Athletic Article: Rosas will keep options open this offseason

[Hoop Dreams]

Is anyone willing to post the linked article? It looks like Jonny K. mentions some possible targets for the Wolves this offseason. Thank you in advance!

https://theathletic.com/1877124/2020/06 ... ed_article

[flexbuffchest]

The hallmark of Gersson Rosas’s first season on the job in Minnesota was an unabashed pursuit of changes to a roster that was going nowhere.

While some general managers prefer to take an entire season to evaluate the players they inherit, Rosas said earlier this season that he knew starting on May 1, 2019, that an overhaul was necessary. And that is exactly what he delivered, turning over 13 of the 15 Timberwolves that were in his lap when he first arrived.

With so much change executed in the first 10 months on the job, one might expect Rosas to let the dust settle on a team that only had 14 games together before its season was shuttered by the COVID-19 suspension. But listen to Rosas as he describes his view of the current roster, and it becomes clear that you can take the executive out of the Rockets front office, but you can’t take the Rockets mentality out of the executive.

As Rosas and the Timberwolves plunge into this offseason, the big changes they have already made is no guarantee that more change is right around the corner.

“The reality is, and the NBA shows, you need as much high-end talent as you can find,” Rosas said. “And my hope is that we currently have multiple All-Stars on this roster, but only time will tell. And part of that will be investing in this group of players, developing them to maximize their potential, and then us having to make hard decisions on whether we feel like this is a group that can have a sustainable model of success and can contend at the highest level.”

That aggressiveness has been a calling card for Houston in the Daryl Morey Era, and Rosas brought that thirst for roster managing with him to Minnesota. Even after acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, James Johnson and Juancho Hernangomez and jettisoning Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, Robert Covington and everyone else not named Karl-Anthony Towns or Josh Okogie, the Wolves remain on the lookout for potential trades that will help them better surround Towns with the talent needed to be a factor in the Western Conference playoff conversation.

“I’m not doing my job if I’m not coming in every day to figure out ways to improve our roster and find the best players we can find,” Rosas said. “I love our group. I like the potential that they have, but to be fair, it’s potential right now, and they’re young players and it’s a young team. So can we do our part to help them become the best players they can be and can they fit in our organization and in our roster to maximize our vision? That’s the question that we have to ask ourselves every day.”

After all of the wheeling and dealing in January and February, Rosas put together the youngest team in the league. Towns and Russell are cemented as the duo at the top of the food chain and the Wolves also have high hopes that Beasley, who will be a restricted free agent this fall, can sustain the impressive scoring and shooting numbers he put up upon his move from Denver. But there is still so much work to be done for a team that finished 19-45 and went 4-10 after the Russell trade, a mark depressed by Towns missing 13 of those games with a wrist injury.

The roster still needs work, and the Wolves know it.

The Wolves were one of eight teams not invited to Orlando for a planned restart to the regular season and playoffs at the end of July (provided concerns that some players have with the situation are addressed). Assuming the league does restart, the draft and free agency are not expected to take place until October. That gives Rosas and his staff four more months to evaluate their existing roster and comb the other 29 for trade possibilities.

“Every step of that process is making decisions about what is the best thing for us long term,” Rosas said. “And we’ll make those educated decisions as best as we can.”

The core
The genesis of this analysis comes from a conference call with Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders last week that covered the Wolves’ efforts to get involved in the community, after George Floyd died under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, and pivoted to an evaluation of where the team stands headed into an offseason that will be unlike any in the history of the NBA.

While more than two-thirds of the league plan to continue playing in Orlando, the Wolves won’t get to be directly involved in league action again until the draft. Given all of the changes Rosas oversaw in year one, it was fair to ask where he felt the team was at in his vision for assembling a playoff-caliber roster. My colleague Britt Robson brought the question to Rosas, and the president of basketball operations did not take the easy way out. He could have focused solely on Towns, Russell, Beasley and the rest of the upgrades he brought to the team and spoke of the need for this group to get more time in practice and games to fully evaluate how it fits together.

But Rosas was honest in his assessment. He said he believed that these particular puzzle pieces fit much more easily inside the already assembled border that is the revamped offensive and defensive systems employed by Saunders. But he also said there is a long way to go before the Wolves can be confident that they have a team in place that belongs in the playoff conversation.

