So What's Your Plan? The Offseason Roster Construction Thread

[Lipoli390]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

[Lipoli390]

Here is a different take on a likely offseason roster move:

We all assume NAW will not be back, but the next most likely candidate to be gone? Luka Garza. It's given that Randle will be back. NAZ (or a FA replacement), will be back on the roster. Add the two draft picks and that is 15 roster spots. It seems unlikely that TC will commit to 15 guaranteed contracts for the entire season - every GM prefers to have roster flexibility. So somebody has got to go.

The 3 guys that can be waived/released are Minott, Miller and Garza. Of that group, Garza is the one guy you can say "he is what he is, and it ain't rotational".

What was your favorite Luka memory?!?

The two guys I expect to be gone next season are NAW (he’s a FA and we can’t afford him), and Joe Ingles (no reason to keep him). Their departure will open up two roster spots for our two draft picks assuming we decide to keep both (which I doubt). So we can keep the cheap young player contracts (Luka, Minott, Miller) to fill out the non-rotational portion of our roster. Of those three, I still see major potential in Miller so I see him as more than roster filler. Meanwhile, we need to see more court time for at least two of the following three - TSJ, Dillingham, and Clark. I want at least two of those three to be part of our rotation next season.

If it were up to me, I’d probably trade both our picks for picks in 2027 when we have no 1st or 2nd round picks unless we can package both to trade up this year and get our big of the future to replace Rudy. We have enough young talent on the roster so I think we need to focus on developing them and integrating them into the rotation. I’m referring again to TSJ, Dilly Clark and Miller.

The only thing about trading this year's draft picks is there is some real depth in this draft for big men. Some are young and would be future prospects, but some are older and could potentially contribute this coming year. Rebounding and rim protection is something rookie bigs can do in their first year. And we are lacking those skills after Rudy. TC has stocked our cupboard with 1s, 2s and 3s. This draft seems like a great opportunity to stock our 4s and 5s!

Great point, Tim, about the depth of bigs in this year’s draft. I like the idea of maybe trading our two pick up for maybe a top 12 pick to get a big we really like.

[Monster]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

[Lipoli390]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

Great questions, Monster. I like your point about value. You can like a player, but as you indicated, at some point you have to ask the question about the player’s value to the team relative to his contract. I like to look at that value/cost question from a broader team/salary cap perspective. If your team is a 2nd or third round playoff team, relatively young and trying to get over the hump to a championship, then I think the key to value determination is your ability stay under the 2nd apron.

My view on the value of Naz is that he’s worth a lot to the Wolves based on his talent, his fit as a player and his close relationship to our superstar, Ant. I also see Naz having significant untapped upside that we won’t see until he becomes fixed in a starting role. If it takes $30 million per year to keep him here then it’s worth it if we can pay that amount, keep the other players essential to success, and get/stay under the 2nd apron threshold. I don’t think we can do that if we also pay $30 million to Julius next season, even if we let NAW go. That means we need to choose between those two or persuade both to accept contracts starting at around $26 million per year, which would take us right up to the edge of the 2nd apron threshold. And keeping both might not be a viable option because it would likely mean that Naz would no longer start and I doubt he’d be willing to accept a bench role again.

Regarding TC, I trust his acumen for evaluating young talent in the draft. But I don’t have the same level of trust in his acumen for wheeling and dealing.

[Monster]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

Great questions, Monster. I like your point about value. You can like a player, but as you indicated, at some point you have to ask the question about the player’s value to the team relative to his contract. I like to look at that value/cost question from a broader team/salary cap perspective. If your team is a 2nd or third round playoff team, relatively young and trying to get over the hump to a championship, then I think the key to value determination is your ability stay under the 2nd apron.

My view on the value of Naz is that he’s worth a lot to the Wolves based on his talent, his fit as a player and his close relationship to our superstar, Ant. I also see Naz having significant untapped upside that we won’t see until he becomes fixed in a starting role. If it takes $30 million per year to keep him here then it’s worth it if we can pay that amount, keep the other players essential to success, and get/stay under the 2nd apron threshold. I don’t think we can do that if we also pay $30 million to Julius next season, even if we let NAW go. That means we need to choose between those two or persuade both to accept contracts starting at around $26 million per year, which would take us right up to the edge of the 2nd apron threshold. And keeping both might not be a viable option because it would likely mean that Naz would no longer start and I doubt he’d be willing to accept a bench role again.

