Wolves vs. Nuggets - Tuesday - 7 PM - FSN

[the_bruce]

This argument is sorta meh. Most wolves fans hated the trade. I for one thought it was brilliant. Not because Webster is an exceptional talent, but he was certainly better than anyone left in the draft at that point with probably as much upside, plus has experience. There were a couple of players I may have drafted at 16 or later. But meh? They were by no means locks and simply projects with high upside. (i.e.: whiteside)

A few things that are being ignored.

The value to the wolves.

16th pick rookie scale + gomes contract (if we cut him) = roughly 3m a year

Webster = 5m a year

So the wolves overpay by 2m this year, and 3m next year.

Will webster produce more on court value than a cut gomes & a rookie scale 16th pick?

I say yes.

Will he out produce them enough to justify an extra 5m over 2 years?

Probably.

Several other factors:
POR would prefer cap space
Webster was one of the few wings available who would fit (my opinion)
Nobody wanted Gomes to use as a way to get less lux payments (however I think some teams would have traded for him outright without cutting him)
Tons of cap space was available
The FO didn't just want, they needed webster

I think the FO wanted Webster more than POR wants to move him to be honest. If you are in portlands position.

You look at the draft board, realize theres no wings available.
You look at other teams rosters and realize wow there are like no wings they could trade for...

they know they have the negotiating power.

Ask for pick + gomes.

Khan is like. Shrug sure whatever you can have BABBIT, give me an athletic wing with some experience.

-fin

Could more have been gotten for gomes. Sure. Could more have been gotten from the 16th pick. Sure. But not with portland when they have something the wolves wanted. Limited supply, Low demand, but a motivated buyer. It's not like the wolves got fleeced. You are talking about a marginal gap here, and that gap is easily filled by the need the wolves had for a player like webster