*** NBA News, The Athletic, ESPN+ Insiders Thread ***

[somuchyummy]

i was impressed with williams of Purdue yesterday. moves a lot better than i'd imagined plus is such a heady, great passer. really a skill he brings that many others of that ilk don't. he would start on nearly any other college team - Purdue just opted to go with their 7-4 giant Edey instead, so Williams came off the bench. and i wonder if he might even go undrafted. if he, along with Bacot, go UDFA - we'd really need to give one of them a call and show them our roster and how they'd have an opening here.

[somuchyummy]

Any interest in trying to sign Covington this summer? His value has dropped the last few years and he will be 32 next season, I think its possible he could be had in the MLE range.

Basically I was trying to look for some realistic PF upgrade options and the position is not what it once was. I was hoping to find a bigger defensive PF but those are basically non existent now and anybody who cant shoot has been pushed to the 5 even if they are 6'6". It looks like the only route we will have to upgrade our size will be by adding a big backup center, but that doesnt really help solidify the 4 (Maybe Reid slides over for limited minutes here and there).

I hated Covington at the 4 here, and prefer he played the 3. But with a bit more age and an even greater shift towards tweener 4's I think he would be a good fit. Hes a solid rebounder and still a very good defender and would give us great flexibility as we could plug him in there at the 3 or 4 with basically any other combination of players. I dont know what the market for him is going to be but hes definitely a guy I would take a long look at.

i think harrison barnes is a realistic (and worthwhile) trade target - especially if beasley can show good thru the end of the year (and let's forget about last night). he's pretty solidly productive - both ends - without needing to be the focus of an offense - but doesn't really fit the timeline of the kings (he's 29). for us, that kind of vet - still in good shape - is a good age. especially if we don't overextend his minutes and platoon him somewhat with vandy. if ping pong balls hold true, the kings will fall in the lottery smack dab in the area where AJ Griffin and Keegan Murray will get taken - so they'd have their younger lottery future starting PF to groom - plus they still should have sabonis, holmes, metu, harkless and trey lyles. with beas, they'd get a floor spacer who fits their timeline (he's 25) and is locked in at a fairly affordable amount for two more years (plus that final year is a club option). i'm more in the barnes camp than the cov camp (and i'm a big cov fan).

[Style]

Any interest in trying to sign Covington this summer? His value has dropped the last few years and he will be 32 next season, I think its possible he could be had in the MLE range.

Basically I was trying to look for some realistic PF upgrade options and the position is not what it once was. I was hoping to find a bigger defensive PF but those are basically non existent now and anybody who cant shoot has been pushed to the 5 even if they are 6'6". It looks like the only route we will have to upgrade our size will be by adding a big backup center, but that doesnt really help solidify the 4 (Maybe Reid slides over for limited minutes here and there).

I hated Covington at the 4 here, and prefer he played the 3. But with a bit more age and an even greater shift towards tweener 4's I think he would be a good fit. Hes a solid rebounder and still a very good defender and would give us great flexibility as we could plug him in there at the 3 or 4 with basically any other combination of players. I dont know what the market for him is going to be but hes definitely a guy I would take a long look at.

I’m no cap guru, but this would mean we’d let Prince walk? I’d personally rather keep Prince than essentially trading him for Covington.

I hated Prince early, but he’s proving his worth of late.

[somuchyummy]

i'm all about getting a good defender - and i don't think barnes is as bad as you suggest. here's an assessment from a Kings writer after the 2021 season. You have to take into account that the Kings have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league - so it's not like he's sharing the court with Ben Wallace out there.


"For as bad as the Kings’ defense was this season, Barnes’ play wasn’t horrible. He’s worked hard on his body to maintain the flexibility to play small forward, but also added strength to fill in for long stretches at the four.

Barnes was part of the Kings’ closing lineup, including De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Richaun Holmes. This group was incredibly effective all season long until injuries forced coach Luke Walton to search out different combinations.