Regarding TC, I trust his acumen for evaluating young talent in the draft. But I don’t have the same level of trust in his acumen for wheeling and dealing.

30 million for Naz might be worth it but I do think that's a gamble and quite frankly an overpay based on what teams are going to be able to offer. We have seen Connelly pay up for young players though.

I'd like to hear why you trust Connelly in the draft but not in other moves. I'm genuinely curious.

[TheFuture]

Naz is not worth anything close to 30 mil. Are you guys crazy?? That'd be more than Jaden is paid.

Naz is worth closer to his current 15mil than 30mil. I wouldn't go a cent above 20mil, and I'm not particularly fond of that high of a salary either.

I'd offer Naz 4/60-64 and if he doesn't like it, then lose your cult fandom/sponsorships here and go run a rebuild with the Nets or try to become something with Detroit, where you're just another guy, because those are your two realistic other options.

[Lipoli390]

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

Great questions, Monster. I like your point about value. You can like a player, but as you indicated, at some point you have to ask the question about the player’s value to the team relative to his contract. I like to look at that value/cost question from a broader team/salary cap perspective. If your team is a 2nd or third round playoff team, relatively young and trying to get over the hump to a championship, then I think the key to value determination is your ability stay under the 2nd apron.

My view on the value of Naz is that he’s worth a lot to the Wolves based on his talent, his fit as a player and his close relationship to our superstar, Ant. I also see Naz having significant untapped upside that we won’t see until he becomes fixed in a starting role. If it takes $30 million per year to keep him here then it’s worth it if we can pay that amount, keep the other players essential to success, and get/stay under the 2nd apron threshold. I don’t think we can do that if we also pay $30 million to Julius next season, even if we let NAW go. That means we need to choose between those two or persuade both to accept contracts starting at around $26 million per year, which would take us right up to the edge of the 2nd apron threshold. And keeping both might not be a viable option because it would likely mean that Naz would no longer start and I doubt he’d be willing to accept a bench role again.

Regarding TC, I trust his acumen for evaluating young talent in the draft. But I don’t have the same level of trust in his acumen for wheeling and dealing.

30 million for Naz might be worth it but I do think that's a gamble and quite frankly an overpay based on what teams are going to be able to offer. We have seen Connelly pay up for young players though.

I'd like to hear why you trust Connelly in the draft but not in other moves. I'm genuinely curious.

Very fair question on TC. But first I’ll comment on the worth of Naz. I honestly don’t know whether he’s worth $30 per year or if not $30 million where I’d peg his worth. Truth is, a player’s worth is determined by the market like the worth of anything else. If there are other teams willing to pay him $30 million then that’s his monetary value. I honestly don’t think there’s a team that will offer him that much. I think offers for him will top out at a starting salary of around $25 million, but I could be wrong. My view is that if the market sets his price at a starting salary of $30 million then I’d be fine with the Wolves paying him that much rather than paying that amount to Julius - assuming we would be able to also keep all our other key guys except NAW and get under the 2nd apron. Actually, if Randle and NAW both leave, and we pay Naz $30 million, I’m pretty sure we’ll be under the 1st apron and have access to the full MLE.

Regarding TC, I just haven’t been impressed with his trades or FA acquisitions. I don’t think he has a particularly impressive track record trading for players either here or while in Denver. I still think the Rudy deal was a mistake given other potential uses of all those assets, and even if trading for him was the right move, I think he overpaid to get him. The KAT deal turned out to be fine but not particularly impressive. Our record was worse this season than last. I liked the DLO deal for MIke Conley. I thought that was his best trade move as the Wolves PBO. So it’s not that I think TC is terrible at the trade side of his job; I just think he’s not special in that category and that he’s much better at evaluating draft talent and creating a good, winning culture. TC himself agrees with me. I recall reading a quote from him where he said about himself pretty much what I’m saying about him.



