Wolves Free Agent Focuses

[rapsuperstar31]

For anyone who cares, the Kings chose NOT to extend a qualifying offer to McLemore, making him an unrestricted FA.

Always thought he was going to be a decent player....would take a shot on him on the cheap.

[Crazysauce]

I would also kick the tires on marshon brooks. Heard he was averaging like 36 a game overseas. Cant remember what league.

[Monster]

I'm listening to the Dunc'd on podcast mock offseason today and there is one hour to go and it's interesting what they have guys getting paid...and not getting paid most of the top guys are off the board and very few teams have money left and there are some worthwhile players left. I have no idea how accurate their numbers will be for various guys but it does make me think this is the year to go after good value contracts all around.

[60WinTim]

I'm listening to the Dunc'd on podcast mock offseason today and there is one hour to go and it's interesting what they have guys getting paid...and not getting paid most of the top guys are off the board and very few teams have money left and there are some worthwhile players left. I have no idea how accurate their numbers will be for various guys but it does make me think this is the year to go after good value contracts all around.

I haven't listened to it, but it certainly makes sense. There is only so much money to go around.

I expect the Wolves to spend most, if not all, their cap on 2 or 3 guys they expect to be in the rotation. The roster will then be filled out with vet minimum contracts (or the room exception). And fortunately, with the perception the Wolves will be a solid playoff team next year, we ought to get some quality vet FAs.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I'd go after McLemore for the vet minimum. Maybe Thibs and Butler can get to him defensively and he's a league average 3pt shooter who just put up his best year at 38%. I think he would be a good depth/potential play as he's still very young.

[Monster]

I'm listening to the Dunc'd on podcast mock offseason today and there is one hour to go and it's interesting what they have guys getting paid...and not getting paid most of the top guys are off the board and very few teams have money left and there are some worthwhile players left. I have no idea how accurate their numbers will be for various guys but it does make me think this is the year to go after good value contracts all around.

I haven't listened to it, but it certainly makes sense. There is only so much money to go around.

I expect the Wolves to spend most, if not all, their cap on 2 or 3 guys they expect to be in the rotation. The roster will then be filled out with vet minimum contracts (or the room exception). And fortunately, with the perception the Wolves will be a solid playoff team next year, we ought to get some quality vet FAs.

These guys are cap nerds and when they wrapped it up they said what deals they thought were and weren't realistic that they did. They admitted they all tended to like short term deals of 1 or 2 years more than tends to happen. Relatively short term contracts in one form or another has been a trend and my guess is that we will see more of those this year because for a lot of guys the market is going to keep salries low. They said some players should be smart and if teams offer decent money espcially for multi year deals they should take it or they will be left going for lower excemption money or maybe a team that hasn't spent anything to throw a 1 year deal or something. They really were in on a Rubio to Jazz deal that they did. I think the Wolves can really get some very solid players for numbers many of us (except Ricky!) would not have a expected a few weeks ago on this board. After listening to this podcast I feel like the Wolves should absolutely not overspend for any player. This offseason has already been very interesting and it's going to keep being interesting for the next few weeks. I'm really glad the Wolves didn't spend any more money than they did they are in a pretty decent spot to be able to lock some guys up to solid contract this year.

[Lipoli390]

Monster -- What are some of the salary projections you're hearing for some free agents the Wolves might be interested in? What was the Rubio/Jazz deal they were suggesting?

[Monster]

Monster -- What are some of the salary projections you're hearing for some free agents the Wolves might be interested in? What was the Rubio/Jazz deal they were suggesting?

Lip this was over 4 hours of time and I listened to most of it 1.5 speed but its still alot to take in. The more I think about some of the contracts some may not make sense and they did agree that George Hill was likely going to get more than the money they ended up sending him to the Spurs for but the PG market dried up quickly.

The Rubio trade is probably too good to be true they had Rubio and Aldrich going to the Jazz for basically cap space. That makes sense...until I think about what some other PGs got.

THey had Lowrey getting paid by Houston but then they had him going back to the Raps becasue the 2nd day they knew about the deal today so they adjusted that.

Jrue went to the Wolves for over 100 million for 4 years.

Teague got like 16.5 million per year from someone.

So the Jazz will end up paying Aldrich and Rubio to get him over signing Teague for a little more money? I don't see that making a whole lot of sense although that gives them flexibility if one of their younger PGS becomes good. Rubio to the Jazz himself? Sure I get that I don't think Aldrich would be able to be fit in there.

They had J Green going back to the Grizz for like 4 years 40 million but they had him doing that before any other teams were negotiating with him. They had the 6ers offering Ingles 3 years 45 million which I thought was high. Your guy Alex Len...nobody could figure out what his value was. Bogdonivic the RFA for the wizards got like 8 million per. I think they maybe had Bazz sign for 7 or 8 million on a 1 year deal with the Kings.

