Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'd like to have seen Robin Lopez land here for insurance. Nathan Knight has looked rough and out of his element when I see him. He got a defensive three second violation yesterday four seconds after entering the game. I don't see how he's playable in any playoff scenario.

But I don't know the intricacies of the cap enough to know how feasible that was... nor if Lopez even wants to leave his year-long unlimited access Epcot Center pass behind.

I think the issue with Lopez coming to the Wolves is the issue the Wolves have being so close to the Lux Tax line. A Layman for Lopez trade would of put the Wolves over the Lux Tax line. It was really hard for the Wolves to make a move this trade deadline because of how close they were to Tax line.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'd like to have seen Robin Lopez land here for insurance. Nathan Knight has looked rough and out of his element when I see him. He got a defensive three second violation yesterday four seconds after entering the game. I don't see how he's playable in any playoff scenario.

But I don't know the intricacies of the cap enough to know how feasible that was... nor if Lopez even wants to leave his year-long unlimited access Epcot Center pass behind.

For example a Jake Layman for Lopez trade would push the Wolves into the Lux tax.

Jester1534 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'm going to assume Gupta didn't have the power to make moves. Probably the best trade of the day for wolves was the mavs trade. That sure felt we need to retool this team and were not a top 6 team type trade.

I do have one question though. Didn't we have get rid of some salary to be under the tax line? As I'm trying to learn I don't know how that stuff works.

The Wolves are like 600k under the lux tax line. That is why it was hard to make a trade for a big Center. Layman for either Lopez or Len would of put us over the tax line. Then for Harrell, either Prince, Bev or Beasley would of needed to be in the trade to keep us under that number. I don't know if I would of liked trading any of those guys for Harrell.

Like I know people will be disappointed Gupta didn't do anything but it was really hard for him to make a move if he wasn't allowed to go over the tax line (There are punishments for going over this line)

So we have Harden and Embiid together in Philadelphia. That's gonna be an insufferable watch.

But hopefully Towns does watch... and learns some tricks about getting to the line more.

jester1534 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'm going to assume Gupta didn't have the power to make moves. Probably the best trade of the day for wolves was the mavs trade. That sure felt we need to retool this team and were not a top 6 team type trade.

I do have one question though. Didn't we have get rid of some salary to be under the tax line? As I'm trying to learn I don't know how that stuff works.

They are currently under but according to my spreadsheet they can take less than 1 million back in salary maybe much less depending on if the 10 day contracts count again the cap or not.

monsterpile wrote:

jester1534 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'm going to assume Gupta didn't have the power to make moves. Probably the best trade of the day for wolves was the mavs trade. That sure felt we need to retool this team and were not a top 6 team type trade.

I do have one question though. Didn't we have get rid of some salary to be under the tax line? As I'm trying to learn I don't know how that stuff works.

They are currently under but according to my spreadsheet they can take less than 1 million back in salary maybe much less depending on if the 10 day contracts count again the cap or not.

The 10 day contracts from Covid do not count against the cap

Surprised Layman isn't on his way to OKC at the least.

kekgeek1 wrote:

Jester1534 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves are standing pat. A lot of discussions but never could land on the right fit. Good team chemistry, now they will finish this season out and see how far they can go.

Per Jon K

I'm going to assume Gupta didn't have the power to make moves. Probably the best trade of the day for wolves was the mavs trade. That sure felt we need to retool this team and were not a top 6 team type trade.

I do have one question though. Didn't we have get rid of some salary to be under the tax line? As I'm trying to learn I don't know how that stuff works.

The Wolves are like 600k under the lux tax line. That is why it was hard to make a trade for a big Center. Layman for either Lopez or Len would of put us over the tax line. Then for Harrell, either Prince, Bev or Beasley would of needed to be in the trade to keep us under that number. I don't know if I would of liked trading any of those guys for Harrell.

Like I know people will be disappointed Gupta didn't do anything but it was really hard for him to make a move if he wasn't allowed to go over the tax line (There are punishments for going over this line)

Reid, Okogie, and Layman for Harrell worked and kept Minnesota below the luxury tax. I'm not championing for that trade, but it wouldn't have required Beverley, Beasley, or Prince.

Similarly, Minnesota could have offloaded Layman and a second-round pick to Oklahoma City and then swapped Okogie and a second to Orlando for Lopez, hypothetically.

There were avenues to take if they wanted to get a deal done. I'm not interested in excuses for Gupta, though, especially considering he's auditioning for the job moving forward.

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Surprised Layman isn't on his way to OKC at the least.

He could still be a buy out candidate or they could stretch his contract to create cap space to sign a min salary center and still stay under the tax line, without giving out up a 2nd.

kekgeek1 wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Surprised Layman isn't on his way to OKC at the least.

He could still be a buy out candidate or they could stretch his contract to create cap space to sign a min salary center and still stay under the tax line, without giving out up a 2nd.

Layman can't be stretched during the final year of his contract between September and June. He also has no incentive to take a buyout considering his future in the NBA is in question.