“I would tell you at this point and time, we feel like we’ve made significant progress, but by no means are we there,” Rosas said. “We have more work to do, and I would put more of that on individual development of some of our players. This is a continuing evaluation phase.”

One thing that is certain: Towns is at the center of it all. Everything done over the last 18 months has been with Towns in mind. The switch from Tom Thibodeau to Ryan Saunders; the decision to keep Saunders as coach after hiring Rosas; the acquisition of his close friend Russell to give him a shooter and passer at the point, they all suit Towns’ game and personality.

Unfortunately, the Wolves didn’t get to see how Towns would be affected by Russell and shooters like Beasley and Hernangomez around him because of the injury. But the Wolves feel like they have a good understanding of who Towns is as he approaches his sixth NBA season.

“A number of unforeseen circumstances came about and we were kind of playing catchup at times, but Karl knows that coming back, hey, this is (his) and D’Angelo’s team,” Saunders said. “Then you’ve got a guy like Malik Beasley, who we were really glad to get a guy like that at the deadline.”

Every chance they have gotten, Rosas and Saunders have spoken about Beasley as a firm member of this new core. He averaged 20.7 points in those 14 games, shot 42.6 percent from 3-point range on 8.2 attempts per game and brought a competitive edge that they needed. His market in the fall will be an interesting one to watch, but all indications are that the Wolves plan to have him back after flipping a first-round pick from Houston to get him from Denver.

The major question, of course, will be can the Towns-Russell-Beasley core be good enough defensively to get the job done? Towns is not a bad defender. During stretches of his career, he has shown the aptitude, instincts and execution to be an asset on that end of the floor. But he has done his best work with an accomplished defender there to help him, someone like Kevin Garnett or Covington who can help direct traffic and read and react.

Russell has been a poor defender for most of his career and, aside from a block of Jimmy Butler at end of a win over Miami, did little to inspire confidence that a big turnaround is coming in that department. Beasley is athletic and competitive, two important tools for a good defender, but still has a long way to go in that area as well.

Saunders said Towns has to improve in using his hands defensively and staying disciplined so he doesn’t commit so many fouls but also said the Wolves have to do a better job of limiting dribble penetration, which would cause Towns to scramble and the whole defense to collapse. Having Okogie and Jarrett Culver should help in that area, but Beasley and Russell will have to make big strides to prevent them from having the same struggles they did with Jeff Teague and Wiggins on the perimeter.

“We need to help Karl on the perimeter, too, where we’re not putting him in situations where he has to be a rim protector or has to avoid a foul, something like that,” Saunders said. “Because he is valuable to our group. He’s valuable to our group defensively, but he’s very valuable to our group offensively.”

The draft
As things stand, the Timberwolves should be a major player in the draft this year. Depending on how the lottery falls and how things shake out in Orlando, they could have three of the top 33 picks in the draft. Their own pick is slated to go in the top three as things stand, provided they get a little bit of lottery luck that has so often eluded the franchise.

If the Brooklyn Nets make the playoffs, the Wolves will get their first-round selection as well. The Nets currently hold a 5 1/2-game lead over the Washington Wizards for the last spot in the Eastern Conference bracket, and the teams will only play eight regular-season games so the odds of the Wizards making up that gap are minimal at best.

That said one of the reasons the Wolves weren’t the happiest of campers when the league decided not to just bring the 16 current playoff teams to Orlando. The decision to bring 22 teams, including the Wizards who are so far back, seemed an arbitrary cutoff to many across the league. Given the length of the layoff, anything can happen when the teams reconvene at Disney World, and it would be just the Wolves’ luck for the Nets to falter.

All of that aside, one of the interesting elements of the Rosas-Saunders video conference was Rosas’s characterization of the picks potentially at their disposal. This draft class is not considered to be particularly strong, but the Wolves still see an opportunity to add defensive-minded players and shooters with those picks or use them to go get veterans to pair with such a young core.

“I’m excited about what we potentially could do here at the draft,” Rosas said, “getting a high-end talent or multiple young players that could help us, or using those resources to get some veterans in here or guys that are more ready to win.”

