What are most important of "big questions" facing wolves?

Wolves2011 · Post #1 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:07 pm

This franchise has many important questions to answer this season - because next summer, there will be draft picks, trades and free agent signings based on this years evaluation.

1) Can Love and Jefferson play together? [I'm guessing yes, we'lll have to see.]
a) can they learn to defend the middle together?

2) Can Brewer's shooting improve enough to make him
a) an NBA starter,
b) an NBA rotation player.
[We'll have to see about Brewer's shooting for an extended period. He is a dynamic defender.]

3) Is Flynn or Sessions good enough at PG to fill that role? [My guess is one of them will, but we'll see]

4) Can Sessions play SG?, can he play together with Flynn on the floor.
[Not if he doesn't get playing time there.]
Do we keep Sessions at his salary if he is only a back up PG? [salary cap is coming down]
If we are only using him as back up PG, he is probably more valuable as a trading chip.

5) Can Gomes or someone on our roster be a starting SF on a championship level team?
[No one has come close to showing this yet.]
Is Gomes worth keeping at his salary if he isn't a starter? (salary cap is coming down)
[Open question??]

6) Ellington is potential starter at SG? is he a good back up at SG?
[Unclear too little playing time]

7) Is Hollins the answer as backup to Jefferson and Love, is he a keeper?
[unclear too little playing time]

8) Stewie, worth keeping?
[Unclear, too little playing time.]

What questions did I miss??

The answers to these questions [and others], will help us to decide what to do with ou4 assets...

1) Rubio and Pekovic rights
2) Wolves lottery pick next summer
3) Approx $15 million in free agent money next summer.
4) Charlotte and Utah #1 picks.

john2jer · Post #2 » by **john2jer** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:17 pm

Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Esohny · Post #3 » by **Esohny** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:25 pm

john2jer wrote:Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Will there be enough internet to go around if this joker continues his current ways?

Can we please try to discuss issues that are NOT WORTH DISCUSSING until next year because they ARE HIGHLY DEPENDANT on what happens between now and then? Please? Please???

Wolves2011 · Post #4 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:28 pm

john2jer wrote:Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Rondo would be a good addition.....if Flynn wasn't playing well....So far in the pre-season and 1st game he has played well.

[Rondo is asking for $55 to $60 million according to press reports, Boston has offered $45 million plus.]

Max this year was $84 million.

So somebody next summer might be able to get him for Aldridge money.... say around $65 or $70 million.

john2jer · Post #5 » by **john2jer** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:30 pm

Wolves2011 wrote:
john2jer wrote:Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Rondo would be a good addition.....if Flynn wasn't playing well....So far in the pre-season and 1st game he has played well.

[Rondo is asking for $55 to $60 million according to press reports, Boston has offered $45 million plus.]

Max this year was $84 million.

So somebody next summer might be able to get him for Aldridge money.... say around $65 or $70 million.

Oh good lord... :roll:

Wolves2011 · Post #6 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:30 pm

Esohny wrote:
john2jer wrote:Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Will there be enough internet to go around if this joker continues his current ways?

Can we please try to discuss issues that are NOT WORTH DISCUSSING until next year because they ARE HIGHLY DEPENDANT on what happens between now and then? Please? Please???

Not enough internet to go around.... :lol:

I suppose every time we post it costs you money right? :lol:

The internet is FREE, once you get access.......FREE.....FREE....FREE....... :lol:

Wolves2011 · Post #7 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:35 pm

john2jer wrote:
Wolves2011 wrote:
john2jer wrote:Can we sign Rondo to a max deal? That's my hope.

Rondo would be a good addition.....if Flynn wasn't playing well....So far in the pre-season and 1st game he has played well.

[Rondo is asking for $55 to $60 million according to press reports, Boston has offered $45 million plus.]

Max this year was $84 million.

So somebody next summer might be able to get him for Aldridge money.... say around $65 or $70 million.

Oh good lord...

you called? :evil:

Wolves2011 · Post #8 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:37 pm

This franchise has many important questions to answer this season - because next summer, there will be draft picks, trades and free agent signings based on this years evaluation.

1) Can Love and Jefferson play together? [I'm guessing yes, we'lll have to see.]
a) can they learn to defend the middle together?

2) Can Brewer's shooting improve enough to make him
a) an NBA starter,
b) an NBA rotation player.
[We'll have to see about Brewer's shooting for an extended period. He is a dynamic defender.]

3) Is Flynn or Sessions good enough at PG to fill that role? [My guess is one of them will, but we'll see]

4) Can Sessions play SG?, can he play together with Flynn on the floor.
[Not if he doesn't get playing time there.]
Do we keep Sessions at his salary if he is only a back up PG? [salary cap is coming down]
If we are only using him as back up PG, he is probably more valuable as a trading chip.

5) Can Gomes or someone on our roster be a starting SF on a championship level team?
[No one has come close to showing this yet.]
Is Gomes worth keeping at his salary if he isn't a starter? (salary cap is coming down)
[Open question??]

6) Ellington is potential starter at SG? is he a good back up at SG?
[Unclear too little playing time]

7) Is Hollins the answer as backup to Jefferson and Love, is he a keeper?
[unclear too little playing time]

8) Stewie, worth keeping?
[Unclear, too little playing time.]

What questions did I miss??

The answers to these questions [and others], will help us to decide what to do with ou4 assets...

