RealGM

Players Currently Under Contract / Draft Pick
Al Jefferson
Brian Cardinal
Corey Brewer
Jason Collins
Kevin Love
Mark Madsen
Mike Miller
Randy Foye
Rashad McCants

Heres what I think is our starting five on opening day from the guys we have now:
Foye / Brewer / Miller / Jefferson / Collins


Most people think we will start Love right away, but I think we will start him off slowly. Collins is a veteran defensive presence who can be successful alongside Jefferson.

This leaves a current bench of McCants / Cardinal / Madsen / Love

That may look like a weak scoring bench, but it would be even worse with Love starting and Collins on the bench. There's 3 more holes we need to fill. A backup point guard, A backup small forward, and a bigger center, preferably one with an offensive game.

Thoughts?

Foye Telfair
Miller McCants Snyder
Gomes Brewer
Jefferson Richard Smith
Love Collins

DNP Madsen Cardinal

This of course is granted we resign everyone. Gomes is not going anywhere, that's for sure.

Sign Telfair/Gomes/Diop and if there is enough money left, sign POB.

Foye/Telfair
Brewer/McCants
Miller/Gomes/Cardinal
Jefferson/Love
Diop/Collins/POB

In a suit: Madsen

Is there any chance that if we resign Bassy he starts????
Maybe
PG:Telfair
SG:Foye
SF:Miller
PF:Love
C:Jefferson
Most likely
PG:Foye
SG:Miller
SF:Gomes
PF:Love
C:Jefferson

I think it's pretty obvious the lineup will look like this:

Foye/Telfair
Brewer/McCants
Miller/Gomes
Jefferson/Smtih
Love/Collins

Brewer and Miller compliment each other perfectly and should play together at all times. IMO, that's a great starting lineup. Our bench is terribly undersized, but it can put points on the board, so that might be good enough.

No way Bassy starts and we put Foye at the 2.

I've heard a lot of people call Collins the worst player in the NBA, so we shouldn't expect much from him.

Foye, Miller, Brewer, and Jefferson will start. Whether Love starts or comes off the bench is probably not an answerable question right now.

If Jefferson starts at center, Love.
If Jefferson starts at forward, Collins.

I already have a four man group in mind, Deeney nailed it on the head with who they are.

I think Klomp got this one right. I dont expect to start Love out the gate, and Collins can take pressure off of Jefferson defensively. As was said, Brew/Miller are perfect for each other and Foye is our PG until he proves he cant handle it.

Dr.Krapinsky wrote:I've heard a lot of people call Collins the worst player in the NBA, so we shouldn't expect much from him.

A lot of stat geeks, sure. There's more to it than stats... Collins does not run fast or jump high, but he sacrifices his body and is a terrific defensive player. If you go by PER alone Bruce Bowen isn't that valuable either.

For 15-20 mpg, Collins already is the player we hoped that we could get in free agency (POB or Diop.) He was the starter on the two Net teams that went to the Finals a couple of years back. My starting lineup:

Miller
Jefferson
Collins
Brewer
Foye

... with McCants, Love, Telfair and Gomes off the bench. Hopefully Love will play his way into the starting lineup, but that's what I'd predict for opening day. That's a .500 team, depending on how much better Foye is this year.

Against Small teams:
Foye/Telfair
Brewer/McCants
Miller/Gomes
Jefferson/Smtih
Love/Collins

Against Big teams:
Foye/Telfair
Brewer/McCants
Miller/Gomes
Jefferson/Smtih
Collins/Love

I would think that Miller would take most of his minutes at the 2, and re-signed Gomes would start at the 3. Brewer, despite his defensive skills and rebounding, hasn't proven that he should be in the starting line-up. His inconsistency and horrible shooting makes him a liability when asked to play significant minutes in a starting role. Given our youth movement, and the amount invested in Kevin Love, I'm guessing he will be a starter from the get-go.

Foye / Telfair (?)
Miller / McCants
Gomes / Brewer
Jefferson
Love / Collins

Madsen and Cardinal probably won't see the light of day. Smith probably won't be back, and Telfair is a wild card.

