Minnesota Sports Forum

And we don't know that for sure, sjm. David Lee's an annual 20 & 10 player in this league and could have changed the entire outcome of the series. We will never know because the series is long gone.

So we know for sure that GS would have beat Denver with a healthy Gallinari/Lee, but we don't know if the Spurs would have won? David Lee is also a lousy defender, but you probably overlooked that

Sounds like you should move to Vegas Baby!.

We do know that Denver won 10 more games during the season, and won the season series 3-1 against GS though. Those games had both Lee and Gallinari healthy.

Pretty much, yes. If you're a generous person, you can look at Lee and Gallo bringing equal value to each of their teams. Thus, since neither of them played you can look at it as an even tradeoff. Warriors won in 6. Maybe you think Gallo has more value than Lee, which would be absurd, but to each his own. My point regarding these injuries in this specific series is that Lee and Gallo both being injured meant that neither team was truly at an advantage due to injuries. Meaning that the result of the series would likely be the same.

Tell me, what significant Spurs player was injured during the SA/GS series? Tony Parker supposedly had a hammy injury, but that was overblown as he looked perfectly healthy. Duncan and Ginobili were fine as was Leonard, Green and Splitter. I'm not saying it's a 100% sure thing that the Warriors beat the Spurs with a healthy David Lee. I'm saying I don't agree with you saying the Spurs win regardless of David Lee's injury because we don't know that for sure.

David Lee's an All-Star caliber player and no doubt a difference maker for Golden State. His scoring and rebounding would have been greatly useful to the Warriors in that series. Who knows what could have happened? The Spurs for sure, though, had a clear advantage in that Lee was injured. That is my point on that series. Unlike the DEN/GS series where you could say that both injuries cancelled out.

And several years ago the No. 1 seeded Bulls beat the Heat in their regular season matchup, yet lost to them in the Eastern Conference Finals. The playoffs are a different breed of basketball.

If regular season determined everything, there would be no need to even have playoffs would there?

And then the Spurs quietly swept the Grizz to sit in their recliners till the Heat decided to show up. LOL

lipoli390 wrote:

maelstrom11 wrote:Q12543 wrote:

If we sign AK and Martin like you suggest we dont get Brewer and dont get Bud. Then we have the problem of DWill and AK being redundant 3/4 players. Maybe the starting 5 is better (very close to call) for 1 season but the bench is significantly weakened and after this year I see major decline in AKs game.

Maelstrom -- We could have signed Martin and AK while still signing Budinger, assuming what I believe would have been a 3-year, $21 million deal for AK. Yes, we would have had to pass on Brewer, but I like the trade-off of AK over Brewer. AK has been a very good starter most of his career and was the best player on the Russian Olympic bronze team last year. Brewer is a perennial bench player -- a good one- but not in AK's league.

After adding Martin and re-signing Budinger, the Wolves most critical need was defense at the wing position. Brewer generates steals, but AK does that too, while also doing far more defensively, including blocking and changing shots, with his long armies and plus 200 pound frame.

I don't see AK and Derrick as redundant. AK defends at an elite level. That's the primary value he brings. If Derrick is an NBA caliber player (and the jury is still out on that), he's a scorer. As it turns out, our core rotation is already long on scorers and short on defenders -- Martin, Budinger, Love, Pek, JJ Barea. If Shabazz contributes at all this season, it will be as a scorer, not a defender. If anything, Derrick is redundant as to these guys, not AK

Lip.......I think flip mentioned in one of his funkadelic talks that he tried to get AK at 3 years 21 mill and was turned down. I believe AK was looking for the 3 year 30 mil deal Kahn promised (speculation but I believe it)

Thus, if we sign AK at 3 years 30mil we dont have enough to get Bud and Martin at 12 mil this year.

Regarding the redundancy of DWill and AK I only meant in terms of the position they play. Both can play the 3 and 4. I agree with you that one is better defensively and the other is a scorer. Because of the age of the 2 I would put these guys as pretty close in terms of contribution in the upcoming year. After that I see AK declining and DWill rising.

Camden wrote:Golden State made it to the second round. Not the WCF. Just to clear that up.

Opps sorry my bad. Had a bit of a blonde moment. It is Monday here!

David Lee isn't a difference maker. His lack of defense eliminates what he gives you on the offensive end. He made the allstar game once as a replacement for an injured player in the eastern conference. You questioned Parkers injury (which I believe was a calf strain) without any evidence to back it up.

Playoffs are different, but the season series at least gives us something to go off, rather than your silly guess work. You can't say injuries cancel each other out, because there are way too many variables that go into something like that. The truth is that the regular season gives us the best glimpse because the teams are playing their normal game, rather than trying to revamp how they do things.

edit: I see he made the allstar game as a reserve this season. Most likely due to injuries to guys like Dirk, and Love.

maelstrom11 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

maelstrom11 wrote:Q12543 wrote:

If we sign AK and Martin like you suggest we dont get Brewer and dont get Bud. Then we have the problem of DWill and AK being redundant 3/4 players. Maybe the starting 5 is better (very close to call) for 1 season but the bench is significantly weakened and after this year I see major decline in AKs game.

Maelstrom -- We could have signed Martin and AK while still signing Budinger, assuming what I believe would have been a 3-year, $21 million deal for AK. Yes, we would have had to pass on Brewer, but I like the trade-off of AK over Brewer. AK has been a very good starter most of his career and was the best player on the Russian Olympic bronze team last year. Brewer is a perennial bench player -- a good one- but not in AK's league.

After adding Martin and re-signing Budinger, the Wolves most critical need was defense at the wing position. Brewer generates steals, but AK does that too, while also doing far more defensively, including blocking and changing shots, with his long armies and plus 200 pound frame.

I don't see AK and Derrick as redundant. AK defends at an elite level. That's the primary value he brings. If Derrick is an NBA caliber player (and the jury is still out on that), he's a scorer. As it turns out, our core rotation is already long on scorers and short on defenders -- Martin, Budinger, Love, Pek, JJ Barea. If Shabazz contributes at all this season, it will be as a scorer, not a defender. If anything, Derrick is redundant as to these guys, not AK

Lip.......I think flip mentioned in one of his funkadelic talks that he tried to get AK at 3 years 21 mill and was turned down. I believe AK was looking for the 3 year 30 mil deal Kahn promised (speculation but I believe it)

Thus, if we sign AK at 3 years 30mil we dont have enough to get Bud and Martin at 12 mil this year.

Regarding the redundancy of DWill and AK I only meant in terms of the position they play. Both can play the 3 and 4. I agree with you that one is better defensively and the other is a scorer. Because of the age of the 2 I would put these guys as pretty close in terms of contribution in the upcoming year. After that I see AK declining and DWill rising.

Mael, why would Kahn offer a three year deal now, when he wouldn't go past two seasons when he originally signed him and AK missed a quarter of the games last season? I find it ridiculous when I listen to all the things being attributed to Kahn after he has left. Barrerio actually stated that it was Kahn's fault for offering up a deal similar to what you stated and getting AK's hopes up. Agents don't work that way. They want to get the best deal for their client because they make the most money that way.

Flip has never said he made an offer to AK on the Funkadelic. Flip has stated on multiple occasions that he wouldn't go into specifics. AK's camp said they have never received an offer from Flip for any terms.