Minnesota Sports Forum

It looks a little bit blurry, but if I'm not mistaken I can see the possibility of a very strong defensive unit emerging for certain situations. Consider a lineup of:

5 - KAT
4 - Vando
3 - McDaniels
2 - Okogie
1 - Beverly

If you ever need a stop in a close game, I'm betting these 5 could get you one. Are we actually talking about the Wolves here?

CoolBreeze44 wrote:It looks a little bit blurry, but if I'm not mistaken I can see the possibility of a very strong defensive unit emerging for certain situations. Consider a lineup of:

5 - KAT
4 - Vando
3 - McDaniels
2 - Okogie
1 - Beverly

If you ever need a stop in a close game, I'm betting these 5 could get you one. Are we actually talking about the Wolves here?

I agree we should be set up to have so many offense for defense subs and vise versa to end games and for the 1st time in a long time I think we have a smart coach to execute it.

kekgeek1 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:It looks a little bit blurry, but if I'm not mistaken I can see the possibility of a very strong defensive unit emerging for certain situations. Consider a lineup of:

5 - KAT
4 - Vando
3 - McDaniels
2 - Okogie
1 - Beverly

If you ever need a stop in a close game, I'm betting these 5 could get you one. Are we actually talking about the Wolves here?

I agree we should be set up to have so many offense for defense subs and vise versa to end games and for the 1st time in a long time I think we have a smart coach to execute it.

Love it...the addition of Jaden, Vando and Beverley along with KAT's improvement last year in guarding the perimeter gives me a little hope that we can begin to turn the corner defensively. It's been a long time...

Camden wrote:

WolvesFan21 wrote:I think Beverly will start and Beasley will be the scoring punch off the bench. I guess the question is, who is the better ball handler and facilitator between the two? Sure you can always stagger minutes to keep DLO or Ant in the game at all times as well. But between Bev and Bease IDK. Bev is a better player then Bease, simply because he is so much better on defense. So I think I have to start him.

I need some toughness and defense in my starting 5. Bease plays tough but is simply not at Bevs level when it comes to defensive skill.

Both Beverley and Beasley will likely be reserves next season. That backcourt duo off the bench will be very valuable and either or both of them could be in certain late game lineups. This was a trade to bolster the second unit. I hope we don't make it into more than what it is.

I can see that. I guess I envisioned minus an upgrade at PF then we have-

Bev
DLO
Ant
McDaniels
KAT

as a starting lineup.

The question is will we get another 4/5?

FNG wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:It looks a little bit blurry, but if I'm not mistaken I can see the possibility of a very strong defensive unit emerging for certain situations. Consider a lineup of:

5 - KAT
4 - Vando
3 - McDaniels
2 - Okogie
1 - Beverly

If you ever need a stop in a close game, I'm betting these 5 could get you one. Are we actually talking about the Wolves here?

I agree we should be set up to have so many offense for defense subs and vise versa to end games and for the 1st time in a long time I think we have a smart coach to execute it.

Love it...the addition of Jaden, Vando and Beverley along with KAT's improvement last year in guarding the perimeter gives me a little hope that we can begin to turn the corner defensively. It's been a long time...

Okogie and Beverly that's a couple of tough customers.

One of the other positives about this trade that hasn't been mentioned is that the Wolves shooting has been improved. Juancho who I supported about as much as anyone wasn't a good shooter last year and is a mixed bag in his career. Beverley is better than Rubio and Culver a poor shooting perimeter player is now gone. Okogie makes more sense as the defensive wing perimeter guy. I though Brit Robson made an interesting point in a podcast with Dane that Okogie on a bad team...how important is a guy locking up his man when his man passes to another guy who simply scores?

