Final Pre-Deadline Trade Proposals

[Lipoli390]

OK. Here's a thread for us to offer our best trade-deadline proposals for the Wolves. I'll start out with two:

1. Wiggins to Charlotte for Batum, their top 3 protected 2020 1st round pick and Cleveland's 2020 2nd round pick. We'd get cap relief after next season and two valuable draft assets to keep or trade. Charlotte's 1st rounder will likely be top 10 and Cleveland's 2nd rounder will likely be top 4 in the 2nd round. Charlotte would get a 20+ point scorer who still has untapped upside in exchange for a highly-paid 30+ year old who contributes nothing and appears to have little left in his tank.

2. Covington to the Sixers for Mike Scott, Korkmaz, Smith, Atlanta's 2020 2nd round pick, the Knicks' 2020 2nd round pick and the Sixers 2022 1st round pick top 10 protected. The Wolves would get a young talented 3-point shooting SG in Korkmaz along with a high-upside young talent in Smith in addition to valuable future draft assets. The Sixers would get a player they're coveting who would bring skills that could solidify their chances of success this season and beyond. They wouldn't be giving up any players who are relevant to their championship aspirations with Embiid, Simmons, Harris and Richardson.

A less likely alternative would be Covington for Richardson and either the Atlanta or New York 2nd round picks.

[Lipoli390]

By the way, the main point of my trade proposals isn't to draft a bunch of young players with potential next June, although that's a possible strategy. Instead, my intent is to load up on valuable draft assets to package next June for a player like Beal.

Getting a young all-star in a deal isn't easy. That sort of player has to come from a team that is so deep in the hole that they're ready to unload and start over, in which case, they'll be interested in draft picks. Top 5 second round picks (31-36) are highly valuable because you can often get a 1st round talent for 2nd round money. Having the Cleveland, Atlanta and New York 2nd rounders for 2020 would likely give us 3 of the top 5 2nd round picks next June. Add our own likely top 7 1st round pick along with Charlotte's likely top 6 1st along with our own top 7 2nd round pick and we could put together a very attractive package for a team like the Wizards looking to start over. Gorgui would give us an expiring contract next June for salary match purposes. Culver, Okogie and Layman would be three more valuable assets for a rebuilding team.

Right now, Beal would be my primary target and the player I'd give up the most to get. Booker would probably be my second choice. I'd consider DLO, but wouldn't give up as much to get him because I don't think he's as good as Beal and I wouldn't want to help the Warriors as a Western Conference rival. I'd be interested in thoughts on other young all-star caliber players to pursue in a draft-day deal next June.

In the end, I'd be content to use our pick and any others we get to bring in young talent in the hope that just one or two develops. And I still want to see Nowell get an extended run this season so we can more fully evaluate and develop him. I actually like what we've seen from McLaughlin, Reid and Martin so far this season, but we need to see a lot more. Unfortunately, I think we're squandering the opportunity we have with Vonleh because of Ryan's stubborn attachment to a small-ball style that doesn't fit our personnel. But alas, Ryan's small-ball strategy is at least helping our tank strategy. :)

[BloopOracle]

What if the 76ers flame out in the playoffs again accompanied by more talk of Ben Simmons and Joel Embid not getting along on the court? I really do think they're destined for a breakup.

A Simmons-KAT combo would be incredible!

[Lipoli390]

What if the 76ers flame out in the playoffs again accompanied by more talk of Ben Simmons and Joel Embid not getting along on the court? I really do think they're destined for a breakup.

A Simmons-KAT combo would be incredible!

I agree a KAT-Simmons combo would be great, although we'd still need to bring in 3-point shooters to fill around them. The possibility of getting Simmons would be a reason to hang onto Covington in anticipation of a possible draft-day trade for Simmons. But I have a hard time seeing a package we could offer that would get Simmons here. If they trade him, they won't be looking for picks or young questionable players like Culver or Okogie to start over. Instead they'd be looking for players in their prime who are ready to help them contend for a championship. Covington wouldn't even be close to enough and I can't see the Sixers having ANY interest in Wiggins.

The Wolves are one of the worst teams in the League right now as evidenced by their record. Again, the bottom line is that this team needs another bona fide allstar at the PG or wing positions to pair with KAT and that sort of player doesn't appear to be on our current roster. Fortunately, we have a 24-year old allstar (KAT) on the front end of a 5-year deal. He's great offensively and bad defensively with the potential to be mediocre on that end of the court. To get over the hump and land the other young allstar we need to pair with KAT, I see three options next summer: (1) seek a trade for a still young all-star like Beal, Booker or Simmons; (2) trade for a young high-upside but still somewhat unproven talent with 1-3 years in the League like Garland, Barrett, DeJounte Murray or Derrick White; or (3) land a draft pick with star potential like Haliburton next June. The key to all three options as I see it is to amass as many quality draft picks and young talent as possible by the trade deadline so we're armed with as much ammunition as possible to executive one of those three options. As I see it, that means trading Covington and Wiggins by the deadline in deals similar to the ones I suggested.

There is no in between here. For once I want to see this organization go all-in on a strategy and executive that strategy intelligently. Given where this franchise is at right now, that means fully tanking this season and trading Covington and Wiggins for valuable draft assets and/or young high-upside talent.

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

What if the 76ers flame out in the playoffs again accompanied by more talk of Ben Simmons and Joel Embid not getting along on the court? I really do think they're destined for a breakup.

A Simmons-KAT combo would be incredible!

I agree a KAT-Simmons combo would be great, although we'd still need to bring in 3-point shooters to fill around them. The possibility of getting Simmons would be a reason to hang onto Covington in anticipation of a possible draft-day trade for Simmons. But I have a hard time seeing a package we could offer that would get Simmons here. If they trade him, they won't be looking for picks or young questionable players like Culver or Okogie to start over. Instead they'd be looking for players in their prime who are ready to help them contend for a championship. Covington wouldn't even close to enough and I can't see the Sixers having ANY interest in Wiggins.

