Priority

[Crazy-Canuck]

Where should thibs have his eyes set?

We have rumors of thibs going a big fish hunting.

People are talking about upgrading the PG spot.

I strongly believe the upgrade between Rubio and some of the free agent pgs just isn't with the risk.

I could see going big at pf because it would upgrade our starting unit as well as the bench (dieng would be a great first big) a bit.

However, I'd rather thibs to go all in for a bench upgrade. We can talk about defense, youth, and 3 pt shooting, but I thought our bench was just as big if not the bigger problem last. Or starters just ran no out of be gas; at the end of games and at the end of the year.

I don't care how good our starters look, if the bench continues to falter, the team will falter.

[Avihs7]

Where should thibs have his eyes set?

We have rumors of thibs going a big fish hunting.

People are talking about upgrading the PG spot.

I strongly believe the upgrade between Rubio and some of the free agent pgs just isn't with the risk.

I could see going big at pf because it would upgrade our starting unit as well as the bench (dieng would be a great first big) a bit.

However, I'd rather thibs to go all in for a bench upgrade. We can talk about defense, youth, and 3 pt shooting, but I thought our bench was just as big if not the bigger problem last. Or starters just ran no out of be gas; at the end of games and at the end of the year.

I don't care how good our starters look, if the bench continues to falter, the team will falter.

I agree 100% with u on your Rubio comment and the bench. I keep seeing Teague, Hill, Holliday of those 3, minus the fact they all are gonna demand 20-25 mil, their won't be much of a difference it's better to keep Rubio at 14mil
Chris Paul would be the only one, but he's getting old and how many high quality years he got left before the decline starts to happen. Not a big fan of Lowry either for this team. The Bench players thibs signs once free agency starts is gonna make or break this team imo

[Krapinsky]

We definitely need to improve the bench first and foremost so we are not giving up so many double digit leads. Playing Jones over Dunn should help a little bit.

[Worm Guts]

If you get the right big fish, a bench will come regardless of money. I still don't know if that's within our grasp, or who specifically fits that description.

[Crazy-Canuck]

If you get the right big fish, a bench will come regardless of money. I still don't know if that's within our grasp, or who specifically fits that description.

Only one I can think of milsap. But, I'm not sure he takes 20 mill per year.

[TwolvesFanRome]

Other option is trading Rubio and sign Lowry...but I am not keen on cap space...I don t know if we can do this action...according to you can we?

Anyway my answer is BENCH..

[KGdaBom]

If you get the right big fish, a bench will come regardless of money. I still don't know if that's within our grasp, or who specifically fits that description.

Only one I can think of milsap. But, I'm not sure he takes 20 mill per year.

Milsap I believe will be 30 million or more per year. If he was available for 20 I would be on that like ugly on an ape.

[C.lupus]

I voted for starting PF but really its PF and bench as 1A and 1B. Getting a starting PF automatically improves the bench by demoting Gorgui. Then get a wing shooter.

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

I voted for starting PF but really its PF and bench as 1A and 1B. Getting a starting PF automatically improves the bench by demoting Gorgui. Then get a wing shooter.

This is where I'm at.

[Sugarless]

Going after a big FA would be a decidedly bad course of action for the Wolves, and what's more, there's close to zero chance of that happening. And I'm not talking about Minnesota being a cold, small market.

The Wolves will most likely extend Andrew Wiggins and KAT next fall and in the fall of 2018, respectively. Right now their max salaries would start at 25.5M, with 7.5% yearly increases. Now, I don't care whether it's Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap, signing any one of those would mean committing up to 37M per season for the next 4 years with a max deal. Even if they suddenly loved Minny so much that they decided to leave money on the table and sign an average of 32M per season starting at 29.5M this year (huge if, as Paul, Lowry and Griffin would surely be leaving bigger offers on the table, and much bigger when it comes to their own teams), two years from now you would still have your full cap space committed to 4 guys:

"Big Fish" - 32.5M
Andrew Wiggins - 27.4M
Karl Anthony Towns - 25.5M
Gorgui Dieng - 16.2M

Total: 101.6M (for reference, the salary cap will be somewhere around 99M for the upcoming season)

Missing someone amongst those names? That's right, there's no Jimmy Butler. He's going to be a free agent in 2019, right in the midst of his prime, and he's going to command max offers starting at over 30M per season, plus yearly increases. Something the Timberwolves will not be in a position to pay.