Meanwhile Beverly is a complimentary player (who has played with some of the top guard perimeter players in the league and so who might fit well with Russell or Edwards or Nowell or even McLaughlin if he is brought back. Personally he fits what is needed better than Rubio as a complimentary guy who is a better defender and shooter. Yes he will probably miss games but Rubio has tended to miss a few games too. This is why I think the Wolves will still bring back McLaughlin or maybe even sign a different PG. if they don't Wright could be ready to play a similar role to Beverly only not the proven shooter he is. It will be interesting to see if the Wolves do something with this open roster spot or if they just keep the flexibility.

Nice to have two players on the roster now that can defend and make a 3: Bev and McD. We started last season with zero until McD showed out. This is a rarity for the Wolves.

I love this trade for all the reasons that you guys have pointed out. But doesn't it leave the team pretty sparse on size - aren't KAT and Reid the only big guys sure to make the roster? I'm not sure about Knight, but I admit to not watching much summer league. Lip thinks Milsap might be a possibility - he plays bigger than his 6'7" so that would help. Vanderbilt is 6'9" but is pretty slight. This team is short on beef.

Sundog60 wrote:I love this trade for all the reasons that you guys have pointed out. But doesn't it leave the team pretty sparse on size - aren't KAT and Reid the only big guys sure to make the roster? I'm not sure about Knight, but I admit to not watching much summer league. Lip thinks Milsap might be a possibility - he plays bigger than his 6'7" so that would help. Vanderbilt is 6'9" but is pretty slight. This team is short on beef.

Good point, Sundog. My response would be that this team was lacking size even before this trade. Ideally, they were going to add two bigs this off-season regardless of anything else they did. One of them was likely going to be Jarred Vanderbilt, but the other was going to be an upgrade from him that would start next to Karl-Anthony Towns. That plan was always going to be the most difficult, but it's still achievable with Paul Millsap available.

Outside of that, it looks like Vanderbilt will be the starter with a lower tier big signed for depth, or perhaps the front office views Taurean Prince and/or Josh Okogie as guys that can play the four. There's not much remaining in free agency for bigs at the moment. Perhaps there could be a trade in the ensuing months, but I wouldn't count on it.

Camden0916 wrote:

Sundog60 wrote:I love this trade for all the reasons that you guys have pointed out. But doesn't it leave the team pretty sparse on size - aren't KAT and Reid the only big guys sure to make the roster? I'm not sure about Knight, but I admit to not watching much summer league. Lip thinks Milsap might be a possibility - he plays bigger than his 6'7" so that would help. Vanderbilt is 6'9" but is pretty slight. This team is short on beef.

Good point, Sundog. My response would be that this team was lacking size even before this trade. Ideally, they were going to add two bigs this off-season regardless of anything else they did. One of them was likely going to be Jarred Vanderbilt, but the other was going to be an upgrade from him that would start next to Karl-Anthony Towns. That plan was always going to be the most difficult, but it's still achievable with Paul Millsap available.

Outside of that, it looks like Vanderbilt will be the starter with a lower tier big signed for depth, or perhaps the front office views Taurean Prince and/or Josh Okogie as guys that can play the four. There's not much remaining in free agency for bigs at the moment. Perhaps there could be a trade in the ensuing months, but I wouldn't count on it.

Cam pretty much covered it but I will add that while Juancho was flawed he did rebound the ball at a good rate (if no others are added that could be missed) he wasn't answering the big man situation although I had hole for him being better this season.

Meanwhile before this trade the Wolves were set up to have McLaughlin at their backup PG. Beverly is a massive upgrade there and lets say the Wolves end up having to simply give the minutes Juancho would have played to Nathan Knight. I feel better about that downgrade than Beverly to McLaughlin and I'm a big JMac fan.

Sundog60 wrote:I love this trade for all the reasons that you guys have pointed out. But doesn't it leave the team pretty sparse on size - aren't KAT and Reid the only big guys sure to make the roster? I'm not sure about Knight, but I admit to not watching much summer league. Lip thinks Milsap might be a possibility - he plays bigger than his 6'7" so that would help. Vanderbilt is 6'9" but is pretty slight. This team is short on beef.

Tacko Fall. He's the answer. :)