shrink wrote:minimus wrote:I have been re-watching last games from last season when Towns returned from injury. And I am getting more convinced that we don't have enough quality wings/shooters.
Personally, I don’t want to use Towns’ trade value to improve out bench. We are unlikely to start any wing over Ant or McDaniels, and a high quality player who would start for almost any other team is not going to be happy coming off the bench. Moreover, part of the reason that a Towns trade might be considered is having too much money locked into the same position with Gobert, Towns and now Naz. Trading Towns for a great wing would mean we’d need to match a big offer from a team that starts him.
I’m actually fairly comfortable having Kyle Anderson come off the bench and close games. I can see him getting lots of bench minutes when Conley is off the floor, and he can adapt his role to what we need. We also may not be able to afford him next season. We haven’t seen good numbers yet from Naz as a PF, let alone as a starting PF. I am not in favor of a Towns trade, but I would prefer one that brought in a starter at PF or PG, rather than expensive players we’d need to bring off the bench.
As for wing help, Ant, McDaniels and NAW (and now Troy Brown, Shake Milton) are all young, and should improve as wings. A full season of Towns himself also improves our shooting.
Yes, ideally any Towns trade should bring back a starting PF or PG. However, I think salary wise we cannot afford having at PF or PG any star level player, in other words our roster is already set with two max player contract (Edwards and Gobert), one below max player (McDaniels), two MLE type players (Reid and Anderson). The rest will be filled with role players.
You think about it positionally: C-PF-SF-SG-PG, my idea is to think about players as functions, roles: a big, shooter, PoA defender, versatile defender, ballhandlers/decision maker, slasher, bench scorer etc. IMO we already all types of roles:
Bigs - Gobert, Towns
PoA defender - MCD, NAW
ISO defender - MCD, Edwards, NAW
Versatile defender - MCD, Anderson
Decision makers - Conley, Anderson
Slasher - Edwards
Corner three point shooters - Conley, MCD, Brown
Ballhandlers - Conley, Milton, NAW
Bench scorers - Reid, Milton
Dynamic three point shooters - Conley, Brown
Towns next to Gobert should shoot much more three pointers from wings. However, it is not clear whether he can adapt his game one more time. Adding one more dynamic shooter would make whole roster more versatile, more stable.
If we trade Towns, then our PF must be a good corner three shooter. Because he will play next to Gobert, I think it is realistic to find such guy, for instance DFS, but our biggest problem with current roster is lack of decision making, passing. If we put limited offensive PF in starting lineup it might lead to stagnant offense. However, I really like our combination of combo forwards Anderson-MCD-Miller-Minott-Brown, it is good mix of athleticism, skills and potential. I really like this mix except one thing - shooting. Getting someone like Vassell or Murphy gives us:
1) a highly compatible, versatile player both in offense and defense
2) depth at wings
3) young player on rookie contract who won't complain about starting role
Towns trade is definitely a part of soft rebuild, that is already going in MIN, we traded DLo. A two-way player like Murphy would be a step in right direction, but whole roster would be still incomplete without starting PG. I don't see right now a better PG for us than Conley for many reasons. But I really would love to use his time here to mentor his future replacement. Re-sign Conley for one more year, and by the time of Conley retirement we might have a solution in house.