So unless you're willing to miss your brand new 2-way star who will still be less than 30yo by the time he takes his ETO and becomes an unrestrictred free agent, there's literally no reason why you should want the Wolves to bring the so called Big Fish. And even if you were OK with losing him, you would still be paying the full cap to 3 stars (one of them well into his 30s already) and one role player, with little to no margin to build and keep a competitive roster around them.

You can renounce every free agent, waive Hill, move Aldrich and then move Ricky without taking back any salary, just so you can pay a big FA and a couple of cheap bench players this summer. But then, there's simply no room to keep your new core together for more than 2 years, as Towns rookie scale contract expires.

You want to try with a big fish that's not so big? George Hill, Jeff Teague or Jrue Holiday maybe? None of them is actually better than what you have already, but sure, go ahead and sign one, just get ready for a deal that will pay any of those guys 20M to 25M per season (Jeff Teague might be slightly cheaper, but then again he's a fairly average player), leaving you in a pretty similar position when JB becomes a free agent, only with a lesser PG than Paul or Lowry.

So, forget about that option. If Thibs decides to move Rubio, it will be for a cheap guy like Beverley, Patty Mills (who's not going to be so cheap in a few days, but still...) or someone along those lines. The same will probably be true if the main goal is to bring a PF, though there might be some more room to operate there seeing as how Gorgui could log the majority of minutes at the PF and C spots off the bench for the forseeable future. The good thing is, that means there's also room for 2-3 competent bench guys to go with a new reasonably priced starter, which to me should be a PF.

[phonzadellika]

Going after a big FA would be a decidedly bad course of action for the Wolves, and what's more, there's close to zero chance of that happening. And I'm not talking about Minnesota being a cold, small market.

The Wolves will most likely extend Andrew Wiggins and KAT next fall and in the fall of 2018, respectively. Right now their max salaries would start at 25.5M, with 7.5% yearly increases. Now, I don't care whether it's Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap, signing any one of those would mean committing up to 37M per season for the next 4 years with a max deal. Even if they suddenly loved Minny so much that they decided to leave money on the table and sign an average of 32M per season starting at 29.5M this year (huge if, as Paul, Lowry and Griffin would surely be leaving bigger offers on the table, and much bigger when it comes to their own teams), two years from now you would still have your full cap space committed to 4 guys:

"Big Fish" - 32.5M
Andrew Wiggins - 27.4M
Karl Anthony Towns - 25.5M
Gorgui Dieng - 16.2M

Total: 101.6M (for reference, the salary cap will be somewhere around 99M for the upcoming season)

Missing someone amongst those names? That's right, there's no Jimmy Butler. He's going to be a free agent in 2019, right in the midst of his prime, and he's going to command max offers starting at over 30M per season, plus yearly increases. Something the Timberwolves will not be in a position to pay.

So unless you're willing to miss your brand new 2-way star who will still be less than 30yo by the time he takes his ETO and becomes an unrestrictred free agent, there's literally no reason why you should want the Wolves to bring the so called Big Fish. And even if you were OK with losing him, you would still be paying the full cap to 3 stars (one of them well into his 30s already) and one role player, with little to no margin to build and keep a competitive roster around them.

You can renounce every free agent, waive Hill, move Aldrich and then move Ricky without taking back any salary, just so you can pay a big FA and a couple of cheap bench players this summer. But then, there's simply no room to keep your new core together for more than 2 years, as Towns rookie scale contract expires.

You want to try with a big fish that's not so big? George Hill, Jeff Teague or Jrue Holiday maybe? None of them is actually better than what you have already, but sure, go ahead and sign one, just get ready for a deal that will pay any of those guys 20M to 25M per season (Jeff Teague might be slightly cheaper, but then again he's a fairly average player), leaving you in a pretty similar position when JB becomes a free agent, only with a lesser PG than Paul or Lowry.

So, forget about that option. If Thibs decides to move Rubio, it will be for a cheap guy like Beverley, Patty Mills (who's not going to be so cheap in a few days, but still...) or someone along those lines. The same will probably be true if the main goal is to bring a PF, though there might be some more room to operate there seeing as how Gorgui could log the majority of minutes at the PF and C spots off the bench for the forseeable future. The good thing is, that means there's also room for 2-3 competent bench guys to go with a new reasonably priced starter, which to me should be a PF.

