Minnesota Sports Forum

We have our starting PG in Teague. We now need to fill in our rotation off the bench. Our chief need continues to be 3-point shooting, but we also need a wing and a big who can come in and play both sides of the ball. Right now we have 5 starters and only two legitimate rotation buys on the bench - Tyus and Belly -- and neither one has proven to be a reliable high level rotation player like a Jamaal Crawford, Danny Green, JJ Redick, Iggy, etc.

Redick, Millsap, Ibaka, Snell, Ingles, Iggy and Tucker are off the board. So what's next? The tier 1 FAs are gone. That means Thibs needs to turn to the tier 2 and tier 3 FAs for the good rotation players this team desperately needs. Here's my list of remaining FAs in those tiers who I think the Wolves should seriously consider:

Tier 2:

Arron Afflalo - 31 year old vet SG who can defend and hit threes.
Erase Ilyasova - 30 year old stretch 4.
Darren Collison -- 30 year old PG who is very accurate from inside and outside the arc
Dewayne Dedmon -- Pop loved him and make him his starting C. That's enough for me
Tyreke Evans -- Great 2-way talent who I believe has untapped upside. Improved 3 pointer
JaVale McGee -- We need more rim protection and he protects the rim
Ben McLemore -- Has the talent to be tier 1 FA. I'm leery, but he's a great talent and hits 3s
CL Miles -- Good but not great 3-point guy. Not much more than shooter, but would help
Mirotic -- RFA/Could be terrific stretch 4, but he regressed last season. Bulls might match too.
Sefolosha -- Vet defensive wing with an OK 3-point shot'
Olynyk - RFA. Would Boston let him go? What would it take to avoid a match?
Alex Len -- Would add size/depth to front court. But how much is he worth?
Rudy Gay -- Does his surgery bump him from tier 1 to tier 2? Can we afford him? Would he want to come here as backup to Butler and Wiggins?

Tier 3:

Ian Clark
James Young
Muscala
Jared Sullinger
Josh McRoberts
Luke Babbit

I hadn't seen that Ibaka signed yet?

For tier 2, I'd target 2 of Ilyasova, McLemore, Miles, Sefolosha, and Evans.

Tier 3, Clark and Muscala.

I would add Patrick Patterson to the list.

Q12543 wrote:I would add Patrick Patterson to the list.

Yeah, Patterson would fill a need for a stretch forward.

I don't think he's as good as Ilyasova or James Jonson though, both of whom bring more to the table and who are more efficient scorers. Johnson scored 1.44 points per shot, Ilyasova 1.42, and Patterson 1.24.

Ilyasova brings a toughness and rebounding. Johnson is a good defender and much more versatile offensive player.

Ilyasova
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/983/ersan-ilyasova/shotchart/

Patterson
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/1230/patrick-patterson/shotchart/

Johnson
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/1129/james-johnson/shotchart/

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:

Q12543 wrote:I would add Patrick Patterson to the list.

Yeah, Patterson would fill a need for a stretch forward.

I don't think he's as good as Ilyasova or James Jonson though, both of whom bring more to the table and who are more efficient scorers. Johnson scored 1.44 points per shot, Ilyasova 1.42, and Patterson 1.24.

Ilyasova brings a toughness and rebounding. Johnson is a good defender and much more versatile offensive player.

Ilyasova
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/983/ersan-ilyasova/shotchart/

Patterson
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/1230/patrick-patterson/shotchart/

Johnson
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2016-2017/player/1129/james-johnson/shotchart/

Illyasova is the only one of these three I'd consider, which is why I left the other two off the list.

If I were to add one of those other two, it would be Patterson. He's a bona fide 3-point shooter. My problem with Patterson is that he doesn't do anything else you'd expect from the PF position. He's doesn't block shots and he's a subpar rebounder, averaging about 6.5 boards per 35 minutes. Johnson is a terrible 3-point shooter and a slightly worse rebounder than Patterson. Johnson is the better defender and can block some shots, but he's not impressive in any category. He's two years older than Patterson to boot. I'd put both of these guys in a tier 4.

I really think Anthony Tolliver, Luc Bah a Moute and Dante Cunningham deserve spots in your tier 2 list...

Where did Jonathan Simmons and Danilo Gallinari fall on the list? Gallo should be very available if Millsap goes to Denver. Spurs are reportedly wanting to pay Simmons 9 mil per

What about Taj Gibson?

sjm34 wrote:What about Taj Gibson?

BINGO!!! ;-)

60WinTim wrote:I really think Anthony Tolliver, Luc Bah a Moute and Dante Cunningham deserve spots in your tier 2 list...

I really wanted LRMAM at around 10 mil per over 3-4 years to be our bench 3 defender and is perfect for small ball 4. Would have left us with about 8 mil to offer for a 2/3 shooter type.