Rosas likes to refer to those picks as resources, keeping open the possibility of packaging them for players that become available. The Wolves were active in Rosas’s first draft here, trading Dario Saric to move up from No. 11 to No. 6 for Culver.

If one of those coveted “high-end” players that Rosas is always on the lookout for becomes available — say, a Bradley Beal or a Devin Booker or a Jonathan Isaac — it would no doubt take some of that draft capital to get into a conversation. Given the assets the Wolves have, outbidding other teams for a player that his highly coveted would not be easy, and it is more likely that they could swing a deal for a role player with what they have.

Fiscal flexibility
One reason the Wolves could have for holding on to their picks is the need to add affordable talent to a salary cap sheet that is getting pretty bloated. Towns and Russell are on max deals. Beasley could get a big raise and Hernangomez could as well.

The Wolves will not have any cap space to sign free agents but are expected to have the full mid-level exception this fall, which could be a powerful tool in recruitment during a period that few teams are expected to have space. Danny Leroux did a good job of laying out their financial situation here.

Johnson will almost surely exercise his $16 million player option for next season, another contract that could be used for dealmaking, though the Wolves have raved about his leadership of this young team.

They did go into the luxury tax during the flurry of deals in February. They were unable to get under the line by agreeing to a buyout of Evan Turner, but Rosas said they have several moves that can be made to make sure they do that before next season. The Wolves, and every other team in the league, are anxiously awaiting guidance from the league on what next season’s salary cap landscape will look like. The lost regular-season games, the lost ticket revenue and the head-butting with China at the start of last season all will play a role in league revenues plunging. How that is incorporated into salary cap sheets and contracts that almost always build in the assumption of rising revenue has the potential to have a major impact on how teams do business.

For that reason, among others, Rosas said he expected the transaction window that is set to open soon to be relatively quiet. Teams are operating with so much uncertainty right now. Players like Jordan McLaughlin or Kelan Martin theoretically could be in line to sign NBA deals after playing well in their two-way contracts during the season, but that remains to be seen.

“Once the league gets started, the conversations will start back up,” Rosas said. “People will be preparing for an active offseason, a draft. And hopefully next season, a little more normalcy. But … this open transaction period is going to be much more limited than we would like, but it’s just a reality of the restart.”

Player development
Rosas and Saunders both spoke of the importance of their existing roster improving this summer, which makes it imperative that the league and players’ union eventually signs off on some sort of group practices for teams that are left out of Orlando. With the restrictions put in place by COVID, that will be a bigger challenge than most offseasons.

Okogie and Culver need to improve their shooting. Towns will need to get back into the swing of things after sitting out with wrist injury and mourning the loss of his mother. Russell, Beasley and Naz Reid have defensive issues to work through. If the uncertain financial environments make dealmaking more difficult, the Wolves will need this group to make enormous progress to have a chance to be competitive next season.

“We know we need to take a step in growing up,” Saunders said. “We also feel that when we get these guys back together we can generate some situations on the court, but then we can also generate some situations in the community, safely, where guys can grow not just on the court but off the court too. We’ll turn a negative into a positive.”

“I hope we have an incredible summer of development,” Rosas said. “My goal and coach’s goal is the same, to take a step forward, to maximize our offense, improve our defense and come together as a team to have consistent success and take another step forward.”

But so much of this leadership group’s DNA is made up of the willingness to make deals. That is where they see the opportunity for major improvement.

“A lot of the stuff we do and tools we build and information we provide we hope provides small advantages along the way, and over time hopefully that builds up,” Gupta said last summer. “But trades are like big decisions that can have up and downside, but have a big impact.”

They believe all of those deals last winter signified big steps in the right direction. It also ensured that they got some work done before the league was paralyzed. Had Rosas waited to trade for Russell this summer, that process could have been much more difficult given the current environment.

“Big steps forward this season, which we accomplished in Year 1,” Rosas said. “A lot more work to do.”

[Hoop Dreams]

Thanks, flex! Much appreciated.

Sounds like they really value Beasley and plan on him being a big part of the future.

I also love that Jonathan Isaac is briefly mentioned. He would be a great fit next to Towns. Does anyone think Jonny K. floated that name for a reason?

[flexbuffchest]

Thanks, flex! Much appreciated.

