Minnesota Sports Forum

KiwiMatt wrote:Yes we certainly do need a facilitator on our 2nd unit. I think we already have that guy (Shved), but unfortunately he's playing out of position. The problem here is Barea. Him and Shved simply aren't a good backcourt pairing. Both need the ball in their hands to be effective and at the moment Barea isn't playing the facilitating role and setting up team mates. Shved's development has been significantly halted because of this.

I had faith in Shved going into this year that he could be our backup PG. Unfortunately, that hasn't looked as such. His shooting is still off, he still takes crazy runners and he'll never get out of that jumping-without-knowing-what-to-do-with-the-ball phase. His defense is still good and he's a pretty good rebounder for a guard, and he also has decent passing skills and vision. He just hasn't gotten better at the things he needs to. Combine that with playing a ball-dominating Barea and it just hasn't worked out for Shved.

This makes me want to acquire a PG pretty bad.

I think we can win with the core we have right now, BUT as a trade to think about, what about this:

HOU: PF Ryan Anderson, C Greg Stiemsma
MIN: C Omer Asik
NO: C Nikola Pekovic

Trade can't happen until January 15th per NBA rules concerning Pekovic due to when he signed his contract. Think it would be fair, but would all three teams make the moves. The money part works out, though.

HOU: Gives them a true stretch PF who has played and had success with Dwight. Also replaces the backup center role that Asik would leave.

MIN: Trades offense for defense. Asik's a rim protector. Gives the starting lineup more defense. Asik averaged 10 pts, 11 rebs and a block last year. Bad contract and poor FT shooter, though.

NO: Gives them more interior offense. Would complement Davis and Aminu well in the frontcourt.

I agree with some of the other posters. We don't need another trade right now. This is a perfect time to use our rookies on the 2nd team. They have skill sets of what we need right now. I know they're raw, but we can't have our starters playing 40 minutes a game. I wouldn't count on Turiaf and Bud helping much, so while they're out, this is the perfect time to play the rookies. It could be ugly but we have to try it.