Minnesota Sports Forum

Lip you have mentioned Alex Len a couple times. He is an interesting case. Centers right now are um not valued highly. He has been disappointing the last couple years. Some dude james Williams was beating him out for minutes last season and outplayed him. This team has like 4 centers on the roster it doesn't seem like it needs anymore of them. Even how Len has been disappointing you probably would still have to throw a decent chunk of money to keep the Suns from matching. If we could take a flyer on him for 2-6 million sure. I think it would take more than that to get him and I don't feel comfortable with that. A team that doesn't have a center of the future like say the Nets (they did draft Jarrett Allen) could come in with a 10 million per offer or something and that may make a lot of sense. I don't see the fit here unless something happens with this roster. It just feels like it's gonna be easy to find solid cheap centers right now because they seem to be a low value around the league.

I already know where this is heading....it's the rebuilding of the Bulls 2.0

http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/report_derrick_rose_likely_to_get_10_12_million_per_year_in_free_agency/s1_127_24240820

While Lowry's age doesn't make perfect sense with this team he is only 31. That means 3, possibly all 4 years of any deal we could give him would be good years. He's become a great 3pt shooter the past 2 years. He'd be a great veteran to add to this team and his offensive game fits what we need. Then you could guarantee 2 high level scorers would be on the court at all times. I don't think it would happen, but we'd get even better if it did.

Thinking outside the box has Rubio ever played with a true high level playmaking wing next to him? Could playing with a guy like Butler get Rubio some open looks in his spots on the perimeter? I'm not suggesting that Butler is going to make Rubio into a high level 3 point threat but could it make a bit of incremental improvement?

Another consideration is Rubio is a guy that isn't just dead if he gets switched onto a bigger player. He is much stronger now and he holds his ground decent enough to slow the guy down to put up a fight or allow for someone to help. If you want to have a good defensive team and be able to switch a lot Rubio offers positives in that regard.

What concerns me the most about Rubio is around 90% of his 3's are assisted. For example when Lowry took a jump from being a sub 30% 3 point shooter he went from taking high 80's percent of his 3's assisted to took fewer assisted 3's to low 60's. He took a higher percentage of his shots from 3 and obviously shot more of them and that just kept going up from there. Last year Rubio had a clear stretch where he was shooting 2's off he dribble as confident as we have ever seen him. Just hitting catch and shoot 3's at a league average rate would be big for his game but if he could take the step of shooting them off the dribble that would be VERY significant. It's a stretch to hope for but if he stays on the roster that's something to look for. I'm also curious if his national team will be more willing to let him do more than in the past because some of those players are older and maybe not as able to make the offensive impact they did in the past.

Ugh...I went too hopeful in this post. Lol I'm not suggesting we keep Rubio at all costs but I'm looking at him a bit differently looking for some other possible forms of his value (and possible specific hopes from improvement if he is here) with Butler on the roster. I'd both like to see him stick around and willing to move on if we are able to land a better player which if you can make that reasonably happen is probably the better move. That's Jim Pete's position and he is a big Rubio fan and would like to see things play out a little longer with him but he thinks they need to add a better scoring guard.

I don't think signing Lowry is a good use of our capspace. Lowry actually blossomed at about the age Ricky is now, so those who think Ricky can't get better should look at Lowry's career stat trajectory. But Lowry's strength is shooting but on this team he'd be the 4th option. And other than his shooting, he really isn't better than Ricky. And Lowry is 31 and Ricky is 26 so the age gap and the pay gap are definitely in Ricky's favor. Further, too many scorers causes team chemistry issues. Ricky and Dieng are good glue guys because they dont worry if they dont get as many shots. Lowry's shots would cost Wiggins and Butler shots and this could create an OKC situation. We need a vastly improved bench more than a change at point guard.

khans2k5 wrote:While Lowry's age doesn't make perfect sense with this team he is only 31. That means 3, possibly all 4 years of any deal we could give him would be good years. He's become a great 3pt shooter the past 2 years. He'd be a great veteran to add to this team and his offensive game fits what we need. Then you could guarantee 2 high level scorers would be on the court at all times. I don't think it would happen, but we'd get even better if it did.

