Minnesota Sports Forum

So we are just over a year since Rosas made the big trade to add Dlo. Him and Kat have played 5 games together and the Wolves have lost a lot of games. I just think it would be a good time to grade Rosas based on how I think he has done so far. Im going to break it down into sections: Draft/2-way undrafted rookies, trades, free agent signings, cap management, other. So let do it.

Draft: The Wolves under Rosas have in my opinion have been fantastic under Rosas. Obviously it is still an unknown because he has only had 2 draft classes and all his players are still young but I have loved what he has done so far in his drafts and his 2-way UDFA. If you take out Culver it would be an A+. The players he has drafted or signed are Culver, Nowell, Naz, Jmac, Martin, Ant, Mcdaniels, Bolmaro, Hagans. Culver has been the only real miss so far and he still shows signs of at least being an rotation guy. In his 1st year he added Nowell in the 2nd round and its early but he looks to be at worse a rotation piece, Jmac at worse a rotation piece, Naz who has legit NBA starting C potential, I mean he scored 28 pts last game. Martin who got signed to another team to a full time NBA contract. This year he drafted Ant who I think has been good, the only guy I think for sure has out played him in the rookie class so far is Ball but it is way to early to tell who will be the better player. I mean Ant just had a 20 pt 8 reb 4 asts 1 stl 1 blk 0 turnovers on 50% shooting game. He shows signs of being a star and we will see what happens. Mcdaniels has been great value were he was picked. He has earned the starting spot on the Wolves and that is great value for where he was picked in the 20s. Bolmaro and Hagans are still wait and see. If it wasn't for Culver he would he get an A+ because of Culver (Every GM will miss) he gets an Grade: A-

Trades: His 1st ever trade was #11 and Saric for #6, this was a fantastic trade, moves up 5 spots and only gave up a at best league average PF who was about to get paid. Now Rosas drafted the wrong guy but It was a fantastic trade using his assets. Teague for Crabbe: One of the most meh trades ever. Wolves go no value for Teague expiring. Teague is not good Crabbe is out of the league. Covington and pieces for Beasley, 16, Vandy, Hernangomez, Turner. He got good value in my opinion out of Covington. We got arguably the best player in the trade in Beasley got a possible rotation piece in Vandy, Hernagmez is still a NBA player and got a mid 1st round pick. Solid value for Covington in my opinion. Next trade Dlo, Spellman and Evans for Wiggins, 2021 1st and 2nd. I get why we did the trade, Im still not mad at the trade at all because the Wolves needed to do something if they believed in Kat. This trade in theory could really hurt the Wolves at the moment I still think Dlo is better then Wiggins but the value right now is not worth a 1st and a 2nd. Now we need to see more then 5 games with Dlo and Kat to see what the actual end trade will be because Rosas didn't trade Dlo to be the star he traded for him to be Robin. In the end trade is still up in the air but leaning towards a bad trade due to circumstances. Spellman, Evans and 2nd for Davis. I like davis but gave up a small asset for a guy who isn't in the rotation when everyone is healthy. 16 and Rubio for Johnson and 2 1sts in the 20s. Overall I don't know how to value this trade. Rubio has been terrible and has been a terrible fit for the Wolves. It did lead to Mcdaniels what is good. James Johnson is a low end rotation piece overall it has not looked good though. Grade: C

Free Agent/Re-signing: Layman is the only guy of value still on the team and he is like a 10th man type. Also did terrible in the Hernangomez signing. Beasley looks like he deserves his money. No other player has brought any value. Grade: D

Cap Managment: He has been terrible. We don't have a 15th guy because he added Crabbe and Turner and couldn't come out to an agreement with Turner for a buy out so we went into the Lux Tax. Had to trade Spellman and Evans with an asset to open up a roster spot. Wolves are the youngest team in the NBA but they are capped out that is not good and they don't even have 15 players on roster. Grade:F

Other: He is good with the media and I think that counts for a little bit. Issue is he plays to a certain style of ball "the system". I like that we want to play more modern ball but we miss out on good players because of it. We are such a small team and once Kat got hurt the system is why the team just falls apart because the Wolves don't have any legit NBA height outside of Kat. Also even if it is Glen Taylor putting his hand in the pot, technically he hired Saunders . Saunders is just not ready for being a head NBA coach. I do think he is using Saunders to be his scapegoat. I do think there is value in having a guy who can just make trades happen though Grade: D-