Don’t get me wrong, TC has won me over and I’m really happy he’s here. I just look at GMs the way I look at players and employees generally in every profession - i.e., you should play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. One reason I thought the Rudy deal was the wrong move was because I think TC was playing to his weakness when he should have been playing to his strengths by looking for trades to obtain, or move around in the draft to get, a draft prospect like Jalen Williams or Dyson Daniels that year or maybe Dereck Lively, a Thompson twin or Anthony Black the following year.

[D-Loser25]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

Good point and I agree with your strategy. I don’t want them both back, so see which one you can extract some value from. For Naz, the most I’m giving him is low 20’s per year. It would have been higher before the playoffs, but the playoffs happened and that was ugly for the most part. Also, how many teams are gonna be able to offer Naz more than 20/year if we don’t participate in a sign and trade? I’m sure there’s not many who could and even less, if any, that would. I’d offer him 4 - 80 and tell we’re not doing a sign and trade so it’s probably in his best interest to take it while it’s still on the table. Then I’d trade Randle. I’d see if Boston would do Randle and 31 for D white, then I take the best center available at17 and get ready for next years WCF rematch.

[D-Loser25]

OVERALL

On overall offseason roster construction, I think there are a number of different paths we can take. I’ll start my analysis with the two paths we should NOT take. One path to avoid is the seductive quick “fix” trading for an aging veteran like Kevin Durant. That path never works as we seen lately in a number of instances around the League, including instances involving Kevin Durant with both the Nets and Suns. The other path to avoid is blowing the whole thing up. We made the Western Conference Finals two years in a row. That’s not easy so instead of blowing the whole thing up, we should focus on building or retooling around our core players and their core strengths. We might have to take a step back next season to take two steps forward the following season. Our organization (and fans) need to show some patience and a willingness to take the longer view. At the the same time, we don’t have to, nor should we, rebuild.


FOCUS AND KEY STEPS:

1. Identify and Build Around the Core: The core of our team that has the potential to be the foundation for a championship starts with Edwards and McDaniels. There should be no doubt or debate about that. I would add a third player to this core by echoing the words of Donte who referred to this team’s core as Ant, Jaden and Naz. To get the most out of this core, the organization needs to put them on the court together and find ways to get more out of Jaden and Naz offensively to help take some of the offensive pressure off Edwards. I thought the best basketball the team played overall was during the stretch when Randle and Donte were hurt with Naz starting at PF. Like most players, Naz plays better when he starts. It’s time to to make the commitment and go forward with Naz as our starting PF. His defense is not a reasonable basis for keeping Naz in the 6th man role with Randle as our starting PF. As we all know, Randle is not a good defender and as a 30-year old 9 year vet he’s not going to get better on that end whereas Naz could improve. Naz’s skills and mobility make him a much better fit with Ant and Jaden and a better fit for the better pace, spacing and ball movement that Finch has said (and I agree) we need. One of my favorite things about Naz is his quick decision-making with the ball. He rarely holds the ball too long, which is the antithesis of Randle. Don’t get me wrong, I like Randle and appreciate what he did for us in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but I still don’t think he fits well with Ant, Jaden and Rudy.

2. Take Ballhandling Pressure Off Ant. Ant is a good but not great ballhandler. And even if he were great, the defensive attention he draws with the ball is too much for him to handle without hurting our offensive flow and resulting in too many turnovers. So we need to put an elite ballhandler on the floor with Ant. Mike Conley could have been what Ant needs several year ago and he was almost good enough a year ago but wasnt’ this past season and at age 37 he’s simply not that guy anymore and never will be. Donte and NAW are good with the ball but neither one is the elite dynamic ballhandler Ant and this team need to take the next step. That means we need to either acquire/sign that player from out side the organization or find that player on our current roster. We won’t have the financial ability to sign that sort of player as a free agent. How about a trade? I don’t see a realistic trade that lands the sort of player we need. What about our current roster? We have one player on our roster who can be the sort of player I’m talking about - Rob Dillingham. Can we count on him to be that sort of player next season? No. But we can’t count him out for next season either. We traded up to get him at #7 and he was almost consensus top 8 pick. In my view, this organization needs to put its head down and go all in with Rob next season while we still have Conley to give us some meaningful minutes and tutor him. If that means taking a step back then so be it. As I noted above, this organization needs to be willing to take a step back to take two steps forward if we’re serious about becoming a championship team.

