Minnesota Sports Forum

Rudez has barely got on the court for his national team he obviously sucks compared to the other Wolves players participating in these international tourneys. Obviously I am only joking but it is worth noting. I am starting to think Rudez is out and Bennett is in for that final roster why?

Prince was signed

Why would Flip put in Rudez over Prince? Sure he may be a better 3 point shooter but it's not like Prince can't hit a 3 and he brings a heck of a lot more than Rudez in every other way. Some complained we moved Bud for Rudez because we moved a worthwhile player if healthy in Bud for a lower level player. It turns out we may end up trading Bud for Prince and even if we pay both Rudez salary and Prince of Rudez is cut that still costs half what Bud cost. I know some people question whether Prince can play. I tend to think he can. That's bad news for a guy like Rudez IMO.

Roster makeup

The Wolves need bigs even though they do have some guys that could play small ball PF it makes sense to keep a big over a terrible rebounding Rudez.

Bennett has performed well this summer

It's pretty simple that so far he has done well looking healthy and in shape plus it seems he has done the things you would want out of him if he comes off the bench. I don't believe in Bennett being really good but I do see some signs he might even be somewhat worthwhile this season especially with 2 PGs that pass like Rubio and Miller.

They just added a coach in Bryan Gates who has familiarity with Bennett. Does that matter a lot? No probably not but If the Wolves were leaning towards keeping Bennett adding a coach that's worked with him this summer might be a positive.

It's still early to say but right now I would say Bennett has the inside track on being on the roster when the season opens. He has done the work this summer to earn that and Flip said they will be monitoring him. They have to be at least somewhat pleased with what they have seen.

They aren't cutting Bennett with his salary, end of story

While I agree that Bennett has the edge over Rudez, I think Flip may still want to trade Bennett if he can get something desirable in a trade. Maybe a 2nd rounder from Portland would be enough or a guy that he thinks is more ready to help like Gerald Henderson. I think Portland given that they have the Team Canada coach and a lot of needs and Toronto are the two favorite destinations for AB. Toronto has Terrence Ross and James Johnson, two players that I think fit better here than AB, though I think now they want to keep Ross and might dangle Johnson who was in Casey's doghouse, but is a tenacious defender who can knock down the threes but had some off-court issues. A Toronto 2nd wouldn't get me very excited given that they are likely in the playoffs-but if Glen wants to dump salary, that's another possibility.

You won't get Terrence Ross for Bennett

Portland has like 37 bigs why would they trade Hendo a fairly legit wing for Bennett? As for the other trade ideas where would a wing player play on this team?

I never bought into Rudez making the roster from the moment we acquired him. He's a nice niche player, but other than shoot and keep the ball moving, he doesn't do much of anything else.

And Bennett seems to have earned another start to the season based off his FIBA play. It remains to be seen whether or not that translates to the NBA game, but I don't see him being moved before the season starts.

I don't see Rudez making the roster unless Flip makes a trade before the start of the season. I think he needs the depth at PF because of all the uncertainty there, and I also think he thinks we have plenty of SFs...Wiggins, Muhammad, Prince, and I'm convinced Bjelica can easily play there too.

Where our roster lacks depth is SG, with only Martin and LaVine currently as true SGs...especially in light of Martin's propensity to miss games and Zach's relative lack of experience there. I know Wiggins is capable of playing SG, but it's not his best position. I wouldn't be surprised if Flip is working the phones seeing if Bennett or Rudez can get him a serviceable 3rd string SG. I don't think there are 3rd string SGs out there that I would like as much as Bennett, but it's difficult to see AB finding any meaningful playing time at PF with the current roster given his contract situation.

I do agree LST that SG could use some depth but Miller can play there as well as pretty much anyone that can play SF other than Bjelica. Lavine seems to never get tired I could see him play 40mpg at SG and after the game skipping around tulips eating lollipops. Lol

alexftbl8181 wrote:You won't get Terrence Ross for Bennett

I don't think so either, that's why I mentioned Toronto offering a 2nd or James Johnson. However, Ross's name has come in trade talks more than once involving AB so I mention him though its unlikely in a straight up trade.

monsterpile wrote:Portland has like 37 bigs why would they trade Hendo a fairly legit wing for Bennett? As for the other trade ideas where would a wing player play on this team?

OK, I'll bite. Name the 37 bigs and I'll spot you Leonard, Kaman, Davis, Plumlee and Vonleh. That's 5 bigs, name the other 32. Given that Team Canada coach is bonding with AB and the quality of their bigs is so bad, AB would probably get more minutes there.