Overall We are about a year and a half into the Rosas era as the GM. Wolves have the worst winning % in the NBA and they haven't been good at all. We have a terrible head coach and we are stubborn to playing 1 style of basketball. He has had some bad luck that his plan of Dlo and Kat have played 5 games together so I have to take that into consideration. He has been bad with the cap. He has traded 3 future draft picks, limiting the thing he has actually been good at in finding young talent and seeing how it translates to the NBA. He has had very mixed results on his trades, I understand why he made all of them even though some haven't worked out. With all that said for Wolves long term success you have to be good at drafting and at the UDFA. So far where they are at in their career he has hit on 6 of his 9 rookie adds and 2 of the guys he added in Bolmaro and Hagans are huge incompletes. His drafting ability has saved him. Grade: C-

You make a number of solid points here, kek, and I agree that Gersson Rosas has made some good moves thus far. With that said, he's made his fair share of questionable or downright bad moves as well. There are also moves that Rosas didn't make that need to be accounted for.

I don't think I'd even give him a C-grade based on what he's done so far overall, but I can certainly understand your reasoning. A lot of that will come down to how certain draft selections play out. In my opinion, he's squandered some potential opportunities to really improve this team either by being over-aggressive or trying to replicate another organization's style. I think those will eventually come back to haunt him and be used as reasons for why he's no longer employed by the Wolves franchise years down the road.

I agree with a lot of this... but I have some differences when it comes to drafting. It's a tough one to grade because you usually don't know right away. That being said...

... I think it's becoming quite possible to see Culver as a guy who does NOT get a rookie extension. And considering the Wolves gave up a decent asset to take him at #6... that's a double whammy of a miss.

... Until Bolmaro arrives... Meh. Unlike his last stint in EuroLeague... at least he's averaging more points than fouls this time around. Barely. But he's not expected to be in the NBA anytime soon. So in the meantime... I consider it a miss if another asset could help this team win now. (As you acknowledge elsewhere, Rosas roster/salary cap issues are part of the reason he went with a draft and stash player...

... It's objectively false to say only LaMelo Ball has been better than Edwards. There's no world where Haliburton hasn't proven to be a better player thus far. Then you have guys like Quickley, Bane, Vassel and Pritchard. Then, guys like Williams, Tyrese Maxey and others. It's just a tough/impossible argument to make that Edwards has been better.

But they're rookies. And Edwards has shown signs of growth. If that continues, especially with KAT back in the lineup, we have legit reasons for optimism. I definitely get the hope with Edwards... but that doesn't excuse his overall negative value thus far, even with recent spate of better games.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I agree with a lot of this... but I have some differences when it comes to drafting. It's a tough one to grade because you usually don't know right away. That being said...

... I think it's becoming quite possible to see Culver as a guy who does NOT get a rookie extension. And considering the Wolves gave up a decent asset to take him at #6... that's a double whammy of a miss.

... Until Bolmaro arrives... Meh. Unlike his last stint in EuroLeague... at least he's averaging more points than fouls this time around. Barely. But he's not expected to be in the NBA anytime soon. So in the meantime... I consider it a miss if another asset could help this team win now. (As you acknowledge elsewhere, Rosas roster/salary cap issues are part of the reason he went with a draft and stash player...

... It's objectively false to say only LaMelo Ball has been better than Edwards. There's no world where Haliburton hasn't proven to be a better player thus far. Then you have guys like Quickley, Bane, Vassel and Pritchard. Then, guys like Williams, Tyrese Maxey and others. It's just a tough/impossible argument to make that Edwards has been better.

But they're rookies. And Edwards has shown signs of growth. If that continues, especially with KAT back in the lineup, we have legit reasons for optimism. I definitely get the hope with Edwards... but that doesn't excuse his overall negative value thus far, even with recent spate of better games.

Fair all that your said that is why I said "for sure" I should of added Haliburton with Ball. The rest of the players I can make a argument that Edwards is better then the rest (you might disagree but I can't make an argument against Ball and Haliburton but I can with every other rookie)

kekgeek1 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I agree with a lot of this... but I have some differences when it comes to drafting. It's a tough one to grade because you usually don't know right away. That being said...

... I think it's becoming quite possible to see Culver as a guy who does NOT get a rookie extension. And considering the Wolves gave up a decent asset to take him at #6... that's a double whammy of a miss.

