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It seems like we have been rebuilding for a while... What is everyone's opinion?

We were in half@$$ rebuilding mode before, as of today we are going somewhere

1-2 more years left in rebuilding

This is post-KG rebuild v2.0. As different as New Coke and Classic Coke.

deeney0 wrote:This is post-KG rebuild v2.0. As different as New Coke and Classic Coke.

Except this time New Coke tastes better.

Just trying to find any Khan quotes to shed some light on this.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/62287022.html?page=3&c=y

Q Many of your seven trades have been with only the salary cap in mind. Will you be positioned to sign a free agent next summer who'll be your most well-paid player?

A Possibly. It depends on where the salary cap winds up. Your guess is as good as mine how precipitous the drop will be. Absolutely, we could end up with somebody in that neighborhood of Al (who will make $13 million in 2010-11).

There is no definite answer and it seems Khan isn't dropping any hints, but I believe we will make a splash in the summer of 2010...again.

coolcono wrote:It seems like we have been rebuilding for a while... What is everyone's opinion?

In my opinion we start with 4 players pretty much guaranteed to be part of the future:

Jefferson
Love
Sessions
Flynn [if he plays anything like last summer]

[If we could get Rondo as a free agent I'd think about trading Flynn also again depending on how Flynn develops.]

Some maybes - depends on how they perform/develop

Gomes
Brewer
Hollins
Ellington
Pavlovic

The big transition starts happening next summer 2010.

The maybe's get sorted into "keep" and get rid of.... and we know Kahn can get rid of people...

We have assets to use to fill any holes in our roster:

Rubio and Pekovic

Potentially three draft picks including lottery.

and possibly cap space for a Max contract free agent if they had fewer than 9 years experience and weren't big earners in the past.

Plus trading the "maybes" if we chose to get rid of them ... Gomes, Brewer etc would have value in the trade market

[If we traded Rubios rights next summer, we could use his "cap hold" money to sign a quality free agent.]

When the new teams assembles in 2010, I'd say one year to grow together as a team -- possibly even making the playoffs as a late seed in 2010, and start making noise in 2011.

Hence my name Wolves2011.

with 3 solid building blocks i'd see rebuilding is nearly complete. there are lots of options to fill the gaps that we are just waiting for them to fall into place. Jefferson, Love Sessions are as fine as any C/PF/PG setup. Flynn and Rubio will see who can fill the other guard spots. Gomes is as fine of a uitility player as we needs. it all comes down to how fast we can get a SG and a SF and fill out the bench to go along with Gomes. like others have said, we have a lot of options on how to go about that.

Wolves2011 wrote:[ trading the "maybes".

I think I found my new theme song.

We made a decision last year to trade Foye and Mike Miller, primarily because we decided that they wouldn't be part of our future. We got really nice return with Rubio, but part of the reason we dealt them was because we decided we didn't want to commit 2010 salary to them.

Right now, I think that most of the Wolves can be placed into four classifications:

FOUR TODAY: Al Jefferson, Love, Sessions, and Flynn. We watch them now, hoping they are our future. Mostly untradable, at least until we see what we've got. Long leash.

TWO TOMORROW: Rubio and Pekovic. A little more tradable, but again, we want to see what we got.

FOUR EXPIRINGS: Blount, Cardinal, Daniels, maybe Wilkins. Generally unproductive salary filler - easily tradable.

SIX PLAY FOR A 2010 SPOT: Gomes, Corey Brewer, Hollins, Pavlovic, Ellington, maybe OPec.

I think these guys are the most interesting. They'll be given minutes this year to earn their spots as role-players for the Wolves. Four were our acquisitions, but if they don't perform really well before the trade deadline, I don't think they'll have a long leash running like group one or two. Role players are essential to a good team, but its star talent that wins games, and like Foye and Mike Miller, I could see us dealing these guys for a slim chance at getting a star if they don't click. Trading guys in this category could push back our rebuild, but if they don't show they are essential, I could see any of them dealt.

shrink wrote:

Wolves2011 wrote:[ trading the "maybes".

I think I found my new theme song.

We made a decision last year to trade Foye and Mike Miller, primarily because we decided that they wouldn't be part of our future. We got really nice return with Rubio, but part of the reason we dealt them was because we decided we didn't want to commit 2010 salary to them.

Right now, I think that most of the Wolves can be placed into four classifications:

FOUR TODAY: Al Jefferson, Love, Sessions, and Flynn. We watch them now, hoping they are our future. Mostly untradable, at least until we see what we've got. Long leash.

TWO TOMORROW: Rubio and Pekovic. A little more tradable, but again, we want to see what we got.

FOUR EXPIRINGS: Blount, Cardinal, Daniels, maybe Wilkins. Generally unproductive salary filler - easily tradable.

SIX PLAY FOR A 2010 SPOT: Gomes, Corey Brewer, Hollins, Pavlovic, Ellington, maybe OPec.

I think these guys are the most interesting. They'll be given minutes this year to earn their spots as role-players for the Wolves. Four were our acquisitions, but if they don't perform really well before the trade deadline, I don't think they'll have a long leash running like group one or two. Role players are essential to a good team, but its star talent that wins games, and like Foye and Mike Miller, I could see us dealing these guys for a slim chance at getting a star if they don't click. Trading guys in this category could push back our rebuild, but if they don't show they are essential, I could see any of them dealt.

I like your analysis... the only place we disagree somewhat is with Rubio and Pekovic.

Rubio won't come over to the U.S. until 2011 at the earliest.

Even when he comes over it will take him a year or two to acclimate to the NBA.

So if we wait for Rubio, the earliest we will know if he is part of our championship level roster is 2012, 2013 or later.

He has value on the trading market now.

He will likely have more value as time passes.

Next summer many NBA rosters will be completely remade. Some of those remade teams will want a Rubio. Next summer could be a good opportunity to trade him and see if we can get back our star wing. [the knicks were offering Lee and Robinson, could we turn them into a star wing?]

Pekovic is also young and his value is increasing in my view. He is considered to be the best center in Europe. But his style of play is very similar to Jefferson and Love. Not very athletic. We would be better off with another athletic type like Hollins, but with more on the court basketball skills.

I think both Rubio and Pekovic are more trading chips than long term keepers. I'm not in a rush to trade them. Their value increases for the next few years.

But we want to assemble our team by 2010, to give them some time to mesh before our push for a championship.

Jefferson especially wants to get into the playoffs and win.

I don't think he will be happy if Kahn tells him we have to wait 4 or 5 years till we see if Rubio is ready.

Rubio and Pekovic are trading chips at this point.

Thats my view at least.