Game 44: Timberwolves at New York

[wolves_89]

Nowell is setting himself up to get paid this off-season. He pretty much carried the Wolves in the 4th quarter tonight.

We've got a team option on him next year so he's got another year to jack up his asking price.

If the Wolves use the team option, Nowell would become an unrestricted free agent after the 2022-2023 season. My guess is that Minnesota declines the option and makes him a restricted free agent this coming off-season (hopefully with a new deal agreed to before declining the option).

[Calinks]

Nowell was amazing. It is so refreshing to see us FINALLY develop in house talent. Reid, Nowell, McDaniels, Ant, Vando, all guys we have nurtured. We never used to do that.

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

I'm with you, I really think Rosas did a good job. He had some big holes and missteps but he was leagues better than any GM I can remember us having.

[winforlose]

Nowell becoming the next Lou Williams would be a huge deal for us. At times he is more valuable than Dlo and he doesn’t seem to need the consistent minutes that other players do to function. If you pretend Culver never happened then you can pretend Nowell was our first round and Naz was our second round picks. I know it isn’t true, but it is fun to think about.

[Worm Guts]

Nowell was amazing. It is so refreshing to see us FINALLY develop in house talent. Reid, Nowell, McDaniels, Ant, Vando, all guys we have nurtured. We never used to do that.

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

[winforlose]

Nowell was amazing. It is so refreshing to see us FINALLY develop in house talent. Reid, Nowell, McDaniels, Ant, Vando, all guys we have nurtured. We never used to do that.

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

Excluding 03-04 and 17-18 how many years were we a top 10 defense team? Our entire team from top to bottom is focused on improving their defense this season. They are bought in more completely than I ever thought possible. That fundamental change in mentality is worth far more than our record at the end of the year. Young teams get older and better, and when they are focused on playing defense and winning they can become quite special. Finch did this for us. Rosas got us Finch. The future looks bright.

[Worm Guts]

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

Excluding 03-04 and 17-18 how many years were we a top 10 defense team? Our entire team from top to bottom is focused on improving their defense this season. They are bought in more completely than I ever thought possible. That fundamental change in mentality is worth far more than our record at the end of the year. Young teams get older and better, and when they are focused on playing defense and winning they can become quite special. Finch did this for us. Rosas got us Finch. The future looks bright.

We’ll see how it plays out. I was more excited about the McHale teams because the top players were younger when they started making the playoffs. Of course they never turned into the perennial contender we hoped they would. Hopefully this team can do more.

[Dalvin]

AAAARRRRRRRRROOOOO!!! Back to .500! I'll take a terrible win over a terrible loss any day of the week. Good to see them gut this one out.

[theGreatRC]

Is Nowell a RFA?

[minimus]

Is Nowell a RFA?

Not yet. I think we need to decline team option for next year

[wolves_89]

Is Nowell a RFA?

Not yet. I think we need to decline team option for next year

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

[Calinks]

Nowell was amazing. It is so refreshing to see us FINALLY develop in house talent. Reid, Nowell, McDaniels, Ant, Vando, all guys we have nurtured. We never used to do that.

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

I don't think I am carried away. There is context with all of that. We were a 36 win team that was on the downturn. We blew up our initial rebuild set in motion by Flip (Wiggins, Lavine, KAT) for a Thibs rebuild which was quite good. I also think Thibs did a great job here as he quickly turned us into a playoff team that was flirting with contention.

That blew up however and things were looking down. Rosas took one year to tank and evaluate, blew it up, and in a couple of seasons he got us the team we have now which is on an upward trajectory. That 36 win team has a very low ceiling as constructed. Our current.500 team has a higher ceiling and is still in its foundational stage. It's a way better situation to be in. The only team that was better was Thibs team with Butler and even that one had fewer role players that could grow into something better.

That team overall though was definitely more dangerous with some really good veteran talent.

Most of KG's teams were low-ceiling teams. Talented players who wouldn't win you a title. The Marbury, Googs, KG, and Cassell, Sprewell, KG squads were ones that actually had some real potential but things didn't work out. Most of the other teams never really stood a chance as KG was the only player with star potential.

[theGreatRC]

Is Nowell a RFA?

Not yet. I think we need to decline team option for next year

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

We have to decline it then for sure, right? No way we can let him hit UFA.

[Battletrigger]

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

Excluding 03-04 and 17-18 how many years were we a top 10 defense team? Our entire team from top to bottom is focused on improving their defense this season. They are bought in more completely than I ever thought possible. That fundamental change in mentality is worth far more than our record at the end of the year. Young teams get older and better, and when they are focused on playing defense and winning they can become quite special. Finch did this for us. Rosas got us Finch. The future looks bright.

At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the record. Future is unknown, a severe injury can happen or a player can ask for exit and all you hopes and pipe dreams are over.

