Ant “likes” multiple Minnesota terrible trade comments

[kekgeek]

And it begins. Ant likes multiple worst trade in history comments and I’ll never forgive Minnesota for the trade comments in instagram

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1 ... utm_term=1

[WildWolf2813]

There was a play where the team was gaining momentum and Rudy was as wide open as can be under the basket and Ant decided to take it himself to the hoop for a tough layup that didn’t go in.

Long story short, I don’t see how their rapport gets fixed.

[Wolvesfan21]

Him not developing a good offensive relationship with Rudy tanks his trade value as well. Teams are going to think twice about him now. He fell off defensively and now is tainted again by another guard (first Mitchell of course). So their is basically zero chance to trade him now since he has zero value basically. You might have to throw in Jaden to get Rudy to another team.

Ant you are stuck with Rudy for a few years, you might as well make it work. Because you are not going to give away other players to dump him. You can't trade 1sts either of course.

[Phenom]

Trade Rudy to Quin Snyder for Dejounte Murray?

[mjs34]

Trade Rudy to Quin Snyder for Dejounte Murray?

I don't see how the dollars work for Atlanta, but I think it is the only way we get any value back on Rudy and Murray is a guy that I think could fit in with the wolves.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Trade Rudy to Quin Snyder for Dejounte Murray?

I don't see how the dollars work for Atlanta, but I think it is the only way we get any value back on Rudy and Murray is a guy that I think could fit in with the wolves.

For what it's worth... Atlanta has Clint Capela, another rim-running rebounding big.

Capela actually had a better VORP than Gobert this season (+1.8 vs. +1.4). Their Win Shares were very close (+7.2 vs. +7.8).

Most importantly though... Capela is younger and will make almost exactly 1/2 of what Gobert is paid over the next two seasons.

[Lipoli390]

I’m not surprised by Ant’s view of the Gobert trade, but I’m surprised Ant was that open about it in his Instagram “likes.” On the other hand, this isn’t the first time Ant has taken a shot at the Rudy deal. We all remember earlier in the season when Ant said, “the smaller we play, the better I play” or something like that. That was an obvious shot at Gobert. But it’s not just Ant. We all saw Jon K’s report after DLO left about DLO’s repeated and vocal criticism of Rudy’s play. Does anyone really believe DLO was the only player frustrated with Rudy’s bad hands, lack of offensive versatility, and clogging presence in the lane? And while he’s played well defensively, he hasn’t exactly dominated. He had the lowest blocks per game average since his rookie season and had the same defensive rating that KAT had last season.

As I’ve noted previously, Jon K reported earlier (before DLO was traded) that multiple players were expressing frustration with Rudy. Then we saw Slo Mo go after Rudy verbally in the huddle a couple weeks ago, which elicited a punch from Rudy that got him a one-game suspension. That’s on top of Ant’s recent “likes” and his prior comment about being better when the team goes smaller. Of course, we know Donovan Mitchell was frustrated with Rudy last season. There’s way too much smoke not to have a fire related to Rudy’s presence on the team and it’s not just Ant. Actually, even if it were just Ant, that plus the financial burden of Rudy’s supermax contract should be enough to seriously consider moving on from Rudy since Ant is clearly our franchise player.

I’ll add that I liked a lot of what I saw from Rudy the last third of the season and in the playoffs. I like Rudy’s serious approach to the game and I liked his defense this season even though I don’t believe he was dominant defensively. In fairness, it’s impossible to be a dominant defender as a traditional in-the-paint center in today’s modern space-and-pace League. But in my view he doesn’t provide enough net value to the team to justify his supermax salary. His constant clogging presence in the lane diminishes the number 1 attribute of our two best offensive players - driving the lane. His bad hands and the fact that he needs the ball delivered to him so precisely in a certain way has to be frustrating for teammates in a game that requires such incredibly fast actions and decision-making. None of this is Rudy’s fault. He strikes me as a great guy who gives maximum effort and contributes on the court. I just don’t think his presence on this team is sustainable if we’re going to develop into a contender over the next few seasons around Ant, Jaden and possibly KAT. Knowing how our franchise player feels about Rudy’s presence (and likely how other players feel about Rudy), I think TC will have to swallow his pride and trade Rudy for pennies on the dollar.

Regarding Rudy’s trade value, I suspect he was worth pennies on the dollar the moment after the Wolves traded for him. That’s how lopsided the trade was as nearly everyone outside the Wolves front office knew and said at the time. Has his value gone down since then? Probably - because his weaknesses have been more exposed playing on a new team that wasn’t constructed around him to begin with. But I do think he has trade value. In other words, I think the Wolves can get enough pennies to make trading him worthwhile in the long run. Rudy will be turning 31 before next season. As he gets older his production and therefore his trade value will likely diminish further. There’s also the risk of a major injury that obliterates his trade value, in which case we’re stuck with a supermax contract that’s neither trade-able nor playable. If nothing else, I would think the Wolves can get expiring or non-guaranteed contracts and one future first. The key in my view right now is getting some additional financial flexibility for player transactions.