Can't we go over the cap to re-sign Butler? Whether or not Taylor wants to do that is a different story, but he's never struck me as Pohlad-ish.

I'd assume that we'd sacrifice Gorgui to bring a big fish.

This will likely be the only time in the next 7 years or so where the Wolves can legitimately put 5 top 15 guys at their positions on the court at the same time. For me, the hope would be a deep playoff run this year followed by an attempt to take down GSW next year. Hopefully after that Towns and Wiggins will have assumed their ultimate forms and a different win-now window opens up. It doesn't make sense to me to trade the talented youth for Jimmy Butler, who can walk away in 2 years, with GSW in front of you unless you want to make a run at the king. Butler/Wiggins/Towns isn't enough to do that...yet.

[Sugarless]

Going after a big FA would be a decidedly bad course of action for the Wolves, and what's more, there's close to zero chance of that happening. And I'm not talking about Minnesota being a cold, small market.

The Wolves will most likely extend Andrew Wiggins and KAT next fall and in the fall of 2018, respectively. Right now their max salaries would start at 25.5M, with 7.5% yearly increases. Now, I don't care whether it's Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap, signing any one of those would mean committing up to 37M per season for the next 4 years with a max deal. Even if they suddenly loved Minny so much that they decided to leave money on the table and sign an average of 32M per season starting at 29.5M this year (huge if, as Paul, Lowry and Griffin would surely be leaving bigger offers on the table, and much bigger when it comes to their own teams), two years from now you would still have your full cap space committed to 4 guys:

"Big Fish" - 32.5M
Andrew Wiggins - 27.4M
Karl Anthony Towns - 25.5M
Gorgui Dieng - 16.2M

Total: 101.6M (for reference, the salary cap will be somewhere around 99M for the upcoming season)

Missing someone amongst those names? That's right, there's no Jimmy Butler. He's going to be a free agent in 2019, right in the midst of his prime, and he's going to command max offers starting at over 30M per season, plus yearly increases. Something the Timberwolves will not be in a position to pay.

So unless you're willing to miss your brand new 2-way star who will still be less than 30yo by the time he takes his ETO and becomes an unrestrictred free agent, there's literally no reason why you should want the Wolves to bring the so called Big Fish. And even if you were OK with losing him, you would still be paying the full cap to 3 stars (one of them well into his 30s already) and one role player, with little to no margin to build and keep a competitive roster around them.

You can renounce every free agent, waive Hill, move Aldrich and then move Ricky without taking back any salary, just so you can pay a big FA and a couple of cheap bench players this summer. But then, there's simply no room to keep your new core together for more than 2 years, as Towns rookie scale contract expires.

You want to try with a big fish that's not so big? George Hill, Jeff Teague or Jrue Holiday maybe? None of them is actually better than what you have already, but sure, go ahead and sign one, just get ready for a deal that will pay any of those guys 20M to 25M per season (Jeff Teague might be slightly cheaper, but then again he's a fairly average player), leaving you in a pretty similar position when JB becomes a free agent, only with a lesser PG than Paul or Lowry.

So, forget about that option. If Thibs decides to move Rubio, it will be for a cheap guy like Beverley, Patty Mills (who's not going to be so cheap in a few days, but still...) or someone along those lines. The same will probably be true if the main goal is to bring a PF, though there might be some more room to operate there seeing as how Gorgui could log the majority of minutes at the PF and C spots off the bench for the forseeable future. The good thing is, that means there's also room for 2-3 competent bench guys to go with a new reasonably priced starter, which to me should be a PF.

Can't we go over the cap to re-sign Butler? Whether or not Taylor wants to do that is a different story, but he's never struck me as Pohlad-ish.

I'd assume that we'd sacrifice Gorgui to bring a big fish.

This will likely be the only time in the next 7 years or so where the Wolves can legitimately put 5 top 15 guys at their positions on the court at the same time. For me, the hope would be a deep playoff run this year followed by an attempt to take down GSW next year. Hopefully after that Towns and Wiggins will have assumed their ultimate forms and a different win-now window opens up. It doesn't make sense to me to trade the talented youth for Jimmy Butler, who can walk away in 2 years, with GSW in front of you unless you want to make a run at the king. Butler/Wiggins/Towns isn't enough to do that...yet.

