Another article about useless mentorship

[Monster]

Carlos I feel VERY confident this franchise ain't dumping Dieng. IF he gets traded in the next 12 months it will be a legit return.

Now what I do agree with is we didn't know for sure Dieng will want the big money. Maybe he will settle for a nice size able and fairly reasonable payday from this team to be a top backup. That is possible. We likely have a whole season to answer a lot of these questions and see what assumptions we are making have any merit.

The main thing that's nice is that Doeng and Bazz actually have some nice trade value as well as values to our team. We aren't used to 1st round picks having that especially considering they were picked outside of the top 5.

[Carlos Danger]

Carlos I feel VERY confident this franchise ain't dumping Dieng. IF he gets traded in the next 12 months it will be a legit return.

Now what I do agree with is we didn't know for sure Dieng will want the big money. Maybe he will settle for a nice size able and fairly reasonable payday from this team to be a top backup. That is possible. We likely have a whole season to answer a lot of these questions and see what assumptions we are making have any merit.

The main thing that's nice is that Doeng and Bazz actually have some nice trade value as well as values to our team. We aren't used to 1st round picks having that especially considering they were picked outside of the top 5.

But if you read what some are writing...that's what it would be. It's like "Oh no...we have a good young player...we should trade him before he becomes too expensive". That's crazy talk. We want to hang on to good young talent. Dump the older guys or the marginal guys who are not expected to play much anyhow. I don't think they even have to have 15 guys on a roster. Isn't it 13? Besides, isn't the cap going up to like $108M by 2017? Why are we worried about Dieng getting maybe $8M to be our back up center?

[thedoper]

Carlos I feel VERY confident this franchise ain't dumping Dieng. IF he gets traded in the next 12 months it will be a legit return.

Now what I do agree with is we didn't know for sure Dieng will want the big money. Maybe he will settle for a nice size able and fairly reasonable payday from this team to be a top backup. That is possible. We likely have a whole season to answer a lot of these questions and see what assumptions we are making have any merit.

The main thing that's nice is that Doeng and Bazz actually have some nice trade value as well as values to our team. We aren't used to 1st round picks having that especially considering they were picked outside of the top 5.

But if you read what some are writing...that's what it would be. It's like "Oh no...we have a good young player...we should trade him before he becomes too expensive". That's crazy talk. We want to hang on to good young talent. Dump the older guys or the marginal guys who are not expected to play much anyhow. I don't think they even have to have 15 guys on a roster. Isn't it 13? Besides, isn't the cap going up to like $108M by 2017? Why are we worried about Dieng getting maybe $8M to be our back up center?

I think the working assumption must be that our players will always be perpetually getting worse. Therefore we are constant sellers. I like your position that if Dieng can contribute why ditch him. It would be nice to be on the right side of deals more often.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The problem I have with keeping Dieng at $10M+ (and it will absolutely be that number or more, not less) is that he's essentially a one-way player right now and his role will be off the bench. I think he'll have solid value around the league. Why not try to flip him for help at a different position? Or for a player that helps fix our weakness (defense/shooting)? You guys can't say he's untouchable or not a trade piece because any reasonable basketball fan knows he's not THAT good of a player. Neither is Shabazz at this point.

Ideally, we move both of them in a package to get an All-Star type talent to help speed up the rebuild. Take the two solid players and get a better quality player. That's the step we're almost at as a franchise.

*** Keep in mind that the 2016 NBA Draft has a handful of high-potential bigs. There's a good chance we're picking in the top-10. That's another player that would hypothetically be better than Dieng down the road. Something to keep in mind.

[Carlos Danger]

The problem I have with keeping Dieng at $10M+ (and it will absolutely be that number or more, not less) is that he's essentially a one-way player right now and his role will be off the bench. I think he'll have solid value around the league. Why not try to flip him for help at a different position? Or for a player that helps fix our weakness (defense/shooting)? You guys can't say he's untouchable or not a trade piece because any reasonable basketball fan knows he's not THAT good of a player. Neither is Shabazz at this point.

Ideally, we move both of them in a package to get an All-Star type talent to help speed up the rebuild. Take the two solid players and get a better quality player. That's the step we're almost at as a franchise.

*** Keep in mind that the 2016 NBA Draft has a handful of high-potential bigs. There's a good chance we're picking in the top-10. That's another player that would hypothetically be better than Dieng down the road. Something to keep in mind.

Nobody is untouchable on a 16 win team. That's not what I'm saying at all. I just don't think we'd get anything better back. It's like that commercial..."sometimes the best used car is the one you are driving". Last year was Dieng's first year playing significant minutes. He was arguably our best player. And he still has upside. Didn't Bjelica improve after age 25? So why couldn't Dieng? He's also durable. We should appreciate that after watching Pek and Turiaff collect checks for not playing. And (from all reports) he's a good teammate/hard worker. He's done well over the off-season. I mean...what's the guy need to do to get some respect? Instead of trying to trade him, I'd approach him now for a 4 year deal at a reasonable amount. And as I said before, I don't know that he's getting 10+Million/year. That's what you say - but I don't know that. But let's assume that's true. Who cares? It's not crazy money. If we know that's what he's worth, then so do other teams. It's not like we are going to fleece someone who doesn't realize Dieng will be due more money on his next deal. I want to see how Dieng looks with some better players around him. Why can't that happen here?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Carlos I feel VERY confident this franchise ain't dumping Dieng. IF he gets traded in the next 12 months it will be a legit return.

