Around the league 22/23

[shrink]

Maybe it’s childish, but whenever the Wolves make a big trade, I ask myself “If I was the pretend GM, would I make this deal?” It’s a decision I make with the available real-time data, and I don’t go back later and put much thought into the “what if we knew at the time what would happen in the future?” scenarios. Some people like that stuff, and that’s fine - just not my personal tastes.

So for me, Thibs trade with CHI will always be a very good trade. At the time, we didn’t know Jimmy would behave like he did, and nobody, including the Bulls, had any idea Markannen would become the player he was last year. The value Thibs got in that trade, especially getting CHI to send back the #16 pick, was a big bargain, and it led us back to the playoffs for the first time since Garnett.

Since I make these commitments to trades at the the time, it also shows me how I would have plenty of failures on my GM resumè as well. For example, we don’t know how much Rosas was willing to offer to go from #6 to #5, but I would also have played a little hardball with CLE, daring them to pick Garland since they seemed so committed to the Sexton pick from last year. On draft night, if CLE demanded a future 1st to move up one slot, I’d have declined and offered less, and missed out.

There were also moves by David Kahn that I’m ashamed to admit I would have done. With limited MIN trade assets, one of the things Kahn tried to do was value-invest, paying discount prices for damaged goods that had higher upside. Now, as just a fan, I don’t have the inside info that a GM has on a player’s health or attitude, but if there was a realistic chance that Brandon Roy could come back (and not just POR fan wishful thinking), then he could have had the price and abilities that fit the team at the time. And I would have been totally wrong.

Anyway, I have no issue with the Jimmy trade, or the lack of a trade to get Garland. But I can see that both decisions significantly changed the course of the franchise.

[Colbinii]

The Butler deal was tremendous for us. We traded for a Blue-Chip, Franchise cornerstone in Jimmy Butler by trading a good prospect, a mid-lotto 1st and salary.

The issue was we didn't understand what we had in Butler and then squandered it by trying to have two timelines going. In hindsight [and what the team SHOULD have done at the time], is make a follow-up move after getting Butler, by moving either Wiggins or KAT for a second star at the time.

We could have easily traded for Kawhi Leonard after 2018 [who was traded for Demar, Poeltl and a single 1st].
We could have traded for Marc Gasol + Value with KAT.

Blake Griffin was available mid-season in 2018.

Kyrie Irving was available after 2018 [lots of baggage but at the time he was still younger and coming off 3 NBA Finals and still thought the Earth was round...I think].

[life_saver]

The thing about Jimmy is that his playoff performances weren't anything spectacular until he joined Heat. He wasn't good in playoffs when he was with us but he also had some fitness issues then. His playoff performances with Bulls weren't anything special...he had a decent playoff run with Sixers, that's it...nothing really that stands out. Paul George was considered to be a better playoff performer than Jimmy until 2018, 2019 years. But something changed when he joined Heat..that's when he started raising the bar in playoffs. I don't think anyone would have expected these level of playoff performances from Jimmy before he joined Heat

[Guest84]

I didn’t mind the Butler trade BUT I preferred to keep Zach vs Wiggins. At the time, Zach seemed to have more drive to improve and you could see he had a smoother offensive game that would’ve paired better with Jimmy.

Jimmy got injured going into the playoffs and I believe that hurt us a lot. We didn’t have any spacing on that team either.

[Calinks]

The Jimmy trade was a great move and still probably would have worked out had Jimmy been happy here. If he got paid and liked his teammates, we probably would have been playoff contenders for the last few years making conference finals appearances.

REally unfortunate for the Kings. They had an incredible season but young teams seem to really struggle to get over the hump in the playoffs. Super talented and hopefully they are back next season but there is no guarantee.

[TimberKat]

I believe the main issue was with our cheap owner right? If we paid Jimmy, the timeline actually works out. During the last 4 years, Towns and Wiggins became All Stars. We just need to upgrade the PG.

The fault with Jimmy was he couldn't wait until the end of the season and feels being on the Wolves team was hurting his value. I think had we let the season play out, we may had gotten to the second round that year. The Wolves would end up paying him or do a max sign and trade anyway. At the same time, we wouldn't had paid Wiggins the max which is reasonable.

[shrink]

I believe the main issue was with our cheap owner right? If we paid Jimmy, the timeline actually works out.

No, the owner had nothing to do with it - the CBA limited what any owner could offer.

There were two legal options. The first was to offer him an extension. Jimmy wouldn’t have accepted that, because it wouldn’t start until next year (where he’d be paid less than Wiggins all year), plus teams are (were) limited to give extensions starting at 120% of the final year’s salary. Jimmy signed a deal that had him making close to $20 mil, but 120% would be $24, and Wiggins max was $25, so he would be behind Wiggins in payroll for every year to come. An extension was never an option.

The other legal option would be to renegotiate Jimmy’s contract. However, in order to do that legally, the Wolves would have to waive over half their roster, to reach a team payroll that was so far under the salary cap, they had the cap space to offer Jimmy the max he wanted immediately. So all those players that the team would have to cut would all get fully paid, and provide no production. Moreover, to replace those players, you’d need to sign vet min free agents. Any team where half their guys are vet mins is not going to succeed. And on top of all that, next year the team would only get the MLE, which would keep their payroll far lower than most of the competitors, who would be sitting just under the lux or higher.

The only way MIN could have kept Jimmy was for him to be content for one season getting paid $5 mil less than Wiggins, then for him to become an unrestricted free agent, and we offer him a max deal. But Jimmy clearly didn’t want to be here for a year waiting.

[minimus]

I mean Butler chosed MIA to be paid as a star and to be the main star of the team, he has been playing well in MIA, just like a star in his prime is supposed to play. He was kind of underrated when he signed his first big contract, and his current contract is a bargain when we compare it with Towns supermax. But it is not MIN fault, it is the way this business work.

[bluethunder0005]

Jimmy was a diva at the end of his Chicago tenure, caused issues here in the short time he was here, and then even Philly choose Ben Simmons/Tobias Harris over him. Heck, even earlier this year wasn't Jimmy threatening to fight Spoelstra? He's clearly an amazing player and he even elevates his game come playoff time, but let's not forget he's been the cause of a lot of headaches over the years. Yeah we could have possibly moved KAT and/or Wiggins and made this completely Butler's team and he would have been happy and wanted to stay but I'm fairly glad that we ended up with Ant in the long run, which wouldn't have happened if Butler stayed.

[Calinks]

Jimmy was a diva at the end of his Chicago tenure, caused issues here in the short time he was here, and then even Philly choose Ben Simmons/Tobias Harris over him. Heck, even earlier this year wasn't Jimmy threatening to fight Spoelstra? He's clearly an amazing player and he even elevates his game come playoff time, but let's not forget he's been the cause of a lot of headaches over the years. Yeah we could have possibly moved KAT and/or Wiggins and made this completely Butler's team and he would have been happy and wanted to stay but I'm fairly glad that we ended up with Ant in the long run, which wouldn't have happened if Butler stayed.

Yea I wont deny that Jimmy is a nightmare if he's unhappy. Even in Philly, he had a great situation, his best chance to win a title IMO but he wasn't happy with some things there (even though he loved Joel) and he got out. When he's happy, he's an amazing asset but if he's disgruntled, he will tank your squad.

I will give KAT credit for always being a pro with that stuff. I wish he had more emotional control on the court but off the court, he goes above and beyond.