My "Dream" Off-Season
Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 9:25 pm
If you are a hardcore Timberwolves fan, like myself, you clearly understand the significance of this impending off-season. Here is what I believe our T-Pups should do, this is my dream off-season plan:
During the draft -
At this point there is nobody, excluding Kahn, that can say with certainty what the Wolves will do. In my opinion it was rotten luck for us to get the fourth pick, but also a blessing in disguise - ala the Sacramento Kings last season when they dropped three slots in the lottery and 'settled' for a man-child named Tyreke. Keeping this is mind, the Wolves MUST stay in the four spot and draft either Favors or Cousins. Trading up to nab Evan Turner is simply not worth Elton's Brand awful contract. Yes Turner is a magnificent, perhaps transformational, player but Kahn has spent his tenure with the Wolves getting rid of bad contracts, depreciated assets, and legitimate crap, all in an effort to clear up space so he can make big moves this offseason. It is difficult for me to believe that Kahn would waste this flexibility just to get Turner. So, all of these rumors with Philadelphia has led me to one conclusion: let them take Turner, do not make Brand our problem, and make a play for Andre Igoudala instead. Once they take Turner, unless new Head Coach Doug Collins is completely crazy, you can pretty much say that Igoudala is gone; they could probably be pretty successful together (Turner/Iggy) but they both play best at SG and they have similar weaknesses - long range shooting.
Thus, my dream is for the Timberwolves to AVOID a bad offer to get Turner, and instead trade Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, and #23 for Andre Igoudala and Thad Young (which works in the trade checker). This deal allows Philly to cut Gomes and save money, which is important when you have the contracts of Samuel Dalembert and Elton Brand. It would also provide the Sixers with a dominant low-post scorer, I won't get into his deficiencies, that would fit nicely with Turner, Jrue Holiday, and Marreese Speights. They too would have the opportunity to draft a nice player at 23, if they do their homework well enough. But what does this trade really do for the Wolves? Does it improve our lowly squad at all? In my opinion this trade does an incredible amount for us, because it sends a couple different messages to the team. First it tells everyone that Kevin Love is our guy and will start at the 4 for a long time to come. This is so important because Love has an enormous amount of potential and the longer the Wolves waste his talent at sixth man the more his growth will be stunted. The only way to maximize Love‘s value and potential, which is extremely high, is to start him at the power forward and let him play 35 minutes a game for the rest of his Timberwolves career. Unfortunately, for Big AL supporters, the only way to see K-Love truly develop is to trade Al Jefferson, and replace him with a beast that can protect the paint - someone in the mold of Al Horford or Joakim Noah or maybe...DMC. Secondly, it balances out our roster and now gives us one star wing, Iggy, and two up and coming wings (brewer, and young). We desperately need wings who can block shots, steal passes, and finish with jaw-dropping dunks. When was the last time there was a Wolf that played the SG or SF and could throw it down with the best of them? Hmmm…Isaiah Rider? Bah I don’t think so. Corey Brewer? He's getting there, but not yet. These questions, however, lead me to my next dream - the wolves will trade Ramon Sessions, Wayne Ellington, Ryan Hollins and #16 to Sacramento for Francisco Garcia and #5. This would be another draft day trade, like the first one with Philadelphia that would occur during the teams pick. Let says the draft unfolds like this 1. Wall 2. Turner 3. Favors….
At four the Wolves should select the so called ‘head-case’ Demarcus Cousins. Yes he probably has maturity issues, but Hollinger says he will be the best player in the entire draft, and if we know anything about Kahn yet it is that he will select the best player available no matter what position - see Jonny Flynn. Though Stephen Curry was obviously the better player, between him and Flynn, I’m sure his canceled workout withheld us from seeing who the real BPA was last season. But it is obvious this year if everything stays the same and the draft goes Wall, Turner, Favors then the Wolves must trade AL and select Cousins at four. He has that star potential that Kahn often speaks about, that star you can lean on like Kobe, the Wolves need that. But the Wolves must trade AL after they select Cousins at 4, not before. This is important because I believe the Kings really like Cousins and would pick him immediately if he falls to 5, so if we pick him right before the Kings pick, Sacramento may be shocked enough to trade the fifth pick for players and later picks (something the Wolves possess). Why would the Sacramento Kings take Wes Johnson anyways when they have two promising small forwards in Omri Casspi and Donte Green. I’m thinking the Wolves could call Sacramento and offer the Sessions, Ellington, Hollins #16 package mentioned above for Garcia and #5 since the Kings didn’t get the player they wanted all along - Run DMC (Cousins). Then the Wolves would select Wes Johnson, a perfect Scottie Pippen clone for the triangle offense. Actually, in my opinion Johnson is one of the most perfect players for what the Wolves are trying to do. If we want to be a fast paced team, that settles into the triangle when the break isn’t in order, then Wes Johnson is our man. He can light it up from downtown and he runs the floor incredibly well, oh and he finally gives us a wing player that has the potential to be a special dunker and supreme 3PT shooter in the NBA.
