longstrangetrip wrote:While I lean toward making a deal built around Garnett for Young, the sad thing is that I see it as an admission by Flip that he made a mistake in giving up the Miami pick for Thad Young. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say his logic was we needed a starting PF with Love leaving, and Philly was making Young available for just a pick. I'm guessing Flip believed the Wolves could turn Thad into at least a slightly below average rebounder, and combined with his offensive skills, that would make him a decent starting PF. Unfortunately, Flip has seen what many of us have seen...a guy who will never be anything but bottom of the barrel in rebounding. And it's difficult if not impossible to win in the NBA with a starting PF who can't, or won't, rebound.
Garnett is being described by some here as a broken-down player who is a shell of his former self. And yet this broken-down player is rebounding at a rate twice that of Thad Young (over 12 per 36 minutes compared to Thad's anemic 5.5), and also carries a higher PER than Thad's. Cam asked me if I have watched any Nets games this year, and the answer is not many. But when I have watched them, it is clear to me that KG is still a superior defensive player than Thad. If KG is broken down, what is Thad Young?
While it's fun for some Wolves fans to have KG back, this isn't about addition...it's about subtraction. You just aren't going to win giving significant minutes to a PF who gets thrashed on the glass every night. This deal removes the worry many of us had that Thad would opt in next year, and now Flip will have another $10 million to spend on someone who can really help us. Will he use it wisely? I don't know...I'm a little down on the Flipster right now. But as a Wolves' fan, I can only hope that he will use it wisely.
I think it's important to note... that while Young is a notoriously poor rebounder for 4... how is the team rebounding when he's on the court? And how is, or how will, the Wolves rebound with Garnett on the court.
Remember, like many, I think we're moving closer and closer to an era of position-less basketball. Sure, you need some tall guys and some fast guys, etc. But, how do those pieces fit together to help you be a better team?
Is Young doing other things that help the team? Is the team set up so other guys are helping on the boards more? Or, is it simply well Young only averages 5 rebounds and that guy averages 12 rebounds... so the difference is guaranteed to be 7 more TEAM rebounds if we swap them?
Does that make any sense?
[Note: Garnett is close to done... ESPECIALLY on a really lousy team. This move is to tank this season with the golden big ticket (pun intended) of being disguised as a farewell tour. There's no way Garnett is playing many minutes in meaningless games late in the season for a team that's pining to lose 65 games.
So, anything he can add on the court is largely moot anyway.]
