johnson which wasn't exactly a big time win but I thought it made a lot of sense at the time and even saved a bit of money. The Jake Layman addition via trade exception hasn't exactly brought a good player but it was a creative way to add a possible rotation player on a decent contract. What's hurt Layman about as much as anything is he has had injuries.
So Rosas has some moves via the trade market that either brought back positive value or shows there is something worthwhile in his process. I think it's fair to say he is a mixed bag. I think Rosas is probably pretty motivated to make a deal to add a better frontcourt player but I also think there are so many young pieces to the roster he might be willing to just roll with it for now and add someone decent as a vet min guy and hope to make a move in season (which could include one just to duck the Lux tax) to add a better player.
One other thing they could do to get someone young but might be more likely to help sooner rather. They could sign a guy with some actual NBA experience to a 2-way contract. I don't have any names but basically it would be a frontcourt version of McLaughlin a guy that has gotten some decent run but could benefit from a spot from a team with more opportunity. Guys can sign a 2-way deal if they have 2 years or less NBA experience.