2023 Around The League NBA Playoffs Thread

[Calinks]

I will never bash the Butler trade. Thibs knew Butler was amazing and he pulled the trigger. I only blame Thibs for letting things deteriorate like they did. Getting Jimmy was the right move, he brought us a superstar in a trade, something that has never happened. OF course, it didn't work out because Minnesota's luck but it was a fantastic move.

[Calinks]

Holy CRAP at that Jimmy bucket to go to OT! WOW

[Calinks]

Unbelievable. The Heat looked like crap just a couple of weeks ago yet they destroy the Bucks in 5 games. That's unreal. Heat fans have to be in heaven, this is one of the most impressive feats I have seen. Everybody said the Bucks were title contenders, the east would win the chip. Well, top seed it out. My God.

[TwolvesFanRome]

Holy CRAP at that Jimmy bucket to go to OT! WOW

Do you think it wasn't a foul?

[Calinks]

Holy CRAP at that Jimmy bucket to go to OT! WOW

Do you think it wasn't a foul?

If he was a center or wearing a wolves uniform it would be lol. Don't build around bigs, not worth it. Build around guards.

[Klomp]

So Wolves are getting ripped for the Gobert trade (rightfully so) but the Mitchell trade gets a pass?

The Cavs traded Sexton, Lauri(all-star), Ogbaji (top 10 rookie this year) and 5 first round picks (2 swaps)

The best asset we've traded (so far) is Walker Kessler, the 1st pick that has conveyed is out of the lottery, Pat Bev, Vanderbilt & Beasley aren't even on the Jazz anymore. Lauri looks like a long term player for them and Ogbaji looks promising.

But of course nobody is going to mention it because Mitchell puts up sexier stats.

Results ended up the same this year, both teams lost in the first round 4-1

Heck, even the Atlanta trade got a pass.

What I'm guessing it comes down to is Gobert is 30 while Mitchell and Murray are both 26. But I still go back to the fact that Ant is 21 (and Jaden is 22) and they want to get him consistently in the playoffs. Adding "win now players" accomplishes that.

[Note30]

So Wolves are getting ripped for the Gobert trade (rightfully so) but the Mitchell trade gets a pass?

The Cavs traded Sexton, Lauri(all-star), Ogbaji (top 10 rookie this year) and 5 first round picks (2 swaps)

The best asset we've traded (so far) is Walker Kessler, the 1st pick that has conveyed is out of the lottery, Pat Bev, Vanderbilt & Beasley aren't even on the Jazz anymore. Lauri looks like a long term player for them and Ogbaji looks promising.

But of course nobody is going to mention it because Mitchell puts up sexier stats.

Results ended up the same this year, both teams lost in the first round 4-1

They weren't scrapping to make the playoffs. They didn't almost miss it.

They didn't have to make a mid season trade to make their previous trade look like not a dumpster fire.

The player they acquired had a career year. He fit like a glove with the team.

Because Mitchell actually produced this year, the team went 51-31 which was a 7 win improvement. Their lack of success in the playoffs was largely due to poor matchups size wise. Which would have been the same last year as they lack big wings who can defend well.

Meanwhile, we were the first ones to push in all of our trade chips, and we lost 4 more games this year over last year. Guarantee if this was a real top 10 player we would have atleast stayed the same. You think if we added a real MVP like Giannis, Steph, or LeBron we'd be struggling?

No one likes Gobert, on the team and even fan wise. He's an overrated as defender who took our top tier offense to a **** one.

He's a terrible fit on this team and multiple players are struggling to adapt to him. They have all made it pretty clear too.

So yeah not sure why you're so **** surprised.

Get your head out of the sand.

Also the Bucks also lost in the first round, are we in the same position?!? Are you seriously comparing this? No one is looking at the Wolves next year and expecting anything better.

[Klomp]

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[Note30]

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Great interview, great player. Arguably my favorite in the league. Totally irrelevant interview to us.

[Klomp]

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Great interview, great player. Arguably my favorite in the league. Totally irrelevant interview to us.

Well this is the Around the League thread, isn't it?!

[Note30]

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Great interview, great player. Arguably my favorite in the league. Totally irrelevant interview to us.

Well this is the Around the League thread, isn't it?!

Well would you look at that.

[TimberKat]

Great interview, great player. Arguably my favorite in the league. Totally irrelevant interview to us.

Well this is the Around the League thread, isn't it?!

