So, 2010...

[Chance1117]

I'm not going to try and pretend that I'm a great basketball mind. There are however some here! I think it is safe to say with Al out the Wolves won't be able to make playoff run until 2010-2011.

Who does the wolves have right now that you would consider a core to build around? Al is the franchise. Love is going to keep improving. To me those seem to be the only for sure things on this team. Foye hasn't proved that he can consistently be more then a complimentary player. We need a true center and something needs to change with the SG PG positions. This is where I leave it to the great basketball minds...who is our core and are we shooting for 2010-2011 now?

[ritt0093]

Well I know I don't qualify as a great basketball mind, but I would agree with you that 2010/2011 is the new goal. For a competative team here are the roles I see necessary:

PG: Need a true PG as starter. Doesnt have to be a superstar, but needs to be able to distribute and disrupt the other teams primary ball handler.
SG: Athletic and a great shooter.
SF: Slasher. One of the starters at SG or SF should be a very good defender to match up with opponents.
PF/C: Need atleast 1 go to scorer and 1 good rebounder

Bench:
A guy who can play the 1/2, a guy that can play the 2/3, and a guy that can play the 4 or 5.

Based off my logic I see our pieces currently as the following:

PG:....
SG:....could be Miller if he regains his form, but he would need a very good defender next to him. I would look elsewhere.
SF:...
PF: Love
C: Jefferson

Bench:
1/2: Foye
2/3: Brewer
3rd Big:...Pekovic? I'd rather have a more defensive minded big man, but if we could teach our bigs to attack the other team down low, maybe we could get favorable mismatches with getting other teams in foul trouble.

So out of 8 spots I think we have 2 starters (3 if you consider Miller) and 2 very solid Bench players. This eliminates the following from our long term plans:

Telfair
Smith
McCants
Gomes

For the offseason I look strongly at getting someone like a Marvin Williams to take over the 3, and then pursue a PG in the draft. This draft seems weaker than most, but PG is the one position that has a fair amount of talent.

[Worm Guts]

Why does this change the goal? Why can't the Wolves make the playoffs next season? Are we assuming Al misses half of next season?
I'd like to think it's a possibility that Al is back by the beginning of next season and it that the Wolves could make the playoffs.

[PeeDee]

Initial prognoses is that Al will take 8 to 10 months to recover. I think it'll take a bit longer, but even in the best case scenario, he won't be ready by the start of next season.

[Worm Guts]

8 months would be the beginning of October. I don't think that's likely, but it's too early to rule it out.

[C.lupus]

Even if he is ready to start the season, he'll be rusty for a while.

However, I think Love's development (assuming he develops) will be the silver lining. If Love can become more of an offensive threat, he could take a lot of pressure off Al next year. Maybe we will have two 15/10 guys instead of one 20/10 and one 10/10.

As to the OP, I agree with most of ritt0093's post. I do think Brewer could be the good defender to play next to Miller or Foye, though.
At this point, I see it as:
Primary core (starters to build around) = Jefferson and Love
Secondary core (borderline starters/6th men but part of the young core) = Foye and Brewer
Young guys with value as role players but not necessarily "core" players = Gomes and Carney
Wildcard = Miller

[Chance1117]

However, I think Love's development (assuming he develops) will be the silver lining. If Love can become more of an offensive threat, he could take a lot of pressure off Al next year. Maybe we will have two 15/10 guys instead of one 20/10 and one 10/10.

If Love can expand on his range I think that will really give teams trouble. He has a nice shot and other than being a little chubby I don't think anyone has ever questioned his work ethic. Love could be a 16/12 as soon as next season. I can't wait to see how he handles playing 35 minutes a game.

I think Al won't be to form until at

8 months would be the beginning of October. I don't think that's likely, but it's too early to rule it out.

Even if he was ready for the start to next season he won't be the Al he is now right away. I also think if you try and rebuild too fast you end up having to blow everything up again. Shooting for 2011 will give our draft picks the opportunity to mature for a season. This will also give us a shot a one more full season of trades/draft/FA. If we can prove that MN has a shot at being a real contender we could make a big FA signing.

[Worm Guts]

Even if he was ready for the start to next season he won't be the Al he is now right away. I also think if you try and rebuild too fast you end up having to blow everything up again. Shooting for 2011 will give our draft picks the opportunity to mature for a season. This will also give us a shot a one more full season of trades/draft/FA. If we can prove that MN has a shot at being a real contender we could make a big FA signing.

What does shooting for 2011 mean anyway? It sounds like you're trying to lower expectations for 09-10, and I think that's premature. If we expected the Wolves to contend for the playoffs next year before Al's injury, I don't think that should change. At least not right now. We'll see who we get in the draft and where Al is at the beginning of training camp, then it'll be time to reevaluate.

[Chance1117]

Even if he was ready for the start to next season he won't be the Al he is now right away. I also think if you try and rebuild too fast you end up having to blow everything up again. Shooting for 2011 will give our draft picks the opportunity to mature for a season. This will also give us a shot a one more full season of trades/draft/FA. If we can prove that MN has a shot at being a real contender we could make a big FA signing.

What does shooting for 2011 mean anyway? It sounds like you're trying to lower expectations for 09-10, and I think that's premature. If we expected the Wolves to contend for the playoffs next year before Al's injury, I don't think that should change. At least not right now. We'll see who we get in the draft and where Al is at the beginning of training camp, then it'll be time to reevaluate.

I hear ya, I just don't think with Al will be in top shape until the end of next year. We could make the playoffs next year but we wouldn't be a higher then about a 6 seed. I'm talking 2011 title contenders. I don't see the wolves pulling a Boston this off season and winning 66 games. We don't have enough assets to do that. I agree that we could still make the playoffs next year but 2011 sounds more promising.

[PeeDee]

Al's injury shouldn't derail any plans at all. We are still in a position to make some trades and sign some guys.

The only thing that has changed is now we are all but guaranteed a top 5 draft pick. Now we can start to consider guys like Thabeet, Harden and others (hopefully Rubio) again when we really couldn't before.

The only worry is that our guys will lose their fire with Big Al out, hopefully Mchale can remedy that.

I FULLY expect our guys to go into next season expecting to make the playoffs.

[ctorres]

Forget 2010, go for 2009!