thedoper wrote:FNG wrote:thedoper wrote:FNG wrote:Doper- addressing your point that Rosas moved heaven and earth to pair Dlo with KAT, and would be unlikely to trade him...I agree. But as the new ownership begins to get involved (I get that ownership doesn't transfer for 2 years, but you gotta believe the new guys are going to be involved in decision making in the interim), are they going to listen to Rosas or Finch? I think the answer is clearly Finch, and I would take it even further to suggest Finch is already in charge. Ask yourself this...was it Rosas's dream to have Dlo coming off the bench and playing more with Naz than KAT? Of course not...that's Finch's plan. And I know Finch used the excuse of a minutes limitation to justify Dlo coming off the bench, but I note that Finch has said the minutes restriction is over, and Dlo is still coming off the bench. I'm not worried about what Rosas wants, because we already have evidence that this is Finch's team, and he doesn't appear to consider Dlo a starter. I think Finch would jump at the chance to pick up Collins for Dlo.
Lip, while I love the idea of swapping Dlo for Turner, I agree with Monster that it is not feasible. I'm not quite in the Abe camp that there are 28 teams Atlanta would rather trade with than take on Dlo, but I do think NBA GMs are well aware that 3 teams have already given up on this 25 year old one-way player, and a 4th is playing him as 6th man. I think the Wolves are going to have to find a desperate team (i.e. a team that has a star who is forcing a trade, like Collins) in order to get any kind of value for Dlo. I'd love to see it happen, and can't really find another suitable deal out there for Dlo.
I dont follow the logic. Rosas hired Finch and goes way back with him. Rosas is probably ecstatic that his guy is making this work and is finally providing some justification for the DLo move whether it is with DLo as a starter or not. There could be a power shift that happens with this organization, but Im sure were still some time away from that. I certainly dont think anything that has happen in Finch's short tenure implies that he and Rosas arent completely working in concert.
We don't know everything about the relationship between the two, but it's likely to assume Rosas trusts Finch's basketball judgement or he wouldn't have hired him. And right now Finch seems to think that starting Rubio/Edwards in the backcourt is preferable to staring Dlo. We don't know for sure, but I would guess Rosas's vision wasn't to trade a starter and a first round draft pick to obtain a 6th man on a max contract. So it's pretty clear to me that Rosas is giving Finch a long leash to do what he thinks is best to turn this franchise around...and Gerson has to be delighted with the results even with his guy not starting. So my logic is if Finch goes to Rosas and tells him he can pick up a starting PF with great 2-way credentials in exchange for a guy Finch is playing off the bench, I don't think Rosas would put up much of a fight. Of course neither you or you know who's pulling the strings for this team, but I see a lot of evidence that Rosas is allowing Finch to call the shots. If we need another piece of evidence we can look at the Culver situation. Rosas's fingerprints are all over Culver since he gave up assets to move up to get him. Don't you think Rosas has a vested interest in Culver's success to prove he didn't screw up in the draft? And yet, even before Culver was shut down for the season and was available to play, Finch didn't give him any minutes. Again, that looks like a Finch decision, not a Rosas one.
DLo has been playing significant minutes and they are getting results that support Rosas vision that Kat and DLo are a winning tandem. I doubt the nuance of whether DLo is getting minutes as a starter or a 6th man matter to Rosas when his total minutes are significant. If anything Rosas is probably thrilled that Rubio is upping his value right now with continued PT after the stinker of a season he had. Finch has called DLo a starter in his latest post game pressers, but simply explained Dlo is a starter and that the Wolves don't look at him as the long term solution of the bench:
https://twitter.com/ChristopherHine/status/1388622105730707458
As for Culver, I think everyone is ready to admit he was a failure. Rosas may be holding out more hope like some still are, but Culver didn't get any significant PT from either coach because he stinks, this was more or less consistent with Ryan and Finch. You're right that no one really knows what is going on behind the scene. But your narrative that there is any indication that Finch wants to jump ship on Dlo is totally against the narrative of the organization to date. Maybe things change quickly as you paint out in your hypothetical scenario, but at present there is no way I see it that a DLo trade happens before next trade deadline unless DLo asks for it.
The only guy on this roster that's playing minutes over Culver is Okogie. Everyone else Rosas brought in as well and Rosas kept Okogie when he jettisoned everyone else he didn't bring in (other than Towns) at his first trade deadline. Rosas is invested in this entire roster to some extent. If Culver is a failure but say Nowell becomes a nice player he still succeeds.
As for Russell coming off the bench:
1. He wasn't playing big minutes as a starter. Looking at his splits he plays a couple minutes less now than when he was starting. His volume of play hasn't changed much.
2. Russell has played well as a bench player. He has good stats as a starter too. Meanwhile Rubio does not have good stats as a bench guy although that might be based on a small sample early in the year when he simply wasn't playing as well. Rubio hasn't been a bench player much in his career it might simply make sense to play each guy this year in these roles to get the best out of Rubio and possibly the team.
3. I haven't been watching many games but could it make more sense to be playing Russell off the bench on general based on the personnel he plays with in that unit? Maybe Rubio playing with Edwards is a positive. There is more to all this than one guy is considered a bench player so he isn't valued as if highly. Apparently Popovivh didn't value Manu the last few years of his career when he was coming off the bench. The should have jettisoned that guy... of course I'm kinda joking with that last comment but the idea that Finch a rookie head coach has wrestled THE power of the organization in a time amount that could be measured in weeks than months is...a little amusing.
There is more to Russell than his stats BUT whether we are keeping him or trading him he is currently putting up 19ppg in just under 28mpg and this is the 2nd season where he has been fairly efficient. Not amazing in terms of efficiency but that's not his problem. Plus he averages a chunk of assists too. He has some value. How much? Idk but he has legit value as a player...but he is also getting paid a lot. The other question to be asked is let's say we move Russell. In 2022 who is playing PG for the Wolves? Ant? Nowell? Rubio? FA? Draft pick? None of those are particularly certain options.
