Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Just read through 6 pages of this Pau speculation and nobody has mentioned what I thought of immediately after seeing the Wolves aggressively going after him. Could it be that one or two of our bigs are part of a potential Jimmy Butler deal? Makes some sense to me. Let's not kid ourselves, Pau would be coming here to start, then you would have G, Belly, and Aldrich left to fight for backup minutes. That's not to even mention what KG might bring if he plays. I still fully expect the Butler conversations to continue this summer centered around Dunn and whatever else we can use to entice the Bulls.

While I see your perspective, I think you are wrong. :-P

The Rondo signing could change that

TeamRicky wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

TeamRicky wrote:Its bizarre that we are in a bidding war for a 35 year old. I would have preferred paying to get Marvin Williams, Dudley or Courtney Lee at slightly above the salaries they signed for.

I don't know, Ricky...I think it's a perfect fit for us. It's likely a 2-year deal while we have all this cap space and a young group of studs who could really use a vet on the court. And Gasol is coming off a great season: 22 PER, 16.5/11/4.1, defensive rating of 101 with 2 blocks per game. I'd love to see 2 elite passers on the court with KAT, Wig and Zach. And in 2 years when our stars are getting closer to their prime, we let him go at 37...or he sees a chance for a championship and he stays with a bargain contract.

Maybe if he ages like Duncan has, it will be a good signing. I just have a fresh image of a 35 year old Tayshaun looking like a shell of his former self so age has to be at least a minor concern. Don't get me wrong, I would be kind of intrigued by signing Gasol and he might be the best immediate impact player of the group, but I prefer looking down the road further to get a two way guy who could potentially be part of our team past two years. Neither are bad options to have.

Prince the previous year looked like a guy in decline and last year for the Wolves looked nearly useless offensively while being effective as a defender. Gasol just came off a terrific season where you can make an argument he is once again one of the best all around big men in the game so that comp doesn't seem fair.

Now should their be injury and age concern with him? Yes absolutely. It's one reason why if we don't get him I won't be all that disappointed. The upside if he stays healthy and productive (especially for a 2 year deal) are pretty significant. I'd rather overpay for that than overpay 3 guys that probably don't equal his talent if you put them all together.

60WinTim wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Just read through 6 pages of this Pau speculation and nobody has mentioned what I thought of immediately after seeing the Wolves aggressively going after him. Could it be that one or two of our bigs are part of a potential Jimmy Butler deal? Makes some sense to me. Let's not kid ourselves, Pau would be coming here to start, then you would have G, Belly, and Aldrich left to fight for backup minutes. That's not to even mention what KG might bring if he plays. I still fully expect the Butler conversations to continue this summer centered around Dunn and whatever else we can use to entice the Bulls.

While I see your perspective, I think you are wrong. :-P

Gasol would give us 3 bigs we can absolutely count on. Aldrich is a nice depth guy. Belly might be good(I like him) but could end up being meh. If you can add a Gasol you do it. I think it's pretty simple.

4 years 70 million Crabbe to the Nets.

khans2k5 wrote:4 years 70 million Crabbe to the Nets.

Good signing for Nets, they need more young talent. I'm a little surprised Portland announced they aren't matching as I think they have cap space to do so if they like. They essentially traded Crabbe for Evan Turner.

TeamRicky wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:4 years 70 million Crabbe to the Nets.

Good signing for Nets, they need more young talent. I'm a little surprised Portland announced they aren't matching as I think they have cap space to do so if they like. They essentially traded Crabbe for Evan Turner.

That would have killed their chances at Pau just to sign a backup.

monsterpile wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Just read through 6 pages of this Pau speculation and nobody has mentioned what I thought of immediately after seeing the Wolves aggressively going after him. Could it be that one or two of our bigs are part of a potential Jimmy Butler deal? Makes some sense to me. Let's not kid ourselves, Pau would be coming here to start, then you would have G, Belly, and Aldrich left to fight for backup minutes. That's not to even mention what KG might bring if he plays. I still fully expect the Butler conversations to continue this summer centered around Dunn and whatever else we can use to entice the Bulls.

While I see your perspective, I think you are wrong. :-P

Gasol would give us 3 bigs we can absolutely count on. Aldrich is a nice depth guy. Belly might be good(I like him) but could end up being meh. If you can add a Gasol you do it. I think it's pretty simple.

