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According to Zgoda

Smith to sign

• The Wolves reached terms with restricted free agent forward Craig Smith on a two-year contract, and he is expected to join the team in Las Vegas today. Smith, a second-round pick in 2006, averaged 9.4 points on 56.3 percent shooting and 4.6 rebounds in 77 games last season.

• The Wolves have not yet signed restricted free agents Ryan Gomes and Craig Richard and unrestricted free agent Sebastian Telfair.

perfect for the wolves. 2 years is perfect.

Good to hear.

So, does this mean that the team's Center/ Power Forward rotation is going to be unathletic, bad defense 6'7" Craig Smith; unathletic, bad defense 6'9" Kevin Love; and unathletic, bad defense 6'10' Al Jefferson? If so, the team is not going to win very many games next year.

However, if this is just the first step in a sign-and-trade for a good back up Point (like Lowry), then this is a good signing.

AQuintus wrote:So, does this mean that the team's Center/ Power Forward rotation is going to be unathletic, bad defense 6'7" Craig Smith; unathletic, bad defense 6'9" Kevin Love; and unathletic, bad defense 6'10' Al Jefferson? If so, the team is not going to win very many games next year.

However, if this is just the first step in a sign-and-trade for a good back up Point (like Lowry), then this is a good signing.

Doubt it, because he is joining us tonight for the summer league, but its possible i guess....

Yea Craigers! It's great that he's joining the summer league too. We can finally get some wins. Dude s going to kill those kids. I hope he strikes another pose!

Wow, I'm suprised. Doesn't sound like the start of a S/T either. I think this team needs a shot blocking/defensive big as their third big man in their rotation, but what do I know. Does anyone else think this means Gomes might not be returning? I thought if Gomes was back he'd back up the 3 and 4, but with Smith here he won't get any minutes at the 4 (I think). Oh well, at least it's only two years....keeping the 2010 dream alive.

AQuintus wrote: However, if this is just the first step in a sign-and-trade for a good back up Point (like Lowry), then this is a good signing.

Man I hope so, and I also hope its for no more than the BAE (LLE) ($1.91 mil) and we didn't touch the MLE. If we did, we won't be able to match max offers for Gomes. If it was less, I wonder if we could get Telfair for the BAE.

2 years es muy, muy bueno. That's all I wanted to hear.

I like him...but...I just don't see where he fits.

shrink wrote:If we did, we won't be able to match max offers for Gomes.

That's not something the Wlves ought to do.

big3_8_19_21 wrote:I like him...but...I just don't see where he fits.

Fit is over rated right now. He's an asset, he wants to be here, and it's a 2 year contract. Wolves want to be competitive next year, but they're not building to compete next year. With that in mind, a 2 year contract for Craigers is perfect.

deeney0 wrote:

shrink wrote:If we did, we won't be able to match max offers for Gomes.

That's not something the Wlves ought to do.

The threat that we could maintains Gomes tradability, rather than lose him for nothing.

Bah, you people just don't like Rhinos.

btw, link please

shrink wrote:

deeney0 wrote:

shrink wrote:If we did, we won't be able to match max offers for Gomes.

That's not something the Wlves ought to do.

The threat that we could maintains Gomes tradability, rather than lose him for nothing.

And I have yet to see a realistic and enticing offer for Gomes, especially given that high a contract. Wolves would be taking back a near MLE sized contract - at that size, the player is either too good for the other team to give up for Gomes (they'd call our bluff), or so bad that it's not worth the Wolves doing a s&t. I just don't see it working out. RFA leave teams. It happens. If Gomes goes somewhere else, it's not worth criticizing the front office for "losing him for nothing." I don't see how it can go down any other way.

big3_8_19_21 wrote:I like him...but...I just don't see where he fits.

I can't see Cardinal getting a ton of minutes, so who else is backing up Love? Madsen? Collins? Booth? Those are not good options at all...I really like this signing...

tviper wrote:

big3_8_19_21 wrote:I like him...but...I just don't see where he fits.

I can't see Cardinal getting a ton of minutes, so who else is backing up Love? Madsen? Collins? Booth? Those are not good options at all...I really like this signing...

Collins is going to get more minutes than most people on this board seem to think. Whether Gomes is brought back also has to be factored in.

jpatrick wrote:Does anyone else think this means Gomes might not be returning? .

Couple of points.

1.) Yes above, I see this as perhaps being the last nail for Gomes. Unless he sees himself as a 3. (which then we have Miller/Brewer/Carney/Shad for the 2/3 spots) I could see Gomes being gone.

2.) Craig is a low post guy with good hands and good rebounding skills. Just use him as the back up to Al. Give Al 32-35 min a game and let Craig have the 10-15 min. Maybe Craig is content with that? I have no issue having his tools on our bench. Fact of the matter is he is a good guy, with a friendly contract and wants to be here. No reason to complain. He played 20min a game last year. If he plays when Al sits, and perhaps 5 min or so with him then I am cool with it. The problem last year was not that he played with Al, or even that Al played with Gomes. It was that we had no choice but to play guys like that and teams would cue against it. If we have the player with his tools and desire and throw him into the mix then we can play with different line-ups and simply see what happens.

Big line up of Al-Cookie-Love? (against slower 3's why not?) All I am saying is this is not NBA 2k, we do not need to set our roster line up. Fact is we kept a fan favorite that has legit NBA talent. He seems to be a guy the team likes in the locker.


I would doubt this is a s/t if he is going to vegas. Not sure if he will play with the team, but he is going there to be with them.

I find it kind of funny that when we were discussing RFAs during the season, Smith was the one almost unanimous to not bring back. Now he's the first one back here.

deeney0 wrote:
Collins is going to get more minutes than most people on this board seem to think. Whether Gomes is brought back also has to be factored in.

I agree, but Collins can easily play with Cookie. I do not think they would fight for minutes. Gomes and Cookie is the issue.