Sounds like they really value Beasley and plan on him being a big part of the future.

I also love that Jonathan Isaac is briefly mentioned. He would be a great fit next to Towns. Does anyone think Jonny K. floated that name for a reason?

No idea but Isaac is one of the best defenders in the league. He'd be a terrific for next to KAT

[Hoop Dreams]

Thanks, flex! Much appreciated.

Sounds like they really value Beasley and plan on him being a big part of the future.

I also love that Jonathan Isaac is briefly mentioned. He would be a great fit next to Towns. Does anyone think Jonny K. floated that name for a reason?

No idea but Isaac is one of the best defenders in the league. He'd be a terrific for next to KAT

He's phenomenal defensively and he's only 22, so I would imagine it would take a lot to get him from Orlando. Hard to believe they'd even be willing to move him.

[somuchyummy]

would you guys swap our lottery pick for him? ball or edwards would make great sense for them - they have lots of other options at the 3 and 4, but are pretty sparse in the backcourt. on our end, we'd basically lock up our starting 3 for a long time - plus he's got the potential to play 4 as well.

[RubeTube]

would you guys swap our lottery pick for him? ball or edwards would make great sense for them - they have lots of other options at the 3 and 4, but are pretty sparse in the backcourt. on our end, we'd basically lock up our starting 3 for a long time - plus he's got the potential to play 4 as well.

Swap picks?!? They are not giving up Issac for our pick straight up.

[LordNu]

would you guys swap our lottery pick for him? ball or edwards would make great sense for them - they have lots of other options at the 3 and 4, but are pretty sparse in the backcourt. on our end, we'd basically lock up our starting 3 for a long time - plus he's got the potential to play 4 as well.

Swap picks?!? They are not giving up Issac for our pick straight up.

I just had a look, Orlando is in a shocking financial position, how the hell did they do that?

They'd potentially want a salary dump along with anything else.

[somuchyummy]

once again (like anunoby) - there's a dissonance. top three pick in this draft and they wouldn't trade a great defending young wing for that? but one who averages only 12 and 7? especially when their roster still would include aaron gordon, wes iwundu, terrence ross, evan fournier, james ennis III and al farouq aminu? they'd have their choice from near the top of this entire draft class to add to their team - and they wouldn't consider it? i mean how crappy exactly IS this draft?

[Corre Ricky Corre]

Jonathan Isaac would be a perfect fit but why would the Magic want to move him? If anything they will try to dump Aaron Gordon. That could play to our advantage. Gordon could be had for our Nets pick and JJ. Aaron Gordon is still only 24 and could fit nicely next to Towns. This also allows us to draft a player like Okoro or BPA.

[jodaman01]

From my one season of experience with Rosas here are two takes I have on him:

1. Rosas may be great at making trades.
2. Rosas may be God awful at Draft Lottery picks.

This Draft and Free Agency period will be one of the most important in Wolves history considering resources will be scarce the following season.

GO WOLVES!!

[LordNu]

From my one season of experience with Rosas here are two takes I have on him:

1. Rosas may be great at making trades.
2. Rosas may be God awful at Draft Lottery picks.

This Draft and Free Agency period will be one of the most important in Wolves history considering resources will be scarce the following season.

GO WOLVES!!

Have we ever had a genius when it came to drafts? Flip was probably our best?

[RubeTube]

From my one season of experience with Rosas here are two takes I have on him:

1. Rosas may be great at making trades.
2. Rosas may be God awful at Draft Lottery picks.

This Draft and Free Agency period will be one of the most important in Wolves history considering resources will be scarce the following season.

GO WOLVES!!

Have we ever had a genius when it came to drafts? Flip was probably our best?

Yikes! The guy with a bunch of lotto picks and not one hit a all star game except the #1 pick of the draft?

The guy who took Bazz and Dieng in a draft and later traded a 1st for Adrian Payne?!?

Uffda.
.
I think I would go Mchale but it's been a history of shit soup and I can't keep it all straight.