On one of the worst defensive squads in league history, Barnes was close to a neutral defender. He held his opponents to .2 percent below their season average inside of the arc and just one percent over their league average overall. His opponents shot 2.9 percent better than their average from long range, but this had plenty to do with the Kings’ slow rotations and overall lack of team defense.

As a rebounder, Barnes took huge strides, in the same way that he did as a passer on the offensive side of the ball. Barnes averaged a career-best 6.6 boards per game, a 1.7 rebound increase over his previous season in Sacramento and a 1.5 rebound increase over his career average.

Where Barnes made the biggest improvement as a rebounder was on the defensive end, where he posted a career-best 17.2 rebound percentage. He still has room to improve in this area, especially if he sees increased minutes at power forward."


barnes certainly isn't elite. but neither is beasley - and beasley takes minutes from nowell. barnes could seamlessly come in and share PF time with vandy. what barnes has become is just a very solid player. both ends. even on O, where he perhaps used to be a chucker - he's much more selective now and his efficiency has gotten much better. but he's also not a guy who would demand to be a main option. as a starter, he'd easily slide in fourth/fifth (with Jaden) behind KAT, Ant and Dlo.

in the best of all possible scenarios IMHO, we would move beasley for someone like barnes. and barnes is a someone. that would give us a PF tandem of barnes/vandy, which is a big improvement over what we've had this season. we resign prince to some sort of deal and slot him behind Jaden at the 3. beasley's spot as the backup 2 gets taken by nowell, who backs up Ant. with our first round pick, we either draft a PF (sochan? eason?) who is the line of ascension after barnes time here is done - or we draft a big defensive C (kessler or williams) to shore up our post D. with our second rounders, we fill in the blanks. we are in, I think, this cool situation where we kind of know what our top 10 or 11 rotation could be next year - and so can populate the back of our bench with young, cheap hopefuls. they probably won't get much PT - like layman and okogie and knight haven't gotten this year - but they'll have the advantage of being players who "might" actually turn out to be pieces later on. that's not the case anymore with jake, josh and nate.

[j2j]

The good news with the Wolves:
- 11 guys under contract who are all mostly positives
- 3 free agents and only 1 of which we care to re-sign for the right price
- Other than PBev they're all still young
- We dont have any glaring holes
- One 1st and three 2nds in this draft

2-3 roster spots to fill, but not a lot of wiggle room to fill them. Exceptions and maybe trades beyond draft picks.

Have to assume, if there's no trades, at least 2 of those picks are used on stash guys.

Can always use another catch and shoot guy. Always room for another defensive/rebounding big with size. Always room for a wing perimeter defender.

If RoCo is able to be signed for cheap, he'd be a nice veteran presence to add.

I haven't looked too much into the draft and where dudes fall, but a guy like Jeremy Sochan in the 1st is super intriguing. Or Tori Eason. Not sure Keegan Murray would be available where we're picking, but great size and shooting would be nice. Walker Kessler? Nikola Jovic? They're both solid fits later in the 1st, it seems.

Who's the guy the board has fallen in love with so far?

[SHAFA]

I’ve fallen for Jalen Duren, but he’s come on so strong lately that I’m pretty sure that chance is long gone.

There’s been some mention of Tshiebwe, but I haven’t seen much of him. Edwards has been thrown out there. I like Cockburn too, though not necessarily with the first.

[UnFadeable21]

Any interest in trying to sign Covington this summer? His value has dropped the last few years and he will be 32 next season, I think its possible he could be had in the MLE range.

Basically I was trying to look for some realistic PF upgrade options and the position is not what it once was. I was hoping to find a bigger defensive PF but those are basically non existent now and anybody who cant shoot has been pushed to the 5 even if they are 6'6". It looks like the only route we will have to upgrade our size will be by adding a big backup center, but that doesnt really help solidify the 4 (Maybe Reid slides over for limited minutes here and there).