[minimus]

Not yet. I think we need to decline team option for next year

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

We have to decline it then for sure, right? No way we can let him hit UFA.

Yeah, he is becoming more valuable for us. I don't know when timewise we can discuss contract extension with Nowell agent. All I know that last time Rosas and Nowell agent had to spent some time to agree, so I don't expect this to be easy negotiations

[shrink]

Not yet. I think we need to decline team option for next year

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

We have to decline it then for sure, right? No way we can let him hit UFA.

Yes, particularly because he’s going to ask to get paid what he’s worth. If we refused and made him or Naz play for another season on the last year of that min deal for $1.93, they’d hate us and probably refuse to sign with us again.

EDIT: If a team think a player in this situation could be part of the future, they almost always decline the option and pay him. It generates good will with the player, and you can often pay a little less. The new deal will carry optics based on the lower alternative (“you can play here next year for $6 mil or for $1.93 .. which sounds better?), plus these players have been struggling along for a few years without ever making big NBA money. Accepting a bigger guaranteed contract insures their future from a career-ending injury, a year earlier. And finally, even if we can’t afford him, we get a talented player on a below-market contract, which is a very nice trade asset.

[winforlose]

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

We have to decline it then for sure, right? No way we can let him hit UFA.

Yes, particularly because he’s going to ask to get paid what he’s worth. If we refused and made him or Naz play for another season on the last year of that min deal for $1.93, they’d hate us and probably refuse to sign with us again.

I agree. The downside is he might be too expensive for us too keep. If we aren’t willing to go into the tax, and we aren’t able to pay everyone we need to pay, we either keep him for a cheap year or trade him. Personally I want him here, but that likely means going into the tax. Most playoff teams will be tax paying teams, we need to go there sooner or later, might as well do it next year.

[Worm Guts]

That's why I can't undertand the Rosas hate. What he did to transform our team overnight was really something. It would have taken Kevin McHale 10 years to accomplish that.

The Wolves were a 36 win team before Rosas took over, three seasons later they’re a .500 team. Let’s not get carried away. McHale actually did improve the team faster.

I don't think I am carried away. There is context with all of that. We were a 36 win team that was on the downturn. We blew up our initial rebuild set in motion by Flip (Wiggins, Lavine, KAT) for a Thibs rebuild which was quite good. I also think Thibs did a great job here as he quickly turned us into a playoff team that was flirting with contention.

That blew up however and things were looking down. Rosas took one year to tank and evaluate, blew it up, and in a couple of seasons he got us the team we have now which is on an upward trajectory. That 36 win team has a very low ceiling as constructed. Our current.500 team has a higher ceiling and is still in its foundational stage. It's a way better situation to be in. The only team that was better was Thibs team with Butler and even that one had fewer role players that could grow into something better.

That team overall though was definitely more dangerous with some really good veteran talent.

Most of KG's teams were low-ceiling teams. Talented players who wouldn't win you a title. The Marbury, Googs, KG, and Cassell, Sprewell, KG squads were ones that actually had some real potential but things didn't work out. Most of the other teams never really stood a chance as KG was the only player with star potential.

I wasn't referring to your comments, but I don't see this as a high potential team. Mainly because Towns and Russell are at the beginning of their prime years and nearing unrestricted free agency. Hopefully I'm wrong.

As far this team having more potential after Rosas took over, I agree that it does because of Ant, I just don't know if that was intentional tanking. It seemed to be the result of Towns and Russell being injured a lot that season, and I guess I wasn't following close enough to know if those were injuries or "injuries".

[shrink]

Rosas was with the team three years - this is the first one we’ve seen them play defense.

I give most of the credit for this to Finch and to PatBev, who got the whole team to buy in. Rosas did bring both of these people onto the team, so it’s up to you if you want to credit him for that. He also brought in Vanterpoole and 2019-2021 Russell, who didn’t help us defensively at all. ::shrug::

[Biff Cooper]

For some reason, I am feeling a dominating performance coming from Minnesota tonight...

as long as there's no Mcbride, Grimes or some bench guys that will play like an all star.

We missed too many open shots for the dominance to occur. Good to gut out a win though.

[Nick K]

The Wolves have a choice, they can pick up his player option making Nowell be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, or they can decline his option and he will be a restricted free agent this Summer.

We have to decline it then for sure, right? No way we can let him hit UFA.

Yeah, he is becoming more valuable for us. I don't know when timewise we can discuss contract extension with Nowell agent. All I know that last time Rosas and Nowell agent had to spent some time to agree, so I don't expect this to be easy negotiations

Fortunately the Wolves management really likes Nowell. So like Vando, you can bet they will aggressively work to sign him to a team friendly contract. Maybe 3 years 15 mil I'm guessing. I think he'll jump at it.