Importance of Wolves Young Players

[Lipoli390]

The Gobert deal was clearly a win-now move by the Wolves organization. They traded away 4 of their next 7 1st-round draft picks to get him with no protection on 3 of them and only minimum protection on the last one in 2029. The Wolves also have no 2nd round picks in two of the next 7 drafts. So the Wolves will have a much smaller volume of incoming picks to trade or keep as way of replenishing the team's talent to fill gaps, overcome injuries and remain a sustainable competitor. The Nuggets were able to remain competitive without Murray primarily by bringing in talent through the draft. That's what Connelly did in Denver. Obviously, he's severely limited his ability to do the same here.

One obvious take-away from dealing away all this draft capital is that the Wolves minimally need to contend for a championship in all four years of Rudy's contract. But the other take-away is that the Wolves need to treat their current young players like precious jewels. And I'm not just talking about Anthony Edwards. I'm also referring to McDaniels, Nowell, Moore, Minott and Spagnolo. Tim Connelly is obviously putting a lot of faith in the development of McDaniels because he could have saved significantly draft capital by agreeing to include McDaniels in the Gobert deal. They are obviously also putting a lot of faith in Nowell as we know based on the inclusion of Beasley in the deal and the comments Finch recently made about Nowell. We know the Wolves are high on Moore since it's been reported that he would have been their pick at 19 if they hadn't traded down with Memphis two picks. And I think it's clear they liked Minott and Spagnolo.

What should the Wolves do with respect to these young players. McDaniels is still in his rookie scale deal and soon Moore will be signed to a rookie scale deal. Therefore, the Wolves had strong contractual hold on both with time for them to develop. But Nowell is on the last year of a very team-friendly deal while Minott and Spagnolo are 2nd-round picks who are outside the automatic rookie scale deals for 1st-round picks. If I were Connelly, I'd strongly consider extending Nowell and I would sign Minott to the same rookie scale deal as the 30th pick in the draft to lock him up for his long term development. If he turns out to be the lottery pick player Larry Brown said he's be in a couple years, that will go a long way towards mitigating all the lost draft picks. The Wolves need to make sure the maximize their ability to retain him over the long term. The Wolves can allow Spagnolo to continue his development in Europe. If he continues to progress, then the Wolves will need to sign him to a rookie-scale deal as well in a year or two. Finally, the Wolves should use this Summer League to find the best guard or wing talent they can find for the other two-way contract.

[Monster]

I saw on social media Moore had signed his deal.

Lip I agree that young players have increased in importance. I would even include Nate Knight in this conversation. Naz Reid is on an expiring contract and I'm not exactly sure there is a reasonable path to him being resigned. Back to Knight let's say he becomes a guy that is a solid dirt cheap bench player. I see him as a guy that could end up filling Reid's spot. Those guys have value when you are filling out a roster. McLaughlin has arisen to become the backup PG here on a similar path. Like you said this offseason the Wolves likely will have at least 1 more opportunity to add to the roster a younger player. It should be worth noting that the Wolves are still a pretty young team.

One of the things the Wolves can do to continue adding younger players to the roster is...adding/keeping younger players to the roster. Yes that's obvious but it will be potentially easier to do that when they don't have those pesky 1st round picks (some years 2nd round picks) taking up a roster spot. :) Roster spots have value and while I certainly would rather have a 1st round pick having a roster spot to have a player instead has some value also. It doesn't always need to be a young player either.

Somewhat like Vanderbilt last offseason...I'll breathe a sign of relief when Nowell gets signed to some sort of long term deal here. I hope we don't screw this up like Dallas did with Brunson. I few less certain about Nowell resigning than I did about Vanderbilt. I also think Nowell's upside is higher.

[TheFuture]

Yeah, losing Nowell and Reid wouldn't be great. Any value with them together to go get some players or a player locked into longer deals? It's a risk to wait to the deadline, but that is an option too. I thought we still had a trade exception as well?

At the end of it though, if the team plays as they should, then there should be vets who finally want to come here on those minimum deals that prove vital to good teams that are capped out.

[Coolbreeze44]

I wonder what the organization's plan is at point guard. It's not a crisis yet because we have DLO for this year, but they must have some urgency regarding a succession plan. Do they think JMac or Nowell can grow into the role? Or is Moore someone they think can be groomed for the position? I wish I knew what they were thinking.