I hated Covington at the 4 here, and prefer he played the 3. But with a bit more age and an even greater shift towards tweener 4's I think he would be a good fit. Hes a solid rebounder and still a very good defender and would give us great flexibility as we could plug him in there at the 3 or 4 with basically any other combination of players. I dont know what the market for him is going to be but hes definitely a guy I would take a long look at.

I’d take Roco back. He’s the better verison of T Prince. Better defender for sure.

[j2j]

I’ve fallen for Jalen Duren, but he’s come on so strong lately that I’m pretty sure that chance is long gone.

There’s been some mention of Tshiebwe, but I haven’t seen much of him. Edwards has been thrown out there. I like Cockburn too, though not necessarily with the first.

Duren would probably be the perfect 1st round pick for us, but I'd guess he's played himself well into the lottery.

[somuchyummy]

if you like duren, mark williams isn't a bad consolation around where we'll pick. probably the third best rim protector in the country behind kessler and holmgren. personally, i like kessler better because he's been a better shotblocker than williams - but also has a better overall game. we're going to pick around 18th. duren, murray and probably sochan and eason will be gone before we pick. the draft thread has tons more info on this with latest mocks and whatnot. even pichers. short story - if we don't get a strong C or PF in the first round, there's all sorts of guys who fit that bill in the second that should be available where we pick.

[Ask Not]

He can't even start for the Spurs, but I liked the length and sturdiness of Zach Collins last night. He'd be a compliment to the smaller, quicker Vando when needed. Of course, he's hurt all the time, so maybe you need a third wheel in that scenario. $7M/yr.

[somuchyummy]

i've always liked the idea of zach collins more than how it's actually turned out. i think he blocked 4 shots last night - BUT KAT scored 60 on the spurs bigs. he came to the league sporting this tantalizing threeball. BUT he's got a career mark of 33%. and, like you said, the injuries. i wouldn't mind him coming here, but wouldn't expect any vast turnaround in his trajectory as a player. it's nice that he reasonably can play both C and PF.

[Ask Not]

i've always liked the idea of zach collins more than how it's actually turned out. i think he blocked 4 shots last night - BUT KAT scored 60 on the spurs bigs. he came to the league sporting this tantalizing threeball. BUT he's got a career mark of 33%. and, like you said, the injuries. i wouldn't mind him coming here, but wouldn't expect any vast turnaround in his trajectory as a player. it's nice that he reasonably can play both C and PF.

Fair. I was big on him coming out of college too, so my view is probably a little skewed. Plus, the blocks were an aberration.

[kindman]

Mitchel Robinson from the Knicks would be a great fit and relatively low cost. Maybe even a sign and trade candidate.He does everything we need!

[jodaman01]

i've always liked the idea of zach collins more than how it's actually turned out. i think he blocked 4 shots last night - BUT KAT scored 60 on the spurs bigs. he came to the league sporting this tantalizing threeball. BUT he's got a career mark of 33%. and, like you said, the injuries. i wouldn't mind him coming here, but wouldn't expect any vast turnaround in his trajectory as a player. it's nice that he reasonably can play both C and PF.

Fair. I was big on him coming out of college too, so my view is probably a little skewed. Plus, the blocks were an aberration.

Collins showed some good things in that game. KAT was on fire so can’t blame Collins for all of that.

It think in Pop’s system it’s really hard to stand out unless you are an exceptional player. Everybody has a clearly defined job/roll and really not expected to step outside of that. That Murray kid being an example of somebody who stands out and clearly Pop trusts to do more (that kid was good).

Also any kid getting coached by Pop and getting minutes, IMO brings advantages with him.

GO WOlVES!!

[Mplsfonz]

Mitchel Robinson from the Knicks would be a great fit and relatively low cost. Maybe even a sign and trade candidate.He does everything we need!

