Current Roster surrounding Ant

[Q-is-here]

While Ant has not made the leap to superstar, and if anything has regressed a bit, I still believe the Wolves have no option other than to ride out the next few years with Ant as the focal point of roster construction.

On the current roster, I would categorize folks into these categories: Keep (compliments Ant), Must Go (doesn't compliment Ant), Can't Keep (won't be affordable even if we want him), and Question Mark (meaning we just don't know yet or it depends on other factors).

Keep:
Rudy Gobert - Rudy is not the ideal Center for Ant offensively since after multiple years Ant is mostly unable or unwilling to find him for easy dunks, but he sets killer screens and is a walking top 10 defense. Rudy's weaknesses get exacerbated when he is surrounded by other poor shooters. Perhaps if the floor opens up more, it will be easier for Ant to find Rudy on the roll.

Naz Reid - Assuming we shed Randle and assuming we can't re-sign NAW, I think we have to try to keep Naz. He is by no means a perfect player, BUT he has really paired well with Ant and Rudy these last two seasons so he clearly has proven as much as anyone that he can compliment our two best players. He is a quick decision maker and reliable 3-point threat that is willing to let it fly.

Donte DiVincenzo - I know he has been a disappointment this season and he may never return to his Knicks level of production. But he was pretty damn good in Golden State too and I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation. He is still in his prime and I feel he will eventually find his rhythm. He brings off ball movement, shooting, and crisp passing - things extremely complimentary to Ant.

Mike Conley - He is a must keep because he is a calming influence, highly respected veteran, and mentor to countless young players at a reasonable price. You just want guys like him around. That being said, he really should be a backup PG at this point in his career. Unfortunately, there is no one right now capable of filling that role.


Must Go:
Julius Randle - How bass-ackwards is it that Ant compliments Julius with his ability to shoot and draw attention, but Julius does nothing to compliment the franchise cornerstone??? We can't have two guys with sticky hands and questionable decision making as our top scorers with a total lack of synergy. I pick Ant over Julius.

Jaden McDaniels - It really pains me to list Jaden here. But with Rudy already being a non-shooter, we simply cannot afford multiple guys on big contracts that teams will sag off of to provide gap help and crowd the paint. He is a big factor in the inability of our starting lineup to execute good offense. For whatever reason, he just has not improved as an outside shooter and in fact has gotten worse. The other reason I have him here is that I still think he could get us a solid asset in return.


Can't Keep
NAW- Kekgeek pointed out in another thread that we are restricted in what we can pay NAW since we don't have his Bird Rights and I have no question that he will find multiple suitors willing to pay more than us. Dammit!

Question Marks
Rob Dillingham - He certainly fits the archetype of a guy that can take a lot of pressure off Ant by being an elite ball handler, play maker, and shot maker....in theory. His youth and inexperience just make it really hard to know if he can eventually take over as a starting NBA PG. He certainly has a lot of the raw ingredients though.

Shannon Jr. - I actually think he could be really good. He is a guy that would benefit from a spread, fast-paced offense with shooters in that he is really good at taking it to the hoop and drawing fouls. He can also defend. It's all about the outside shot with him. But it would be great to have two perimeter wings in Ant and Shannon that can put a ton of pressure on the defense with their driving ability. Gotta keep them honest with the 3-ball though, which Ant has demonstrated and the jury is out on Shannon.

Josh Minott - Nice story so far in a Jarred Vanderbilt sort of way, but will his outside shot hold up? It looked transformed in the pre-season, but there is no other data since then or before then that makes me confident he can be a reliable threat. And Ant simply can't afford to play with guys other than Rudy that can't shoot.

Leonard Miller - Has developed nicely in the G-League and finally is an overall plus player down there and is probably getting close to outgrowing the G-League. He is an offensive-oriented PF, but again there are question marks with his decision making, defensive intensity and 3-point shot.

Jaylen Clark - Elite guard/wing defender. Elite ball hawk. Very limited as a ball handler, shot creator, and shot maker. Needs to keep working on his offensive game to crack a 9-man rotation with a playoff-caliber team someday.

[Q-is-here]

One question might be what players NOT on our current roster might be better compliments to Ant at certain positions. I will use Jaden's ~ 20-30M salary range to list other players at each position that may potentially be better fits on this roster:

PG - Lonzo Ball
SG - Derrick White, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
SF - Mikal Bridges, De'Andre Hunter
PF - Cam Johnson
C - Clint Capela, Jarrett Allen

Obviously some of these guys are more gettable than others and someone like Ball may actually drop in price since the jury is still out on whether he can fully recover from his injury.

[60WinTim]

Interesting perspective on the roster, Q.

Jaden is just 24. But the stats just don't show someone who has been growing. Is it time to cut bait? Or is more patience warranted as the team tries to find itself again after the KAT trade? One thing that's noteworthy: moving Jaden for an expiring deal and draft capital would open the door for re-signing NAW...

