Take a Side

[ritt0093]

Ok so the season is almost over (thank goodness). We've seen most of this team for the entire year, and now comes decision time. I think it would be fun to see what everyone's stance is on a couple of hot topics that Wolves will likely need to address this summer in some form or another. So here it is: Be the GM, Take a stand on the options below. You can not change the scenarios presented. Simply pick one and explain why.

Jefferson vs. Love
Who do you keep and why? Does one have more value on the court? More value in a trade? Criteria can be anything you want, but you only get one of them.

Flynn vs. Sessions
Both relatively young, and both with areas to improve. Again as above, you can only have one, which one do you want?

Darko vs. No Darko
We only saw him for a limited number of games, but thats all Kahn and Co. get too. This assumes he is willing to sign, but does not make any assumptions about his contract. If his contract would be a deciding factor for you, then state what your break point is in years and dollars. At what point do you say "sorry that's too much" and walk away?


If anyone else has some more ideas for it plesae feel free to toss them in. Now for my answers (which I fully admit can be proven wrong over the long run):

Jefferson vs. Love
I take Jefferson every time. I understand his price is higher and "he isn't as good a fit for the triangle" or whatever that means. I don't think the triangle requires every player to be able to sprint down the court (see Lakers with Shaq), but I do think every contending team needs a low post threat that when called upon can get a reasonable shot off on the block. I trust Jefferson in that role much more than I do Love. I would miss Love's rebounding, but that's certainly something I can live with because I'd miss Big Al's post presence more.

Flynn vs. Sessions
I pick Flynn. I really like what Sessions has done this year, but I see more potential in Flynn. I think Flynn has better athletic abilities, and when comparing two PGs who I think are similar (Flynn being slightly worse) in production the athletic abilities tip the scale. Again this is my perception, and I fully admit that stats like PER and WS may say that Sessions is a much better player, but I dont care.

Darko vs. No Darko
I attempt to resign Darko. I admit this depends on the contract, and I think my break point would be 4 years and 25 Million with year 4 being a team option. Anything above and beyond that I think is too long/much.

[cpfsf]

Love V Jefferson = trade one for the best offer (don't trade one just to trade one). If you want an answer now, I will hesitantly say Kevin Love just because we might sign Nikola Pekovic anyway and Kevin Love is on his rookie contract.

Flynn V Sessions = Flynn. I envision Flynn as a spark off the bench. Not quite a sixth man, but a candidate for the award nonetheless. He is 3 years younger than Ramon Sessions and is still on his rookie contract.

Darko V no Darko = Darko. Jefferson, Love, and Hollins should not be loggin in heavy minutes at center. Somehow we've got an unrestricted free agent who might just have Minnesota as his top destination.

[fattymcgee]

[quote="ritt0093"]Ok so the season is almost over (thank goodness). We've seen most of this team for the entire year, and now comes decision time. I think it would be fun to see what everyone's stance is on a couple of hot topics that Wolves will likely need to address this summer in some form or another. So here it is: Be the GM, Take a stand on the options below. You can not change the scenarios presented. Simply pick one and explain why.

Jefferson vs. Love
Who do you keep and why? Does one have more value on the court? More value in a trade? Criteria can be anything you want, but you only get one of them.

Flynn vs. Sessions
Both relatively young, and both with areas to improve. Again as above, you can only have one, which one do you want?

Darko vs. No Darko
We only saw him for a limited number of games, but thats all Kahn and Co. get too. This assumes he is willing to sign, but does not make any assumptions about his contract. If his contract would be a deciding factor for you, then state what your break point is in years and dollars. At what point do you say "sorry that's too much" and walk away?


If anyone else has some more ideas for it plesae feel free to toss them in. Now for my answers (which I fully admit can be proven wrong over the long run):

Jefferson vs. Love
I think Love has more value because of his small contract. I would also keep Love because we probably won't be able to trade him straight up for a young player so his small contract may get in the way. If we want to trade for a good player other teams usually aren't willing to give up a young player on a small contract so we should trade Jefferson for a borderline all-star wing. If we use Love to make this trade it'll hurt our capspace. Also after 6 years in the NBA Jefferson still isn't in good condition, doesn't hit the weights, doesn't pass or play defense. He hasn't figure out at all how to be a team player so it's much less likely he ever will.

Flynn vs. Sessions
I pick Flynn because of potential and if he doesn't pan out as a good pg he can come off the bench as instant offense.

Darko vs. No Darko
I also try to resign Darko at a max of $4 million per year (# of years not sure about). Hollinger was saying how he's performed well when joining new teams only to end up on the bench. But for $4 million I think it's worth it to take a chance as many big men stiffs make more than that.

[C.lupus]

Jefferson V Love = trade whichever one gets us Favors.

Flynn V Sessions = keep Sessions as Rubio's backup. I don't see Flynn's future here.

