Athletic Article: Rosas will keep options open this offseason

[somuchyummy]

i couldn't sleep the other night, so was up and occupying my time going thru this convoluted scheme wherein the wolves would trade back and pick up vassell, and didn't resign both juancho and beasley and instead picked up christian wood (which could still work IMO) - i think i even had us getting anzejs pasecniks somehow to battle with naz for backup minutes at C. think i still came in around 123M and the cap next year is 115.

sidenote: if that was to be the case, would our owners have a penalty to pay or are they simply 8 mil over the cap? i'm never sure what the hell hard and soft cap means and what penalties can be incurred when, blah blah.

but now, considering all the moves we made last year - and how much of that new roster really hasn't shared court time due to injury - i think we should lay back and make fewer moves. sign two of our free agents - jmac and beasley - they are important pieces - and pretty much leave free agency at that.

don't resign juancho - give jj most of his minutes because he played well for us and we might as well use his 16M contract in his final year. with what we have signed on roster and in upcoming draft capital, there's just no reason to sign juancho to a three year deal. i can see rosas doing it, of course, if only to prove to the fanbase "look i traded for a rotation guy"! but we don't really need him this year and can do better in the long run.

draft okongwu and start him at the 4 - and then either get kira lewis as a future PG at 15 - or one of the many decent PG options who will still be available at 33 (quickley, jones, pritchard, hagans, dotson, etc). with our other pick, double down on bigs and find a good option to replace JJ's absence when he leaves - either stewart, oturu, achiuwa, jalen smith, paul reed, tyler bey - at 16 or the best of that bunch still available at 33. reed, smith and bey could still be there then.

this 16th pick, even in a down year, is really a blessing when you think of it - because it's more than possible, it's "probable" at that point in the draft to find valuable role players. just hit the right guy. they are there. i mention this because even with a top pick of okongwu, with jj leaving in a year and not resigning juancho, it would be important to get another good big in the pipeline. and that's your juancho replacement - and on a long rookie contract cheaper than the 3 yr/15M thing JH will require.

SF seems neglected and yes, it kind of is. but that'll be for the following year - and there's some really good ones in free agency - jerami grant, jonathan isaac, og anunoby. with jj's money expired and who knows what decision we make about okogie (we'll see if he can find his shot this year) - we could have $20M to work with. in the meantime, when healthy - jake layman has been adequate - and we even had a bunch of wins with him getting big minutes - so there are positives to his being on the court. we've got him for two more years. okogie and a hopefully bulked up culver can pick up bench minutes at the three - and who knows, maybe culver will have a great soph year - build onto the very good end of the year he had - and win that starting job.

and i still want to sign a cheap young FA center. anzejs?


PG - dlo ($28.6M) / jmac (resigned around $3M) / 16th or 33rd draftee ($2.7M or $1.5M)

SG - beasley (resigned around $15.0M) / culver ($6.1M) / nowell ($1.5M)

SF - layman ($3.8M) / okogie ($2.7M) / vanderbilt ($1.7M)

PF - okongwu ($6.5M) / johnson ($16.0M) / 16th or 33rd draftee ($2.7M or $1.5M)

C - KAT ($29.5M) / reid ($1.5M) / FA ($1.5M)

i think we'll also still be on the hook for $4M for spellman and evans. with that it all comes to $120M. 5M over the cap and that's still having 11 guys on the team payroll come in at a combined -$24M. jesus, how do teams come in under cap?

[Thrillkill]

The idiot should keep his options open as his life long offseason is coming soon. When we get an actual GM here is what we all should see. An offseason plan which emphasizes winning now without sacrificing any future. A plan that emphasizes fixing weaknesses. And a plan to play to our strengths and fill out with guys who fit the style and the roster. A very simple and obvious plan to everyone not being the idiot who did exactly the opposite of all of those.

How do you win now without sacrificing the future? Well you don't do stupid shit like trade for Booker that's for sure. You add needed positions that fit through the draft. Get lucky with a MLE guy or a 2 depth guys for a starter trade OK. Otherwise it is actually not as important the guys you add. It's the kind of guys and the way you play.

Towns/Russell/Beasley. That's who you are building around. 2 max guys and another highly paid guy. And how do they play? Beas can play both ways but the other 2 are so obviously better at half court ball it is amazing we try to play fast. 2 max half court killers who are excellent FT shooters and draw a ton when playing the right way. And an excellent spot up 3 shooter playing of them. Beas OK on D but the other 2 terrible. Everyone knows that you play slower it helps your D a ton. But the idiot and his boy demand forcing pace? So stupid. Just playing the way we should makes it so easy to identify who you add.

So fixing D is easy. Slow down helps a ton. Stop the stupid play small shit, defensive rebound better helps a ton. Just playing to our strength helps fix our weakness. So easy. And what do you add and subtract? Knowing that makes the decisions obvious. Dump Hermanmunster. Already have Layman who we can't dump and if healthy he's better anyway. Draft Obi or OO. Give Spellman the opportunity he deserves. Then if we get the Nets pick take a 3-4 tweener who defends and rebounds. Or a straight up 3 and D guy like Vassell if he gets there. If we don't get that pick try to trade up from the 2nd which should cost very little to get that.

Then play big like we should. Stop the stupid and weak ass switch everything D. Play more zone. All you need to play legit zone D is one shot blocker and perimeter guys with length and good instincts for stls, and rebounding 5. Trying to take away 3's by switching and giving up the dunk line to the hoop is fucking stupid. Good D's invite 3's. They just try to make them a little harder and get every rebound.

So simple. Best and fastest way to get better is to play the way we should. Slower, bigger. Less 3's more FT's. We need to add to our current player's effectiveness much more than add additional vets. The roles we need additional players for can be well manned by rooks and young guys.

[Hoop Dreams]

There goes the Isaac to Wolves dream.

[somuchyummy]

jonathan has been a bit injury prone and this looks like a big one. given that he's a minister of god, has made a bundle of money already - i honestly wouldn't be surprised if he simply packs it in and builds his own little church somewhere. he doesn't seem money driven - and he's already made $15M in his short career.

[KATMANDUDE]

jonathan has been a bit injury prone and this looks like a big one. given that he's a minister of god, has made a bundle of money already - i honestly wouldn't be surprised if he simply packs it in and builds his own little church somewhere. he doesn't seem money driven - and he's already made $15M in his short career.

Magic aren't trading Gordon now.

[somuchyummy]

jonathan has been a bit injury prone and this looks like a big one. given that he's a minister of god, has made a bundle of money already - i honestly wouldn't be surprised if he simply packs it in and builds his own little church somewhere. he doesn't seem money driven - and he's already made $15M in his short career.

Magic aren't trading Gordon now.

one man's terrible knee injury is another team's dodged bullet.

[Hoop Dreams]