Even at a cost of 20-22 mil for 2 years? If both Dieng and shabazz show good improvement under Thibs then we put ourselves in a very difficult spot next offseason ( I don't see a 36 year old Gasol on a 20 mil contract as easy to move ). Please correct me If it is possible for us to still resign those 2 while still fielding a team as we wait on the Gasol/ Pek contracts to expire the following season. I also don't think you can put a ton of weight into counting on a 36 year old Gasol to remain as healthy as he has. Again, I'm not going to be disappointed, but I worry we are jumping the gun a year or two on a Gasol type signing.

I see you had mentioned the injury/age concerns previously. I agree you may not sign 3 guys that are currently as good as Gasol, but a question to ask is if that will that be the case in 1 or 2 years? A guy on a 6-10mil contract should be much easier to move as well.

TheFuture wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Just read through 6 pages of this Pau speculation and nobody has mentioned what I thought of immediately after seeing the Wolves aggressively going after him. Could it be that one or two of our bigs are part of a potential Jimmy Butler deal? Makes some sense to me. Let's not kid ourselves, Pau would be coming here to start, then you would have G, Belly, and Aldrich left to fight for backup minutes. That's not to even mention what KG might bring if he plays. I still fully expect the Butler conversations to continue this summer centered around Dunn and whatever else we can use to entice the Bulls.

While I see your perspective, I think you are wrong. :-P

Gasol would give us 3 bigs we can absolutely count on. Aldrich is a nice depth guy. Belly might be good(I like him) but could end up being meh. If you can add a Gasol you do it. I think it's pretty simple.

Even at a cost of 20-22 mil for 2 years? If both Dieng and shabazz show good improvement under Thibs then we put ourselves in a very difficult spot next offseason ( I don't see a 36 year old Gasol on a 20 mil contract as easy to move ). Please correct me If it is possible for us to still resign those 2 while still fielding a team as we wait on the Gasol/ Pek contracts to expire the following season. I also don't think you can put a ton of weight into counting on a 36 year old Gasol to remain as healthy as he has. Again, I'm not going to be disappointed, but I worry we are jumping the gun a year or two on a Gasol type signing.

Really my point was that just because we sign Gasol doesn't mean any other significant move. I wasn't saying I was all in on it.

To your question of can we afford all those guys Idk. KG and Payne come off the books and the cap is supposed to jump quite a bit. Plus we won't have that first round pick next year so that helps...lol. I don't have all the numbers in front of me but it seems like keeping Bazz and Dieng could be resigned but who knows. You make a good point. I can go either way on Gasol signing. I'd probably lean towards signing some young relatively cheap complimentary players instead but getting Gasol would be pretty nifty. I think he will pick a different team but it's cool to be in on a guy like that.

TheFuture wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

60WinTim wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Just read through 6 pages of this Pau speculation and nobody has mentioned what I thought of immediately after seeing the Wolves aggressively going after him. Could it be that one or two of our bigs are part of a potential Jimmy Butler deal? Makes some sense to me. Let's not kid ourselves, Pau would be coming here to start, then you would have G, Belly, and Aldrich left to fight for backup minutes. That's not to even mention what KG might bring if he plays. I still fully expect the Butler conversations to continue this summer centered around Dunn and whatever else we can use to entice the Bulls.

While I see your perspective, I think you are wrong. :-P

Gasol would give us 3 bigs we can absolutely count on. Aldrich is a nice depth guy. Belly might be good(I like him) but could end up being meh. If you can add a Gasol you do it. I think it's pretty simple.

Even at a cost of 20-22 mil for 2 years? If both Dieng and shabazz show good improvement under Thibs then we put ourselves in a very difficult spot next offseason ( I don't see a 36 year old Gasol on a 20 mil contract as easy to move ). Please correct me If it is possible for us to still resign those 2 while still fielding a team as we wait on the Gasol/ Pek contracts to expire the following season. I also don't think you can put a ton of weight into counting on a 36 year old Gasol to remain as healthy as he has. Again, I'm not going to be disappointed, but I worry we are jumping the gun a year or two on a Gasol type signing.

We just can't sign Bazz to more than 10-12 million. He's a backup for us and there is no path to being a starter for us with Wiggins and Lavine in front of him. Someone is gonna give him a Crabbe type deal and we just have to let him go. He's not worth that kind of money. And for Dieng the cap is gonna jump enough combined with KG's expiring to re-sign him at a max deal if needed. Gasol is still a damn good player with a style of play that will be effective for a few more years still. Unless you truly believe we can land a max superstar next season, which I'm highly skeptical of, Pau is better than most of the next few tiers of guys available both this summer and next.