... Until Bolmaro arrives... Meh. Unlike his last stint in EuroLeague... at least he's averaging more points than fouls this time around. Barely. But he's not expected to be in the NBA anytime soon. So in the meantime... I consider it a miss if another asset could help this team win now. (As you acknowledge elsewhere, Rosas roster/salary cap issues are part of the reason he went with a draft and stash player...

... It's objectively false to say only LaMelo Ball has been better than Edwards. There's no world where Haliburton hasn't proven to be a better player thus far. Then you have guys like Quickley, Bane, Vassel and Pritchard. Then, guys like Williams, Tyrese Maxey and others. It's just a tough/impossible argument to make that Edwards has been better.

But they're rookies. And Edwards has shown signs of growth. If that continues, especially with KAT back in the lineup, we have legit reasons for optimism. I definitely get the hope with Edwards... but that doesn't excuse his overall negative value thus far, even with recent spate of better games.

Fair all that your said that is why I said "for sure" I should of added Haliburton with Ball. The rest of the players I can make a argument that Edwards is better then the rest (you might disagree but I can't make an argument against Ball and Haliburton but I can with every other rookie)

That's a tough sell. Can I hear one of those arguments...

We do agree that Edwards has more potential than most, or almost all of them. That's an entirely difference discussion though.

Camden wrote:You make a number of solid points here, kek, and I agree that Gersson Rosas has made some good moves thus far. With that said, he's made his fair share of questionable or downright bad moves as well. There are also moves that Rosas didn't make that need to be accounted for.

I don't think I'd even give him a C-grade based on what he's done so far overall, but I can certainly understand your reasoning. A lot of that will come down to how certain draft selections play out. In my opinion, he's squandered some potential opportunities to really improve this team either by being over-aggressive or trying to replicate another organization's style. I think those will eventually come back to haunt him and be used as reasons for why he's no longer employed by the Wolves franchise years down the road.

I get that point. Once again I have not loved Rosas at all. I think his drafts/UDFA signings are the only think keeping him in the range that I have him. I also wouldn't give him and F until we see Dlo and Kat be terrible together. He is a confusing one to me because he has used assets well and then used that asset and done bad with it. So like the Saric and 11 trade. Great use of asset management but then he blows the pick on it. Trades Gorgui for James Johnson, so we get a better player for Gorgui and uses that asset in James Johnson to acquire a better player in Rubio coming off a career year but Rubio has been terrible for the Wolves. He was able to acquire a lot of young players to take a shot on in Evans, Spellman, Vandy, Hernangomez but then only 1 really pans out then over pay to keep Hernangomez. I think he was right trading back in the draft. I feel like he is been good at acquiring assets but then when he gets the assets he is bad at turning them into things. He is hard for me to grade. I haven't loved him, think he has drafted pretty darn good, he has made some solid trades. I like in theory his asset management in a vacuum but the end product has been bad. So that is why he gets a C- from me now. If Ant doesn't improve or if the results don't improve once Dlo and Kat play together he will drop for sure in my mind to possibly a F.

Pretty nice analysis Kecker. I don't really have a major disagreement with anything. But I do disagree on the DLO trade. I've kept myself from talking about Wiggins this year, mostly because he's gone and really doesn't matter anymore. Most of us judge that trade pretty harshly, largely because of the draft compensation. But I'm going to state for the record that Wig is a better player than DLO. Initially I would have given DLO a slight edge, but after watching him for a while now I can't do it. Neither is great obviously but Wig has more to offer. I love shooters, and if that was all we needed out of DLO he would be great in that role. But he's just not a good overall player, especially when you rely on him for leadership like we do. I wish we could take that whole deal back. The opportunity cost of not dealing Wig for lower cost shooting options and keeping our draft pick is heavy. Having our picks this year to add to KAT, Edwards, McD, and some of our other young guys would truly be something to get excited about. It sucks.

I agree with the "sum of the parts" grade you gave Kek - nice job. However, if you take just a simple bottom-line approach in the form of wins and losses, he deserves a D or D-. You can't be competing for worst team in the league nearly 2-years into your tenure. The only reason it's not an F so far is because of KAT's unavailability, which isn't within his control.

All of this is subject to change of course!

The one things to keep in mind is that Haliburton is a year and a half older then Ant as well.

I'm not on the Rosas bandwagon yet, but I have to agree he does seem to have an ability to find some diamonds in the rough through the draft and free agency. The overriding headline of the Rosas era though is "KAT OUT", so I grade him as follows:

If he gave KAT Covid or was responsible for either of his two injuries, I give him an F-.

Otherwise, I give him a C.