The Timberwolves got a taste of the postseason last spring and chose to make a bold move that their management believed would make them serious contenders.
They gave up a package of players and four first-round picks, including their 2023 choice, to acquire center Rudy Gobert from Utah. To this point, it’s been a disastrous move.
Minnesota is five games below .500 after losing at home to Detroit, which owns the league’s worst record. The Timberwolves were outscored 66-40 in the second half while getting booed by the home fans.
Gobert was supposed to stabilize the Timberwolves’ defense, but they still cannot get enough stops. While the Timberwolves rank a respectable sixth in field goal percentage defense, they’re 22nd in points allowed.
To be fair, Minnesota has been operating the last five weeks without its best player. Karl-Anthony Towns suffered a right calf strain and hasn’t played Nov. 28. There’s still no timetable for his return.
Without him, Minnesota is heavily reliant on the guard tandem of Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell for scoring production. Russell, who is making over $31MM this season, is headed to unrestricted free agency in the summer.
The Timberwolves have also struggled with their rebounding and the bench hasn’t helped greatly, ranking 18th in the league in scoring.
Beyond Russell’s expiring contract, they don’t have many assets to deal at this point due to the Gobert trade.
That leads us to our question of the day: Should the Timberwolves exercise patience and hope they can turn things around when Towns returns? Or should they attempt to make moves to replenish assets and build a better team for next season?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Couple trades to fix this:
D’Lo for Hayward, 23′ Denver 1st, and a 2nd
Rudy Gobert for John Collins, Hawks 1st, Gary Trent, Quickley, and a 1st. Capela to the Raptors. Denver 1st to the Knicks.
(Capela for Trent, postulated last season by a few folks – but here, Trent lands in Minnesota.)
KAT
Collins
Edwards
Trent
Quickley
Bench: Anderson, McDaniels, Nowell, Reid, Prince
Anything to get rid of Dlo would help this team…
@phillyb
Lol, so what does Denver get for their 1st?
Make ANT prove it. Move Russell to the bench, start Nowell and hand Edwards the keys. Sink or swim kid.
Nowell is playing the same iso black hole game that Dlo is. Just not a complete waste of 30M. Both are topped out as combo bench guards.
Dlo even as a bench scorer is lacklustre… They need to do something with his contract even if it’s taking back percieved worse salary… Not that there’s much worse out there…
Or they can just let it expire and use that $31M on a more valuable asset(s) in the offseason.
No they 100 percent cannot. That’s now how their cap works. Nice try.
I don’t think they have much of a choice other than to stay patient. They can’t afford to move Gobert for the 25 cents on the dollar that they would be offered right now just three months into his first season with Minny. They’re not trading Ant, and he can’t do what he does best. The guy creates off the drive, but there’s no space with Gobert there. Selling on KAT now would be selling low, and DLo may bring them back something decent that’s on a longer term contract, but not enough to make that big a difference.
The truth is that the Wolves gave up way too much for a guy that really didn’t fit their needs. They wanted defence, but would have been much better off going after high end starting 3 and D wing. No deal that brings back fair value is going to become available this year, going to have to ride this out to see if they can work it out on the floor.
Dlo is the major cog they can move…
Do it now before his price goes up in the offseason due to the rising cap and his expectations…
But they wont get much for a 1 dimensional combo guard who thinks he’s a top 5 player… Westbrook with his role off the bench has more value right now…
The deal was horrible (when made), but it can’t be undone. That said, it’s too soon to reach definitive conclusions on what this roster (with these two bigs playing together and otherwise) can accomplish (too small a sample).
If patience is defined as not mindlessly trading Gobert, KAT or Edwards in-season, then YES, be patient. They can still change the roster mix around those 3 guys, just not with star level players. Finch can coach, let him sort it out as best if can be.
TWolves made their bed now they have to lay it in.
Do that big stupid trade for Gobert and now you options are seriously limited. They are currently 16-21 and last year finished with a winning record of 46-36. I mean making a roster move is definitely the easier option but what really needs to happen is firing the GM. Then after than the new GM can go about fixing the roster.
I’d try
Rudy Gobert and Teauren Prince for Julius Randle, DRose, Cam Reddish and their 2022 first.
(Knicks also have Dallas first so not the biggest loss)
Finish the season with a line up of
Then come FA you should have money to spend. Russ (30mil), DRose (15mil), Reddish (4mil) that should make about 50mil.
I’d start by bringing back Pat Beverly, 2 year 20mil. Then I’d go get Jadens brother Jalen McDaniels, give him something like 3 years 30mil. Resign Naz Reid on the same deal 3 years 30mil. Then with whatever you have left bring back Cam Reddish if he preformed well, I’d also keep eyes on Coby White, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel.
End up with something like this
Bev Ant McDaniels Randle KAT
McLaughlin Nowell Anderson McDaniels Reid
Burks Moore Minott Garza
With the pick from the Knick’s, grab a young point guard should have good selection in the 10-20 range. With the likes of Carson Wallace, Anthony Black, Terquaivon Smith and Marcus Sasser all possiblities.
