Shelden Williams/Bobby Brown for Rashad McCants/Calvin Booth

[TrentTuckerForever]

Thanks for posting, Cy. Hard to imagine Taylor as a Cuban-esque uberowner, but I guess that's who's pulling the trigger these days. Not a terrible strategy considering the economic climate - Taylor is an excellent businessman.

[shrink]

Thanks for posting, Cy. Hard to imagine Taylor as a Cuban-esque uberowner, but I guess that's who's pulling the trigger these days. Not a terrible strategy considering the economic climate - Taylor is an excellent businessman.

Since trading is based on the value of a player and his contract to the individual owner, I have informal lists in my head, grouping owners by their willingness to go over the lux. I've never written it out formally, so I might give it a try.

Owners who aren't imprisoned by the lux. This may be because they are super-rich, because they are in a market that makes money, because they don't mind spending, or because they can't afford to lose a star:

POR, LAL, DAL, CLE

Owners who will go over the lux to try for a winning team. These are owners willing to pay the lux because they are in larger markets or can afford the financial losses occasionally. These teams would rather be under the lux, but their owner may, or may not have made actions in the past suggesting he'd go over for a winner.

BOS, CHI, NYK, NJN, DET, WAS, HOU, ORL, SAS, MIA, DEN, TOR, CHA, MIN

Owners who are under the lux, or desperate to get under the lux.

MIL, MEM, OKC, ATL, NOH, IND, PHI, PHO, GSW, SAC, LAC, UTA

[karch34]

OKC apparently waived Mohamed Sene as part of the thabo sefolosha deal. Why not take a shot and see if he can block some shots for us?

I like Sene too, but I'm not sure who we cut? All of our contracts are guaranteed now.

Kevin Ollie was cleared by doctors yesterday, but I suppose he'd be the least expensive, and it would give him a chance to sign on with a contender. Its a shame though that we didn't toss him in a trade.

I suppose we could try to buy out Madsen (2 yrs), Collins (1 yr), or one of the new guys.

It would probably make most sense to cut Ollie or Collins. I think Collins might be more likely at Ollie would be injury insurance for Telfair, Brown, and even Foye.

[Klomp]

FYI Brown wears 1 and Williams 23

[prefuse73]

I wouldn't say WOW Sene is available...but I wouldn't mind picking him up. To me, he is a more athletic version of Diop. He hasn't done squat since being in the NBA except block a couple shots. He would be worth picking up, especially considering our lack of length and quickness in from our c/pf spot. If we are going to have a project center, I would rather have them be 7ft rather than 6'9 (Richard).

I will say that I think Mullens will drop and might be available with our Miami pick and Jerome Jordan will be available with our Boston Pick, so we have options to address C in the draft.

[zauchary]

i think mullins stock is on the rise. he will be a top ten pick if he comes out.

[skorff26]

I would love to give Sene a shot

He turned 22 only two months ago and it takes time for big men to develop, and the reason he was drafted so high was because he had a ton of potential, and OKC never really gave him much of a shot. I think we should give him a shot the rest of the year, and have McHale work with him, Love, and Williams extensively and see if either Sene or Williams would be worth bringing back. Here's what nbadraft.net had on him when he was drafted.

Strengths: An absolutely jaw dropping physical specimen with his combination of size, length, strength, athleticism and mobility Very disruptive defensively and rebounds the ball well Has a 7'8" wingspan making him a force as a shot blocker Already getting playing time at the Senior level for Pepinster and getting decent minutes and stats Runs the floor well Great hands, has no problems catching the ball or rebounding Extremely agile, he can fall down on the court like a cat, not heavily like most big man Very coach-able and a hard working kid

Weaknesses: Still doesn't have much offensive game to speak of Only began playing basketball in 2003 so he's still learning the game Must continue working hard to maximize his great potential

-If I were the GM of the wolves, I would release Ollie, sign Sene, and give Love, Smith, Williams, and Sene all the minutes at the 4 and 5.

[SSUBluesman]

I like the deal a lot. We get rid of two guys who we know aren't beneficial to us for one guy who is an expiring and will give us some front-court help the rest of the year and a young guy who could fill a definite need. We'll give Brown some minutes and see what he can do the rest of this year, and then see what he can provide after an off-season and training camp with the team.

I'd take a look at Sene. Why not? Same thing as Brown, fills a need and could use the playing time to possibly develop.

[Vega06]

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/Sa ... -1193.html

Practice notes from today. Mchale says they aren't playing tomorrow.

[revprodeji]

bobby brown knows craig smith...cool

btw shrink I think cle is not in that first group. not willing to move wally and other small pieces for a big fish is crap and they likely lose lebron.

I love sene...look back at those draft threads wow I like him.

[shrink]

I was just glancing through the first half "Wins Produced" stat

http://www.wagesofwins.com/AllTeamMid0809.html

.. and happened to check out Sheldon Williams. His WP/48 is 0.121, which is very high. Maybe if we can find enough minutes for the guy, he might have something.

[shrink]

I'd forgotten that Sheldon Williams was the NCAA National Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 & 2006.

Man, my memory is failing.

[revprodeji]

^^interesting Noah leads Chicago,
Kidd's number is crazy high,
same with Biedrins,
Camby is high
Pau beats Kobe
Lowry leads Memphis?


bassy has a negative number for us?

Ok, Shrink how does the WP/48 work? I know positive numbers are good, but how does it work? S.Williams had a very low minute sample and BB has horrible numbers all around.

[shrink]

Win Scores = Points + Rebounds + Steals + ½Assists + ½Blocked Shots – Field Goal Attempts – Turnovers - ½Free Throw Attempts - ½Personal Fouls

" To get at Wins Produced you have to use the exact values, and make a few adjustments – such as adjusting for position played "

Some people don't like Win Scores, but I think they are pretty valuable. They are pretty reliable as a ranking tool, and when the numbers are run for every player on a team, the total predicted team wins averaged only a variance of 1.67 games over the actual record after 82 games. As with any stat, when you extrapolate low minute players to a 48-min stat, it helps you compare, but you can get big deviations. For instance Calvin Booth will be the all time Wolves leader in WP48, for his dramatic 1 minute of action. However, Sheldon Williams has 187 in the books, so there should be a little more validity to the WP48 number.