Love Trade

[biggentleben]

 

Not sure where I stand on Flips coaching ability, but I think Shabazz and Wiggins can play together as SF and SG respectively.

 

Definitely agree there. Their play seems to compliment one another very well. The small window when Rubio was on the court with those two was a fun back court to watch, surprisingly on both ends of the court. Will they be willing to let the young guys run and use Martin to back up SG/SF, or will there need to be veteran presence to make Flip happy. His biggest detriment in his coaching has always been that he'd have "his guys", and he'd be loyal to them to a fault at times. I don't know who his guys are on this team, but if you have everyone, save Wiggins, willing to sacrifice their time on the court to the hot hand (if Muhammad is going for 30, Martin might only see 15 minutes that game, or vice versa), this team could go from #1 pick to playoff contender real fast. Atlanta basically did that with their squad this year and had the best record in the East.

 

[kab21]

I see a problem with having Muhammad and Wiggins on the court together.  Assumptions: Towns is picked #1 (or Okafor) and the Wolves can't/don't want to trade Gorgui/Pek.

 

Rubio - PG

Muhammad/Wiggins - wings

Towns/Gorgui/Pek - the bigs

 

The is an awful team at shooting outside and literally the entire other team is going to be clogging the paint defensively. 

 

The problem is that both Muhammad and Lavine have shown that they have decent potential and should play next season.  The problem is caused by having a PG that can't shoot and two classic bigs playing down low.  Of course I'm not sure if having Martin spreads out the floor enough to make the team better.  Maybe Bjelica comes over and gives the team a Euro 4 (outside shooter and scorer) in the style of Dirk/Mirotic that helps.  If the Wolves have more offense (especially shooting) from the 1/4/5 spots then Muhammad and Wiggins could be awesome together.

 

Martin should be a 15 minute/gm sparkplug off of the bench next year but I'm not sure it will happen for the reasons you mention.

[biggentleben]

 

I see a problem with having Muhammad and Wiggins on the court together.  Assumptions: Towns is picked #1 (or Okafor) and the Wolves can't/don't want to trade Gorgui/Pek.

 

Rubio - PG

Muhammad/Wiggins - wings

Towns/Gorgui/Pek - the bigs

 

The is an awful team at shooting outside and literally the entire other team is going to be clogging the paint defensively. 

 

The problem is that both Muhammad and Lavine have shown that they have decent potential and should play next season.  The problem is caused by having a PG that can't shoot and two classic bigs playing down low.  Of course I'm not sure if having Martin spreads out the floor enough to make the team better.  Maybe Bjelica comes over and gives the team a Euro 4 (outside shooter and scorer) in the style of Dirk/Mirotic that helps.  If the Wolves have more offense (especially shooting) from the 1/4/5 spots then Muhammad and Wiggins could be awesome together.

 

Martin should be a 15 minute/gm sparkplug off of the bench next year but I'm not sure it will happen for the reasons you mention.

 

To continue down the Hawks path, a Kyle Korver would be an incredible asset to this current roster. So much that his skill set would add to what the Wolves currently have.

[TheLeviathan]

I agree it's a weak 3 point shooting team, but Flip seems to discourage that anyway.  Rumors are that Towns is a pretty good outside shooter though.

 

I'd also hope that Wiggins is working on his outside game extensively this summer.

[kab21]

 

I agree it's a weak 3 point shooting team, but Flip seems to discourage that anyway.  Rumors are that Towns is a pretty good outside shooter though.

 

I'd also hope that Wiggins is working on his outside game extensively this summer.

 

It's a weak everything shooting team and Flip is an idiot.

 

Wiggins has an outside shot but the rest of that proposed lineup is pretty weak.  Muhammad can shoot a little.  Towns has potential but I wouldn't expect much shooting the first year or two and see that as part of his long term development.

 

Martin is the Wolves version of Korver.  I understand the need to play Muhammad and Lavine but I don't understand the hurry to run him out of town.

[DaveW]

Flip deserves an A+ for this trade. I liked Love, but he was gone. Wiggins is a potential stud, Young is a very solid PF and Bennett is sorta a wild card who has a ton of potential.

Good for flip.

I would like to revise my grade from an A+ to an A+++.

[DaveW]

It's a shame the wolves couldn't get Hoiberg, hopefully the Bulls managent does something stupid and lets him go in a couple years so he can coach up a wiggins and more team eventually.

