Game 16 : MIN at BOS

[vtime]

Best effort in about a month. Need that 66 more times.

[TimberKat]

On the Vikings delay today and just finished the game. I like the 1st qtr, seems like there is a purpose on both ends. Guys are rotating, sometimes we had two defenders going to the same guy but that is a step in the right direction. Glad to see Dilly getting some productivity. Best Gobert game of the season.

What still bothers me is after the 1st qtr, Gobert had very few touches, just asking for 2.5 per qtr. Ant has great stat line but had some really bad one man possessions and bad decisions. Defense really sucked as soon as Gobert is off the floor. They also gave up too many no help post ups to Tatum/Brown. It wasn't until 4th qtr Ant finally comes over to double the post.

[TimberKat]

Do the Wolves have the brain, heart, guts, or balls to keep the game competitive today?

MIN and Ant always play well in BOS, and against top teams.

Just came up a little short and is mostly mental. Too pressing, not making the pass, etc.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I could stomach kat, but I give up on this team, and Finch in particular. The writing is on the wall.. i.e. it's not difficult to see why we are bad. Glue foot/cannot get back on d/won't box out/everyone else is the issue Randle doesn't understand he is a losing basketball player. I wouldn't want him as a 6th man if he accepted it.. don't want him at all costs. I'm out..

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Just watch the replay as 3.30 am for me is too early. Not a bad effort tonight, nice to see RD hit some good shoot. If he improve his defense, could a a good surprise.
ANT mixed fantastic play and stupid things, he is still not mature to be the top 5 NBA player, he want to be but he will be.
Nice to see DDV play better.
Great game from Rudy, but he did not see the ball. The only point he score was after offensive rebound or FT. Frustrating...
Randle do his usual things, padding his stat, not much defense... I'm down with him. Hope we trade him before the deadline as we won't win anything with this guy.

[Baseline81]

I could stomach kat, but I give up on this team, and Finch in particular. The writing is on the wall.. i.e. it's not difficult to see why we are bad. Glue foot/cannot get back on d/won't box out/everyone else is the issue Randle doesn't understand he is a losing basketball player. I wouldn't want him as a 6th man if he accepted it.. don't want him at all costs. I'm out..

There's a reason everyone, myself included, were laughing at the Towns-Knicks rumor last year. And it came down to the inclusion of Randle. I don't know what Connelly and the rest of the front office were thinking. DiVincenzo and a first-round pick never bridges that gap...

[TimberKat]

I could stomach kat, but I give up on this team, and Finch in particular. The writing is on the wall.. i.e. it's not difficult to see why we are bad. Glue foot/cannot get back on d/won't box out/everyone else is the issue Randle doesn't understand he is a losing basketball player. I wouldn't want him as a 6th man if he accepted it.. don't want him at all costs. I'm out..

There's a reason everyone, myself included, were laughing at the Towns-Knicks rumor last year. And it came down to the inclusion of Randle. I don't know what Connelly and the rest of the front office were thinking. DiVincenzo and a first-round pick never bridges that gap...

It's all about the money. Even though Taylor said he wants to keep Towns, I think he really wanted to save a few millions before selling the team. Unless it's Towns requested a trade. Just here on Realgm, it must be 9 out of 10 opposed the trade. Finch could had been tired to be KAT's shrink but I can't imagine Connelly is this stupid. I can understand maybe a Towns for KD or PG13 trade.

[Calinks]

You guys also have to keep in mind, we probably didn't have a ton of options when it came to trading Towns either. Again, his reputation was not great, his contract is looked at by many, as horrible. 3 years ago I think it would have been a different story but in 2024 we probably didn't have a ton of options.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

You guys also have to keep in mind, we probably didn't have a ton of options when it came to trading Towns either. Again, his reputation was not great, his contract is looked at by many, as horrible. 3 years ago I think it would have been a different story but in 2024 we probably didn't have a ton of options.

Still got the option to keep him and make a run no? Feel that the only reason to trade him was about saving some Dollar...Window to win a title don't happen often ( i follow Grizz, Jazz, Minny for 20 years) so i know what I'm talking about . I got the feeling that we were very closed last year, maybe closer that we may been in the next 10 years...

[Loaf_of_bread]

You guys also have to keep in mind, we probably didn't have a ton of options when it came to trading Towns either. Again, his reputation was not great, his contract is looked at by many, as horrible. 3 years ago I think it would have been a different story but in 2024 we probably didn't have a ton of options.

Im ok w ddv and a first. Fair.

Now trade Julius for nothing just to get his sorry ass vibe ruining lazy defender out of here.