[Monster]

I wonder what the organization's plan is at point guard. It's not a crisis yet because we have DLO for this year, but they must have some urgency regarding a succession plan. Do they think JMac or Nowell can grow into the role? Or is Moore someone they think can be groomed for the position? I wish I knew what they were thinking.

My wife's cousin works in biomedicine. She heard that McLaughlin has agreed to be the first NBA player to be cloned and his clone will be signed to an NBA contract. I guess smaller people are easier to clone and McLaughlin has some unique body composition that makes success likely. This could usher in a new era in sports.

But seriously it's a good question. I think at this point they are probably hoping things work out with Russell. If not they may look to make some sort of deal before the trade deadline. I think they do also think it's possible Nowell ends up being either the answer or a good enough player offensively that they can do the Q suggested path of solid player as the starter at PG and then Moore would be a candidate for that "position".

[Sundog]

Ha, I didn't realize cloning tech was so far along!

I kinda think the plan might be too extend Dlo for a couple of years, not wanting his contract issues to be disruptive this season. I'd be ok with that, if the contract is reasonable (ie, under 25 mill/yr).

I'd put it 60% extension, 30% trade at the deadline, 10% play it out all season.

[Coolbreeze44]

Ha, I didn't realize cloning tech was so far along!

I kinda think the plan might be too extend Dlo for a couple of years, not wanting his contract issues to be disruptive this season. I'd be ok with that, if the contract is reasonable (ie, under 25 mill/yr).

I'd put it 60% extension, 30% trade at the deadline, 10% play it out all season.

I think you put the likelihood of an extension way too high. I don't believe the Wolves brass has any intention of offering it. And if they did, the chasm between what they would be willing to pay and what DLO would want would be too great.

I thing trading him at the deadline would depend on whether we are contenders, and whether he is actively contributing. I would hope we would still be in contention and need his services. I'll put the percentages as follows:

Extension - 15%
Trade at Deadline - 35%
Let him walk at end of year - 50%

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I don't think there's any chance Minnesota allows D'Angelo Russell to simply walk in free agency at this point given how they're set up over the next several years. They'd be giving up not only a good player but a significant salary slot with no way to replace either. The latter part is more important if you believe the Timberwolves need to upgrade from him or trade for a better player at another position. You will need salary to match. It's either extend him or trade him at this point.

[TheFuture]

I don't think there's any chance Minnesota allows D'Angelo Russell to simply walk in free agency at this point given how they're set up over the next several years. They'd be giving up not only a good player but a significant salary slot with no way to replace either. The latter part is more important if you believe the Timberwolves need to upgrade from him or trade for a better player at another position. You will need salary to match. It's either extend him or trade him at this point.

Yeah, absolutely cannot let him walk now. Waiting til the deadline brings potential chemistry issues too.

I think 4/80 - 90 is fair on both sides, 4/100 I can live with, but he knows he has extra leverage now, more per is likely.

I'd prefer to find a taker this offseason for those reasons.

But that has it's own added issues - we have no backup plan at PG that is anywhere near the talent, other teams know that too. No firsts to work with, or any talent to spare. That was one of my main gripes about jumping the Gobert trade before extending our players who can walk.

[Coolbreeze44]

I don't think there's any chance Minnesota allows D'Angelo Russell to simply walk in free agency at this point given how they're set up over the next several years. They'd be giving up not only a good player but a significant salary slot with no way to replace either. The latter part is more important if you believe the Timberwolves need to upgrade from him or trade for a better player at another position. You will need salary to match. It's either extend him or trade him at this point.

Yeah, absolutely cannot let him walk now. Waiting til the deadline brings potential chemistry issues too.

I think 4/80 - 90 is fair on both sides, 4/100 I can live with, but he knows he has extra leverage now, more per is likely.

I'd prefer to find a taker this offseason for those reasons.

But that has it's own added issues - we have no backup plan at PG that is anywhere near the talent, other teams know that too. No firsts to work with, or any talent to spare. That was one of my main gripes about jumping the Gobert trade before extending our players who can walk.

No chance he gets 4 years.