I'm not as convinced that NAZ is a "Must Keep". He was pretty good for us as a 6th man last year, but has not been as impactful this year. Randle is a superior player, IMO, so if Randle can continue molding his game to fit the way Finch wants the Wolves to play, I would rather retain Randle over NAZ. It might have been tough to move NAZ last season because of his impact and fan popularity. But that magic just hasn't been there this season.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Interesting perspective on the roster, Q.

Jaden is just 24. But the stats just don't show someone who has been growing. Is it time to cut bait? Or is more patience warranted as the team tries to find itself again after the KAT trade? One thing that's noteworthy: moving Jaden for an expiring deal and draft capital would open the door for re-signing NAW...

It's VERY alarming when a player in year 5 has hit such a plateau... or even regressed slightly. Especially guys with little asked of them offensively. McDaniels doesn't have to create for himself or others. He simply has to dive to the basket or hit three pointers.

There hasn't been a significant bump with McDaniels. Maybe year 3... or was it just a fluke? He's a lot more like year 2 McDaniels right now... without the promise of something more lurking beneath the surface.

The rub is how much is THAT guy worth? Can a team like MN afford to pay $25M - $30M for a 3-and-D guy... without the 3 part? Losing NAW probably makes the decision even more difficult.

[thedoper]

I think with a player like McDaniels you have to give him one more coach. He’s been under Finch and been basically rewarded regardless of play for his whole career. Id ditch Rudy if possible, I dont think we are going to get the benefit moving forward. Also Conley is done. In my mind if we are serious about fixing this roster its going to hurt a bit more.

[Q-is-here]

I think with a player like McDaniels you have to give him one more coach. He’s been under Finch and been basically rewarded regardless of play for his whole career. Id ditch Rudy if possible, I dont think we are going to get the benefit moving forward. Also Conley is done. In my mind if we are serious about fixing this roster its going to hurt a bit more.

You might be right about Rudy, but I still can't get over that he and Donovan Mitchell in Utah were at one point part of the #1 offense in the NBA. His inconsistent free throw shooting and bad hands certainly didn't seem to hurt them that much!

As for Jaden, assuming he ends up staying against my recommendation, I would like to see him play more 4. I think he may have more success offensively in that position.

[Coolbreeze44]

Q, I have a problem with the fundamental assertion that we need to focus on building around Ant. He's a really good player but I don't believe he can be #1 on a championship team. He would be a great #2, which means we still have to find THE guy. Sometimes THE guy can come out of nowhere like Jokic or Kawhi Leonard. We need to keep looking at all possibilities and not settle for trying win with a flawed player.

[Q-is-here]

Q, I have a problem with the fundamental assertion that we need to focus on building around Ant. He's a really good player but I don't believe he can be #1 on a championship team. He would be a great #2, which means we still have to find THE guy. Sometimes THE guy can come out of nowhere like Jokic or Kawhi Leonard. We need to keep looking at all possibilities and not settle for trying win with a flawed player.

But why can't we do both unless you are advocating for selling off everyone and tanking? And if you're not advocating for tanking, then I'm not sure how building around Ant now precludes us from eventually unearthing a Kawhi or Jokic. It's not like we stopped drafting and trying to develop young guys. The entire back half of our roster is filled with potential of varying degrees that we haven't seen much of because of how healthy the vets have been.

[Coolbreeze44]

Q, I have a problem with the fundamental assertion that we need to focus on building around Ant. He's a really good player but I don't believe he can be #1 on a championship team. He would be a great #2, which means we still have to find THE guy. Sometimes THE guy can come out of nowhere like Jokic or Kawhi Leonard. We need to keep looking at all possibilities and not settle for trying win with a flawed player.

But why can't we do both unless you are advocating for selling off everyone and tanking? And if you're not advocating for tanking, then I'm not sure how building around Ant now precludes us from eventually unearthing a Kawhi or Jokic. It's not like we stopped drafting and trying to develop young guys. The entire back half of our roster is filled with potential of varying degrees that we haven't seen much of because of how healthy the vets have been.

No, I'm not in favor of tanking. But in my view we are still building and that means BPA in all decisions, not looking for positional fits to suit Ant.

[Q-is-here]

Q, I have a problem with the fundamental assertion that we need to focus on building around Ant. He's a really good player but I don't believe he can be #1 on a championship team. He would be a great #2, which means we still have to find THE guy. Sometimes THE guy can come out of nowhere like Jokic or Kawhi Leonard. We need to keep looking at all possibilities and not settle for trying win with a flawed player.

But why can't we do both unless you are advocating for selling off everyone and tanking? And if you're not advocating for tanking, then I'm not sure how building around Ant now precludes us from eventually unearthing a Kawhi or Jokic. It's not like we stopped drafting and trying to develop young guys. The entire back half of our roster is filled with potential of varying degrees that we haven't seen much of because of how healthy the vets have been.

No, I'm not in favor of tanking. But in my view we are still building and that means BPA in all decisions, not looking for positional fits to suit Ant.

I don't necessarily disagree with that in terms of drafting, but it doesn't really change my recommendations of what to do with the current vets on the team as listed in my original post, none of whom have the potential of being a #1 type guy.