Darko V no Darko = Darko unless he asks for more than $5m. If we can re-sign him to something reasonable (and by reasonable I mean something along the lines of Gomes or Sessions), then he will be a nice addition to a three-way frontcourt rotation.

Alien V Predator = Alien all the way.

[PeeDee]

Jefferson V Love = Love. He brings a lot more to the court than Jefferson does. Jump shot, passing, setting screens, bbiq and rebounding. He has the potential to make his teammates better, Al has not shown that. He's a lot younger, a lot cheaper, and has more upside imo. As far as post scoring goes, you don't need to be fancy (Jefferson) you just need results (Pekovic, possibly Darko).

Flynn V Sessions = I feel Flynn can fill a Jason Terry type role for us in the future. He had an up and down rookie season but I won't hold that against him. He still has plenty of upside.

Darko V no Darko = Sign him. He's multi-dimensional and a nice defender. I'd like to see what he can do after a full training camp/offseason training program.

Bigs- Darko, Love, Pekovic, Hollins
Wings- Draft pick, Draft pick, Brewer, Ellington
Points- Flynn, Sessions

+ whatever Jefferson could fetch us + whatever we can do with the leftover capspace.

I'd roll with that next year.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Jefferson vs. Love
***Love because he's cheaper and healthier and easier to build around imo. Jefferson has great offensive scoring ability, but he takes too much time and gets tunnel vision too. Also, Al's defense looks great sometimes, but its way too inconsistent for me to cry too much over losing.

Flynn vs. Sessions
Both relatively young, and both with areas to improve. Again as above, you can only have one, which one do you want?

****Flynn just because I have to assume that once he starts to learn the game and react faster on the court and get more consistent w/ the J, he can be a nice weapon where you can't totally play off the J like you can to Sessions

Darko vs. No Darko
****I could go either way for around 5 mil a year, but I'd definitely be on the "pro" side of the argument if its 4 mil a year. There's huge depth in the draft and tons of veterans in free agency (Shaq, Z, J O'neal, B MIller, Camby, Rasho, Haywood). I think Darko makes a lot of sense to bring back, but there's enough options in the draft/free agency that we should be getting stupid w/ a contract. He's been nice, but he's not single handedly winning games or anything.

Gomes vs ditching his contract
Gomes has an option and the Wolves are short on shooters and Gomes might be our best as he's surprises by improving in that area every year. Also a great guy and good presence. I say bring him back if we keep Big Al so that he has one of his homies around, but if we trade Big Al, then moves Gomes too.

[AQuintus]

Jefferson vs. Love
Love or Neither. Love fits both the triangle and the run and gun (with his outlet passes and trailing 3 point shootin) better. As for the op's point, the triangle certainly doesn't require big men to sprint up and down the court, but the run and gun system that is supposedly going to be our primary offense does. As for contenders needing a low post option, the last two champions had Pau Gasol (Bynum barely played in the playoffs) and Kendrick Perkins as their best post threats. In todays game of no hand checks, low post scoring is just flat out not needed. (EDIT: Low post defense on the other hand...)

Flynn vs. Sessions
Flynn or Neither. Flynn could potentially grow into a solid 6th man behind Rubio. Sessions already is a solid 6th man, but because of his poor shooting he just doesn't fit the team.

Darko vs. No Darko
Darko, but only for the right money. I would say that anything more than around a 3 year (with options) 15 million dollar deal would be too much.

Gomes vs ditching his contract
No Gomes. He's got talent, but he isn't a starter on a good team, and is too unreliable to be worth his money as a backup. Just not as valuable as the cap space we could have instead.

[moss_is_1]

Jefferson or Love

Jefferson, I think he has more potential as both a 2nd option, and a defender next to a 7 footer.

Flynn or Sessions

Sessions, I really like Ramon and thought it was unfair he couldn't start no matter how well he did. He has alot of potential, he can get into the lane even if he isn't the quickest guy, good rebounder, and gets everyone involved.

Darko or No Darko

Darko, as long as its a good contract. Perfect in our offense, and hopefully can improve some of his touch around the hoop. Good defender, great passer for a big, solid rebounder. Plus he plays on the opposite side of Al and likes it.

[prefuse73]

Jefferson vs Love

I would hate to make this decision. Jeffersons post presence on offense is rare and needed to win a championship, however, Love is the better player all around and less injury prone (thus far). If push comes to shove, I would have to say Jefferson right now. Love's tendency to sag on his man to get rebounds pisses me off more than anything Jefferson does. We would trading low on Jefferson right now and Love would get us much more in return.

Flynn vs Sessions

We may as well keep both for 1 more year, but if I had to choose, keep Flynn. I still believe he has much more upside and Sessions has decent trade value.

Darko vs no Darko

Sign him as long as its not much more than the MLE.

Gomes

No Gomes. He is too small for PF and not nearly athletic enough to play the 3. Perfect 7-8th man on a contending team.

NEW DECISION
Sign Pekovic or trade his rights.

