Minnesota Sports Forum

1. Hartenstein: I love this guy. He can protect the rim, pass real well, rebound, score efficiently and has shooting range. He just needs more playing time and I think he can become a very good big man. He likely won't be cheap as he will be a hot commodity and I think a team like Portland, OKC, Sacramento and even the Knicks (if they don't resign Mitch Rob) could be willing to offer between $10M-$20M.
2. Tyus Jones: If the idea is to move on from DLO, or groom DLO for a sixth man, Tyus makes a lot of sense, especially at the right price. Allowing him to return home and getting an opportunity to start might allow us to get a team friendly deal.
3. Joe Ingles: We could certainly use his perimeter shooting, at the right price.
4. Jalen Smith: If we can't land Hartenstein, Plan B would be Jalen Smith. Big man who can protect the rim, board and has range. He just isn't the passer of Hartenstein.
5. Chris Boucher: If Hartenstein and Smith aren't available, Boucher is an interesting player who is a very good shot blocker and can knock the 3s.

Some other bigs to consider at close to minimum salaries would be Nurkic, Drummond, Damian Jones and Dieng. If we trade DLO and need a backup point guard, Cory Joseph, Satoransky, Raul Neto or Rubio at near minimum may make sense.

I would think JMac has cemented a role next year that would nearly eliminate bringing on other point guards. Finch clearly loves the guy. Plus I think we will continue to see an uptick in Ant getting initiation duties. Gotta think size size size is on the agenda.

Sign and trade Lavine for Dlo get it done Gupta...yeah probably not. If Portis opts out I offer him the full mle and see if he bites. I would reach out to Nurkic, Bagley, Harrell, Covington, Tyus Jones, Jalen Smith, Jamychel Green, Harkenstein,

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I would think JMac has cemented a role next year that would nearly eliminate bringing on other point guards. Finch clearly loves the guy. Plus I think we will continue to see an uptick in Ant getting initiation duties. Gotta think size size size is on the agenda.

Yup, first priority is to upgrade the frontcourt. And I do think they try to grown Ant more and more as a playmaker. Starting-caliber PGs that can carry a high usage (like DLO) are freakin' expensive. OK, so DLO might be slightly overpaid, but he's not THAT far above the market rate for what he brings.

My big thing is asset allocation. If Ant truly develops into a better playmaker, do we even need $25M+ invested in the starting PG role? May be a Tyus Jones at $10-15M is good enough. That frees up more money to spend on wings and bigs.

But I'm just not there yet because Ant isn't there yet.

Q-was-here wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I would think JMac has cemented a role next year that would nearly eliminate bringing on other point guards. Finch clearly loves the guy. Plus I think we will continue to see an uptick in Ant getting initiation duties. Gotta think size size size is on the agenda.

Yup, first priority is to upgrade the frontcourt. And I do think they try to grown Ant more and more as a playmaker. Starting-caliber PGs that can carry a high usage (like DLO) are freakin' expensive. OK, so DLO might be slightly overpaid, but he's not THAT far above the market rate for what he brings.

My big thing is asset allocation. If Ant truly develops into a better playmaker, do we even need $25M+ invested in the starting PG role? May be a Tyus Jones at $10-15M is good enough. That frees up more money to spend on wings and bigs.

But I'm just not there yet because Ant isn't there yet.

I concur, we don't. I think Ant will be taking on more ball handling responsibilities in the future and so I don't see a reason to be paying anywhere near max money to a PG. A PG who can take care of the ball, shoot efficiently and play some defense is what we need. I think Tyus fits the bill, but perhaps JMAC could do that too.

Opting to pay Tyus Jones $15-million annually isn't the solution. That is not how you build a winner, in my opinion. He's a fine player, an above average backup point guard and below average starter, playing in an ideal situation for him. I would not bet on him replicating that production or exceeding it on another team. That's a buyer beware target for me, personally.

How much better is Jones than Monte Morris, if much at all? How much better are they over Jordan McLaughlin if he had a consistent role? I would strongly advise against overpaying backups. The salary cap is different now, but I just got Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea flashbacks. Spend wisely.

Camden wrote:Opting to pay Tyus Jones $15-million annually isn't the solution. That is not how you build a winner, in my opinion. He's a fine player, an above average backup point guard and below average starter, playing in an ideal situation for him. I would not bet on him replicating that production or exceeding it on another team. That's a buyer beware target for me, personally.