I think he would be a perfect fit here. He's still young, and "should" be cheap, and can bang in the middle. Can't shoot for crap, but we don't need that.
Pretty sure he'll get paid. 8-10 (3/30) is what I think he's worth. Guess we'll see. I think we are starting to climb the ladder for FA's now that the super teams are falling off and getting old.

[Hoop Dreams]

Marc Stein is reporting that Malcolm Brogdon is likely to be traded in the offseason. He'd be a good fit here. He has three years left on his contract. What about DLO and some draft picks? DLO will be on an expiring contract, so maybe that's attractive to Indiana? We'd have to take on some additional salary in that deal though.

[Moses Scurry]

I don't get it, why not just make Brogdon your SG, Tyrese your PG and call it a day? Why unload talent? The dude is a 20/5/5 guy. What's bad about having two ballhandlers on the floor?

[flexbuffchest]

https://theathletic.com/3246287/2022/04 ... ed_article

Anthony Edwards’ shine, Pat Bev’s revenge and a Timberwolves Play-In win for the ages

Long after the bedlam, when Target Center finally went quiet, the marks this game left endured.

On the scorer’s table, pressed through the rosin that Kevin Garnett loved to dump on unsuspecting media members, was a shoeprint still there on the spot that Anthony Edwards stood in triumph, a young star finding the spotlight in which he was seemingly born to bathe.

“When the lights come on, I show up,” Edwards tweeted after erupting for 30 points and hitting five 3-pointers in the first game of his career with true playoff stakes.

On the cheeks of Patrick Beverley, the stains from the tears that streamed down his face were still there when he walked into his press conference and finally let his guard down for the first time since he arrived in Minnesota. He has dutifully played the role of tenacious tough guy all season long, poking and pushing and prodding these young Timberwolves past the limits they once saw for themselves.

The team’s elder statesman was too proud to acknowledge what this Play-In Tournament game against the Los Angeles Clippers really meant to him in the lead-up to it. But now that it was over, now that he had delivered a ferocious performance with seven points, 11 rebounds and the biggest steal of his season in the fourth quarter to help lock up the 109-104 victory over his former team that propelled the Timberwolves into the playoffs, he didn’t have to hide it any longer.

“I gave my blood and sweat and tears to that organization,” Beverley said, eyes still red as he sipped on a Bud Light tallboy. “Blood, sweat and tears to just be written off like that. He’s injury prone. He’s old. This and that. To be able to come here, play them in a Play-In, beat they ass. No other feeling, man. No other feeling.”

Underneath the Timberwolves basket, a white handprint in the Navy blue paint was still there, the only thing remaining from a bizarre scene in the second quarter when the game was stopped while a woman wearing a shirt that read “Glen Taylor Roasts Animals Alive” attempted to glue her hand to the court to protest an Iowa farm owned by Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor killing chickens after an outbreak of avian flu.

The woman’s motive was clearly to disrupt and embarrass Taylor, but the only thing it did for his team was seemingly allow the Wolves to catch their breath. The delay with 3:34 left in the first half brought a hush over what was a frenetic Target Center crowd, and the adrenaline-fueled Wolves gathered themselves and quickly turned a six-point deficit into a 53-51 halftime lead.

On the reputations of their two max players, this game leaves a mark as well, for better and worse. For D’Angelo Russell, his credentials as a crunch-time performer were burnished. He had appeared to be oddly detached over the previous week. He wasn’t even in the building for a win over San Antonio on Thursday after being a late add to the injury report with bilateral hamstring soreness, then he watched the regular season finale against Chicago from the sideline.

All eyes were on him when the game started, and boy did he show up. After perhaps the worst first quarter of Minnesota’s season — 36 percent shooting, eight turnovers and 20 points made it look like this young team was not ready to meet the moment — Russell scored 14 points and hit all five of his shots in seven minutes of the second quarter to push the Timberwolves from seven points down to two points ahead. While many of his teammates were bouncing off the walls, in good ways and bad, with excitement in the raucous arena, the ice in Russell’s veins kept him cool and calm.