They had the Wolves signing Patterson for 12 million per year for 2 years I think with an option for a 3rd year. the weird thing about that was they had Ibake go for 3 years 48 million. I'd be in on Ibake for a couple million more per year than Patterson.

Some guys like Tucker Sefelosha Korver were getting deals based on team exceptions basically. So yeah nobody was breaking the bank but part of that was the consideration they could play for over 2 million on a vet min contract from a contender.

So here is the general takeaway. They admitted that some teams might spend more than what they predicted through this which could mean a couple teams who had some decent cap space left could actually use that. I think the numbers they were giving out for some of these players were low numbers and things still ended up getting dicey for guys that weren't legit starter level guys. Derrick Rose got like 8 million from the Clippers or something on a 1 year deal. There really does seem less money available with teams spending last year, the cap dropping a couple million so less to spend AND some teams that couple million more against the lux tax it really makes a difference. there will still be some dumb contracts handed out like a near max for Millsap they had him go to Denver. regardless of how you spread things out there seems to be a real chance of solid players having to settle for 3-10 million in salary that you may have expected to get alot more. A guy like Tyreke Evans could be a pretty cheap signing.

So lets say this stuff is reasonably represenative of what could happen this offseason going forward. What does that mean for the Wolves?

Rubio's contract will probably still be a nice deal espcially since its only for 2 years which will appeal to some teams that may feel they would ahve to give some sort fo 3 year deal to get another guy. However its possible you can get a Teague or Collison or something for less or somewhere in that range. So tht could hurt Rubio's value a bit but it might also make it more palatable to move him and sign a guy. It might also mean they could get a better backup than you would expect for not a ton of money.

The Wolves could very easily get a few legit rotation players that are a decent step above Rush or Casspi and get at least a couple fringe starters like a Patterson or Sefelosha etc. FWIW Wolfson mentioned today Dunleavy as a legit inexpensive target and seemed to think there was mutual interest.

The Wolves have lots of options of what they want to do. I think they could check in quickly and see if any of the rumored PGs are interested in coming to the Wolves for value contract numbers. My guess is...they won't. The next thing they may do is got for some somewhat aggressive 3 year deals of decent money to guys that realize they could get left out in the cold quickly if they don't sign a deal now. Patrick patterson might be one of those guys or Ilyasova. basically guys that probably dont have that pull to get chased buy contenders like a PJ Tucker but decent players that are worth 7 million or something like that. They could also offer some younger players that maybe have some promise but looking through the list there are not many of them and I'm not sure how much you would even be wiling to offer a guy like McLemore or Burke etc. It seems very possible the Wolves could end up keeping Bazz on a decent deal if they don't find other players to take their money. If someone offers him decent money that could take that money off the market and the Wolves could be in a better situation to sign another player because someone used their cap space. I think they had Waiters getting something around 14 million a year from Dallas and at this point Waiters likely does have much more value than Bazz because he can shoot handle the ball and make plays etc.

its going to be interesting to see how it plays out. It may be tempting to say they Wolves should just go for bargain contracts and keep Rubio. If the Wolves could convince Lowry to take something close to 25 million to come here...(doubtful but not completely nuts) that would be a bargain contract also. I've written alot but I had a lot of material to expound on do I blame Dunc'd On podcast for that. LOL Its a really good podcast those guys know a ton of stuff. They have strong positions but I also think they have enough times they don't take themselves too seriously as well.

[BloopOracle]

Funny you should mention that monster, as Brian Windhorst was on Sirius this morning saying that Lowry is looking at a team friendly deal for around 25 million so he can sign with the contender of his choice. He also confirmed that the Wolves were after him and there are reports that Butler is aggressively wooing him. If the Wolves actually get a high class free agent to sign in Minnesota AND take a freakin discount I don't think I will even know what to with myself for the next few days lol

[Monster]

Funny you should mention that monster, as Brian Windhorst was on Sirius this morning saying that Lowry is looking at a team friendly deal for around 25 million so he can sign with the contender of his choice. He also confirmed that the Wolves were after him and there are reports that Butler is aggressively wooing him. If the Wolves actually get a high class free agent to sign in Minnesota AND take a freakin discount I don't think I will even know what to with myself for the next few days lol

I wouldn't be shocked if it happened. If Lowry returned to the Raptors he is either they best player or in a tie for top player with Derozen. Their next best player? Ibaka I guess? If he came to the Wolves he would be maybe tied with Butler but he would also have Towns who could end up better than both AND have Wiggins as the 4th best player. are the Spurs an option? Do the Clipper have cap space and interest in him at that number? Butler said today that he is talking to FAs better than him about coming here. I'm not all in on Lowry but I can see the fit here espcially for 25 million per. His volume 3 point shooting would be fantastic and if he would be added we would be a legit contender talent level team. We will see but we need to be prepared to be making moves contender type teams make than what the rest of the league does.