I won’t be crest-fallen if we keep Rudy. I think we can be good with Rudy next season. I just don’t think keeping him is in the best interest of the organization long-term as we seek to become a championship contender built around Ant and Jaden. That’s especially true given what we appear to now know about Ant’s view of Rudy’s presence on the team or at least the trade that brought him here.

[Q-is-here]

Lip, You were right about the trade and credit to you for sticking to your guns, even if at times you were among a minority on this board.

I don't see Gobert's trade value as "pennies on the dollar". Now I certainly don't think we can get equal value for what we paid, but I hardly see him as this heavily discounted trade asset. He's got three years left on his deal and while he didn't have great synergy with his team mates in Minnesota, he was still quite a force defensively. We simply aren't a top 10 defense without him.

For the Wolves, if they trade Rudy, they need to go back to a high-wall defensive scheme that places a higher value on guys that can cover a lot of space and fly around. Thankfully, some of the guys on our current roster played that style just two seasons ago. To me it's not the perfect defense, but if KAT is kept as a 5 it's the one we have to play.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, You were right about the trade and credit to you for sticking to your guns, even if at times you were among a minority on this board.

I don't see Gobert's trade value as "pennies on the dollar". Now I certainly don't think we can get equal value for what we paid, but I hardly see him as this heavily discounted trade asset. He's got three years left on his deal and while he didn't have great synergy with his team mates in Minnesota, he was still quite a force defensively. We simply aren't a top 10 defense without him.

For the Wolves, if they trade Rudy, they need to go back to a high-wall defensive scheme that places a higher value on guys that can cover a lot of space and fly around. Thankfully, some of the guys on our current roster played that style just two seasons ago. To me it's not the perfect defense, but if KAT is kept as a 5 it's the one we have to play.

Fair comment, Q. “Pennies on the dollar” is probably not a fair characterization. It was my exaggerated way of emphasizing the lopsided nature of the deal that brought him here. . I see Rudy having value to contenders who don’t have a good center and who have a team that’s a better fit for him. I can’t think of a good team for him right now, but I’ll have to give that some thought. What do you think we can realistically get in return for Rudy - generally if not specifically?

I agree with you on going back to the high-wall defensively scheme if Rudy is traded. The sort of player we needed to pursue last summer was a bigger version of Vanderbilt - an athletic, highly mobile defensive big to play alongside KAT - preferably someone with a better perimeter shot than Vando. I think we had a better shot at getting that sort of player with the assets we had last summer than we do now.

[Q-is-here]

Lip, You were right about the trade and credit to you for sticking to your guns, even if at times you were among a minority on this board.

I don't see Gobert's trade value as "pennies on the dollar". Now I certainly don't think we can get equal value for what we paid, but I hardly see him as this heavily discounted trade asset. He's got three years left on his deal and while he didn't have great synergy with his team mates in Minnesota, he was still quite a force defensively. We simply aren't a top 10 defense without him.

For the Wolves, if they trade Rudy, they need to go back to a high-wall defensive scheme that places a higher value on guys that can cover a lot of space and fly around. Thankfully, some of the guys on our current roster played that style just two seasons ago. To me it's not the perfect defense, but if KAT is kept as a 5 it's the one we have to play.

Fair comment, Q. “Pennies on the dollar” is probably not a fair characterization. It was my exaggerated way of emphasizing the lopsided nature of the deal that brought him here. . I see Rudy having value to contenders who don’t have a good center and who have a team that’s a better fit for him. I can’t think of a good team for him right now, but I’ll have to give that some thought. What do you think we can realistically get in return for Rudy - generally if not specifically?

I agree with you on going back to the high-wall defensively scheme if Rudy is traded. The sort of player we needed to pursue last summer was a bigger version of Vanderbilt - an athletic, highly mobile defensive big to play alongside KAT - preferably someone with a better perimeter shot than Vando. I think we had a better shot at getting that sort of player with the assets we had last summer than we do now.

I really don't know. Coming up with trade scenarios has never been my strong suit. I just think he can still bring us back a plus-level player and may be a couple of picks. What I mean by plus-level player is someone that is not necessarily an all-star, but generally plays winning basketball.

I doubt Tim Connelly will be able to humble himself enough to pull the trigger and basically invalidate the biggest trade of his life, but that's probably what needs to be done.