Butler could be resigned over the cap because the team will own his bird rights, but it will be a boatload of money. Even if you take Gorgui out of the equation, that still means paying 4 guys over 115M the first year (2019-20) and growing each season. Then you have to add any young guys that the Wolves bring on rookie contracts like Patton this summer, any small acquistion they make over the course of these 2 seasons that still has a contract by that time... and you're going well into the luxury tax. I don't see how the Wolves can live with that level of spending, it's basically 4 max contracts post-new TV deal. Even the Warriors won't have to face that until 2020 when Green expires, and we'll see if they're able to maintain the core (if they don't lose Klay Thompson the year before...).

[shrink]

Going after a big FA would be a decidedly bad course of action for the Wolves, and what's more, there's close to zero chance of that happening. And I'm not talking about Minnesota being a cold, small market.

The Wolves will most likely extend Andrew Wiggins and KAT next fall and in the fall of 2018, respectively. Right now their max salaries would start at 25.5M, with 7.5% yearly increases. Now, I don't care whether it's Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap, signing any one of those would mean committing up to 37M per season for the next 4 years with a max deal. Even if they suddenly loved Minny so much that they decided to leave money on the table and sign an average of 32M per season starting at 29.5M this year (huge if, as Paul, Lowry and Griffin would surely be leaving bigger offers on the table, and much bigger when it comes to their own teams), two years from now you would still have your full cap space committed to 4 guys:

"Big Fish" - 32.5M
Andrew Wiggins - 27.4M
Karl Anthony Towns - 25.5M
Gorgui Dieng - 16.2M

Total: 101.6M (for reference, the salary cap will be somewhere around 99M for the upcoming season)

Missing someone amongst those names? That's right, there's no Jimmy Butler. He's going to be a free agent in 2019, right in the midst of his prime, and he's going to command max offers starting at over 30M per season, plus yearly increases. Something the Timberwolves will not be in a position to pay.

So unless you're willing to miss your brand new 2-way star who will still be less than 30yo by the time he takes his ETO and becomes an unrestrictred free agent, there's literally no reason why you should want the Wolves to bring the so called Big Fish. And even if you were OK with losing him, you would still be paying the full cap to 3 stars (one of them well into his 30s already) and one role player, with little to no margin to build and keep a competitive roster around them.

You can renounce every free agent, waive Hill, move Aldrich and then move Ricky without taking back any salary, just so you can pay a big FA and a couple of cheap bench players this summer. But then, there's simply no room to keep your new core together for more than 2 years, as Towns rookie scale contract expires.

You want to try with a big fish that's not so big? George Hill, Jeff Teague or Jrue Holiday maybe? None of them is actually better than what you have already, but sure, go ahead and sign one, just get ready for a deal that will pay any of those guys 20M to 25M per season (Jeff Teague might be slightly cheaper, but then again he's a fairly average player), leaving you in a pretty similar position when JB becomes a free agent, only with a lesser PG than Paul or Lowry.

So, forget about that option. If Thibs decides to move Rubio, it will be for a cheap guy like Beverley, Patty Mills (who's not going to be so cheap in a few days, but still...) or someone along those lines. The same will probably be true if the main goal is to bring a PF, though there might be some more room to operate there seeing as how Gorgui could log the majority of minutes at the PF and C spots off the bench for the forseeable future. The good thing is, that means there's also room for 2-3 competent bench guys to go with a new reasonably priced starter, which to me should be a PF.

Can't we go over the cap to re-sign Butler? Whether or not Taylor wants to do that is a different story, but he's never struck me as Pohlad-ish.

I'd assume that we'd sacrifice Gorgui to bring a big fish.

This will likely be the only time in the next 7 years or so where the Wolves can legitimately put 5 top 15 guys at their positions on the court at the same time. For me, the hope would be a deep playoff run this year followed by an attempt to take down GSW next year. Hopefully after that Towns and Wiggins will have assumed their ultimate forms and a different win-now window opens up. It doesn't make sense to me to trade the talented youth for Jimmy Butler, who can walk away in 2 years, with GSW in front of you unless you want to make a run at the king. Butler/Wiggins/Towns isn't enough to do that...yet.

