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[Tirion]

Rubio is a pipe dream, kinda like hoping Beasley fell to us at #3.

Not if trade Miller for somebody like Wright.
Sure we will lose games short-term, but imagine a top pick next year?
And besides who's worse then us in the West? Only Oklahoma and Memphis come to mind. Maybe Sacramento.

[Dewey]

Nothinig is quarenteed ... heck KG, Allen, and Pierce struggled and were actuallly out-played much of the time in the first two rounds of the playoffs, yet they had enough poise and leadership to weather the storms. Skill and depth are great, but the key ingredient for us this season is to discover some team leadership and signs of poise. I believe Foye is the guy that wants to make his statement this season, and if heathy and successful, I see him as our up & coming leader.

Starting Lineup
Foye ... Telfair
Miller ... Carney
Gomes ... Brewer
Love ... Smith
Jefferson ... Collins

True need for a Camby/Ratliff type defender.

We all know it boils down to the basics:
Jefferson at $12 million vs. KG at $24 million still gives a legit Low-Post player - but with $12 million to spend on another player ... that becomes the key factor in the next 1-3 years. By then, we hope the cream will have risen to the top (from our current young roster), and we will be poised to acquire a quality FA with the money.

[collin_k41]

There have been a lot of valid points in this thread. I think to some it up for me we have about equal talent when comparing the team we have now with the team we had during KG's last year here. You could easily argue both ways that one team was better than the other and you probably wouldn't be wrong.

You have to give at least some props to the FO for what they've done with our roster. We are in a way better position now than then. Now we have a variety of young talent with tons of potential+a ton of draft picks. I remember 2 years ago, when the only value we had on our team was KG and Foye..everybody else(pretty much) had negative value. We gave away all our draft picks and had no options. So pretty much we were sitting in a great big hole with only one way out; trade Kevin Garnett. The team we have now actually has a future and a bright one at that. When we last had KG we did not.

[Klomp]

There have been a lot of valid points in this thread. I think to some it up for me we have about equal talent when comparing the team we have now with the team we had during KG's last year here. You could easily argue both ways that one team was better than the other and you probably wouldn't be wrong.

You have to give at least some props to the FO for what they've done with our roster. We are in a way better position now than then. Now we have a variety of young talent with tons of potential+a ton of draft picks. I remember 2 years ago, when the only value we had on our team was KG and Foye..everybody else(pretty much) had negative value. We gave away all our draft picks and had no options. So pretty much we were sitting in a great big hole with only one way out; trade Kevin Garnett. The team we have now actually has a future and a bright one at that. When we last had KG we did not.

Exactly. The talent might be similar or slightly worse than KGs last year, but our financial situation is 100x better

[drza]

There have been a lot of valid points in this thread. I think to some it up for me we have about equal talent when comparing the team we have now with the team we had during KG's last year here. You could easily argue both ways that one team was better than the other and you probably wouldn't be wrong.

You have to give at least some props to the FO for what they've done with our roster. We are in a way better position now than then. Now we have a variety of young talent with tons of potential+a ton of draft picks. I remember 2 years ago, when the only value we had on our team was KG and Foye..everybody else(pretty much) had negative value. We gave away all our draft picks and had no options. So pretty much we were sitting in a great big hole with only one way out; trade Kevin Garnett. The team we have now actually has a future and a bright one at that. When we last had KG we did not.

I think that from player 2 - 15, the Wolves are much more talented, should have much better chemistry, and are just overall better in almost every way now than they were in 2006. In fact, I made a post on another board suggesting that the Wolves could arguably have the best swingman, best 2nd big man and best 2nd swingman that they've had in the last decade on the current squad. And compared to the '06 team, the PG position on this squad should be better as well. The current 2 - 15 is also younger, with better contracts and more tradeability than 2006, and the fact that the team has a surplus of future #1s instead of a deficit is a positive as well.

That said, I am curious to see how the team plays out. The only on-court advantages that the '06 squad has versus now is whatever difference there is in impact between KG and Big Al. Some believe that difference is small, others that the difference is big. I personally believe the difference is big. I will say that with the current team and KG, I would expect this team to be over .500 and possibly competing for the playoffs. If this current team gets anywhere near .500 this year, I would have to think that was a huge step that things are moving in the right direction. If it settles into the same low-30s win total that the '06 squad had I'll be a bit disappointed, but at least that would set the table for another high lotto pick next year.

[Gopherguy]

Come on! The roster overhaul has put us in a much better position to succeed than where we were. Losing KG was the only way out of the middle of the pack and just missing the playoffs or losing in the first round. The only negative I see right now is the coach. Not that I dislike Wittman, I just don't think he can guide guys to overachieve collectively the way Bill Musselman and Flip did with the lousy rosters they had to deal with. If properly coached, this current roster could make a marked improvement in their record this upcoming season. All the cancers are gone and they have the core locked up well before training camp starts.

what we are going to find out this season is "Can Wittman coach?" I'm pretty sure he can't, but another change at this point would be foolhearty and not in the best interest of the team.

I'd have Flip on speed dial though.

[casey]

Losing KG was the only way out of the middle of the pack and just missing the playoffs or losing in the first round.