I don't think the PG search will be limited to just Lowry. And like you said if you sign him to 3-4 years his time frame actually fits perfect. You still get good years then free his salary to sign someone else to pair with the big 3 while two of the 3 are just entering their prime years.

I think for the most part this board has been stuck in a certain way of thinking, me included, rebuilding and generally over valuing our current players. If Gorgui, Bazz and Rubio were to hit the open market as free agents. They won't be considered by the top 6-8 teams in the league. That's where we are trying to get to. No way a top level team would pay Gorgui at his current rate. Bazz will most likely get paid by a non playoff team. None of them fit great in today's game. Imagine the Celtics, Warriors, Spurs, Cavs, Rockets, wanted Bazz, or Rubio in free agency. Wouldn't happen.

Lip I highly regardyour opinion on here but I think you take Tibs comments too literal in most cases. He simply doesn't tip his hand much. The day before Dunn was traded he was praising him to the heavens. While I think it's definitely possible Rubio and/or Gorgui will be on the team, their production, salary and style of don't match with where this teams trajectory is looking to go.

Based in the Butler trade, this Taylor quote rings true to me. I sense major frustration by him and last year and was significant in making this type of move. This is from the pioneer press after the trade.


But Taylor also knows Thursday night can't mark the end of the Wolves' offseason activity. If Minnesota truly wants to make major strides next season, more moves need to be made.

"You have to remember that bringing (Butler) in itself is probably not the end of the thing," Taylor said. "Hopefully when you ask me the question about how good we're going to be, part of it will probably be in what other players might be attracted to this team.

"Players like to win, and if other players see us on the stage of doing something significant, hopefully we can attract other players."

Taylor indicated the Wolves will be active in free agency, which starts a week from Saturday. Minnesota figures to have just more than $20 million to spend.

"We have to find some guys that will come off our bench that are probably either shooters or that can provide a defensive presence when we're starting to have some problems," Taylor said. "So, I think we still have some work to do and I know we're going to be meeting and talking about that. And when (free agency) opens up, trying to find out who's available. ... There's a lot of free agents out there."

Duke13 wrote:Based in the Butler trade, this Taylor quote rings true to me. I sense major frustration by him and last year and was significant in making this type of move. This is from the pioneer press after the trade.


But Taylor also knows Thursday night can't mark the end of the Wolves' offseason activity. If Minnesota truly wants to make major strides next season, more moves need to be made.

"You have to remember that bringing (Butler) in itself is probably not the end of the thing," Taylor said. "Hopefully when you ask me the question about how good we're going to be, part of it will probably be in what other players might be attracted to this team.

"Players like to win, and if other players see us on the stage of doing something significant, hopefully we can attract other players."

Taylor indicated the Wolves will be active in free agency, which starts a week from Saturday. Minnesota figures to have just more than $20 million to spend.

"We have to find some guys that will come off our bench that are probably either shooters or that can provide a defensive presence when we're starting to have some problems," Taylor said. "So, I think we still have some work to do and I know we're going to be meeting and talking about that. And when (free agency) opens up, trying to find out who's available. ... There's a lot of free agents out there."

From Glen's comments I've both heard and read it sounds like he thinks they need to seriously shore up the bench. This guy is a genius!!!

If we're attaching Glen to the Butler trade I guess you will all be forced to congratulate him on a genius move then lol.

seriously though all this big boy talk from Glen, we'll see if he brings his checkbook to the table over the next couple years

Monster, listen to the latest Souhan podcast. John K was the host along with Jim Pete right after the trade. While Jim Pete appreciates Rubio but couldn't of made it more clear, he feels this team needs another PG to go where we all wanna go.