How much better is Jones than Monte Morris, if much at all? How much better are they over Jordan McLaughlin if he had a consistent role? I would strongly advise against overpaying backups. The salary cap is different now, but I just got Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea flashbacks. Spend wisely.

I like Monte Morris and advocated in past years that we look to acquire him. I wanted us to keep Tyus too at around $8 mill a year. I don't think we need to pay $15 mil for Tyus as there are very few teams that would be looking at him as a starter, but at $10-12 million, I'd absolutely say yes (even more so if DLO were moved). But there are other options if Tyus is too expensive as I mentioned, I think you could get a guy like Satoransky or Corey Joseph for cheap and let him and JMAC fight for starting role. I don't think we need the point guard to be a big time scorer, but be a positive contributor. Another guy, I'll add, that might make sense is Marcus Smart, who the Wolves were supposedly kicking the tires on near the trade deadline.

KG4Ever wrote:

Camden wrote:Opting to pay Tyus Jones $15-million annually isn't the solution. That is not how you build a winner, in my opinion. He's a fine player, an above average backup point guard and below average starter, playing in an ideal situation for him. I would not bet on him replicating that production or exceeding it on another team. That's a buyer beware target for me, personally.

How much better is Jones than Monte Morris, if much at all? How much better are they over Jordan McLaughlin if he had a consistent role? I would strongly advise against overpaying backups. The salary cap is different now, but I just got Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea flashbacks. Spend wisely.

I like Monte Morris and advocated in past years that we look to acquire him. I wanted us to keep Tyus too at around $8 mill a year. I don't think we need to pay $15 mil for Tyus as there are very few teams that would be looking at him as a starter, but at $10-12 million, I'd absolutely say yes (even more so if DLO were moved). But there are other options if Tyus is too expensive as I mentioned, I think you could get a guy like Satoransky for cheap and let him and JMAC fight for starting role. I don't think we need the point guard to be a big time scorer, but be a positive contributor. Another guy, I'll add, that might make sense is Marcus Smart, who the Wolves were supposedly kicking the tires on near the trade deadline.

See, this is the stuff that I find vexing. D'Angelo Russell is not a perfect player nor is he even a perfect fit on the roster, but he was objectively a significant piece and an overall positive contributor. We actually can get a lot worse than him.

Also, this team is going no where but down with Tomas Satoransky and Jordan McLaughlin battling it out for a starting role, as you said. And that doesn't change if you decide to reconfigure the starting lineup by shifting everyone up a position and adding Jaden McDaniels to the starting five. We're already thin in terms of shot creators and distributors. Removing Russell only makes that glaring issue even more noticeable.

I also don't get the sense from our most trusted reporters and beat writers that Marcus Smart was ever in play for Minnesota or that Boston ever seriously considered dealing him, for what it's worth.

I think DLO did provide positive value during the regular season, but he's played in two playoff series now and he was terrible in both. The Wolves simply can't afford to be paying a max salary to a guy who disappears at playoff time and who likely will be less needed as Ant takes on more ballhandling responsibilities. Unless DLO can embrace a sixth man role and accept a salary no more than $15 million, he just doesn't have a future here.

KG4Ever wrote:I think DLO did provide positive value during the regular season, but he's played in two playoff series now and he was terrible in both. The Wolves simply can't afford to be paying a max salary to a guy who disappears at playoff time and who likely will be less needed as Ant takes on more ballhandling responsibilities. Unless DLO can embrace a sixth man role and accept a salary no more than $15 million, he just doesn't have a future here.

Meh. We'll have to agree to disagree per usual. D'Angelo Russell's actual impact, or lack thereof, against Memphis has been vastly overstated on multiple mediums, but that's a conversation for another time. A look under the hood indicates that while he was less productive than he was during the regular season he was close to being a neutral impact player for the series. That's more than most of the Wolves roster can say, including Anthony Edwards and others despite their moments of brilliance.

Also, nobody is advocating for Russell to be extended or re-signed as a max salary player. I have yet to see someone propose that, but what I have seen is those that would let Russell play out the final year of his current deal, which Minnesota should be more than okay with doing. There is little to no risk involved in running this team back with some added pieces.

And as I've also said, we have no real idea what his next contract is going to look like until those talks take place. Previous deals set by the market illustrate that he's looking at anywhere from $20-25-million annually, which would be adequate value for a player of his caliber. Not max money, but also not $15-million per year. Starter-level players who are not on their rookie deals generally make more than that.