In the second round we should focus on taking two players with the most potential. Guys like Jerome Jordan, Darrington Hobson, and Latavious Williams immediately come to mind as solid picks. Since we traded Ramon, in this scenario, I would select the guy that reminds me most of Ty Lawson, his name is Sherron Collins, with the first second rounder and Williams with the other. This would allow us to acquire a player in Latavious Williams but not take up a roster spot during the season and merely keep him in the d-league where he played this entire last season as the first player to jump from high-school to the NBDL.
-- Finished product after draft day:
PG: Jonny Flynn, Sherron Collins (Ricky Rubio)
SG: Andre Igoudala, Corey Brewer, Francisco Garcia
SF: Thad Young, Wes Johnson
PF: Kevin Love, Latavious Williams
C: Demarcus Cousins,
Free Agency: After an amazingly busy draft, filled with two HUGE trades, David Kahn will be quiet during the free agency period in my dream off-season. There are only three steps I want them to take under this plan:
(1) First the Wolves should work internally and sign both Darko and Pekovic to 2-4 yr contracts.
I assume this will cost the Wolves between $8-12 million but I truly do not know. This will give us a fairly experienced Euro pairing of big men of the bench and I think their games go great together. They are both physical players who can teach Love and Cousins different skills - even though they will be behind them on the depth chart. This gives our Wolves a potential dominant four man rotation at the 4/5 as each player brings different strengths to the table.
(2) Sign Anthony Morrow to a 4-yr, $12 million deal
Why this much? Well it’s only $3-million a year and if Ryan Gomes can get $4-million why can’t Morrow. He and Wes Johnson would give the Wolves two legitimate studs on the perimeter.
(3) Keep the rest of the money and hope to God that Carmelo opts out of his contract with Denver and subsequently recognizes the Syracuse talent on our roster. If Melo cannot be persuaded the Wolves can use the money to give contract extensions, sign Rubio, and look at potential free agents in 2011.
Hopefully David Kahn makes this all happen, because with the roster below the Timberwolves would make huge strides, which is completely necessary in the season before Ricky is supposed to come over. Ricky needs to see something that resembles a competitive roster before he ever considers playing for us. I would go as far as predicting 32 wins for the roster below:
And maybe, just maybe, that is good enough for Ricky
My 2010-2011 “Dream” Timberwolves
PG: Jonny Flynn, Sherron Collins (Ricky Rubio)
SG: Andre Igoudala, Corey Brewer, Anthony Morrow
SF: Thad Young, Wes Johnson, Francisco Garcia
PF: Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic, Latavious Williams
C: Demarcus Cousins, Darko Milicic, Greg Stiemsma
Hope you enjoyed! Can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts.
-JM
During the draft -
At this point there is nobody, excluding Kahn, that can say with certainty what the Wolves will do. In my opinion it was rotten luck for us to get the fourth pick, but also a blessing in disguise - ala the Sacramento Kings last season when they dropped three slots in the lottery and 'settled' for a man-child named Tyreke. Keeping this is mind, the Wolves MUST stay in the four spot and draft either Favors or Cousins. Trading up to nab Evan Turner is simply not worth Elton's Brand awful contract. Yes Turner is a magnificent, perhaps transformational, player but Kahn has spent his tenure with the Wolves getting rid of bad contracts, depreciated assets, and legitimate crap, all in an effort to clear up space so he can make big moves this offseason. It is difficult for me to believe that Kahn would waste this flexibility just to get Turner. So, all of these rumors with Philadelphia has led me to one conclusion: let them take Turner, do not make Brand our problem, and make a play for Andre Igoudala instead. Once they take Turner, unless new Head Coach Doug Collins is completely crazy, you can pretty much say that Igoudala is gone; they could probably be pretty successful together (Turner/Iggy) but they both play best at SG and they have similar weaknesses - long range shooting.
Thus, my dream is for the Timberwolves to AVOID a bad offer to get Turner, and instead trade Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, and #23 for Andre Igoudala and Thad Young (which works in the trade checker). This deal allows Philly to cut Gomes and save money, which is important when you have the contracts of Samuel Dalembert and Elton Brand. It would also provide the Sixers with a dominant low-post scorer, I won't get into his deficiencies, that would fit nicely with Turner, Jrue Holiday, and Marreese Speights. They too would have the opportunity to draft a nice player at 23, if they do their homework well enough. But what does this trade really do for the Wolves? Does it improve our lowly squad at all? In my opinion this trade does an incredible amount for us, because it sends a couple different messages to the team. First it tells everyone that Kevin Love is our guy and will start at the 4 for a long time to come. This is so important because Love has an enormous amount of potential and the longer the Wolves waste his talent at sixth man the more his growth will be stunted. The only way to maximize Love‘s value and potential, which is extremely high, is to start him at the power forward and let him play 35 minutes a game for the rest of his Timberwolves career. Unfortunately, for Big AL supporters, the only way to see K-Love truly develop is to trade Al Jefferson, and replace him with a beast that can protect the paint - someone in the mold of Al Horford or Joakim Noah or maybe...DMC. Secondly, it balances out our roster and now gives us one star wing, Iggy, and two up and coming wings (brewer, and young). We desperately need wings who can block shots, steal passes, and finish with jaw-dropping dunks. When was the last time there was a Wolf that played the SG or SF and could throw it down with the best of them? Hmmm…Isaiah Rider? Bah I don’t think so. Corey Brewer? He's getting there, but not yet. These questions, however, lead me to my next dream - the wolves will trade Ramon Sessions, Wayne Ellington, Ryan Hollins and #16 to Sacramento for Francisco Garcia and #5. This would be another draft day trade, like the first one with Philadelphia that would occur during the teams pick. Let says the draft unfolds like this 1. Wall 2. Turner 3. Favors….