Not athletic enough and Kahn is on record saying that he thinks he is below the rim player which they have plenty of. He is much more valuable in a trade asset.

[LordBaldric]

Jefferson vs Love

I can't understand why so many here are taken in by Big Al's fools gold game. I'll just post a typical quote from another board.

Minny will frantically try to trade Jefferson before Love.

Yes, I'd be delighted to pair Love with Noah. They're a beautiful fit with each other and with Rose. But Minny, for all its front office flaws, just isn't that stupid. I think

Flynn vs Sessions

I'd trade the one with the most value and hold on to the other as Rubio's backup.

Darko vs Non-Darko

I'd like to sign him if he will agree to a reasonable deal.

[Devilzsidewalk]

NEW DECISION
Sign Pekovic or trade his rights.

Not athletic enough and Kahn is on record saying that he thinks he is below the rim player which they have plenty of. He is much more valuable in a trade asset.

below the rim yes, but we only have 1 below the rim low post scoring beast (Big Al) and while below the rim as a whole, Pek still looks more explosive than Big Al and might make it more palatable to move Big Al in a trade. So to put it more succinctly, only duplicates if we keep Big Al. So my vote is trade him if we keep Big Al, keep him if we don't.

[moss_is_1]

I would trade Pek, but that's because I want to keep Al. If we move Al, keep Pek.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I think its a big mistake to get rid of what could be the greatest widow's peak in NBA history for anything less than a sure star

[C.lupus]

I want to trade any two of Jefferson/Love/Pekovic for one frontcourt player with "dynamic explosiveness". Beyond that, I don't care who the two leaving are.


Oh, I missed the Gomes V no Gomes vote. No Gomes for me.

[cpfsf]

If we keep Big Al, we shouldn't rule out any Pekovic trade proposals. In fact, I would consider trading Pekovic for Splitter in that case.

If we trade Big Al, I think we should keep Pekovic.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I want to trade any two of Jefferson/Love/Pekovic for one frontcourt player with "dynamic explosiveness". Beyond that, I don't care who the two leaving are.

thats overpaying, 2 of them for just 1 guy with dynamic explosiveness? Maybe if its for somebody vigorously volatile, but not dynamically explosive, thats crazy

[Dewey]

Love ... Jefferson: Love
I'm not exactly sold on either one, but it's about money right now. We have accumulated multiple big men that lack athleticism (Love, Jefferson, Pekovic?, Darko), and outside of Pekovic, these combinations are not looking like solutions. We do need to retain some experienced players at some point, but I'm afraid Al has seen his best days. I take my chances with Love, Pekovic, and maybe Milicic (for $3 million/yr) or let him go.

Flynn ... Sessions: Flynn
Same scenario as above as it is a money thing for me, and we are still bad enough where we have to place enough value on potential. Right now I think Sessions is better, but not significantly better to make me want to trading Flynn - yet.

Darko ... No Darko: Darko
$3 million (or $4-5 milllion with a team option each year). I think he'd like to stay and play here, but if it's tied to some alliance with Al, then send him.

Gomes ... No Gomes: No Gomes
Lacks consistent energy and we simply need to find someone better for his Forward position. If Gomes would've put in the work Brewer did the past year or so, he'd have been a legit starting SF.

[horaceworthy]

Jefferson vs Love

I can't understand why so many here are taken in by Big Al's fools gold game

I think it's as much a case of not being taken in by the fools gold elements to Love's game as it is anything to do with Jefferson.

[Steve_Holiday]

Jefferson/Love: Jefferson
I think Al is a better piece to build around (although hopefully he won't be our primary piece). As long as more cap = more euro big-men - as opposed to impact players - I don't think the money is a huge concern. If Al can bring back significantly more in trade than Love, though, I'd ship him out instead.

Flynn/Sessions: If trading one, keep whichever has lower trade value. If keeping both, LET THE BETTER PLAYER GET THE MOST MINUTES.
Neither of these players are the future. If we don't end up with Wall (I'd prefer Turner anyway), trade the one that brings back the most. If not, roll with both until Rubio comes over.

Darko -> I like this guy ok. I have no idea what the market is for a guy like this, but I'd use extreme caution.

No Gomes -> I used to be a huge Gomes supporter, especially after his scoring run last season when Al went down. This team has been desperate for quality minutes at SF all season, and he's done nothing. I used to think Gomes could at least be a good complimentary piece on a contending team. After this year, I highly doubt it.

[southern wolf]

Jefferson/Love
I'd lean towards keeping Love and trading Al. We could get a lot of value back for both of them, but Love's got more room to improve and I want him on this team when he improves his conditioning and finishing around the rim.

Flynn/Sessions
Keep Flynn. I'd like to see him come off the bench, bring energy, play his natural game. He's got a great attitude so he won't mind not starting.

Darko/No Darko
Keep Darko. I don't think he'll ask for too much if his role as a starter is gaurenteed, and he's given 30+ minutes. Love his presence in the paint, great pick up by Kahn.