Knicks should bite on that offer too although they hardly need Gobert with Mitch Robinson. However Gobert is arguably the best defender in the league and would come at a cheap price. Some expiring deals, and a first in a draft that they have 2 picks in. Plus I link the French link up with Gobert and Fouriner.
I’d then trade Mitchell Robinson for someone in a sign and trade like Rui Hachimura.
Brunson Fouriner Barrett Toppin Gobert
McBride Grimes Prince Hachimura Hartenstein
That’s not how their cap situation is going to look just bc a players deal is up doesn’t always mean you have that equal amount of upcoming cap space.
The only cap maneuvering this team can now do is take on longer deals for Dlo. Whatever cap saving you think you’re creating is going to get eating up by impending raises to other guys. Letting Dlo expire gives them literally zero cap flexibility.
Dlos expiring 30 mil won’t get eaten up straight away as ANT and others haven’t signed extensions yet.
As for spending that entire 50mil, I only offered ideas for about 20mil. Naz Reid’s extension can come after you’ve signed FA’s as team are allowed to go over the cap to resign players.
So yes your right that just cause all the money is expiring doesn’t equate to that amount to spend. I think you’d find your wrong that they couldn’t make the moves I suggested.
Dlo expire, DRose expire, Reddish expire. Frees up cap space, bring back Bev and bring in Jalen for 10mil a season each. Then extend Naz Reid which has you operating above the cap or tax line however it works. Then some exception like the MLE to bring in a guy like Alex Burks. Plus like I said draft a point guard.
This giving you something like
Beverly ANT McDaniels Randle KAT
McLaughlin Nowell McDaniels Anderson Reid
(Drafted PG) Burks Moore Minott Garza
That’s your full 15 man roster with I believe 2 two way contracts available
You’d find that they are over the cap like most teams but overall the wage bill would be cheaper than this current season
Trade Dlo for any equally crappy longer deal. Lock in that cap money and hope to sneak an asset out of that deal. Quickley and Fournier for Dlo. Gotta wait out the rest, but if there is any offer for Rudy that equals one FRP just do it.
Admit the trade was folly and build around Ant. Ant, KAT, Jaden. Re-sign Naz. Nowells price must be plummeting as he’s been terrible recently and is not a catch and shoot 3 point guy that the Wolves also need, but you kind of need to keep him if you can get him on a reasonable deal. Not enough assets anymore to let a young guy with scoring punch walk for nothing. Also time to see what Moore can do.
If Forbes and Matt Ryan are getting minutes, might as well play Moore. You found a draft value in Kessler, but traded him for the over priced more accomplished version, maybe you had two draft values, time to start getting creative, most importantly time to move off Dlo. Much easier to admit that was a mistake as it was the other guys fault for that dumb trade, with no protections on the pick to GS.
You know what…
Evan Fournier is a much better fit than Dlo…
Sure the Wolves need someone to set the table, but Evan ain’t no black hole on offence…
Quickly might be fools gold or could be a much better PG than Dlo…
The Knicks would be fools to go for it… They are the Knicks tho so anything is possible…
As a Nuggets fan, Connelly’s moves with the Wolves confirm what I already thought – he’s overrated and has a history of making weird to bad moves. He lucked out with the Jokic pick and signed AG, but the MPJ extension and signing Facu/Forbes/Rivers? Not good.
Booth has one off-season in charge and makes brilliant moves.
Everyone could see the Gobert trade was a head scratcher.
Another self-induced, multi-year “Joe Smith”-like debacle. ‘Let’s make another horrible choice that screws us for not only this year, but for the foreseeable future as well, and then with all that “good will” we’ve built up with the local fandom, we’ll come asking for a new arena too’. This team can’t leave town fast enough IMO.
Gobert ain’t the problem in Minnesota…
It’s buddy ball… Dlo and KAT…
Dlo isn’t held accountable because he feels like he’s the 2nd most important player on the team… And if anything doesn’t go his way, his buddy is there to agree with him…
Move him for any backup PG and this team’s offence can do things… McLaughlin shows how to run Finch’s offence every time he hits the floor…
The problem for the Wolves is they got fleeced by GSW and the whole league knows how little Dlo adds to winning…
Rudy should be moved. Both he and KAT play same position. Makes no sense. Plus having all your cap money invested in two players. Who play the same position is just dumb. A player like Claxton, Noel. Fits much better next to KAT. Plus the depth you get with that.
Star 7 footers are in a bit of a drought since Duncan/Robinson. Think twin towers experiment is crap. Wolves shooting is terrible when those 2 play, or not. Build around Anthony Edwards, and get off the curse of building around a 7 footer. Even Jokic is finding his climb to the top very difficult. Both players do some things very well, or used to, but they are missing skill sets in their repertoire that is crippling the wolves chemistry unless there are other players brought in to offset KAT/Gobert’s deficiencies. How do they do that without trading KAT, or Gobert when they have no picks?
Jokic is doing fine. As is Giannis.
Are you blind, or just ignorant? I didn’t say anything was wrong with anyone. I said they haven’t won any championships in over a decade. If you are taking this liberty as some sort of Nuggets fan, read, think, think again, and then comment. Nobody was bagging on your team Fan-boy
GA is not a center and not in the conversation. He’s a new age PF/FC. Lopez is the Center for the Bucks…