The Wolves are one of the worst teams in the League right now as evidenced by their record. Again, the bottom line is that this team needs another bona fide allstar at the PG or wing positions to pair with KAT and that sort of player doesn't appear to be on our current roster. Fortunately, we have a 24-year old allstar (KAT) on the front end of a 5-year deal. He's great offensively and bad defensively with the potential to be mediocre on that end of the court. To get over the hump and land the other young allstar we need to pair with KAT, I see three options next summer: (1) seek a trade for a still young all-star like Beal, Booker or Simmons; (2) trade for a young high-upside but still somewhat unproven talent with 1-3 years in the League like Garland, Barrett, DeJounte Murray or Derrick White; or (3) land a draft pick with star potential like Haliburton next June. The key to all three options as I see it is to amass as many quality draft picks and young talent as possible by the trade deadline so we're armed with as much ammunition as possible to executive one of those three options. As I see it, that means trading Covington and Wiggins by the deadline in deals similar to the ones I suggested.

There is no in between here. For once I want to see this organization go all-in on a strategy and executive that strategy intelligently. Given where this franchise is at right now, that means fully tanking this season and trading Covington and Wiggins for valuable draft assets and/or young high-upside talent.

Agreed! No in between. Figure out which way you're going and then execute it. I'm not attached to anyone on this roster, so whatever gets you the best return to achieve your goal, should be on the table.

[Coolbreeze44]

I don't like the idea of building around a flawed player. If your foundation is flawed I don't know how you end up with a contender. KAT would be a great #2 but in my opinion the plan can't rely on him being your centerpiece. A rebuild effort will fail under those circumstances. You must find a true alpha and go from there. If that means KAT gets sacrificed to find it, so be it.

[Wolvesfan21]

I think not trading Wiggins as long as you can get decent return would be foolish. He's not a guy who you can count on night in and night out to carry the team. In fact he more often disappears for long stretches of games until he gets his face torn off by mild mannered nice guys like Ryan. Wiggins is a guy who can do better the bigger the game I think. He can't get you there but can help you if you have a contender already. He'd be a prefect 6th man to run and gun off the bench.

[Wolvesfan21]

I don't like the idea of building around a flawed player. If your foundation is flawed I don't know how you end up with a contender. KAT would be a great #2 but in my opinion the plan can't rely on him being your centerpiece. A rebuild effort will fail under those circumstances. You must find a true alpha and go from there. If that means KAT gets sacrificed to find it, so be it.

I disagree. I think a Beal + KAT combo and quality players around could be good enough. Or I think you are rolling the dice in the draft for the next couple years looking to hit that one guy. KAT isn't flawed as much as every player around him. I get his defensive issues, but I think if the team was good that he would actually focus on that much more. Winning breeds winning, tanking breeds losing.

KAT could easily be a top 5 player in the league with a solid defense. I'm not at all in favor of trading him for the next 3 seasons at least, besides, you can't get anyone worth equal value anyways. Who do you think would trade with us for KAT that would make us a contender?

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

I don't like the idea of building around a flawed player. If your foundation is flawed I don't know how you end up with a contender. KAT would be a great #2 but in my opinion the plan can't rely on him being your centerpiece. A rebuild effort will fail under those circumstances. You must find a true alpha and go from there. If that means KAT gets sacrificed to find it, so be it.

I disagree. I think a Beal + KAT combo and quality players around could be good enough. Or I think you are rolling the dice in the draft for the next couple years looking to hit that one guy. KAT isn't flawed as much as every player around him. I get his defensive issues, but I think if the team was good that he would actually focus on that much more. Winning breeds winning, tanking breeds losing.

KAT could easily be a top 5 player in the league with a solid defense. I'm not at all in favor of trading him for the next 3 seasons at least, besides, you can't get anyone worth equal value anyways. Who do you think would trade with us for KAT that would make us a contender?

I don't think Beal/towns would ever contend. If you want to just make the playoffs for the next 4 years then sure.

My preference would be to trade everyone who can bring positive value and go for the non flawed player to build around. If that's a perimeter player, defense isn't as important, but it's a must if you're building around a big.

Also, kat is in year 5 and I think he's shown that he's not going to be a top 5 two way player (and that's what top 5 player means to me). Top 5 on offense, sure

And to answer your question, if we're trading kat, the plan clearly isn't to contend right away.

[Coolbreeze44]

I don't like the idea of building around a flawed player. If your foundation is flawed I don't know how you end up with a contender. KAT would be a great #2 but in my opinion the plan can't rely on him being your centerpiece. A rebuild effort will fail under those circumstances. You must find a true alpha and go from there. If that means KAT gets sacrificed to find it, so be it.

I disagree. I think a Beal + KAT combo and quality players around could be good enough. Or I think you are rolling the dice in the draft for the next couple years looking to hit that one guy. KAT isn't flawed as much as every player around him. I get his defensive issues, but I think if the team was good that he would actually focus on that much more. Winning breeds winning, tanking breeds losing.

KAT could easily be a top 5 player in the league with a solid defense. I'm not at all in favor of trading him for the next 3 seasons at least, besides, you can't get anyone worth equal value anyways. Who do you think would trade with us for KAT that would make us a contender?

That's the problem right there - you can't get good enough with KAT anchoring your defense. There are only a handful of players in the league who can bring their teams up to contending status on their own merit and KAT isn't one of them. Now, if you have KAT, Beal, and someone like Capella you might get there. But there is no way to combine KAT with a good, not great wing and become a true contender. LIke DD22 said, you will probably be a playoff team. I'm not interested in just that.