[TimberKat]

You guys also have to keep in mind, we probably didn't have a ton of options when it came to trading Towns either. Again, his reputation was not great, his contract is looked at by many, as horrible. 3 years ago I think it would have been a different story but in 2024 we probably didn't have a ton of options.

Still got the option to keep him and make a run no? Feel that the only reason to trade him was about saving some Dollar...Window to win a title don't happen often ( i follow Grizz, Jazz, Minny for 20 years) so i know what I'm talking about . I got the feeling that we were very closed last year, maybe closer that we may been in the next 10 years...

Agree. I also feel like Randle had taken away some of Naz's game. He doesn't seem to be at the same spots as last year. Towns/Naz definitely looked better on both ends. If Dilly plays like today at the end of the season, I think we would get to finals with Towns this year. That extra scorer driving to the basket was all we needed.

[Calinks]

You guys also have to keep in mind, we probably didn't have a ton of options when it came to trading Towns either. Again, his reputation was not great, his contract is looked at by many, as horrible. 3 years ago I think it would have been a different story but in 2024 we probably didn't have a ton of options.

Still got the option to keep him and make a run no? Feel that the only reason to trade him was about saving some Dollar...Window to win a title don't happen often ( i follow Grizz, Jazz, Minny for 20 years) so i know what I'm talking about . I got the feeling that we were very closed last year, maybe closer that we may been in the next 10 years...

It was an option but it was an option that would really damage us in the near future financially. We would likely lose Naz and Naw and there may be other repercussions. We also may lose an opportunity to get off of a contract because of injury or some other issue. There were risk either way.

If the apron rules never came out after we made the Gobert trade, I think Towns would still be on this roster right now.

[shrink]

It's all about the money. Even though Taylor said he wants to keep Towns, I think he really wanted to save a few millions before selling the team. Unless it's Towns requested a trade. Just here on Realgm, it must be 9 out of 10 opposed the trade. Finch could had been tired to be KAT's shrink but I can't imagine Connelly is this stupid. I can understand maybe a Towns for KD or PG13 trade.

1. We have heard from external and internal sources that Taylor (and ARod and Lore), didn’t instruct Connelly to make this trade for financial purposes.

2. Taylor is not cheap. He paid for all those extensions, and even after this trade, the team is #2 in the entire NBA in lux taxes scheduled to pay $96 mil in taxes this year.

3. With new Apron and higher lux taxes, even Steve Ballmer’s Clippers cut salary. It’s becoming impossible to operate huge salary teams, even for an owner who’s 30 times richer than Taylor. I’m sure Connelly is aware of the functional aspects of the new rules.

4. Taylor hires GMs and lets them do their basketball thing. Often this has been a problem, when he hires bad GM, they make bad decisions, and he’s slow to fire them. Even with Tim Connelly, Taylor said he didn’t agree with the Gobert trade at the time and thought we gave up too much. Instead of stopping the trade, he trusted Connelly. And btw, that trade (expirings and picks) ADDED tons of payroll/lux for him to pay. If you don’t like a MIN trade, blame the GM, because they are empowered to make it.

5. If the plan was to cut salary and trade Towns, it would have been done over the summer, when teams could send cap space to lower payroll. In fact, this trade was delayed so long because the Knicks wouldn’t include Donte DiVincenzo. Until that point, Connelly had turned down many dollar-saving offers from NYK, and the plan was to bring back the team with Towns and the top 7.

6. I am a big KAT fan, but I don’t know if KAT (4 years $220 mil) has much more trade value than DDV (3 years $36 mil) the possible 1st, and the salary relief.

7. A trade for Kevin Durant is illegal because we are above the second apron, and KD makes slightly more than KAT.

[TimberKat]

It's all about the money. Even though Taylor said he wants to keep Towns, I think he really wanted to save a few millions before selling the team. Unless it's Towns requested a trade. Just here on Realgm, it must be 9 out of 10 opposed the trade. Finch could had been tired to be KAT's shrink but I can't imagine Connelly is this stupid. I can understand maybe a Towns for KD or PG13 trade.

1. We have heard from external and internal sources that Taylor (and ARod and Lore), didn’t instruct Connelly to make this trade for financial purposes.

2. Taylor is not cheap. He paid for all those extensions, and even after this trade, the team is #2 in the entire NBA in lux taxes scheduled to pay $96 mil in taxes this year.

3. With new Apron and higher lux taxes, even Steve Ballmer’s Clippers cut salary. It’s becoming impossible to operate huge salary teams, even for an owner who’s 30 times richer than Taylor. I’m sure Connelly is aware of the functional aspects of the new rules.

