Naz is back!

[rapsuperstar31]

What happened to GM’s having some balls and saying “if you think you’re worth 5/125, then go get it”

You can comfortably do that for a restricted free agent. If you do that for an unrestricted free agent, they just leave you without letting you counter.

But again, Rap, to what team? Maybe Brooklyn, but would Naz really want to go to that horrible team with no chance to be any good for just a couple million more...if they even would have offered a couple million more. Don't get me wrong...I'm happy to keep Naz here. but I think TC had to overpay because of the PR aspect...Naz is so popular here, and there might have been a revolt if he had left.

Any team willing to trade a first round pick to dump salary on Brooklyn. Lakers trade Rui and Dalton to Brooklyn and sign and trade Reid. Clippers trade Powell to Brooklyn, sign and trade Reid. Miami sends Rozier to Brooklyn, and sign and trades Naz. Etc.

[AussieWolf3]

I'm not convinced, Lip...still seems like a significant overpay to me for three reasons:

1) Several posters here have questioned the narrative that there were several teams bidding for Naz, that TC was not bidding against himself. But I don't know, other than possibly Brooklyn, what teams actually had the cap space to compete with us, and nobody has been able to answer this question.
2) you mention his 6moy award. The three top vote getters this year (Pritchard, Jerome, and Beasley) combined don't make what we're going to pay Naz!
3) I'm not convinced our leadership sees him as our starting PF of the future. I see him as the classic scorer off the bench...able to put up points in bunches, but defensively challenged and not one to get his teammates involved (only 3 assists per 36 compared to Ju's 5.3). Maybe he learns how to be a better defender and distributor, but I'm skeptical. I'm glad we kept him, but 5/100 would have made more sense to me.

Teams would have had interest in performing a sign and trade for Naz, it would have cost them a draft pick or two to dump a player on Brooklyn to do that.

KCP, Marcus Smart, and 5.8 points per game in the playoffs this year Kyle Kuzma all make more than Naz next season.

What happened to GM’s having some balls and saying “if you think you’re worth 5/125, then go get it”

Good luck cultivating a good culture and working relationships with that approach.

The team has quite obviously determined that Naz is a key piece to their plans going forward, likely as a starter. Obviously they're taking a gamble that Naz can grow into a full time plus starter (not that big of a gamble given what we know imo). At 25 million average salary if he is the 4th best starter on your team, that is fair value. Go look at other salaries around the league and tell me otherwise.

Here are Naz's stats when he was a starter in February (minus 1 game where he didn't start)

Pts/Reb/Ast/TO
21.1/10.3/3.6/1.6

His shooting numbers were shit too 43/33/86

Those are really good numbers for a player going through a shooting slump!

Many have pointed out that the team had a losing record during this period, but they were also missing Rudy and Dante for a good chuck of these games and Ant even missed 3 games.

Naz needs to improve as a playmaker and get better at drawing foul. He's a fine defender as a PF and even as a wing. The fact that he's isn't a defensive anchor shouldn't be held against him given all of his positives- but even there, he has the versatility to be an offensive oriented small ball center.

I find it very unlikely that the team will regret this deal.

[Monster]

Who were the Rockets bidding against? Was 25 million a year too much for FVV when only one team had that space to get him?

Dallas with Kyrie?

What if the Wolves found out teams were willing to play Naz something like this in a sign and trade and the Wolves were like 5 years 125 million with a player option in year 5? Yeah we think he is absolutely worth that we want to keep him. Remember his last contract where it was a little higher than what some maybe thought he would get? He was worth that deal and his opt out on that deal has given him a nice payday.

[BloopOracle]

Shams said he stayed with us despite a "vibrant developing market of teams offering similar money and a starting role".There were definitely teams willing to fork out a 1st to Brooklyn in order to clear space for Naz

[Monster]

Let's see what NAW gets. If he gets the full mid level I think it's pretty obvious teams would have paid above that for Naz.

[Lipoli390]

Very good deal for Naz, but I have to agree with Kek that it seems like an overpay. I don't think I see any other non-starters on the first two pages of Drew's list.

Like most of us, I'm gonna miss NAW.

FNG - I think it’s clear the Wolves front office views Naz as our starting PF eventually if not right away during the five-year term of this deal. And he wasn’t just a guy off the bench; he was the team’s 6th man with an 6th man of the year award under his belt while averaging over 27 minutes per game last season. I haven’t dug into which players with comparable salaries are not starters. I don’t think Jrue Holiday started for Celtics’ last season at $32.4M. I think Hartenstein came off the bench except when Holmgren was out. Hartenstein’s minutes per game last season were essentially identical to Naz Reid’s. I’m sure there some other examples. So the salary isn’t even out of line for a 6th man. But again, I don’t think there’s much doubt that the Wolves brass envision Naz as the Wolves starter at some point.

