Minnesota Sports Forum

Naz broke his wrist. Fuck. If that is the last time Naz ever plays as a wolf I'll be sad.

*Shams said significant time. I'm assuming the year

Wolves in a ducking weird spot now. Garza pretty much out of NBA games. So they can cut someone and give Garza a contract but if it's one year deal that lose his RFA rights. If they give him a multi year deal that might stop them from resigning Naz next year

kekgeek1 wrote:Naz broke his wrist. Fuck. If that is the last time Naz ever plays as a wolf I'll be sad.

*Shams said significant time. I'm assuming the year

Should have been a flagrant foul too. That was bullshit.

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves in a ducking weird spot now. Garza pretty much out of NBA games. So they can cut someone and give Garza a contract but if it's one year deal that lose his RFA rights. If they give him a multi year deal that might stop them from resigning Naz next year

I mean I think you have to cut Nate Knight and sign Garza.

Honestly I don't know how much pull he has in locker room but the real cut should be Austin Rivers.

Jester1534 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves in a ducking weird spot now. Garza pretty much out of NBA games. So they can cut someone and give Garza a contract but if it's one year deal that lose his RFA rights. If they give him a multi year deal that might stop them from resigning Naz next year

I mean I think you have to cut Nate Knight and sign Garza.

Honestly I don't know how much pull he has in locker room but the real cut should be Austin Rivers.

First of all this sucks

I think Rivers could be useful in the playoffs at the very least as a defender.

The other day I was watching some video of the Wolves locker room and I saw Knight next to some guys and a I think they all had their shoes off. Knight looked shorter than I expected. I like Knight but it seems Garza had passed him up and if you want a guy that's gonna go get buckets like Naz then Garza is the guy.

This could also mean they don't go as big as they have been. This could mean more minutes for a perimeter player at times like McLaughlin or Nowell

It will be interesting to see what they do with Naz minutes. They need someone to step up and at the very least give them solid minutes.

This is sad news. Naz seems like a terrific guy and teammate and has become a true offensive dynamo...I feel bad for him, because we know he wanted to be part of this postseason. But I don't know that this is all that bad for the team. The more I appreciate Naz's offensive brilliance, the more I recognize that his terrible defense more often than not more than offsets his scoring.

So what now? Naz has been getting 20+ minutes a game, and those minutes need to be replaced. I agree with jester that Rivers is the most expendable guy on the roster because we have enough wings. 5 of Naz's minutes will go to KAT, because he has only been playing 30 a night, and the rest will be filled in by other bigs. SloMo might get more. Rudy plays 30 a night, and maybe he gets a few more. But we will certainly also have to survive some minutes from the likes of Garza, Knight and Minott.

While I feel bad for Naz, I don't know that this is going to hurt our team that much, if at all. Vegas has probably noted how well Naz has been scoring the past few games, and has adjusted tonight's line down to a pick em. I think that's an overreaction, and I would be on the Wolves tonight if I were a betting man.

Reid's defense has improved as he's gotten more steady playing time lately, including more time with first-unit players. But regardless of how we parse his offense and defense, the fact is this team would not have won four of their last five games without Naz. So this is a huge loss for the Wolves going into these last five games and the playoffs.

The team absolutely needs to clear a roster spot and sign Garza. It's a close call between Rivers and Knight. If up to me, I'd cut Knight because I can see Rivers having leader as another veteran in the playoffs if we make it that far. On the othe hand, losing Naz is losing a big and that suggests it's probably best to cut Rivers.

kekgeek1 wrote:Wolves in a ducking weird spot now. Garza pretty much out of NBA games. So they can cut someone and give Garza a contract but if it's one year deal that lose his RFA rights. If they give him a multi year deal that might stop them from resigning Naz next year

Interesting point about losing RFA rights. In that case, I there's no doubt in my mind that the Wolves should sign Garza to a multi-year deal. I want to re-sign Naz, but that's ultimately beyond the Wolves ability to predict or control. Naz might be leaving regardless of whether we sign Garza to a multi-year deal. We can let Knight go after this season and have the same number of bigs on the roster.

FNG wrote:This is sad news. Naz seems like a terrific guy and teammate and has become a true offensive dynamo...I feel bad for him, because we know he wanted to be part of this postseason. But I don't know that this is all that bad for the team. The more I appreciate Naz's offensive brilliance, the more I recognize that his terrible defense more often than not more than offsets his scoring.

So what now? Naz has been getting 20+ minutes a game, and those minutes need to be replaced. I agree with jester that Rivers is the most expendable guy on the roster because we have enough wings. 5 of Naz's minutes will go to KAT, because he has only been playing 30 a night, and the rest will be filled in by other bigs. SloMo might get more. Rudy plays 30 a night, and maybe he gets a few more. But we will certainly also have to survive some minutes from the likes of Garza, Knight and Minott.

While I feel bad for Naz, I don't know that this is going to hurt our team that much, if at all. Vegas has probably noted how well Naz has been scoring the past few games, and has adjusted tonight's line down to a pick em. I think that's an overreaction, and I would be on the Wolves tonight if I were a betting man.

I'm not sure that losing Naz is going to help the Wolves defense even if he was a complete disaster there. I'd guess Nowell will end up playing some of those minutes because he is a guy that can actually get the Wolves a bucket which is a significant reason why Naz was so valuable.

But I think your point about more minutes going to stronger players especially in the frontcourt becomes stronger assumi mg the Wolves end up in the playoffs especially in a series. I was already wondering how those minutes would play out. Still it's gonna hurt not having a guy like Naz who can be a problem for other teams especially ones that play small that Naz pretty much destroys. It's not hard to imagine Garza doing the same to some extent.

It's interesting to me that although Garza and Reid seem very different, they are actually quite similar in many ways. Both can get you buckets in a hurry, (including beyond the arc) but generally give up more on the defensive end than they produce on the offensive end. It's frustrating to me because I never question the defensive effort of either, but they are just so damn ineffective. I'm convinced Garza is our best option though to take over Naz's minutes if TC can make the right moves.