Big Changes Coming?

[Klomp]

Darko Milicic's February arrival and almost immediate emergence after five previously unfulfilling stops in the league has told Kahn and Rambis that Love and Jefferson, as offensively gifted as each is, can't play beside each other defensively for 30 minutes a game for the next decade.

"I think we've all learned it doesn't work with them playing heavy minutes together," Kahn said. "We've learned, even though it doesn't show in wins and losses, how helpful it is to have a 7-footer with Darko's skill set, particularly how he can block shots. That now is locked. We'll have to have something like that."

Kahn said that doesn't mean he'll trade Jefferson or Love, but acknowledged sacrifices in playing time and roles "but not in terms of accomplishments" need to be made.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolve ... page=3&c=y

[Sid the Squid]

I took him this long to figure out Love and Jefferson are an awful combo? Dear Lord.

[Klomp]

I took him this long to figure out Love and Jefferson are an awful combo? Dear Lord.

No, he's been saying that for a while...

[IAmTheTruth]

I expect Jefferson to be gone this summer. Kahn might pull a fast one and trade Love, though. ESPN insider has posted a story, which I can't see thanks to not being a subscriber, that Love could be the one to go.

Could be a good move if we can get something substantially more valuable than what Al would bring. Otherwise, a terrible one.

[The J Rocka]

Yeah I expect Love to be gone. We are not going to get as much for Al as we can get for Love. Love is younger, no significant injuries, on rookie contract, and teams will give up more to get him. He comes off the bench and obviously wants to start and contribute more. It's pretty clear that the Wolves are going with Al as the franchise PF, unless a crazy deal comes up with Granger, but won't happen.

[Worm Guts]

Yeah I expect Love to be gone. We are not going to get as much for Al as we can get for Love. Love is younger, no significant injuries, on rookie contract, and teams will give up more to get him. He comes off the bench and obviously wants to start and be a franchise leader. It's pretty clear that the Wolves are going with Al as the franchise PF, unless a crazy deal comes up with Granger, but won't happen.

I wouldn't say it's clear. For all the reasons you listed for Love having more value, those are reasons we'd like to keep him. He also fits better into how Kahn and Rambis say they want to play.

[Klomp]

I do think its obvious that Pekovic will not be in Minnesota.

[Foye]

I think everyone has noticed that Love and Jefferson can't play together defensively. You don't have to know much about basketball to notice that.

[The J Rocka]

Yeah I expect Love to be gone. We are not going to get as much for Al as we can get for Love. Love is younger, no significant injuries, on rookie contract, and teams will give up more to get him. He comes off the bench and obviously wants to start and be a franchise leader. It's pretty clear that the Wolves are going with Al as the franchise PF, unless a crazy deal comes up with Granger, but won't happen.

I wouldn't say it's clear. For all the reasons you listed for Love having more value, those are reasons we'd like to keep him. He also fits better into how Kahn and Rambis say they want to play.

I agree, but if you have a Love-Darko combo, we are gonna struggle scoring inside.

[prefuse73]

I took him this long to figure out Love and Jefferson are an awful combo? Dear Lord.

You seriously expect Kahn to say publicly that his two best players can't play on the court together at the start of the season.

Jefferson lacks passing and defense
Love lacks interior scoring and even more defense.
Darko lacks interior scoring and elite level rebounding (which I suspect is because he plays better man defense and attempts more block shot which put him out of position for rebounds).

We can build a multi criteria decision analysis model out of this...

here are our factors..

Inside Scoring Ability
Outside Shooting Ability
Passing
Rebounding
Block Shots
Defense.

now we have to decide how to weight these categories. evaluate each combo based on these criteria, sum it all up, and bingo problem solved.

[Worm Guts]

Yeah I expect Love to be gone. We are not going to get as much for Al as we can get for Love. Love is younger, no significant injuries, on rookie contract, and teams will give up more to get him. He comes off the bench and obviously wants to start and be a franchise leader. It's pretty clear that the Wolves are going with Al as the franchise PF, unless a crazy deal comes up with Granger, but won't happen.

I wouldn't say it's clear. For all the reasons you listed for Love having more value, those are reasons we'd like to keep him. He also fits better into how Kahn and Rambis say they want to play.

I agree, but if you have a Love-Darko combo, we are gonna struggle scoring inside.

I think post scoring by itself is kind of overrated. If we get Turner who can break down defenses and Rubio who can get people easy baskets, I think we'd be fine. I'd still like like to add an athletic defender and finisher with Darko and Love.
From listening to Kahn, I just don't think he's a big Al Jefferson fan. We could end up trading both Jefferson and Love.

[The J Rocka]

^^ Most def. I honestly think Kahn doesn't like Al or Love, so I could see us possibly getting rid of both of them to make sure we end up with Turner and another top pick

If we can just land #2 (Turner)
Trade Love for top pick (Wes Johnson)
Trade Al + pick to DET for Prince + 6th pick (Greg Monroe)

Darko/Hollins
Monroe/Draft pick or FA
Johnson/Prince
Turner/Brewer
Flynn/Rubio

[Foye]

^^ Most def. I honestly think Kahn doesn't like Al or Love, so I could see us possibly getting rid of both of them to make sure we end up with Turner and another top pick

If we can just land #2 (Turner)
Trade Love for top pick (Wes Johnson)
Trade Al + pick to DET for Prince + 6th pick (Greg Monroe)

Darko/Hollins
Monroe/Draft pick or FA
Johnson/Prince
Turner/Brewer
Flynn/Rubio

I wouldn't trade Love for Wes Johnson straight up

[moss_is_1]

^^ Most def. I honestly think Kahn doesn't like Al or Love, so I could see us possibly getting rid of both of them to make sure we end up with Turner and another top pick

If we can just land #2 (Turner)
Trade Love for top pick (Wes Johnson)
Trade Al + pick to DET for Prince + 6th pick (Greg Monroe)

Darko/Hollins
Monroe/Draft pick or FA
Johnson/Prince
Turner/Brewer
Flynn/Rubio

I'd rather try something with Love and Charlottes pick to get Favors if we are trading both Al and Love.