Surrounding him with a half-way decent supporting cast might have been an option, but whatev.

[collin_k41]

^^We had no more options casey. If we did there would be no reason to trade KG. We all wanted to have good players around KG so he could win a championship but the only way for that to happen was via trade.

[Gopherguy]

[quote="casey]Surrounding him with a half-way decent supporting cast might have been an option, but whatev.[/quote]

Unfortunately, KG's contract made this very difficult and having overpaid, limited players (Hassell) made trades for good players particularly difficult. Barring a Pau Gasol fire sale deal, we were never going to get somebody decent to pair with KG.

When we let Spree's expiring deal just go into the sunset, we all should have known that the KG glory ride was over. I'm pretty sure that was Taylor's decision and was all about cash. There were rumors we could have turned Spree and his expiring contract into Jason Kidd, who was still rehabing his knee. Having KG and Kidd on the same team probably would have drawn some free agents our way at the time and we would'nt of had to rebuild.

[deeney0]

Sure there were options. KG was 31 (and had only just turned 31), not 34 or 36. The roster has undergone a huge turnaround since the KG trade, and much of this could have been accomplished with KG still here. The only difference would be the lack of 2010 cap space - KG with health Foye, healthy McCants, Brewer, Love, Miller... the merits of the options can be debated, but the options do exist.

And the debate really can't be settled until it becomes apparent how the 2010 cap space is used.

[casey]

^^We had no more options casey. If we did there would be no reason to trade KG. We all wanted to have good players around KG so he could win a championship but the only way for that to happen was via trade.

We had no more options with McHale running the show, I'll give you that.

[drza]

There's no reason the rebuild couldn't have happened around KG. The reports last summer was that KG was willing to sign the same extension in Minnesota that he eventually signed in Boston, but Taylor did not want to commit that much money to extending him. KG is basically signed for the next 4 years at the same money that Big Al, Gomes, and Telfair are signed to. I personally believe that KG is currently better than all 3 of them combined, and I'm not fully convinced that when KG is 35 in the last year of his extension he won't still be better than all 3 of them combined.

If KG were locked into the extension, the same moves could have been made. The big one, getting rid of Ricky and Blount, could have still been done. From there, you never know how things will go so maybe the draft slot would have been different this year. But there's no doubt in my mind that we could have still jettisoned the dead weight and accrued a similar amount of youthful talent around KG as we did around Jefferson, Gomes, and Telfair. And if they'd have done that, I think the team would be in a better place than it currently is.

But that's in the past, now, and we try to move on. That doesn't mean that trading KG was the only, or the best, option last year. It's just the decision that was made.

[Klomp]

KG is basically signed for the next 4 years at the same money that Big Al, Gomes, and Telfair are signed to. I personally believe that KG is currently better than all 3 of them combined, and I'm not fully convinced that when KG is 35 in the last year of his extension he won't still be better than all 3 of them combined.

You can't really look at it like that though. What you are saying is that we have more money to spend because we have the same amount of committed salaries, but two less players to sign.

One player should not be holding back a franchise because he makes 1/3 of the total team's salary.

[shrink]

If KG were locked into the extension, the same moves could have been made. The big one, getting rid of Ricky and Blount, could have still been done.

I disagree. Every single year that KG didn't win a ring, nation media, local media, and the fans whined, "Oh jeeze, another wasted year for KG in MIN! What horrible management!"

How in the world are they going to justify trading their #2 and #3 scorers for cap space? How do they justify that to Garnett?

Its been this way for the last 7-8 years. No rebuilding phases allowed.

[Dewey]

Coulda Shoulda Woulda ... KG's salary and pecking order of players he lobbied for were NO help whatsoever were half the problem. The other half came at the hands of some poor management decisions. Period. Equal blame. Tomato Tomaato.

Anyway, glad we did what we did to put the saga to rest. We have a future, youth, and some viable options as we move forward. We could very likely see much more change the next year or two, but I expect to see three of these players here long-term. Foye, Brewer, and Jefferson.

[casey]

Coulda Shoulda Woulda ... KG's salary and pecking order of players he lobbied for were NO help whatsoever were half the problem. The other half came at the hands of some poor management decisions. Period. Equal blame. Tomato Tomaato.

Equal blame? Yeah right. The one thing that you can blame KG for even a little is his contract, and that's more fault of the front office than it is him. Pretty much everything else is management's fault. Tomato Horriblegmaato.

[TheFranchise21]

Who's to say KG wanted any part of rebuilding at this stage of his career? I highly doubt KG would've been down for a rebuilding plan at 31.

[Worm Guts]

If KG were locked into the extension, the same moves could have been made. The big one, getting rid of Ricky and Blount, could have still been done.

I disagree. Every single year that KG didn't win a ring, nation media, local media, and the fans whined, "Oh jeeze, another wasted year for KG in MIN! What horrible management!"

How in the world are they going to justify trading their #2 and #3 scorers for cap space? How do they justify that to Garnett?

Its been this way for the last 7-8 years. No rebuilding phases allowed.

Making personnel decisions based on media opinion is pretty poor management and not McHale's style anyway.