3. Improve Rebounding. It was interesting to hear Finch say in his exit interview that the teams needs to improve its rebounding. I agree. Rudy’s rebounding declined in the playoffs and Randle’s rebounding was down all season as well as the playoffs. Jaden and Ant both improved their rebounding. I’ll note that Naz was a better rebounder as starter. More importantly, I think part of the problem with Randle’s rebounding is that he and Rudy compete for the same rebounds since they are both relatively stationary in-the-paint rebounders. I like the mobility Naz brings with him and Jaden both chasing down rebounds. We weren’t getting the 50-50 balls and I think that attributable to the fact that two of our three front court players are not quick or particularly mobile. In addition to starting Naz over Randle, I think getting TSJ into the rotation will help our rotation. And interestingly, Rob Dillingham was an excellent rebounding at his position in college and has shown flashes of the same so far in the NBA. His 42” vertical helps in that regard but rebounding is also related a lot to instinct or knack and effort.

4. The Rudy and Randle Dilemma. . This organization has to figure out what to do with Rudy and Randle going forward. I’m not sure it necessarily means moving one or the other this summer but in my view it means having a plan to move forward without one or both at least after next season. Finch disclosed something really revealing in his exit interview when he said the League is going bigger but then qualified his comment by adding that he’s taking about “skilled bigs” like Holmgren. I get the stats that show we’re much better defensively with Rudy on the court, but there are other ways to be really good or good enough defensively without a dinosaur-style big like Rudy. I’m not advocating to trade Rudy because I can envision a championship team including Rudy next to a PF without sticky hands who is quick, skilled with the ball and mobile e.g., Naz. As for Randle, I think we should probably move on from him this summer and turn the starting reins over to Naz. I reach that conclusion reluctantly because Randle has won me over with his effort in the playoffs and how much he loves being here. I just don’t see a championship team build around Ant and Jaden that also includes Randle. We need more mobility, ball skills and ball movement at the PF position, especially if we keep Rudy.

I’m not sure about Donte. I like him and if NAW leaves he becomes more important. But he would have great trade value and I can see parting with him even though I’d rather keep him.

My final thought for now is that this is not a time to panic or make rash decisions. We’re going to be a very good team next season no matter what so long as we don’t blow the thing up. Meanwhile, our organization needs to be patient and look to next season but also beyond. TC’s strength has never been trades and he’s admitted that publicly. His strengths are identifying/drafting young talent and building culture. He’s done incredibly well amassing young talent with minimal draft assets - Miller, Dilly, Clark, TSJ and Clark. He’s built a culture that is attractive to players around the League. And of course, he was fortunate to inherit some tremendous talent in Edwards, Jaden and Naz.

TC needs to stick to his strengths going forward with the young talent and the two valuable draft picks we have this June. At the same time, our coaching staff has to be in alignment with the front office, which means trusting and challenge the young talent the front office has acquired. I understand that the coaching staff sees these young guys in practice so they obviously know a lot more than we do. But you never know what you have in young players until you put them out there on the court for extended periods, allowing them to develop and show what they can do. And of course, that also means allowing them to fail.

This is a good breakdown Lip.

I'll say this about the rebounding. One of the issues was the Wolves faced a lot of teams that actually played small or even if they had some size they still played like that were small (OKC). At times the Wolves got beat to rebounds but there was was a lot of long rebounds because 3's yadda Yadda. Edwards got the memo and was getting boards. They need other guys to step up. Dillingham might actually be an upgrade in that dept.

As I said in the FA thread Connelly has made so many unpredictable moves and this off-season he has plenty of moving pieces to choose from including two 2025 draft picks. Do I want him to go get Durant? No. If the price was right woukd I mind it? Probably not. I'm not sure what price that is but I woukd assume Durant would have to say I wanna go to MN. Not holding my breathe but it also doesn't sound crazy...which as a Wolves fan seems crazy!!! Lol

We should also consider there may be some aspect of the landscape of the league we didn't see coming. Last year it was players taking vet min deals or very cheap deals to go where they had a better opportunity. Will some of the ways those deals and situations played out affect how players consider signing that type of deal? What about the lack of teams having more than the mid-level to spend?