I'm not convinced, Lip...still seems like a significant overpay to me for three reasons:

1) Several posters here have questioned the narrative that there were several teams bidding for Naz, that TC was not bidding against himself. But I don't know, other than possibly Brooklyn, what teams actually had the cap space to compete with us, and nobody has been able to answer this question.
2) you mention his 6moy award. The three top vote getters this year (Pritchard, Jerome, and Beasley) combined don't make what we're going to pay Naz!
3) I'm not convinced our leadership sees him as our starting PF of the future. I see him as the classic scorer off the bench...able to put up points in bunches, but defensively challenged and not one to get his teammates involved (only 3 assists per 36 compared to Ju's 5.3). Maybe he learns how to be a better defender and distributor, but I'm skeptical. I'm glad we kept him, but 5/100 would have made more sense to me.

Here’s the report I’m sure you’ve seen; Shams said he stayed with us despite a "vibrant developing market of teams offering similar money and a starting role". You can never know anything with absolutely certainty and precision based on reports from journalists. But Shams is a good reporter and we don’t know enough to reject his reporting based on the little we know. Yes, Brooklyn is the only team way under the cap. But there are three other teams — Memphis, Chicago and Detroit — that are currently around $20 million under the cap, which is very close to the starting salary in Naz’s new contract.

But Monster’s points are even more compelling: (1) teams can unload some salary through trades that might include a second round pick or two, taking less salary back; and (2) teams can discuss what they’re willing to pay as part of sign-and-trade discussions. Front office executives at this time of year are constantly talking with each other and with player agents. I hope we can all agree that TC is one of the most active and plugged in PBOs in the League. It should go without saying that TC was talking to teams about their interest in Naz and what they’d be willing to pay. They were certainly talking to Naz’s agent and probably other agents around the League. So yes, there was a developing market for Naz and likely a vibrant one as Shams reported.

As for whether the Wolves front office views Naz as a starter, TC has already publicly said they do. When Randle went down, Naz started 16 games and was highly productive. Yes, Naz is not a good defender. But he’s not terrible either when he’s playing the PF position. He had a defensive rating of 110.4 this past season. That’s significantly better than Randle’s. Naz can also block shots, something Randle cannot do. So defense certainly doesn’t disqualify Naz as a starting PF relative to Randle.

A contract for Naz that starts at barely over $20M his first year is very reasonable and arguably a bargain. I see no merit to the argument that this contract is an overpay. Now, we might find down the road that it was an overpay like the $15M per year we paid Malik Beasley, which was the equivalent of around $25M today. And I suspect Beasley is going to get a nice bump in salary after last season. But this isn’t about Beasley. It’s about Naz - his market value around the League and the value our front office ascribes to him.

[Lipoli390]

Let's see what NAW gets. If he gets the full mid level I think it's pretty obvious teams would have paid above that for Naz.

Good thought, Monster. I think that will be an excellent measure for Naz.

[Lipoli390]

I criticize TC when I disagree with him. Yet, the more I see him in action, the only weakness I see is a tendency to give up too much in trades for players he’s fixated on. But even that criticism is questionable. Other than the Gobert trade, I don’t have any other evidence to support my thesis.

Putting aside any debate about a tendency to give up to much in trades, TC seems to be elite in all other aspects of the job. I have no doubt he’s an elite judge of young talent. I think he tremendous at building a winning and attractive culture that has players wanting to be and stay here. In addition to all that, I’m increasingly impressed by his cap management. He put the team in a tough cap situation with the Gobert deal before we had the new CBA with the highly punitive second apron. But as much as I didn’t like trading KAT last year, it was a savvy move with an eye towards getting under the second apron this year and he still brought in two very good players and a draft pick that landed Beringer.

I see the Naz deal as another savvy move related cap management. Looking at the numbers again, a starting salary of around $21M for Naz leaves just enough room for Randle’s $31M opt in, Beringer’s rookie deal and a 15th roster player on a vet minimum deal while barely staying under the second apron. If the Wolves sign Randle to a longer term deal, I suspect it will start before $31M. Perhaps he can get the starting number for Randle low enough to leave room to use the taxpayer MLE, which could get us a solid PG or backup C.

[FNG]

Kek, some fairly good arguments here by some of the guys as to why the Naz deal is good for us, but I still don't know if I'm convinced. i know your first impression was the same as mine...seems like an overpay. Have you changed your stance?

[rapsuperstar31]

We don't all have to agree, the deal is what it is. We will find out over time if it's a good deal or not. Two years ago someone had mentioned everyone was locked into their contracts and had some security that they didn't have to worry about money during our first WCF run with this team. This year Naz, Julius, and NAW all were on expiring contracts, which can be a distraction, as sometimes you can try to force things trying to get that payday. Hopefully Naz locked in for 5 years, he can just work on his craft and not worry about money.