4. Taylor hires GMs and lets them do their basketball thing. Often this has been a problem, when he hires bad GM, they make bad decisions, and he’s slow to fire them. Even with Tim Connelly, Taylor said he didn’t agree with the Gobert trade at the time and thought we gave up too much. Instead of stopping the trade, he trusted Connelly. And btw, that trade (expirings and picks) ADDED tons of payroll/lux for him to pay. If you don’t like a MIN trade, blame the GM, because they are empowered to make it.

5. If the plan was to cut salary and trade Towns, it would have been done over the summer, when teams could send cap space to lower payroll. In fact, this trade was delayed so long because the Knicks wouldn’t include Donte DiVincenzo. Until that point, Connelly had turned down many dollar-saving offers from NYK, and the plan was to bring back the team with Towns and the top 7.

6. I am a big KAT fan, but I don’t know if KAT (4 years $220 mil) has much more trade value than DDV (3 years $36 mil) the possible 1st, and the salary relief.

7. A trade for Kevin Durant is illegal because we are above the second apron, and KD makes slightly more than KAT.

So, why trade Towns if all you can get from him is DDV? Clearly Towns has way more value as a player than DDV?

[shrink]

So, why trade Towns if all you can get from him is DDV? Clearly Towns has way more value as a player than DDV?

I am not so sure of that. I think I’m pretty comfortable saying that while Towns is incredibly talented offensively, he’s a second option, and he’s not a good defender as either a center or a PF. I don’t think that’s negative value on a supermax contract, but at the same time, I don’t see a long line of teams wanting to give up a lot in trade at that price. The new apron restrictions further hurt his value. I think most see DDV as a good contract, after the way he ended his season in NYK.

But I think Connelly made this trade to fit Ant’s timeline. MIN would probably (though not certainly) have been a better team this year, bringing back its continuity. Keeping KAT appears to have been the plan, with Connelly drafting two guards, Naz and Luka losing weight, and not adding a legit back up center in free agency. There was no need, when we had 48 minutes of All Star center every night.

But MIN wasn’t successful last year because we had the best starting five - we had three excellent bench players as well. I think if we kept KAT, after next year our payroll would be too high to justify keeping Naz, for contract or usefulness. Probably NAW too, who could be due a deal near the MLE if we continues to play this well. For the next three years, we become the Suns on a road to nowhere, with three max deals (KAT, Gobert, Ant) and a big one in McDaniels, and a team full of vet min players.

I see this deal as KAT for DDV, plus Naz, plus NAW for the next THREE years, plus a possible 1st.

And finally, while it doesn’t look good right now, it isn’t impossible that Randle can’t integrate, and provide KAT level defense (low bar) and 75% offense with some playmaking. And his $31 mil, probable expiring, isn’t clearly valueless as a potential trade asset.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

It's all about the money. Even though Taylor said he wants to keep Towns, I think he really wanted to save a few millions before selling the team. Unless it's Towns requested a trade. Just here on Realgm, it must be 9 out of 10 opposed the trade. Finch could had been tired to be KAT's shrink but I can't imagine Connelly is this stupid. I can understand maybe a Towns for KD or PG13 trade.

1. We have heard from external and internal sources that Taylor (and ARod and Lore), didn’t instruct Connelly to make this trade for financial purposes.

2. Taylor is not cheap. He paid for all those extensions, and even after this trade, the team is #2 in the entire NBA in lux taxes scheduled to pay $96 mil in taxes this year.

3. With new Apron and higher lux taxes, even Steve Ballmer’s Clippers cut salary. It’s becoming impossible to operate huge salary teams, even for an owner who’s 30 times richer than Taylor. I’m sure Connelly is aware of the functional aspects of the new rules.

4. Taylor hires GMs and lets them do their basketball thing. Often this has been a problem, when he hires bad GM, they make bad decisions, and he’s slow to fire them. Even with Tim Connelly, Taylor said he didn’t agree with the Gobert trade at the time and thought we gave up too much. Instead of stopping the trade, he trusted Connelly. And btw, that trade (expirings and picks) ADDED tons of payroll/lux for him to pay. If you don’t like a MIN trade, blame the GM, because they are empowered to make it.

5. If the plan was to cut salary and trade Towns, it would have been done over the summer, when teams could send cap space to lower payroll. In fact, this trade was delayed so long because the Knicks wouldn’t include Donte DiVincenzo. Until that point, Connelly had turned down many dollar-saving offers from NYK, and the plan was to bring back the team with Towns and the top 7.