Well would you look at that.

We need Giannis talk with Wolves fan on this board. Granted we never win anything but I think this season is not a failure. Our young players are learning and we are growing as a team. The key will be how we gel next year. Rather you like the Gobert trade or not, it's a done deal and makes no sense to trade down. Fit for Ant doesn't mean we get 4 guys standing outside and have Ant dribble all game. We are in win now mode, so trade up with anyone including Ant if you can but no trade downs. I do wish we drafted Giannis instead of Shabazz just for his TED talk.

[Note30]

Well this is the Around the League thread, isn't it?!

Well would you look at that.

We need Giannis talk with Wolves fan on this board. Granted we never win anything but I think this season is not a failure. Our young players are learning and we are growing as a team. The key will be how we gel next year. Rather you like the Gobert trade or not, it's a done deal and makes no sense to trade down. Fit for Ant doesn't mean we get 4 guys standing outside and have Ant dribble all game. We are in win now mode, so trade up with anyone including Ant if you can but no trade downs. I do wish we drafted Giannis instead of Shabazz just for his TED talk.

At the moment and for the foreseeable future Ant is untouchable.

Addition by subtraction is a very real thing.

Ideally we move up in trades but we have very little capital to achieve that.

[Calinks]

I think making the playoffs and playing this series was huge for us. If we missed the playoffs and then had to watch the lottery praying the Jazzs don't jump into the top 5 with our pick it would have been horribly deflating. We got a lot of information from this post season. The front office has a solid idea of what they need to do to contend. Ant got amazing experience once again. KAT whether we keep him or not, got amazing information on what he needs to work on. We discovered that NAW is probably pretty damn valuable and worth keeping. We discovered that Naz Reid was hugely missed. We know we probably have to move on from Jmac and Nowell.

It's really valuable stuff. The season was a disaster but we can definitely still improve from having it. I also would say the fact that we still managed to be a .500 team with this wonky roster fit and all the injuries is a testament to Rudy Gobert's impact. He wasn't even great this season but he was still able to help bring us to .500. Without him and KAT going down I think we would lose more games.

[life_saver]

Wish more teams around the league can do this once after their RSN contracts are finished.

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[Klomp]

This was such a good extension of the Giannis talk.And I agree with BOTH Chuck and Shaq.

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[Klomp]

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[TimberKat]

We need Giannis talk with Wolves fan on this board. Granted we never win anything but I think this season is not a failure. Our young players are learning and we are growing as a team. The key will be how we gel next year. Rather you like the Gobert trade or not, it's a done deal and makes no sense to trade down. Fit for Ant doesn't mean we get 4 guys standing outside and have Ant dribble all game. We are in win now mode, so trade up with anyone including Ant if you can but no trade downs. I do wish we drafted Giannis instead of Shabazz just for his TED talk.

At the moment and for the foreseeable future Ant is untouchable.

Addition by subtraction is a very real thing.

Ideally we move up in trades but we have very little capital to achieve that.

I would do a 1-1 trade of any Wolves for these players (assuming they want to be here): Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Tatum, Morant, Jaylen Brown, Booker, LaMelo Ball. On the fence with Fox and SGA.

Addition by subtraction may apply to Knight, Nowell or JMcL. For Gobert, there's enough said already and I will offer my last perspective: I am Rudy, 3x all-star, 3x defensive player of the year, rebound champ, and block champ. I been an efficient player, on winning team and knows how to win. Why am I adjusting my winning ways to fit you bunch of losers? You got a rookie that looks good but clearly is one dimensional and incomplete. You guys been losing big while I been winning. You should make more adjustments to the winning ways we do in Utah so we could win here in Minnesota because whatever you were doing before never really worked.

[Calinks]

Grizzlies getting torched. Ex Wolves getting big time revenge, even DLO is dropping bombs on their heads. I didn't expect the Lakers to be so improved they could wreck the Grizzlies like this. This is a big surprise, they really built a nice squad there that compliments their stars. I still cant imagine they could make the finals but who knows.

I never hated the Grizzlies so I don't get any satisfaction from seeing them fail but it is fun to see some the old wolves see some success. HAs to feel great after how we felt like we could take Memphis last year but kept coming up short. I really hope we can continue to change up our team be well rounded. It's so much more fun to watch a team that can get contributions from multiple positions and play with an identity.

[Neeva]

Morant is imploding right before our eyes.