Ultimately I trust Connelly for the most part. I know not everyone here does and that's OK.

We all know this but ultimately so much of the time whether or not a player is "valuable" is based on their contract. If Naz really got 30 million would he really be worth it? Randle has his flaws but Naz getting paid like that you have to consider his flaws even more. NAW at 4-5 million was a bargain but for 3 times that...his flaws are going to be looked at more as well. Randle I think is going to be wanting to stay in MN and I don't think he is gonna look to get all he can get. I think it's possible to retain him for about what he is worth or possibly a little less. Will that be the case for Naz? Idk. Can the Wolves get value in some way via trade for either player? I'm gonna try and sit back and see what happens. I'll be a little surprised if Connelly doesn't do something that's interesting this off-season. He isn't afraid to make a move.

Great questions, Monster. I like your point about value. You can like a player, but as you indicated, at some point you have to ask the question about the player’s value to the team relative to his contract. I like to look at that value/cost question from a broader team/salary cap perspective. If your team is a 2nd or third round playoff team, relatively young and trying to get over the hump to a championship, then I think the key to value determination is your ability stay under the 2nd apron.

My view on the value of Naz is that he’s worth a lot to the Wolves based on his talent, his fit as a player and his close relationship to our superstar, Ant. I also see Naz having significant untapped upside that we won’t see until he becomes fixed in a starting role. If it takes $30 million per year to keep him here then it’s worth it if we can pay that amount, keep the other players essential to success, and get/stay under the 2nd apron threshold. I don’t think we can do that if we also pay $30 million to Julius next season, even if we let NAW go. That means we need to choose between those two or persuade both to accept contracts starting at around $26 million per year, which would take us right up to the edge of the 2nd apron threshold. And keeping both might not be a viable option because it would likely mean that Naz would no longer start and I doubt he’d be willing to accept a bench role again.

Regarding TC, I trust his acumen for evaluating young talent in the draft. But I don’t have the same level of trust in his acumen for wheeling and dealing.

I think you have this backwards lip. Like you, I didnt like either of his big trades at the time. But I think, all things considered, both trades have been proven to be successful now. He went against popular opinion on both and both ended up as good trades, so I don’t know how you can say he’s not good at wheeling and dealing. And on the draft picks, what has he done? Good trade to get the 8 pick, probably picked the wrong guy though (if we’re being honest). His only good pick has been Shannon, and that was a very obvious decision.

[60WinTim]

Going back to WW's original post -- what's my plan?

The draft is first. My favorite pick at #17 is Rasheer Fleming (this assumes Khaman doesn't slide down). If gone, my next choices are Newell, Sorber, and if they are gone, too, I would grab Coward (not a big, but maybe Jaden plays more 4). At #31 my favorite pick is Joan Beringer, who would likely play another year in Europe. If gone, my next choices are Kalkbrenner, Niederhauser or Raynaud.

Drafting two bigs might impact both Randle's and NAZ's decision. Randle's player option comes first. I value Randle more than I do NAZ. I try to work out an extension with Randle that does not start at more than his 31 mil player option. If an extension agreement is not reached and Randle picks up his player option, he becomes a trade chip that I try to move this offseason or by the trade deadline.

On NAZ, I offer an extension with a starting salary that keeps us under the 2nd apron. I would consider offering more if I knew Randle was merely a trade chip. If NAZ is not happy with the number, or his likely starter status, then he can go find something better.

If NAZ re-signs, then we are basically done. But if he leaves, I now have salary flexibility to explore a more dynamic PG than Mike, and/or some additional help in the front (ala Q's Looney).

Occams Razor in my world suggests the following roster next year:
- DDV, Dilly, Mike
- ANT, Clark
- Jaden, Shannon, Minott
- Randle, NAZ, Miller
- Rudy, Fleming, Garza
(Beringer plays in Europe, or we used that pick to move up and secure Fleming)