“You go into a game like that, you know the preparation, you build up all the pressure in your own head,” Russell said. “You want to perform, it’s our first (national) TV game. It’s all or nothing. You put your own pressure on yourself. So I try to treat it like I’ve been there before and attack that situation, like tonight, just trusting my preparation.”

He scored 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting with six assists, five rebounds and three steals. If he was disconnected over the previous few weeks, he was hyper engaged Tuesday night. He pushed the ball up the court the way Finch prefers. He pinched his hands together on defense to urge his teammates to communicate. And in one of the game’s biggest moments, Russell let one of his trademark pull-up 3s in transition fly, giving the Wolves a 97-95 lead with 4:39 to play.

“He hadn’t made that pull-up 3 in a long time,” Finch said, “but we never really told him to not take it, and we wanted him to stay confident. He actually surprised me a little bit that he took it. But he loves the big moment.”



Russell was shooting 38 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3 in the 14 games before he sat out the final two of the regular season. He nailed 3 of 5 from deep against the Clippers, which was essential in a game where his running mate struggled so severely.

The Clippers tried to leave their mark on Towns, getting chippy with him in the post, reaching and bumping and swiping at him. His arms were peppered with welts from their physical approach. The Clippers were willing to risk a couple of fouls going against them if they could get him flustered and off his game, and the plan worked like a charm. Towns was 0-for-5 with two fouls in the first quarter, 0-for-2 with two more in the second and didn’t make his first field goal until a putback with 7:07 left in the third quarter brought him to 1-for-8. And just when seemed to be figuring the game out — he had six points, three rebounds and two assists in the third quarter — he fouled out after being on the floor for fewer than two minutes in the fourth.

Worse than the numbers were the optics. His bickering and complaining were both unnerving for the Wolves and, in cases like when he argued a call even though he clearly pushed Ivica Zubac under the Wolves basket, without merit. For a player who has taken so many steps in the right direction this season, re-emerging from two years of darkness and injury to resume his All-NBA form, it was a hugely disappointing showing.

He spent all season putting so much of the criticism he has received behind him only to see a lot of the old demons resurface at the worst possible time.

“Tonight wasn’t KAT’s game, and that’s fine,” Finch said. “He’s done a great job carrying us all (season) and we knew how they were going to guard him. We could never settle into a rhythm with him. And we just had to go away and other guys were able to get involved and that was kind of the key to the game really.”

He went 3-for-11 from the field and fouled out for the fifth time this season, which is tied for fourth-most in the NBA. He logged a season-low 24:17 of playing time and saw his Wolves outscored by 14 points when he was on the floor. Unlike so many of the previous six seasons in Minnesota, KAT now has the kind of help from his teammates that can get the job done without him.

Edwards, last year’s No. 1 overall pick, goes to another level when the crowd is rocking, and Target Center pulsed like it hasn’t in what feels like ages. The buzz started well before tipoff, with a nervous but eager fan base filing in and trying to will this team to the playoffs. Even though the Wolves could technically afford to lose this game, the fans knew that a win in the second Play-In game would mean a first-round date with the Phoenix Suns, by far the best team in the league. But a win on Tuesday night put them in the 2-7 matchup against Memphis, a team the Wolves feel more comfortable playing due to their lack of playoff experience.

Edwards’ trainer, Justin Holland, noticed a different demeanor in the typically precocious 20-year-old in the days leading up to this game. Normally fun-loving and outgoing, Edwards grew quiet, contemplative as the game approached.

“It got to the point where I just decided to leave him alone and give him his space,” Holland said. “I’ve never seen him that locked in.”

He scored the first seven points of the game to get the crowd jumping, but maybe even more impressive than that start was his ability to weather ebbs and flows of the game and stay engaged. He missed four of his five shots in the third quarter while the Wolves tried to get Towns going after the foul trouble, but never let it shake him. When the door opened again in the fourth, Edwards produced.