At four the Wolves should select the so called ‘head-case’ Demarcus Cousins. Yes he probably has maturity issues, but Hollinger says he will be the best player in the entire draft, and if we know anything about Kahn yet it is that he will select the best player available no matter what position - see Jonny Flynn. Though Stephen Curry was obviously the better player, between him and Flynn, I’m sure his canceled workout withheld us from seeing who the real BPA was last season. But it is obvious this year if everything stays the same and the draft goes Wall, Turner, Favors then the Wolves must trade AL and select Cousins at four. He has that star potential that Kahn often speaks about, that star you can lean on like Kobe, the Wolves need that. But the Wolves must trade AL after they select Cousins at 4, not before. This is important because I believe the Kings really like Cousins and would pick him immediately if he falls to 5, so if we pick him right before the Kings pick, Sacramento may be shocked enough to trade the fifth pick for players and later picks (something the Wolves possess). Why would the Sacramento Kings take Wes Johnson anyways when they have two promising small forwards in Omri Casspi and Donte Green. I’m thinking the Wolves could call Sacramento and offer the Sessions, Ellington, Hollins #16 package mentioned above for Garcia and #5 since the Kings didn’t get the player they wanted all along - Run DMC (Cousins). Then the Wolves would select Wes Johnson, a perfect Scottie Pippen clone for the triangle offense. Actually, in my opinion Johnson is one of the most perfect players for what the Wolves are trying to do. If we want to be a fast paced team, that settles into the triangle when the break isn’t in order, then Wes Johnson is our man. He can light it up from downtown and he runs the floor incredibly well, oh and he finally gives us a wing player that has the potential to be a special dunker and supreme 3PT shooter in the NBA.
In the second round we should focus on taking two players with the most potential. Guys like Jerome Jordan, Darrington Hobson, and Latavious Williams immediately come to mind as solid picks. Since we traded Ramon, in this scenario, I would select the guy that reminds me most of Ty Lawson, his name is Sherron Collins, with the first second rounder and Williams with the other. This would allow us to acquire a player in Latavious Williams but not take up a roster spot during the season and merely keep him in the d-league where he played this entire last season as the first player to jump from high-school to the NBDL.
-- Finished product after draft day:
PG: Jonny Flynn, Sherron Collins (Ricky Rubio)
SG: Andre Igoudala, Corey Brewer, Francisco Garcia
SF: Thad Young, Wes Johnson
PF: Kevin Love, Latavious Williams
C: Demarcus Cousins,
Free Agency: After an amazingly busy draft, filled with two HUGE trades, David Kahn will be quiet during the free agency period in my dream off-season. There are only three steps I want them to take under this plan:
(1) First the Wolves should work internally and sign both Darko and Pekovic to 2-4 yr contracts.
I assume this will cost the Wolves between $8-12 million but I truly do not know. This will give us a fairly experienced Euro pairing of big men of the bench and I think their games go great together. They are both physical players who can teach Love and Cousins different skills - even though they will be behind them on the depth chart. This gives our Wolves a potential dominant four man rotation at the 4/5 as each player brings different strengths to the table.
(2) Sign Anthony Morrow to a 4-yr, $12 million deal
Why this much? Well it’s only $3-million a year and if Ryan Gomes can get $4-million why can’t Morrow. He and Wes Johnson would give the Wolves two legitimate studs on the perimeter.
(3) Keep the rest of the money and hope to God that Carmelo opts out of his contract with Denver and subsequently recognizes the Syracuse talent on our roster. If Melo cannot be persuaded the Wolves can use the money to give contract extensions, sign Rubio, and look at potential free agents in 2011.
Hopefully David Kahn makes this all happen, because with the roster below the Timberwolves would make huge strides, which is completely necessary in the season before Ricky is supposed to come over. Ricky needs to see something that resembles a competitive roster before he ever considers playing for us. I would go as far as predicting 32 wins for the roster below:
And maybe, just maybe, that is good enough for Ricky
My 2010-2011 “Dream” Timberwolves
PG: Jonny Flynn, Sherron Collins (Ricky Rubio)
SG: Andre Igoudala, Corey Brewer, Anthony Morrow
SF: Thad Young, Wes Johnson, Francisco Garcia
PF: Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic, Latavious Williams
C: Demarcus Cousins, Darko Milicic, Greg Stiemsma
Hope you enjoyed! Can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts.
-JM
