Does DMC = No Darko

[horaceworthy]

If DMC is the pick, it doesn't mean Darko's gone, but it probably would mean at least two of Pekovic, Love, Jefferson and Darko aren't here next year. Darko would probably fit best with Cousins, and would give the Wolves a huge frontcourt. It's going to be a very interesting summer.

[Esohny]

Meh. I've said this for the past 2 seasons All of this is solved by picking up a hybrid 4. A guy that can play the 3 and the 4.

Randolph & Clark being the 2 most recent examples of fitting the bill. Clark could probably be had fairly cheap.

Swap love for the 5th, take johnson. Johnson could probably play the 4 against most of the troublesome bigger 3's that play 4 matchups too. He can play the 2 in our offense pretty easily too imo.

Pek for clark.
resign darko
draft dmc
pickup varnado @23
MISC GUARD @16

darko/dmc/al
al/varnado/clark
clark/brewer/johnson
johnson/brewer/#16
flynn/sessions

I suppose you could pick Cousins, then trade Al for Prince + 7 and take Aminu. Doing that would make it absolutely necessary to get George or Henry in the teens so we'd have somebody who can make a 3.

[Krapinsky]

Meh. I've said this for the past 2 seasons All of this is solved by picking up a hybrid 4. A guy that can play the 3 and the 4.

Randolph & Clark being the 2 most recent examples of fitting the bill. Clark could probably be had fairly cheap.

Swap love for the 5th, take johnson. Johnson could probably play the 4 against most of the troublesome bigger 3's that play 4 matchups too. He can play the 2 in our offense pretty easily too imo.

Pek for clark.
resign darko
draft dmc
pickup varnado @23
MISC GUARD @16

darko/dmc/al
al/varnado/clark
clark/brewer/johnson
johnson/brewer/#16
flynn/sessions

I suppose you could pick Cousins, then trade Al for Prince + 7 and take Aminu. Doing that would make it absolutely necessary to get George or Henry in the teens so we'd have somebody who can make a 3.

I'm down on the Prince + Aminu (or anyone but Johnson) for Al. That deal would only interest me if somehow we did not get Cousins @ 4.

[John Doe [MIN]]

I think Cousins more likely means goodbye to Big Al. Big Al has diminished trade value. Darko has literally none.

It's a sticky situation in that we have three big men to whom we are most committed (Al, Love, Cousins), but the 4th and 5th big men we have need big minutes; Darko because he'll go back to Europe if he feels he's being underutilized, and Pekovic because he's coming over to the U.S. for a chance at glory and money, and he'll already be 25 next year. He'll want to start earning a fat second contract from day one.

The three I want to keep are Love, Cousins, and Darko. My ideal rotation is:
4: Love (34)/Darko (6)/quick big man as needed (8)
5: Cousins (28)/Darko (20)/Hollins (effing 0 baby!)

We're probably not going to do better than Al for Prince + 7, in which case Aminu would be a great fit to give 8 minutes at PF and another 16 at SF (he's young and raw, 24 total is probably enough for him).

The other trade I like is to move Pekovic to a team in the 11 through 15 range to get Hassan Whiteside. He may be a center, but beefy NBA centers will just overpower him now. On the other hand, he has incredible lateral quickness. I could see convincing an aspiring playoff team like New Orleans, Houston, or Milwaukee to flip Whiteside for the polished, ready-to-contribute Pekovic (maybe using #23 as incentive if necessary). If Whiteside is our pick, we start him off at the roughly 8 minutes/night and that's it. As (if) he progresses, he could eventually be the heir apparent to Darko, giving us a perfectly balanced 3 big man rotation of Love/Cousins/Whiteside all playing around 32 minutes/night from 2013 to 2022. Championship baby!

[shangrila]

I think the answer is yes, but everybody thought Jefferson would likely be gone anyway this offseason so it's not like it's a surprise.