RealGM

Three Way Trade…

To Kings: Ellis and Lee, Beasley. Wolves Draft Pick (Utah)

To GSW: Love, Wes, Darko, Kings Protected Draft Pick

To Wolves: Cousins and Evans, Salmons

Lineups…

Kings: PG-Ellis/Jimmer…SG-Garcia/Ellis/Thornton Resign?…SF-Beasley/Greene/Garcia…PF-Lee/Hickson/Beasley…C-FA With Huge Cap Space (Nene?)/Lee/Thompson

GSW: PG-Curry/Lin/FA With Cap Space…SG-Thompson/Wes…SF-Wright/Wes…PF-Love/Udoh…C-Biedrins/Darko/Love

Wolves: PG-Rubio/Rid/Evans…SG-Evans/Salmons/Webster…SF-Williams/Webster/Salmons…PF-AR/Williams/Cousins…C-Cousins/Pek/Miller

Reasoning…

All three teams trade their potential Amnesty causality and get trade value for him (Lee, Darko, Salmons).

All three teams trade players at one time or another rumored to be traded for max value (Love, Ellis, Evans).

All three teams even-out their unbalanced lineups.

All three teams end up with starters and rotations that compliment style of play.

Wolves trade Love who they might not be able to resign and from my standpoint is not a player to build a franchise around…this can be highly debated. And his trade value is very high right now, maybe peaked.

Wolves secure a young core player at each position: Rubio, Evans, Williams, AR, Cousins.

We could've had Cousins and opted not to take him because of his issues.
And he hasn't really proven that he's going to be a dominant Center either.

First, welcome to the boards, and let me say that I think it's nice to open with a blockbuster trade. Trades are tough to balance and take a while to get the hang of, so please don't see my critique as an insult, but just as a way of educating you for even better trades in the future. I think there are a flaws in your "givens" that's leading you astray.

1. MIN's potential amnesty candidates are Brad Miller or Martell Webster. Probably not Darko.

2. There is little risk of Kevin Love re-signing, because the CBA makes it incredibly risky. The rookie's initial teams can offer an extension a full year in advance of any offer from another team. In order for the Love to go from restricted free agent to unrestricted, he'd have to refuse MIN's extension and a play a season for the qualifying offer. This is incredibly risky, because if he gets an injury, he misses out on that first giant contract off of NBA scale. I can only think of one player that ever did this (Ben Gordon), and that cat has some issues.

3. I agree with you that his trade value is very high, and that he may not ever be a #1. However, right now he's tough to trade because he's the face of the franchise and he sells tickets.

4. I personally think this is an overpay. In my mind, you have to overpay to upgrade, and you really have to overpay to upgrade to a star player. I question whether Love = Evans + Cousins (who have bigger issues), but I certainly don't think MIN should have to throw in Beasley, Wes Johnson and a pick to get a deal done.

So again, welcome to the boards, and thanks for an interesting trade.

My god no. Wouldn't touch cousins with a 10 foot pole, and evans regressed big time last year. And Salmons has an awful deal. This is beyond terrible for the wolves, even if you take Love out.

first thoughts were GS shouldnt be in it, rather have Love than Cousins, and that I'd love to get Evans though his shooting + Rubio is potentially fugly

after further analysis, I'm really quite content w/ seeing how our 2/3/4 meshes w/ Rubio; I think we have some really gifted finishers, but need somebody to get them the ball in rhythm going to the hoop and off catch and shoot situations and thats supposedly Rubio so I want to check that out before any major moves. Even the Wayne/Webster/Tolliver trio fits into that category, so I'm good w/ them as the primary backups. Randolph needs to improve his shot a little more, but he can finish too, even Darko and Pek stand to get some easy buckets potentially, its really all about how effective Rubio can be driving and drawing attention. If people play off his individual offense, everything falls apart, he has to be able to at least finish around the rim against average defense and hit open mid range shots. He cant be Rondo shooting b/c he doesnt have the finishing to compensate. /sidetrack

No.

Cousins? No way, leads the nba in technical fouls (14), personal fouls (332),and fouls per game (4.1), lol

Love, Wes, Beasley, the Utah pick, and Darko for Evans, Cousins, and we have to take Salmons? God no.