[collin_k41]

I think we'll most likely see some big changes this summer. I think there is the chance that we end up retaining both Al and Love and the majority of the changes will be involving new players from the draft and probably trades with our lower echelon guys.

If....

-We get the #1 pick and feel we have to draft John Wall and keep him there will be HUGE changes.
-We get the #3 pick and decide to draft a big there will be big changes
-We get the #2 pick and draft Turner I don't see giant changes but there still will be.

I expect us to re-sign Darko and probably not make any other significant signings in free agency.

[Calinks]

Do what you got to do but the only thing I desperately want to see changed is our wings. That crap has got to go.

[The J Rocka]

^^ Most def. I honestly think Kahn doesn't like Al or Love, so I could see us possibly getting rid of both of them to make sure we end up with Turner and another top pick

If we can just land #2 (Turner)
Trade Love for top pick (Wes Johnson)
Trade Al + pick to DET for Prince + 6th pick (Greg Monroe)

Darko/Hollins
Monroe/Draft pick or FA
Johnson/Prince
Turner/Brewer
Flynn/Rubio

I wouldn't trade Love for Wes Johnson straight up

I know I just didn't know what team he would fall to in the draft. I would of course expand the trade

[AQuintus]

I think post scoring by itself is kind of overrated. If we get Turner who can break down defenses and Rubio who can get people easy baskets, I think we'd be fine.

I agree with this. Especially in a half court offense like the one that Kahn and Rambis are trying to install where everything is based on making good passes from everyone to get open shots everywhere on the court.

I'd still like like to add an athletic defender and finisher with Darko and Love.

Yep, my dream scenario is to trade Al for Prince and the Det pick and then trade the Det pick and Pekovic for Favors. I wouldn't be surprised if Washington would be interested in a trade like that. Pekovic fits very well with their current bigs (Blatche and McGee) and they would still likely be able to pick up Wes Johnson.

From listening to Kahn, I just don't think he's a big Al Jefferson fan. We could end up trading both Jefferson and Love.

Yeah, I would be surprised if Jefferson isn't moved this off season, but I wouldn't be surprised if Love is moved too. Especially with his lack of effort and aversion to coming of the bench (a role in which he's probably best suited.)

[JMillott]

I really don't want to see the Wolves trade either Jefferson or Love. I think now that it looks like they have been able to sell Darko Millic on the idea of staying that they finally have an actual chance to make it work for them having both Jefferson and Love able to play with a guy who compliments them in Darko and lets the Wolves limit playing them together to around 10-15 minutes a game.

I also think the negative impact of having them on the floor together defensively will be dramatically lower once they get some actual talent on the wings and Flynn is no longer just a 20 year old rookie. In fact to be honest I think the biggest problem with the defense has just as much to do with the lack of physicality, length, athletic ability and experience of the perimeter defenders as it does with the interior defense.

Its not so much that you can't play Love and Big Al together as it is that you can't expect to play them together and have a perimeter defense of Flynn, Brewer, Gomes, Wilkins and Ellington. If you're going to have a set of perimeter defenders like that you damn well better have a Dwight Howard at center.

The reason the Jazz can win with Boozer and Okur up front is because they have guys like AK 47, Wesley Mathews, etc on the perimeter. The Wolves aren't horrible defensively just because of Jefferson and Love they are horrible defensively because they only have one guy you'd call a good defender playing regular minutes and that is Corey Brewer.

Brewer isn't a good enough defender to make up for Flynn and Gomes on the perimeter never mind making up for a frontcourt combo like Jefferson and Love. Say the Wolves add Evan Turner and maybe Stanley Robinson on the wings to Brewer while keeping Millic up front and they would be drastically better defensively.

The key is to always have more good defenders on the floor then bad defenders.

Millic is a solid if not good defensive center.

Jefferson when at PF is a solid if not good defender.

Turner, Robinson and Brewer would allow the Wolves to have as many as four solid to good defenders on the floor together and should allow them to always have at least three of them on the floor at all times.

You can hide a Love, Flynn, Ellington, Gomes and Sessions defensively you just can't hide more then two of them at a time unless you've got a force like Dwight Howard.

[Dan's with the Wolves]

Jefferson
I expect him to be gone. He is getting paid too much given that he doesn't really fit what Kahn and Rambis want to do. I would like to see that money spent on a player that really fits on a athletic running team. I think with Al, what you see is what you get. There is no more up side. Sell Now.

Love
While he doesn't really fit on a athletic running team and his long outlet passes are overrated, he is cheap (for next year), can rebound, and leads the team in getting to the free throw line. I am willing to give him a shot at the starting PF position for a year (maybe just until the trade deadline) to see what he can do. But if the right deal can be had this offseason, see ya later, Senor Amore.

Gomes
Goodbye Mr Gomes it was nice to know you. Doesn't fit.

Brewer
He fits an athletic running team, can hit the three, run, rebound and play defense. Brewer should be back for another year hopefully as the second or preferably third wing.

Flynn
While he doesn't play great defense or know how to run an offense, I think he will get another year to improve as the starting point guard. Flynn has been in training all year to improve his weaknesses and will be better for it. But he is only the care taker for the starting PG spot until Rubio gets here or the Wolve can draft John Wall.