Trade Talk (Part 14): 2023-24 Edition

[winforlose]

It seems like a bad idea to add a guy that no team in the NBA thinks is worth a minimum contract.

Do we? Is he better than MacLaughlin as Conley insurance?

I'm not a McLauglin fan, but he's significantly better than Rivers.

Leaps and bounds. Miles and miles. Head and shoulders. Far and away. I could go on.

[frankenwolf]

Do we? Is he better than MacLaughlin as Conley insurance?

I'm not a McLauglin fan, but he's significantly better than Rivers.

Leaps and bounds. Miles and miles. Head and shoulders. Far and away. I could go on.

So Ricky & the Cavs are working toward a buyout. Do we think the third time would be a charm??

[winforlose]

I'm not a McLauglin fan, but he's significantly better than Rivers.

Leaps and bounds. Miles and miles. Head and shoulders. Far and away. I could go on.

So Ricky & the Cavs are working toward a buyout. Do we think the third time would be a charm??

I don’t think he wants to be here. I don’t think he is any kind of basketball shape. I don’t think he floor spaces well enough, and I don’t think he defends well enough. All of the above being true, I might bring him in as a 3rd string to backup JMAC on the last day of the season.

[shrink]

I wrote this elsewhere

You’re right - Minnesota loves Ricky Rubio. He is probably behind only Garnett as the most beloved player in franchise history.

You never know with mental health issues what would help Ricky, and whether he just needs to be away from basketball completely, but I imagine the organization would welcome him in any role. His teammates always loved him and Ant particularly loves Ricky for mentoring him his rookie year too. Even if he couldn’t play, I could see them offering him a role as an assistant coach or even just a special assistant. Just let him walk on the floor at every home game and feel the love of standing ovations.

[wolves_89]

I'm not a McLauglin fan, but he's significantly better than Rivers.

Leaps and bounds. Miles and miles. Head and shoulders. Far and away. I could go on.

So Ricky & the Cavs are working toward a buyout. Do we think the third time would be a charm??

From what I've seen it doesn't sound like Rubio is going to play this season.

[Domejandro]

If Minnesota cannot sign anyone else to close out the season, Austin Rivers wouldn't be a terrible pick up as a "break glass" option. Having someone who knows the system in case of a health implosion is valuable in a Playoff situation.

With Ricky Rubio, my understanding is that he is trying to play out a year in Spain before he fully hangs it up. I would absolutely love to bring Ricky Rubio back as a stable mentor, but his time in the NBA is (barring a surprise) likely done.

[BlacJacMac]

Could Austin Rivers be our back up PG?

Knows the team and what Finch wants to run. He’d have a $1.4 mil cap hit for the rest of the season.

I'd rather sign Doc Rivers...

[Klomp]

Dane and Jace talked yesterday, and they currently feel Kyle is too important to the team that they don't think he would be on the move. So we should probably mark down our targets accordingly. The most we're probably looking at bringing back is a return for Milton + Moore, if anything.

[winforlose]

Dane and Jace talked yesterday, and they currently feel Kyle is too important to the team that they don't think he would be on the move. So we should probably mark down our targets accordingly. The most we're probably looking at bringing back is a return for Milton + Moore, if anything.

I saw that pod and I feel like Dane lets his own bias drive the show much more recently. He says Finch would never part with Kyle, but he also acknowledges that isn’t based on any conversation with Finch or any direct knowledge. What is really happening is Dane Moore is saying Dane wouldn’t trade Kyle and then backing that up with one sided analysis that completely ignores the reasons to trade him. I think it is 80% likely that we do move Kyle unless Kyle gives a strong indication he is taking a massive paycut to stay. Dane acknowledges that Kyle and Rudy cannot play together very effectively but also fails to acknowledge that if Mike is out for the entire playoffs then Kyle is probably your starting PG. This roster has a massive hole in it. Worse, Finch knows it. He doesn’t call Mike really God Damn Important and talk up the importance of a vet PG late game if he doesn’t understand how thin we are at PG. Like it or not Kyle is the money needed to make any meaningful move.

[Domejandro]

I actually agree with Dane about setting expectations around the potential of a Kyle Anderson trade VERY low, but in general, it is definitely worth remembering that Dane Moore is functionally a superfan, not a major sources guy.