[Corre Ricky Corre]

I would gladly trade our #3, #33, and Culver + JJ for Isaac and a filler

[somuchyummy]

I would gladly trade our #3, #33, and Culver + JJ for Isaac and a filler

i think they are going to want to get more back for gordon than simply as a salary dump. he's still somewhat of a name - and i think they're going to want on court value back as well as salary relief.

but their roster is indeed full of salary dump options.

evan fournier - one more year left at $17M - so that's kind of out as an option because they'd gain nothing by accepting jj's one last year of $16M.

but al farouq aminu is an option - he's got two more years remaining at $9.7M and $10.2M. he's 29, a SF/PF known mostly as a versatile defender - and it's what's kept him in the league because this year he averaged just 4.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg in 21 mpg on (check this out!) 32%/25%/65%. brutal.

also maybe the one they'd consider the hardest is terrence ross - because he has three more years remaining on his deal - $13.5M/$12.5M/$11.5M. he's 29, a SF/SG who this year averaged 15ppg on 48%/36%/85%. pair his salary with isaac's and we'd have to match about $20M. culver and jj come to $22M, plus you have to include the salary of the top three pick too, right? (about $6.5M). that brings our end to $28.5M. it might work if this was the deal (we'd have to take aminu) -

MN sends jarrett culver, james johnson, our 3rd pick and 33rd pick to ORL

ORl sends jonathan isaac, terrence ross and al farouq aminu to MN

is anyone spinning cartwheels over this?

positives - we get isaac. and ross isn't the worst option as a bench flamethrower - he's a bit in the mold of beasley - and we may need that on the bench to pair with okogie's offensive struggles.

negatives - we lose the #3, we lose culver's potential (two successive lottery picks gone), isaac has only one year left on his deal so there'd be a new contract coming to negotiate - and you'd bet it will be big, and we'd be on the hook for both ross and aminu for multiple years.

i can honestly see some appeal from orlando's side. yes, they lose isaac - but they get culver's potential, the overall #3 to do with what they want, and in a year, after jj's contract expires - they would free up about $24M in capspace.

another way the $ might work is if we traded culver, jj, the two picks (3 and 33) for just isaac and ross PLUS they include their 15th pick. i don't see ORL doing this though. not nearly enough in return.

[Style]

I really like Isaac, but if given the opportunity to unload the asset chest, I’m first calling on Booker.

[somuchyummy]

if we want a flexible defending SF/PF wing with tons of potential and are willing to include our #3 in the deal - i'd still check with toronto about anunoby.

[Corre Ricky Corre]

I really like Isaac, but if given the opportunity to unload the asset chest, I’m first calling on Booker.

I'd love to get Booker too and he is currently better than Isaac but I love the idea of getting Isaac without giving up Beasley. I think for Booker, Beasley is for sure gone.

[somuchyummy]

i think a team with beasley AND isaac is stronger than a team with just booker.

[Style]

If it’d be the offer listed above for Isaac + Beasley to get Booker, I’m still taking Booker.

[SO_MONEY]

i think a team with beasley AND isaac is stronger than a team with just booker.

If we are trading for Booker, Beasley wouldn't be included, not unless you are talking a deadline deal. And even then I would be skeptical. JJ, Culver, Okogie and multiple firsts is most likely. I just don't see PHX doing it yet.

I like Isaac, but no idea what ORL would want, moving on Gordon will be much easier while keeping value.

We have options and it will be interesting.

[somuchyummy]

i think a team with beasley AND isaac is stronger than a team with just booker.

If we are trading for Booker, Beasley wouldn't be included, not unless you are talking a deadline deal. And even then I would be skeptical. JJ, Culver, Okogie and multiple firsts is most likely. I just don't see PHX doing it yet.

I like Isaac, but no idea what ORL would want, moving on Gordon will be much easier while keeping value.

We have options and it will be interesting.

i think if we spend the cash and assets to bring in booker and his large contract - then signing beasley to a new bigger contract - but now as a bench player - will be out of the question. we get booker and beasley is gone IMO.

