TimberWolves Optimists

[Coolbreeze44]

Here's a little bit of a reality check from Chad Ford:

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES | GRADE: C-
Additions: Kevin Martin (S&T), Chase Budinger (re-sign), Corey Brewer (FA), Shabazz Muhammad (draft), Gorgui Dieng (draft), Ronny Turiaf (FA), Lorenzo Brown (draft), Flip Saunders (GM)

Subtractions: Andrei Kirilenko (Nets), Luke Ridnour (Bucks), Brandon Roy (retired), Greg Stiemsma (Pelicans), Malcolm Lee (Suns), David Kahn (GM)

I'm tempted to give the Wolves an "A" here just for firing Kahn, but the rest of the summer was a mixed bag for new team president Flip Saunders.

We're assuming the Wolves will eventually reach a deal with Nikola Pekovic, a restricted free agent, since there isn't a team with cap room left that has interest, and the Wolves want to retain him.

Minnesota has been looking for an answer at the 2 for years, and Martin gives them a veteran who can make an impact right away. But $27 million over four years is crazy for a player whose game is slowly starting to wane. Add in $15 million for three years of Budinger and $14 million for three years of Brewer, and the Wolves spent $56 million on role players. Maybe the team didn't fire Kahn after all.

Their other big addition was Muhammad, a player many scouts felt would be one of the top three players in the draft last July. However, an uneven year at UCLA exposed many of his flaws and his draft stock plummeted. Did the Wolves get a steal when they drafted him with the last pick of the lottery? If his Summer League performance gives any indication (and many times it doesn't), the answer is no. Dieng, meanwhile, gives them a big man who can block shots and really pass it. But he's still raw, especially for a 23-year-old.

Kirilenko was terrific last season, and losing him to the Nets, especially given the huge pay cut he took to do so, was painful.

Overall, the Wolves have the pieces in place to compete for a seventh or eighth seed in the West if everyone stays healthy. But with this team still treading in the waters of mediocrity, Kevin Love's free-agent decision in the summer of 2015 begins to loom large.

[Coolbreeze44]

Pay particular attention to the last paragraph. Of course this is just one man's opinion, but I think it captures the thoughts of a lot of us on this board.

[Phenom]

Chad Ford might be the last person I go to for a reality check on anything. I can't take him seriously when he gives the Lakers a better grade than the Wolves. Then he gives the Thunder a C- for losing KMart but the Wolves also a C- for adding him? That's poor algebra.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yeah, I read that today, cool... thanks for posting. You're right, Ford's assessment does mirror the 60% of this board that take a pessimistic (I suspect you would say realistic) view of the offseason. I'm actually somewhat of a Chad Ford fan and generally put a lot of stock into his opinions, but I think he missed the boat on this one. The entire article smacks of being rushed, and makes me think he didn't put a lot of thought into this one. Case in point: he gives essentially the same grade (C- vs. D+) to the Wolves and the Nuggets. Does anyone really think that the Wolves offseason grades out the same as the Nuggets, who lost Iguodala and Karl?! Even more absurd, he ranks the Lakers' offseason better than the Wolves, putting him in that select group of analysts that sees Wes Johnson as a more valuable commodity than Dwight Howard!

Ford makes several points in awarding his C-, but he leads with paying too much for Martin. I would argue that we paid Martin what we needed to, and that he fills our most glaring need: a bona fide star three point shooter. It's interesting that he says Martin's skills are beginning to wane, because in the 5 on 5 that came out on ESPN at the same time, two separate analysts assessed OKC losing Martin as the "worst move in the west this offseason" and the Wolves picking up Martin as the "biggest steal in the west this offseason". Those two analysts are 180 degrees apart from Ford on the Martin move!

This kind of disparity of opinion is why we love to argue about sports, and why this board is so much fun. Still miles to go before we sleep, but on this issue I'm against Ford's take and on board with the other two analysts.

[Leado01]

Chad Ford - who said Klay Thompson and Kenneth Faried would be busts? Hmm . . . .

[bleedspeed]

C- is certainly harsh. I think it was more of C+. I think the Martin signing was great. Losing AK hurt, but we have some depth now at SF. I honestly think the key to this offseason will be the move we didn't make. If Derrick Williams proves to be trending up we will be glad we didn't move him.

[slimcalhoun27 [enjin:6640095]]

I can never understand Ford's logic. Frankly the guys is a big market lobbyist. If you want to grade the Wolves, then the Grade must be in the category of a B. Flip has confused many, done some weird moves, drafted oddly, signed a couple to inflated contracts.....but, but...But....if he can capture Pek for around 12 mil a year, this team may have one of the best rosters from top to bottom without having a legit Superstar. Even tho I declare Love and Rubio cusp Stars. Bench will be solid, if not the best in the NBA, plus if Adelman can get this team to play as one, could be lethal. We won't shut teams out defensively, but from where we were last year...this summer has been a huge plus. Could Flip been more proactive with the draft, free Agency, etc??? yes....totally! But I am interested to see what Shabazz and Dieng can do, love to see Dwill start at SF, and like to see Shved/Barea, Brewer, Budinger, Cunningham and Turiaf run a second unit. Damn, we have too much depth.

[Monster]

Oh don't listen to all those ESPN guys they have it in for Flip since Flip called them out saying to work at ESPN you only had to watch like 4 NBA teams. LOL They are mad because its true.

[Coolbreeze44]

But do you see the Wolves as much better than 7th in the conference? I think they could be, but health could completely derail the season again. We just have too many guys with the history of missing too much time. And the one thing I'm going to insist on is that no one uses injuries as an excuse for the season. You are what you are and staying healthy is part of being a good team. If we finish 8th, I don't want to hear anyone say "yeah but look at how many man games we missed". That's part of the deal and part of the team Flip put together.

[mjs34]

Cool, I agree completely, and thought it was really funny when Flip addressed the issue and how that should be weighted with the talent a player has. Did he look at Kmart's track record?

From what I can see, we basically lost AK for Brewer and Martin. Didn't upgrade anything with the "raw" draft picks, and now have Turiaf instead of Steimsma which I am not sure is that much of an upgrade, if at all. This team has set themselves up for another injury riddled season.

One of the reasons I would have preferred to go after guys like AI and Mayo. At least they some durability on their side.