Now what I do agree with is we didn't know for sure Dieng will want the big money. Maybe he will settle for a nice size able and fairly reasonable payday from this team to be a top backup. That is possible. We likely have a whole season to answer a lot of these questions and see what assumptions we are making have any merit.

The main thing that's nice is that Doeng and Bazz actually have some nice trade value as well as values to our team. We aren't used to 1st round picks having that especially considering they were picked outside of the top 5.

But if you read what some are writing...that's what it would be. It's like "Oh no...we have a good young player...we should trade him before he becomes too expensive". That's crazy talk. We want to hang on to good young talent. Dump the older guys or the marginal guys who are not expected to play much anyhow. I don't think they even have to have 15 guys on a roster. Isn't it 13? Besides, isn't the cap going up to like $108M by 2017? Why are we worried about Dieng getting maybe $8M to be our back up center?

Your 8 million dollar guess might be half of what he's offered under the new cap. He's a backup to us, but he might be viewed as a starter on another team which pushes his value up, not down. That's what people are arguing. His value to us is limited, but to another team it could be a lot more depending on their situation. He'll be almost in his prime when he signs his next deal which are supposed to be his best years so a team might take that shot on him to be a starter realizing his backup status for us makes it difficult to match a high number. Teams won't have to offer the max or near it to steal guys away any more because the salary range is going to be much bigger. If we can package Dieng for a starter or better we have to strongly consider it or he may end up either overpaid playing for us or gone for nothing. 10 million under the current cap is 13+ million under the new cap value wise and if backup bigs are getting that 10 million now, it only takes one team to view him as a starter to offer more than even that 13 million dollar number moving forward. Even with the new cap, a 10+ million dollar raise is gonna be hard to swallow for a backup.

[Carlos Danger]

Carlos I feel VERY confident this franchise ain't dumping Dieng. IF he gets traded in the next 12 months it will be a legit return.

Now what I do agree with is we didn't know for sure Dieng will want the big money. Maybe he will settle for a nice size able and fairly reasonable payday from this team to be a top backup. That is possible. We likely have a whole season to answer a lot of these questions and see what assumptions we are making have any merit.

The main thing that's nice is that Doeng and Bazz actually have some nice trade value as well as values to our team. We aren't used to 1st round picks having that especially considering they were picked outside of the top 5.

But if you read what some are writing...that's what it would be. It's like "Oh no...we have a good young player...we should trade him before he becomes too expensive". That's crazy talk. We want to hang on to good young talent. Dump the older guys or the marginal guys who are not expected to play much anyhow. I don't think they even have to have 15 guys on a roster. Isn't it 13? Besides, isn't the cap going up to like $108M by 2017? Why are we worried about Dieng getting maybe $8M to be our back up center?

Your 8 million dollar guess might be half of what he's offered under the new cap. He's a backup to us, but he might be viewed as a starter on another team which pushes his value up, not down. That's what people are arguing. His value to us is limited, but to another team it could be a lot more depending on their situation. He'll be almost in his prime when he signs his next deal which are supposed to be his best years so a team might take that shot on him to be a starter realizing his backup status for us makes it difficult to match a high number. Teams won't have to offer the max or near it to steal guys away any more because the salary range is going to be much bigger. If we can package Dieng for a starter or better we have to strongly consider it or he may end up either overpaid playing for us or gone for nothing. 10 million under the current cap is 13+ million under the new cap value wise and if backup bigs are getting that 10 million now, it only takes one team to view him as a starter to offer more than even that 13 million dollar number moving forward. Even with the new cap, a 10+ million dollar raise is gonna be hard to swallow for a backup.

He's a backup on the worst team in the NBA, but someone else will plug him in as a starter? I see what you are trying to do, but I think it's a stretch. Dieng is a good back up Center as of this moment. He hasn't shown enough to be considered a starter IMO. But he's a very good backup and I'm sure that's what his market value would be.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Have you been paying attention to free agency over the last couple years? Good backups have been getting starter money from other teams and it's not just one circumstance. It wasn't long ago that Omer Asik got $25M over three years and that was before the cap jump. John Henson just got four years, $44M from the Bucks. He's in the same situation as Dieng (good big off the bench, capable of spot starts), although I wish we had him instead of Gorgui. He just got $11M a year, essentially. You're telling us that Dieng won't get that when the cap bumps up? Come on now. That's just not being realistic.

[Carlos Danger]

Have you been paying attention to free agency over the last couple years? Good backups have been getting starter money from other teams and it's not just one circumstance. It wasn't long ago that Omer Asik got $25M over three years and that was before the cap jump. John Henson just got four years, $44M from the Bucks. He's in the same situation as Dieng (good big off the bench, capable of spot starts), although I wish we had him instead of Gorgui. He just got $11M a year, essentially. You're telling us that Dieng won't get that when the cap bumps up? Come on now. That's just not being realistic.

I'm saying I don't know what Dieng would get and neither do you. We can both make guesses. But the market will decide.

Also...you pointed out that the Bucks signed Henson for four years. Shouldn't that be an example of a team holding onto a young talent vs. dumping him? That's all I want.

But to you and other's points...if the Wolves can flip Dieng into an All-Star - I say "great - go for it". But good luck with that. The more likely outcome would be Dieng for something worse which I've seen it too many times. I'd rather keep what we have and surround him with some better players.

[Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]]

yeah, let's snap our fingers and flip Dieng for an All-star. What a joke. If I have an all-star and you come to me with Bazz/Dieng offer, the least harmful thing I would do is laugh in your face.