Minnesota Sports Forum

northernhoops wrote:My offseason plan:
Hire JVG as POBO and allow him to either coach the team himself, or allow him to hire a coach of his choice, which I think would likely be Thibs.

Draft Buddy Hield at 5, but listen to offers, especially from the Nuggets if Sabonis falls to 10 (where they're currently slotted at) that trade would be 5 for 10 and 15 and at 15 I'd take Timothe Luwawu, who's kind of raw but could be a great 3 and D wing in a few years.

Trade Shabazz for Mike Scott, to add some versatility to our bench. Atlanta adds some bench scoring.

Trade Bjelica and Houston's 2nd rounder to San Antonio for their 2nd rounder. I feel like the Spurs could turn Bjelica around and he seems to fit their general player type, but I don't have much hope for him in Minnesota and this would clear his salary.

Assuming KG retires we would have a great deal of cap space. So, I would offer Nic Batum 20 million a year for 3 years and Joakim Noah 12 million for 2 years.

We start off the season with a rotation of
Rubio (30) LaVine (2) Tyus (16)
Wiggins (20) LaVine (28)
Batum (28) Wiggins (14) Luwawu (6)
Towns (22) Dieng (8.) Sabonis (13) Batum (5)
Noah (20) Dieng (17) Towns (11)

Close games with a lineup of Rubio, LaVine, Wiggins, Batum, Towns

Thanks for laying out your opinion of an offseason plan. Here are some of my opinions on your plan.

Trading Bjelica to dump him would be a significant mistake. He is pretty much exactly the type of player this team needs and the last few games he has played like it.

Also the absolute faith in JVG as POBO is somewhat bizarre to me. He hasn't coached in nearly 9 years and he will come in and make all the right personnel moves? Maybe but I don't have that strong of confidence in him and I actually like the guy a lot.

If this team could add Batum it would be huge. He would add so much to so many facets of the team. I think it's unlikely but I like it as your plan. :)

Updated plan now that I realized Batum was only 200 lbs...

Coaching: Hire Tom Thibodeau

Draft: I am getting on the Dunn train. It seems like such a waste to not have a PG that can attack the rim when you have KAT that pulls his man out of the paint. Plus,

Free Agency: Sign Nic Batum. Trade Bazz & future 1st for Taj Gibson.

KAT/Dieng/Pek
Gibson/Bjelica/KG
Batum/Prince
Wiggins/LaVine
Rubio/Dunn

That Batum signing would also have to married with LaVine coming off the bench. Batum would be ideal because he does everything well. Shoots 3s, rebounds, passes, and plays D. He would also allow LaVine to run with the starting lineup every now and then because it would take primary playmaking off of LaVine's shoulders. LaVine's frame is too slight and he continues to get crushed in pick and rolls and continually puts the team in bad defensive spots. I still envision him getting 30 plus mins per game, but not when defense is needed most.

Gibson would be ideal, because while KAT is great on switching (see KAT defend Curry on perimeter) there is no second line of defense. While not a shot blocker, Gibson is a great positional defender and will challenge every shot.

The gravy about this roster is the small ball lineup. Rubio or Dunn/LaVine/Wiggins/Batum/KAT would run and shoot everyone out of the gym and there would be enough defense in this lineup to give every team fits.

Bazz and a future first for Gibson would be a neck-breaker for this franchise, IMO. One year left on his deal, not worth Bazz AND a future first. I could get behind Bazz for Gibson straight up value-wise, but even if both sides were to agree to that, they'd have no way to match salaries without including Bjelica, and then it's a bad trade for us.

I'd also be hesitant to use future first rounders in a trade unless the player is really, really worth it. (Payne trade really hurt us; need to be more careful about those types of moves)

Rather than trade for Gibson, we could sign Noah as a free agent. Then we should look to trade Bazz for a first or early second or useful backup.

If I was the gm, I throw a 4 year max at horford. If he accepts it great. If not I would spend a little more money on a wing player like Bazemore or Fournier. Then sign a guy like Nene

I would also sign Chalmers to a 3 year deal with a team option on the 3rd year. I know he will be coming off an Achilles injury, so that gives the wolves more time to evaluate Tyus more, then when Chalmers comes back he is a good 3 and D (I have biases because I am a Kansas fan).

kekgeek1 wrote:If I was the gm, I throw a 4 year max at horford. If he accepts it great. If not I would spend a little more money on a wing player like Bazemore or Fournier. Then sign a guy like Nene

I would also sign Chalmers to a 3 year deal with a team option on the 3rd year. I know he will be coming off an Achilles injury, so that gives the wolves more time to evaluate Tyus more, then when Chalmers comes back he is a good 3 and D (I have biases because I am a Kansas fan).

Great thinking here. Identify our biggest difficienecy (PF play) and do something about it. I will actually be disappointed if our name isn't out there as going after Horford. There is no reason not to with the state of the cap changing. The only way we shouldn't go after him is if there is so.e secret knowledge of injury. Otherwise this should be priority 1. I like your contingency plans too.

Add Evan Turner to Kent Bazemore in my free agent hopefuls. Would love to have both of them coming off the bench for the next three or four years. So solid.

Trading Bazz for another backup doesn't make sense to me. He's shown himself a worthy backup the way it is . The only way I move him is to strengthen the starting power forward position. Otherwise I keep him as instant offense off the bench as he does now . Good teams have a guy or two that come in and rebound and score and he does both . Backups will never give you everything you want and that's why they're backups . How many teams have a guy that comes off the bench and can give you 20-30 points on any given night, plus 6-8 boards?
I get that we'really excited about this team but I don't think a lot of moves need to be made at this point . Moving pieces just to move them doesn't make sense . Hit in the draft, find a defensive big via FA and look for a 3 and D player . That can be done without giving up Bazz right?

This team is getting better next year becuz of who's already here more so than any player that will be brought in. IMO

PorkChop wrote:Trading Bazz for another backup doesn't make sense to me. He's shown himself a worthy backup the way it is . The only way I move him is to strengthen the starting power forward position. Otherwise I keep him as instant offense off the bench as he does now . Good teams have a guy or two that come in and rebound and score and he does both . Backups will never give you everything you want and that's why they're backups . How many teams have a guy that comes off the bench and can give you 20-30 points on any given night, plus 6-8 boards?
I get that we'really excited about this team but I don't think a lot of moves need to be made at this point . Moving pieces just to move them doesn't make sense . Hit in the draft, find a defensive big via FA and look for a 3 and D player . That can be done without giving up Bazz right?

This team is getting better next year becuz of who's already here more so than any player that will be brought in. IMO

You also don't want backups that are liabilities on one end of the floor, while being less than a sure thing on the other. Realistically, that's what Bazz is right now. He's a wildcard player. I wouldn't trade him just to trade him, but if I could squeeze a future first rounder out of him while having suitable options in free agency to replace him, then I absolutely do it.

Also, the bold part is a mighty big exaggeration in favor of Bazz. He had nine games this year with 20 or more points. That means in 73 games, he didn't hit your 20-point mark. That's not good enough to justify his weaknesses on the opposing end of the floor, no matter how improved he is there.

He's an OK option right now. I think I'd rather have a more well-rounded option off the bench, though.

I understand what your saying, but how many 6 man of the year award winners are above average contributors on both ends . This year maybe, but Crawford is an offense only guy . Yes he's better than Bazz but I'm still not sure we've seen the best of him yet either . If we expect all of our top players to improve next year it's fair to assume he should get better too right?