6. I am a big KAT fan, but I don’t know if KAT (4 years $220 mil) has much more trade value than DDV (3 years $36 mil) the possible 1st, and the salary relief.

7. A trade for Kevin Durant is illegal because we are above the second apron, and KD makes slightly more than KAT.

So, why trade Towns if all you can get from him is DDV? Clearly Towns has way more value as a player than DDV?

I understand your point of view. But if the finance things is not the main point, then probably Connely did believe that this trade will keep the team as good as he was last year. Time will tell. After 16 games, what have have seen is a slighty better offense and a terrible defense when Rudy sit and when Randle and NAZ play together... Hope we improve and make a run.

[minimus]

It's all about the money. Even though Taylor said he wants to keep Towns, I think he really wanted to save a few millions before selling the team. Unless it's Towns requested a trade. Just here on Realgm, it must be 9 out of 10 opposed the trade. Finch could had been tired to be KAT's shrink but I can't imagine Connelly is this stupid. I can understand maybe a Towns for KD or PG13 trade.

1. We have heard from external and internal sources that Taylor (and ARod and Lore), didn’t instruct Connelly to make this trade for financial purposes.

2. Taylor is not cheap. He paid for all those extensions, and even after this trade, the team is #2 in the entire NBA in lux taxes scheduled to pay $96 mil in taxes this year.

3. With new Apron and higher lux taxes, even Steve Ballmer’s Clippers cut salary. It’s becoming impossible to operate huge salary teams, even for an owner who’s 30 times richer than Taylor. I’m sure Connelly is aware of the functional aspects of the new rules.

4. Taylor hires GMs and lets them do their basketball thing. Often this has been a problem, when he hires bad GM, they make bad decisions, and he’s slow to fire them. Even with Tim Connelly, Taylor said he didn’t agree with the Gobert trade at the time and thought we gave up too much. Instead of stopping the trade, he trusted Connelly. And btw, that trade (expirings and picks) ADDED tons of payroll/lux for him to pay. If you don’t like a MIN trade, blame the GM, because they are empowered to make it.

5. If the plan was to cut salary and trade Towns, it would have been done over the summer, when teams could send cap space to lower payroll. In fact, this trade was delayed so long because the Knicks wouldn’t include Donte DiVincenzo. Until that point, Connelly had turned down many dollar-saving offers from NYK, and the plan was to bring back the team with Towns and the top 7.

6. I am a big KAT fan, but I don’t know if KAT (4 years $220 mil) has much more trade value than DDV (3 years $36 mil) the possible 1st, and the salary relief.

7. A trade for Kevin Durant is illegal because we are above the second apron, and KD makes slightly more than KAT.

Yeah. People in general want to simplify things like finding one person to blame in system issues.

[shrink]

Let’s make this dollar-for-dollar, and say that the trade allowed us to keep other players.

Which side has a better chance of winning a ring over the next four years, as Ant and Jaden approach prime? A or B?

A. NO TRADE
2025 Towns, Naz, NAW
2026 Towns ($53), nobody
2027 Towns ($57)
2028 Towns ($61)

B. TRADE
2025 Randle, DDV, Naz, NAW
2026 DDV ($12), Naz ($19), NAW ($10), +$12 mil player
2027 DDV ($12.5), Naz ($20), NAW ($11), +$13.5 mil player
2028 Naz ($21), NAW ($12), +$28 mil player

I’m making assumptions here about the next deals for Naz and NAW, but I feel like this trade probably lowered our chances this year, but extended the window to have a better chance over the next four. Also, while KAT’s big salary may have made it tough to salary match a future trade, DDV, Naz, NAW and the mystery free agent will be on easily tradeable deals.

[minimus]

First, cant believe that MIN wasted 10+20 game from Gobert... Also he scared BOS in like 5 layups, which they missed.

Second, I feel like NAW is forcing things in last few games, he is either one step too deep in the paint when he slashing, so instead of floater or alley-oop pass he takes extremely difficult shots around rim. Or he one step too far from rim, when he is shooting 1-2 pull-up long midrange shots, which become 18-20 shot instead of of the table short mid range shot which opponent defense give him.

I am disappointed how disconnected, uninterested and inaccurate are Edwards, Randle and NAW as facilitators when they execute in half court situations. At some degree it is skills issues, since neither is a natural PG, but damn, if Ingles is are best option to inbound - we have real troubles.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I also look at your schedule until end December and it's pretty brutal. Considering we got a soft schedule and got a 8-8, i am wondering if we may be in the lottery in 35 days....the only positive thing in my mind is that we usually play better against good teams. We have a couple of home games now, better to win them all.