Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 6:22 pm
I wouldn't see Sabonis as a fit in any other capacity except Center, so to me it would be no Rudy and no Randle. Perhaps one of them gets you Sabonis, the other gets you a 3rd guard that can play with Ant and Ayo, and may be there is some draft capital coming back to us as well.
I seriously doubt Connelly is targeting Sabonis BTW, but it's a fun thought-exercise.
While I can see Sabonis playing with Rudy I basically come to the same conclusion as you Q. I don't see the Kings giving Sabonis up for a late round pick or something. They will get something worthwhile and too much for the Wolves to add him for the funsies that I'm considering.
My thought Exercise is a theoretical Grant Williams and Josh Green deal for Randle. I don't think Charlotte would want to do that deal but I like the idea of how those 2 players might fit into what a lot of this board has been discussing lately. I tend to like the idea of turning Randle into a couple opportunities to get a worthwhile player that can help the team with a better fit.
AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 12:50 pm
So I think there are plenty of valid arguments to make to say that Ant could be a top 5 player next year, however, in the spirit of the thread I think we still need ask what can this team do to win a championship if we assume that he isn't that.
Small digression here, but the objective evidence is that Ant is not a top 5 player. Coming into the season, there were those who would have said he was, but there is simply no arguing that Wemby has knocked him down to at least the 6th best player -I would personally regard him lower than that. Outside of subjective rankings, he misses the mark in impact metrics (net rating, vorp, rapm, +/-, epm), he still hasn't made an all NBA 1st team and probably wouldn't have this year if he could have, and has never finished top 5 in MVP votes. The most favorable metric for Edwards is Darko's DPM, which is imo the best catch all metric and the most predictive; this stat tells a confusing story as well. In April at the end of the RS, Ant had an elite 4.9 DPM which iirc was good for 4th or 5th in the league- by post season's end he has dropped all the way to 3.6, a good number, but not exactly a something you see from a championship number 1. Funny enough, all three of Kat, Brunsen and OG finished with a 3.6 DPM --- pretty rare to see 3 guys from the same team finish that high. Anyway all of that to say, at best, Ant is measurably, just outside the top 5 of the league.
So how does this team maneuver a good but not elite roster to well.... An elite one?
Do the Knicks have an “elite roster”? They obviously have a championship roster. Ant’s not a top 5 player, but I’d say he’s an elite player. Any top 15 player in the NBA is elite and Ant is probably top 10. So we have an elite player, Edwards, who is top 10 and might move up to top 5. And we have some very good players in Jaden, Naz and Ayo assuming we retain him. We have a borderline all-star in Randle and a top three defensive player in Rudy. The question in my mind isn’t how we move to an “elite roster.” The question is how we create a “championship” roster around a pretty rare elite player named Anthony Edwards. I don’t know exactly how we do that but that’s the challenge for Tim Connelly. I think he has enough to work with if he’s shrewd and strategic. As we’ve discussed in other threads, the answer clearly isn’t trading valuable assets for an aging former star. Just consider how the Suns and Rockets faired when they traded for Durant. But I think there are some moves TC can make that would make the Wolves a significantly better team. I don’t know what those moves are, but I’m convinced those opportunities are there for TC to find and act on.
60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 6:44 pm
Tobias Harris is an aging FA. I could see Detroit pondering a Stewart and LaVert trade for Randle. Of course, the Wolves would have more work to do…
I thought of that today too but idk why the Pistons wouldn't just resign Harris because I'd guess he would cost less than Randle and he is a little better floor spacer and the already know what they have there. I mean he is a little over 2 years older than Randle so I'm not sure there is a vast difference there. FWIW Harris looks like he had a better playoffs this year than Randle did.