The Clippers’ aggressive wing defenders fell asleep for a split second with four minutes to play, and that was just enough for Edwards to storm to the rim, throwing down a dunk that brought a roar from the crowd that broke loose so much of the scar tissue that these fans have been carrying through so many years of losing. In the annals of Target Center, only Garnett has been able to turn the volume up to 11 the way Edwards has shown he can.

When Edwards starts rolling like he was on Tuesday night, he puts these fans in the palm of his hand and injects belief back into their skeptical hearts.

“They were scared to guard me,” Edwards said with that undeniable gleam in his eye, “and I took advantage of that.”

Beverley has been extolling Edwards’ virtues all season long. For a player whose work ethic and love for the game was questioned by some analysts before the draft, it has been the exact opposite in Minnesota. Edwards wants to be great. He wants opponents to feel his presence every time he steps on the court and when he drops his shoulder into their chests on a drive to the basket, he wants to leave a mark that says, “Ant dunked here.”

“I’m very excited for Ant. I see the boy, man,” Beverley said. “He puts in a lot of work. One of the first guys in the gym. It’s time to go home, he’s the last one in. He comes at night. He brings his dog in there. He’s in there. Gotta give a lot of credit, man. This is his moment. He deserves all of it. This is his moment.”

As the clock ticked down to zero and the Wolves clinched that playoff berth, Edwards basked in that moment. When Beverley leapt on to the scorer’s table — the same one that Garnett mounted after the franchise’s finest moment, a win over Sacramento in Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals — Edwards immediately followed.



“I ain’t gonna lie, that’s been on my mind since I knew we were playing them,” Edwards said. “I’ve been going to sleep saying that I’m going to hit a game-winning shot and go jump on the table.”

The Garnett image is the most indelible in the Timberwolves’ largely forgettable history, and that Edwards re-enacted it for a simple Play-In win that only secured the Wolves the seventh seed in the West prompted snickers from some across the league, including Charles Barkley and company in the TNT studios and LeBron James. The Timberwolves paid them no mind. The critics don’t know about misery and suffering this team and these fans have endured. You can’t act like you’ve been there before if you’ve never been there before.

After an effort filled with heart and toughness and resilience, the Wolves are there now.

The Timberwolves weren’t celebrating a playoff berth. They believe they were celebrating the beginning of something special. To be able to outlast a playoff-tested Clippers squad while their most consistent and reliable player had his worst game of the season was a sign to them that they are ready for more. When one of them is down, they still have enough to win. When they stay together like they did on Tuesday night, it feels like anything, to quote KG, is possible.

Edwards hopped down from the table, then went to all four corners of the court, high-fiving fans and holding his ear to the crowd like Hulk Hogan after body slamming Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania. He has been waiting a long time for a moment like this, and he soaked it in.

“I was so proud of Ant,” Beverley said. “Came out here, responded well, KAT fouled out. Twenty-year-old took over the game. So proud of him.”

Towns usually plays much better against Memphis, which is exactly where the Wolves are headed for Game 1 on Saturday.

The Timberwolves were disappointed that they couldn’t leapfrog Utah or Denver to get into the No. 6 seed and get the express pass to the playoffs, but that’s irrelevant now. As soon as they were locked into the Play-In Tournament, they went to work on preparing for the Clippers. They were determined to get this one because, deep down, they like the matchup with the Grizzlies. Both teams are very young, so the Wolves don’t have to worry about giving up any advantage in playoff experience.

The Wolves went 2-2 against the Grizzlies in the regular season. Memphis is 23rd in the league in 3-pointers attempted and made, a key stat for a Wolves defense that gives up open looks from deep by the bushel full. Towns makes life very difficult for Steven Adams and Finch has a plethora of wings to throw at Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and the Grizzlies offense.