Butler could be resigned over the cap because the team will own his bird rights, but it will be a boatload of money. Even if you take Gorgui out of the equation, that still means paying 4 guys over 115M the first year (2019-20) and growing each season. Then you have to add any young guys that the Wolves bring on rookie contracts like Patton this summer, any small acquistion they make over the course of these 2 seasons that still has a contract by that time... and you're going well into the luxury tax. I don't see how the Wolves can live with that level of spending, it's basically 4 max contracts post-new TV deal. Even the Warriors won't have to face that until 2020 when Green expires, and we'll see if they're able to maintain the core (if they don't lose Klay Thompson the year before...).

If you are going to compete with the Warriors, this is the way that it will have to be done. GSW is paying Steph, Durant, Draymond, and Klay. If they look ahead like this, it's going to be a fortune. However, they will gain added revenues from winning championships. I agree Gorgui gets moved later, just like GSW had to let Harrison Barnes go.

[FargoWolf]

Glen is an old man, I think he wants to make one last run and will be willing to spend.

[TheDominator273]

Glen is an old man, I think he wants to make one last run and will be willing to spend.

Let's not forget Glen giving KG that massive contract brought about max contracts. I don't think he will be shy about paying the luxury tax if we have a winning team

[ace625214]

He's said in the past he's willing to pay a lot for a good team. He's only stingy when we suck.

[Ace_Rockola]

He's said in the past he's willing to pay a lot for a good team. He's only stingy when we suck.

I agree. But I hope he will pay for a contender and won't back up moves that push us to the cusp, but in the end we're the Grizzlies of the past 5 years.

Kahn was brought in to pull be Hinkie, but he couldn't draft. I won't blame him for caged lion as he WAS the consensus #2.

[Crazy-Canuck]

If the rockets are looking to dump salary, I'd more than happy to take pat at the cost of absorbing ryno.

Rubio/pat/jones
Wiggins/pat/casspi or rush
Butler/wiggins/casspi or rush
Ryno/bjelly
Kat/dieng

I'm just not sure if we have the space to absorb both

[Sugarless]

If you are going to compete with the Warriors, this is the way that it will have to be done. GSW is paying Steph, Durant, Draymond, and Klay. If they look ahead like this, it's going to be a fortune. However, they will gain added revenues from winning championships. I agree Gorgui gets moved later, just like GSW had to let Harrison Barnes go.

Wait, they *will* gain added revenues from winning championships? Then it's a given they not only will get to compete with probably the best team ever, but also beat them and everyone else? And more than once?

This is not NBA 2K. Competing with the Warriors should be the least of Minnesota's concerns this summer. These Wolves have not made the playoffs yet and they will continue to have weak links in the roster (i.e. an extremely poor and thin bench if you plan on giving one player that kind of money) and need to gel as a team regardless of who comes this summer. Having 4 max guys doesn't guarantee anything if they don't have a supporting cast or they don't click once they step on the court.

Going hard after a guy like Lowry at +30M would place a tremendous amount of stress on the Wolves financially over the next few years. It could also mean that two years from now, if Butler decides to sign with a different team instead of staying in Minnesota, you find yourself with KAT, Wiggins (who may or may not deserve his max contract by then) and a 33yo Kyle Lowry, and without the ability to sign quality free agents anymore. Hardly a team to be thinking about winning championships.

Nobody in this league is paying +115M to 4 players, not even the Warriors will after they sign Curry and KD this summer, and they have 2 of the best players in history (Wiggins and Towns are obviously not that, Jimmy Butler is not that, and neither are Lowry, Jrue or whoever you bring). They could also easily lose Klay Thompson in 2 years when he's a FA, before they even have to pay Draymond Green a new contract.

I'm sorry but it's a terrible, shortsighted idea and if Thibs and Layden have just one person on board that understands the cap implications of such a move, it just won't happen. Or it will against all common sense, and the Wolves will lose one of those 4 pieces along the way, cause it just isn't sustainable.

[Crazy-Canuck]

I agree.

I'd rather not handcuff myself by maxing out an older PG like Lowry (even cp3) if it means we can't afford Kat, Wiggins, and Butler in 2 years.

I don't know what thibs is thinking if some of these rumours are true.