[somuchyummy]

and again - gordon is a disappointing player who IMO moves the needle nowhere. he can be a good defender when he applies himself - he's got positional flexibility between the 3 and 4 - he played some big minutes - but here's his per 36 this year (and seriously, this is the time in his career where he SHOULD be coming into his best basketball). per 36 - 15.7 ppg/ 8.3 rpg/ 4.0 apg on 49%/30%/68% with good D.

you know who else is a good defender with positional flexibility between the 3 and 4 spot? james johnson. he's still a tough defender - he's apparently a helluva great locker room influence - and here's HIS per 36 - and mind you, this isn't extrapolated off of 7 mpg or something. johnson played 24 mpg for us. per 36 - 17.9 ppg/ 7.0 rpg/ 5.6 apg on 57%/37%/68%.

if we need to improve our PF play and move on from a bench vet like jj - why would the answer be aaron gordon? i see practically zero difference of what they give you on court - except johnson's production is better. he certainly shoots better. man, people are too enamored of the fucking dunk contest.

bottom line: we would not be taking full advantage of the capital that resides in jj's expiring $16M deal if we're only going to exchange it for aaron effing gordon. if that's our best option, then i say we just keep jj and play him out.

[bubu dubu.]

People saying Orlando would move on from Isaac because of their cap situation? Isaac doesn't cost them much. They'd much more likely try to find a team to take Fournier, Gordon or Fultz (no one's gonna trade for Vucevic).

I could maybe see them willing to part with Isaac because he's been such an injury risk, but not for cap/financial reasons.

[RubeTube]

People saying Orlando would move on from Isaac because of their cap situation? Isaac doesn't cost them much. They'd much more likely try to find a team to take Fournier, Gordon or Fultz (no one's gonna trade for Vucevic).

I could maybe see them willing to part with Isaac because he's been such an injury risk, but not for cap/financial reasons.

This.

[SO_MONEY]

i think a team with beasley AND isaac is stronger than a team with just booker.

If we are trading for Booker, Beasley wouldn't be included, not unless you are talking a deadline deal. And even then I would be skeptical. JJ, Culver, Okogie and multiple firsts is most likely. I just don't see PHX doing it yet.

I like Isaac, but no idea what ORL would want, moving on Gordon will be much easier while keeping value.

We have options and it will be interesting.

i think if we spend the cash and assets to bring in booker and his large contract - then signing beasley to a new bigger contract - but now as a bench player - will be out of the question. we get booker and beasley is gone IMO.

Booker would play SF. It wouldn't move Beasley to the bench. Nor would his contract affect us much more than it does now as we would be sending out salary, plus cap holds of picks. Now if it is a deal before the deadline things might be different, but I doubt it. I think the team really likes Beasley and we want him here long-term.

What makes the most sense is try and get a PF by trade, keep two picks even if there is a trade down, hopefully some of our youth kicks it in gear and become assets mixed with future picks we try and get Booker, but I think it will be two seasons out, he would just cost too much now.

[somuchyummy]

wow. so you'd quadruple down on the lousy D? a starting five that includes KAT, booker, beasley AND dlo? wow. we're going to need to find dennis rodman or KG to come in and play PF with that group.

[bubu dubu.]

wow. so you'd quadruple down on the lousy D? a starting five that includes KAT, booker, beasley AND dlo? wow. we're going to need to find dennis rodman or KG to come in and play PF with that group.

Impossible. Rodman is like 60, and KG doesn't like Glen Taylor.

[somuchyummy]

i predict that foursome plus joe power forward would give up an average of 150 ppg. we'll lose every game by 20 but it'll be smiles all around as KAT, Dlo and booker all average 30 ppg and beasley 25. we won't have a bench though - at all - so i predict a PR move where EVERY NIGHT it's "Fans Get To Play Night". every game they'll pick 4 guys at random out of the crowd so we reach our NBA minimum, suit em up and here sign this waiver. who wouldn't love that? me, for one.

[SO_MONEY]

i predict that foursome plus joe power forward would give up an average of 150 ppg. we'll lose every game by 20 but it'll be smiles all around as KAT, Dlo and booker all average 30 ppg and beasley 25. we won't have a bench though - at all - so i predict a PR move where EVERY NIGHT it's "Fans Get To Play Night". every game they'll pick 4 guys at random out of the crowd so we reach our NBA minimum, suit em up and here sign this waiver. who wouldn't love that? me, for one.

Prepare yourself it is what they want if they go after Booker. The defense will be bad and its future depends on Beasley, the PF and bench defensive players along with rotational schemes to balance things out. I don't think it works as far as challenging for a championship, but would give us a young team better than we have had.