It will be a matchup of teams bursting with bravado. Neither one backs down. Neither one subscribes to conventional niceties. It should be a hellacious series filled with young stars backed by grizzled veterans, the kind of series that leaves a mark just like this Play-In game did on Finch’s head, his soaking wet salt and pepper hair fell back from the shower his players gave him in the locker room for making the right adjustments down the stretch. As Finch addressed the media one day after getting a contract extension for overseeing this Timberwolves turnaround, Beverley bellowed from the back, “Coach of the Year!”

“We laid it all out there. We fought through a lot of adversity, but we kept fighting,” Finch said. “Every time it looked like the game was about to get away from us, we just kept hanging in there, making enough plays until we were able to get into an offensive rhythm, but tonight was all about the defense.”

There is no higher compliment Finch can pay a team in his mind than to say that it just kept fighting. When he arrived in the middle of last season and took over a team that was dead in the water at 7-24, the one thing that stood out most was how unwilling the Wolves were to compete from game to game, quarter to quarter, minute to minute. This Wolves team, the one that won 46 games in the regular season to double its win total from a year ago and now heads into the playoffs as a No. 7 seed that is its highest since 2004? These guys stepped into the ring and threw punches until they couldn’t lift their arms anymore.

Towns has his worst game of the season? Keep swinging. Jaden McDaniels limping after knocking knees with a Clipper? Put some ice on it, then get back in there and keep swinging. Down 10 points with nine minutes to go? Don’t you dare stop swinging.

“I never felt in the huddle or on the floor that guys were not willing to claw back,” Finch said. “It never felt like that.”

If the Wolves can continue to build on this promising season, both in the playoffs starting in Memphis on Saturday and going forward to the years ahead, the image of Edwards and Beverley on the scorer’s table together will join KG howling after Game 7 in Wolves lore.

A moment like that lives on long after the lights turn out on game night. A moment like that leaves a mark.

[somuchyummy]

I don't get it, why not just make Brogdon your SG, Tyrese your PG and call it a day? Why unload talent? The dude is a 20/5/5 guy. What's bad about having two ballhandlers on the floor?

from La La Land, they are pushing the idea of moving westbrook to indiana for brogdon and buddy hield. i don't get it either. the only angle on it from the Pacers perspective is the long term big dollars they'd get out from under. westbrook's deal expires at the end of next year. both brog and buddy's deals are in the low twenties and go for quite a few more years. but, hell, brogdon is a really nice player - and if hield can get comfortable and hit his threes, i'd just roll with that. there's no guarantee after westbrook's deal expires that a top tier free agent would want to move out to the indiana corn fields.

[j2j]

I don't get it, why not just make Brogdon your SG, Tyrese your PG and call it a day? Why unload talent? The dude is a 20/5/5 guy. What's bad about having two ballhandlers on the floor?

Bingo. Malcolm and Tyrese sounds like a fun, young backcourt to build around.

DLo for Malcolm ain't happening.

[thinktank]

The good news with the Wolves:
- 11 guys under contract who are all mostly positives
- 3 free agents and only 1 of which we care to re-sign for the right price
- Other than PBev they're all still young
- We dont have any glaring holes
- One 1st and three 2nds in this draft

2-3 roster spots to fill, but not a lot of wiggle room to fill them. Exceptions and maybe trades beyond draft picks.

Have to assume, if there's no trades, at least 2 of those picks are used on stash guys.

Can always use another catch and shoot guy. Always room for another defensive/rebounding big with size. Always room for a wing perimeter defender.

If RoCo is able to be signed for cheap, he'd be a nice veteran presence to add.

I haven't looked too much into the draft and where dudes fall, but a guy like Jeremy Sochan in the 1st is super intriguing. Or Tori Eason. Not sure Keegan Murray would be available where we're picking, but great size and shooting would be nice. Walker Kessler? Nikola Jovic? They're both solid fits later in the 1st, it seems.

Who's the guy the board has fallen in love with so far?

https://youtu.be/hv0BqOu1SXI

?

[jffl_commish]

Who can post the Larry Bird article from The Athletic? I want to read those stories!