1) Rubio and Pekovic rights
2) Wolves lottery pick next summer
3) Approx $15 million in free agent money next summer.
4) Charlotte and Utah #1 picks.

Dewey · Post #9 » by **Dewey** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:03 pm

First, we don't need an all-star at every position, so lets boil it down to, "Can the Love/Jefferson combination play TOGETHER and be dominant, or will they need to play along-side a true center?"

I question that they can co-exist.

Wolves2011 · Post #10 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:26 pm

Dewey wrote:First, we don't need an all-star at every position, so lets boil it down to, "Can the Love/Jefferson combination play TOGETHER and be dominant, or will they need to play along-side a true center?"

I question that they can co-exist.

I agree its not 100% clear that they can coexist.... they will have to prove it this season, especially on the defensive end.

If after a full season, they haven't shown that they can play at least "solid" team defense in the middle we will have to decide if we can survive without solid team defense in the middle [probably not for a championship level team] and which one of the two we keep.

Jefferson is the better low post offensive player.

Both are good rebounders with Love maybe slightly better

Love has the "potential" to be the better outside shooter [again not proven yet, we'll see this season.]

So far, Love has been the better team defender [when jefferson was out last year], but that was a small sample size.

Who we keep and who we trade if we must decide on only one, that would depend on:

1) who we can draft

2) who's available in a trade

3) what their relative trade values are in the market.

4) how we could package trades, eg.

could we package a Jefferson or Love and with Rubio and get a Wade?, would we want to do that?

If we had"

Love or Jefferson
Favors (in draft) or Pekovic
??? -- free agent pick up?
Wade
Flynn

is that better than the two quality big guys??

Post #11 » by **revprodeji** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:41 pm

Pekovic is a true center and could be valuable next to Al and Klove.

Gomes is better suited for the bench.

We need a scoring wing and a 3rd big (pekovic) then you will see drastic improvement. The wing needs to be a top-notch #1 offensive option. We have plenty of assets to do this, we just need to do it right.

hotshotschamp · Post #12 » by **hotshotschamp** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:46 pm

pg- flynn
sg- Evan Turner in draft ( pick for rubio )
SF- rudy gay
PF-Kevin love
C- Al Jefferson
* we draft aldrich with our pick, and he roates btwn PF/C gets 30+ mins.

Done. Thats a ballclub

john2jer · Post #13 » by **john2jer** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:49 pm

Just say "no" to Rudy Gay.

Post #14 » by **C.lupus** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:54 pm

Send CHA their pick back with expirings for Wallace instead of signing Gay.

pg- Flynn/Sessions
sg- Evan Turner/Ellington
SF- Gerald Wallace/Brewer
PF-Kevin love/Cole Aldrich
C- Al Jefferson/Cole Aldrich

That's a ballclub, too.

Post #15 » by **revprodeji** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:59 pm

^^I agree. Wallace>>Gay and I could see Char wanting their pick.

john2jer · Post #16 » by **john2jer** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:00 pm

C.lupus wrote:Send CHA their pick back with expirings for Wallace instead of signing Gay.

pg- Flynn/Sessions
sg- Evan Turner/Ellington
SF- Gerald Wallace/Brewer
PF-Kevin love/Cole Aldrich
C- Al Jefferson/Cole Aldrich

That's a ballclub, too.

How did we get Cole Aldcrich and Evan Turner? Both will be top 8 picks next year. AND TWO COLES? Does Kahn have a cloning machine? ;-)

Post #17 » by **C.lupus** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:01 pm

I was working off of hotshot's scenario where we trade Rubio for another high pick. Aldrich backs up both positions.

Post #18 » by **revprodeji** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:05 pm

We would still have Pekovic and Hollins also. Nice big man group.

Wolves2011 · Post #19 » by **Wolves2011** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:18 pm

C.lupus wrote:Send CHA their pick back with expirings for Wallace instead of signing Gay.

pg- Flynn/Sessions
sg- Evan Turner/Ellington
SF- Gerald Wallace/Brewer
PF-Kevin love/Cole Aldrich
C- Al Jefferson/Cole Aldrich

That's a ballclub, too.

Charlotte might be bad enough so that they don't worry about being above the #12 draft pick threshold.

I do like Wallace and would like to get him, but it probably takes more than just their pick.

As for the talent on this team.....

Jefferson, Love and Adrich as "bigs" - is too expensive a front court in the long run.....in works for a few years... but high draft picks want to "get paid"....and get

Jefferson is on his way to $15 million with bumps in his salary..

In a few years... when Love and Adrich get out of their rookie deals, they will want $10 million (or more) each........so that ties up $35 million plus just in the front court....

If Brewer shoots well enough (and its a big if), we have the same type of problem with our wings, Wallace is making $9 million ramping to $11.5 million. Brewer and Evans would both want high draft pick money also.

Flynn would also want big money..

So you end up with $70 m to $80 mil tied up in 7 players......

its not an immediate problem, but its one you have to keep in mind...

dunkonu21 · Post #20 » by **dunkonu21** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:26 pm

I say trade Al Jefferson and Flynn for Josh Smith, first and Joe Johnson (resigned for less than max)

Then do:

Rubio
JJ
Smoove
Love
DeMarcus Cousins

There's my team of the future! Hey, if you all get to be unrealistic then so do I.