[kab21]

 

I would like to revise my grade from an A+ to an A+++.

 

That's the Wiggins part but the Young/Bennett part brings the trade down a little.  Perhaps that is a little bit like complaining that Boof Bonser reduced how great the AJ trade was. 

[ALessKosherScott]

 

I see a problem with having Muhammad and Wiggins on the court together.  Assumptions: Towns is picked #1 (or Okafor) and the Wolves can't/don't want to trade Gorgui/Pek.

 

Rubio - PG

Muhammad/Wiggins - wings

Towns/Gorgui/Pek - the bigs

 

 

I think I buy this problem with Okafor more than Towns. Towns' biggest strength over Okafor is that he has fewer weaknesses. Okafor has his strengths but his weaknesses dictate a certain kind of team construction. You need to surround him with shooters and a back-up center who can hit free throws and block shots. The second part means you probably don't trade Dieng. The first part means your best lineup is probably Rubio/Martin/Budinger/Bjelica/Okafor, and realistically you want a different point guard. 

 

With Towns, you have options. You can go big with Towns at the 4 and Dieng/Pek at the 5 (with Martin at the 2 to space the floor) to counter the biggest flaw in the team last year (that they couldn't rebound without Love). You can play the pick-and-roll game that Rubio, Wiggins and Lavine were born to do with Bjelica at the four. You can even create a small ball lineup with Muhammed at the four. If the right trade offer comes along for Dieng, you can listen and use Garnett and Pek to back up the five. If the right trade offer for the rights to Bjelica comes along, you can listen and give Bennett and Payne some time to develop. At 31, it will be easier to find a guy who can play a role in the rotation by grabbing a Delon Wright or a Jordan Mickey instead of drafting the best shooter. You're not necessarily hoisting a championship next year, or even guaranteed a playoff spot, but there are more paths you can go down with positive outcomes.

 

With that said, I can't get it out of my head that Flip is going to draft Okafor.

 

 

[TheLeviathan]

 

With that said, I can't get it out of my head that Flip is going to draft Okafor.

 

Love your post.  I have the same feeling.

[biggentleben]

 

Love your post.  I have the same feeling.

 

Me three. And ugh if that happens!

[DaveW]

 

That's the Wiggins part but the Young/Bennett part brings the trade down a little.  Perhaps that is a little bit like complaining that Boof Bonser reduced how great the AJ trade was. 

I thought Young was just fine this year, I however hated that he was traded for Garnett. I feel they could have gotten at least something better than a 40+ year old that provides no real NBA value anymore.

Bennett is a lottery ticket, hopefully he can figure it out.

[ALessKosherScott]

 

It's a little unnerving when Shooter becomes the voice of reason for the local sports media.

[kab21]

Please make it happen.  A potential defensive anchor that can shoot.  They would need some more pieces but the Wolves could have 2 top 25 players.

[ALessKosherScott]

Between the rumors that the Wolves have committed to drafting Towns and they want to move AB to bring over Bjelica, this might be the best day in the team's history for fans in some time.

 

It's sad we spent May wondering how they'd screw this up.

[drjim]

Flip strikes me as a reasonably competent front office guy. I do wish he would give up the coaching part of the equation.

[ALessKosherScott]

Hoiberg would've been the right choice to coach. He's enough in the Flip/Taylor world where they respect his opinions, and showed he understands the way the game is headed during his time at Iowa State by running a pick-and-roll/3-point heavy offense. 

 

With that said, they're probably going to have to pay a team a usable asset to take AB off their hands given his cap number, and if the payroll were equal AB is more deserving of another chance than Payne from a statistical sense. Plus, Justin Hamilton and Robbie Hummel probably deserve the roster spot over both of them, and odds are they will be trying to catch on with another team. The real problem is Flip the part-owner/team president hamstrung himself by trying to give Flip the coach the pieces he needed. 

[kab21]

Raise your hand if you wish the Wolves were mentioned in the Boogie Cousins rumors.  #1 pick and another asset or two like Muhammad.

 

I am glad that the Wolves are at least locked in on Towns though.  Not sure how the lineup will work since it's almost guaranteed that the Wolves won't be trading one of their C's and most likely will be playing 2 of them often but I guess the first victory is that they might have talented players on the floor everywhere which is an improvement from previous seasons.