POLL: Expansion - Protect 8 Wolves?

[shrink]

Imagine the NBA expanded this summer, and the Wolves could only protect eight players. Any unprotected players could be drafted by the two new expansion teams

Assuming KAT and Ant are locks, which other six players do you protect?

Bonus: Are they the same that you think Gupta would choose?

[LibertyPrime]

Russell - Whatever his faults, it's hard to justify anyone else over him. I keep hoping he'll grow more consistent with age.
Beasley - his 3-point specialization has made a difference in a lot of games.
Beverly - agonized over this a bit, but I want to keep Bev in the fold, possibly as a player->coach.
Vando - works so well with what he does. Please just add more strength and keep doing it.
McDaniels - I don't have the sky high hopes for him that some do, but he's valuable.
Nowell - it comes down to Reid vs. Nowell for me. We've seen Nowell burst out before; I'm not sure why he doesn't play more, but he's capable of scoring in bunches, the most useful NBA skill.
-------
On the other side:
Reid - the hardest cut. I feel like Reid has plateaued. He's going to want more money but I'm not sure that he's going to provide added production. The best argument for keeping Reid, I think, has been that we can keep playing the same way we would if KAT were in the game but I''m beginning to wonder if that's such a good thing, especially with the re-emergence of the big man in this league. Better to have a rebounder/rim-protector in the second unit that we can occasionally bring into the first unit when facing big teams. (Yes, I'm hoping we draft Walker Kessler.)
MacLaughlin - he's done well relative to expectations but I think he'd have a better career in Europe.
Bolmaro - you know, I think at this point in his Wolves career Alexey Shved had a stronger impact that Bolmaro has, and that's pretty damning. You can only make excuses so long, and then you have to start playing him.

BONUS: I think Gupta would make one or more of our big contracts available if he could, so no.

[King Malta]

Russell - Whatever his faults, it's hard to justify anyone else over him. I keep hoping he'll grow more consistent with age.
Beasley - his 3-point specialization has made a difference in a lot of games.
Beverly - agonized over this a bit, but I want to keep Bev in the fold, possibly as a player->coach.
Vando - works so well with what he does. Please just add more strength and keep doing it.
McDaniels - I don't have the sky high hopes for him that some do, but he's valuable.
Nowell - it comes down to Reid vs. Nowell for me. We've seen Nowell burst out before; I'm not sure why he doesn't play more, but he's capable of scoring in bunches, the most useful NBA skill.
-------
On the other side:
Reid - the hardest cut. I feel like Reid has plateaued. He's going to want more money but I'm not sure that he's going to provide added production. The best argument for keeping Reid, I think, has been that we can keep playing the same way we would if KAT were in the game but I''m beginning to wonder if that's such a good thing, especially with the re-emergence of the big man in this league. Better to have a rebounder/rim-protector in the second unit that we can occasionally bring into the first unit when facing big teams. (Yes, I'm hoping we draft Walker Kessler.)
MacLaughlin - he's done well relative to expectations but I think he'd have a better career in Europe.
Bolmaro - you know, I think at this point in his Wolves career Alexey Shved had a stronger impact that Bolmaro has, and that's pretty damning. You can only make excuses so long, and then you have to start playing him.

BONUS: I think Gupta would make one or more of our big contracts available if he could, so no.

Yeah I'm keeping/cutting the same three guys.

Just feel like Reid, JMac and Bolmaro have the easiest skillsets to replace and don't really have a considerable amount of additional growth to offer. JMac is probably the one I want to cut least of that group to be honest. His play as the back-up PG since the turn of 2022 has been fantastic.

[Biff Cooper]

Would an expansion team take Russell if he were available? If we were to get a $31M TPE for allowing someone to take him off our hands, I would be more likely to leave him unprotected. Since we probably would not, I guess gotta go with Reid and McLaughlin unprotected like everyone else. No incentive for letting Russell get taken if we can't replace his salary and production with a new FA.

[Klomp]

Some harsh comments being made on some of these guys. Leaving guys unprotected doesn't mean you're cutting them from the team. It just means they are available to be picked off.

I think the decision comes between Nowell, Reid, McLaughlin and Bolmaro. And I want to look more at what we have on the team and what we don't. I think I might actually be choosing between McLaughlin and Bolmaro. Keep in mind contract status is important as well. I like having Bolmaro locked in for cheap.

[moss_is_1]

Kat
Ant
Russell
Bev
McDaniels
Vando
Beasley

are pretty much no-brainers, IMO. They're either too good, or on expiring/team friendly deals. Last spot is tough. Nowell, Reid, Jmac have shown the most for sure, but are on real short contracts. Bolmaro is locked on longer and cheap, and has a lot of potential. I think Nowell is the best of the bunch so I would keep him.

[shrink]

Would an expansion team take Russell if he were available? If we were to get a $31M TPE for allowing someone to take him off our hands, I would be more likely to leave him unprotected. Since we probably would not, I guess gotta go with Reid and McLaughlin unprotected like everyone else. No incentive for letting Russell get taken if we can't replace his salary and production with a new FA.

I wonder about this too. I didn’t check cap holds, but since we are down near the cap, that $31 mil savings is probably cap space, and should be more than enough to offer Jalen Brunson a good deal.

I don’t know if Finch would disrupt the line up, and I imagine that DLo’s production in the play offs would factor in heavily to his future. If he was picked up by another team, it would allow us to avoid requests for a big extension. And on top of this, would a $31 mil expiring DLo be a player that an expansion team would want? Too many variables for me to feel comfortable.

[mplsfonz23]

KAT
Ant
Vando
Jaden

The rest are up for grabs.

DLo maybe, but if someone take that contract off our hands, we could get two quality players. IMHO.

Plus, how many players could they take from the Wolves?

[younggunsmn]

Nice Thought excercise shrink.
Do we have to expose one goalie?

Vanderbilt, MCdaniels, and Russell are definite.
Even if you think Russell is overpaid, you don't let that kind of talent go in an expansion draft for nothing.
So that leaves 3 more spots.
I take Nowell because he has been very efficient and consistent (and cheap) and I'd be comfortable expanding his role.

That leaves 2 spots for Beasley, Reid, Beverly, Bolmaro, and McLaughlin.
Jmac is out, lowest impact/upside combo.
Naz is out. Easiest to replace as backup big.
Beasley's shooting probably hardest to replace, 2 years of team control.
Don't think we find that quality of shooter for MLE so I keep him.

That leaves Pat Bev/Bolmaro.
If you don't think an expansion team wants a 34 year old on an expiring with little trade value, you expose him and hope they take Naz.
But you risk tearing out the heart and soul of your team.
Bolmaro has shown nothing so far, but sample size is so minute you can't draw any reasonable conclusion from it.
Those that see him in practice every day probably have a better idea.
I really like his size and tools, but it takes a lot more than that to succeed in the league.

Can this be like hockey where we send them a 2nd round pick to agree to draft Naz?

Protected:
KAT
ANT
Russell
Vanderbilt
McDaniels
Nowell
Beasley
Beverly

Available:
Naz
Bolmaro
Jmac