The additions of Love and Miller give this team an unbelievable amount of versatility as far as line-ups that we did not have last year - and that we would not have if Mayo was on the roster.

We'll definitely bring Gomes back. Historically we haven't thrown rookies into major minutes off the bat so I think Love comes off the bench. I agree with Steve that I think Brewer will have to earn the starting spot.

Foye, Miller, Gomes, Jefferson, Collins to start. Telfair, McCants, Brewer, Love getting the majority of bench minutes. Richard and Smith the rest of the minutes if they're back. Cardinal, Madsen, and others depending on matchups and injuries.

we have too many big men:

Collins, Madsen, Cardinal, Jefferson, Love, Richard, Smith, Gomes

even if you count Gomes as a SF, we have too many; especially since we're probably going to carry 13 on the roster

Foye, McCants, Miller, Brewer - we need more ball handlers, right now Mike Miller is our 2nd best ball handler and that's not so hot.

I know it'd be getting a little ridiculous as far as our league leading level of caucasianess, but I'd love to see MN get J-Will for the backup PG spot. I'm sure MN wants to go the cheap route though, so I guess we'll have to settle for John Lucas the Third. I'd much rather have a vet though, if JWill is too much, maybe Lue or Arroyo. Duhon is probably gonna be too pricey too. I'm not really sure what else is out there, Andre Barrett maybe? T-Hud for 4 years 20 million?

oh yea, and I like Smush Parker too, but I think he's been hitting the pot again. I have no proof of that.

Yikes. No Smush. He get's my vote for the worst player in the NBA. That is, assuming he's even on a roster.

I'd be down to give Andre Barret a shot.

Players Currently Under Contract / Draft Pick
----------------------------------------------
Al Jefferson
Corey Brewer
Jason Collins
Kevin Love
Mike Miller
Randy Foye
Rashad McCants

Future Tendonitis Sufferers
----------------------------
Mark Madsen
Brian Cardinal

RFA w/ Qual offer
-----------------------

R Gomes
C Richards
C Smith

UFA w/o Qual offer
-----------------------
Bassey
K Snyder

I thought I heard that the Wolves wanted to add a Vet PG; a 1-2 combo guard and an athletic 5.

Foye / "future considerations"
Brewer/McCants
Miller/Gomes
Jefferson/Love/Smith
Collins/ Richards

Dr.Krapinsky wrote:Yikes. No Smush. He get's my vote for the worst player in the NBA. That is, assuming he's even on a roster.

I'd be down to give Andre Barret a shot.

Haha, the first thing that came to my mind was that Nova-Seton Hall game where Foye had the game winner and Barrett tried to shoot that 3 to win the game. I even remember how pissed he was when they lost.

For those who don't remember/didn't see: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4dxu4pCu2EE

Anyway, back to the topic.

I'd love for the Wolves to resign Telfair and to pick up a center like O'Bryant or Diop. In my 2K season, I traded Gomes for Sean Williams. Maybe that would work?

Devilzsidewalk wrote:I know it'd be getting a little ridiculous as far as our league leading level of caucasianess, but I'd love to see MN get J-Will for the backup PG spot. I'm sure MN wants to go the cheap route though, so I guess we'll have to settle for John Lucas the Third. I'd much rather have a vet though, if JWill is too much, maybe Lue or Arroyo. Duhon is probably gonna be too pricey too. I'm not really sure what else is out there, Andre Barrett maybe? T-Hud for 4 years 20 million?

Those are exactly the guys I had in mind, minus Hudson of course.

Just curious as to why Brewer over McCants?

Granted I didn't see many of your games (about 6 or 7), but McCants seemed to outplay him in almost every game.

McCants can outscore circles around Brewer, but Corey's better at everything else. Defense especially, but rebounding and passing too. With Jefferson, Miller, and Foye on the court, scoring is not the priority.

Brewer will never be the shooter/scorer that McCants is, but I think most of us expect him to be much improved next year. I wouldn't expect anyone to call him a "good scorer" next year, but I don't think "embarrassingly bad" will be justified any longer. An offseason working on his shot with Freddy and JB should prepare him to hit the open jumper, which is enough for now.