That said, I just really don't see Kyle Anderson get traded, he is so important as a glue piece both offensively and defensively.

[winforlose]

I actually agree with Dane about setting expectations around the potential of a Kyle Anderson trade VERY low, but in general, it is definitely worth remembering that Dane Moore is functionally a superfan, not a major sources guy.

That said, I just really don't see Kyle Anderson get traded, he is so important as a glue piece both offensively and defensively.

Defensively yes, offensively no. Offensively he is a major problem for floor spacing. You see Ant hit crazy shots and he talks about how hard some of them are. A big part of that is floor spacing. When Ant plays with non shooters they can load up on his driving lanes and make him shoot from distance. Kyle must at least be willing to shoot 3s to space the floor and he is not. All else being equal that kills offense in the playoffs, and we aren’t that good in overall offense to afford the handicap.

[jpatrick]

Rubio about to get bought out. But sounds like, at least per the Athletic article, he hasn’t been keeping in shape during his mental health absence and is likely done with basketball (or I’d guess at least the NBA).

[Neeva]

Ricky is done, just draft Juan Nunez, the next Ricky Rubio with our second round pick (via Memphis)

[TimberKat]

Looking at what POR got for Dame and what UTA got for Mitchell (Assume UTA trade Markkie for 3 1st). Gobert trade seems to be a fairly good price for an DPOY candidate .

[jpatrick]

Looking at what POR got for Dame and what UTA got for Mitchell (Assume UTA trade Markkie for 3 1st). Gobert trade seems to be a fairly good price for an DPOY candidate .

I was one of those guys last year calling it one of the worst NBA trades in history, I was wrong. Rudy looked on the decline, but he clearly wasn’t comfortable and/or fully healthy last year.

I still lean towards not doing the trade if given the option. Rudy obviously makes us much better this year. But the money/age shrinks our window and Kessler on a rookie contract gives us so much more flexibility over the next few years. That said, if we make the finals with Rudy, they can never take that away from us.

[KGdaBom]

Looking at what POR got for Dame and what UTA got for Mitchell (Assume UTA trade Markkie for 3 1st). Gobert trade seems to be a fairly good price for an DPOY candidate .

I was one of those guys last year calling it one of the worst NBA trades in history, I was wrong. Rudy looked on the decline, but he clearly wasn’t comfortable and/or fully healthy last year.

I still lean towards not doing the trade if given the option. Rudy obviously makes us much better this year. But the money/age shrinks our window and Kessler on a rookie contract gives us so much more flexibility over the next few years. That said, if we make the finals with Rudy, they can never take that away from us.

If we take the trouble to make the finals we may as well win them.

[Guest84]

I'm def in the camp of "don't trade" this year...I think all of the pieces that are contributing to the current success are just too valuable from a chemistry standpoint. I'd rather stand pat and watch the waiver wire.

Also, while not my ideal move, what about adding John Wall? He didn't do too bad with Hou/LAC from what I recall. His shooting might not be ideal but he's a vet, that you could potentially get for cheap and is looking to prove himself. Might also help our transition offense.

[Klomp]

Is there anyone in the G League we could look at for PG depth?

[winforlose]

You guys still think Kyle’s offense is good enough for the playoffs?

[younggunsmn]

Best case scenario with the cap going up 10%; the Wolves will have about $15 million to work with while staying below the second apron... and need to resign Kyle, Mike and lil jmac. If they are really lucky Mike will resign for the vet minimum (~$3.5m, only $2m against cap), which is about the only way they can keep Kyle.

Kyle might take a pay cut to stay. I was thinking about it.

1. He is having a really bad offensive year.

2. If Kyle is not traded he will have 2 years with the Wolves. One more year, and he has full bird rights.

3. Playing championship basketball (or at least contending for one,) is not something easy to walk away from.

4. Assuming the Rudy stuff is buried he might be happy here.

The way Kyle has played this year and with his shooting falling off a cliff his agent might have to do a lot of legwork to get him a vet minimum next year.

Mike has upped his value with his play this year and even with his age at this point he's looking at MLE at a bare minimum next year.