The Official Rudy Gobert Thread

[KGdaBom]

Keeping tally on the Gobert trade: looks like the real cost for now is Walker and a 2027 unprotected.

2023 draft - not a starter
2025 draft - we actually drafted ahead and would had traded out, could we had packaged the two to picks for Yang?
2026 draft swap - not likely or we end up with a good pick anyway
2029 - top 5 protected (rest Ant for 2028 season )
Players - all gone from Jazz but some of you may still regret including our 1st round pick Leandro Bolmaro

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

[winforlose]

Keeping tally on the Gobert trade: looks like the real cost for now is Walker and a 2027 unprotected.

2023 draft - not a starter
2025 draft - we actually drafted ahead and would had traded out, could we had packaged the two to picks for Yang?
2026 draft swap - not likely or we end up with a good pick anyway
2029 - top 5 protected (rest Ant for 2028 season )
Players - all gone from Jazz but some of you may still regret including our 1st round pick Leandro Bolmaro

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

[KGdaBom]

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Window for a championship is still very open. We do need Dilly to come through.

[winforlose]

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Window for a championship is still very open. We do need Dilly to come through.

Yes and no. Yes we could still win one or more. But very open is untrue. It is slightly open, mostly because of Ant and Jaden, but everything including and especially Finch is stacked against us. Losing NAW to cap after losing KAT for crap is a bad sign. Keeping Randle instead of acquiring a PG will be the death of the window, unless as you say Dilly develops (something that could happen, but is unlikely, especially with Finch coaching him.)

[Note30]

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

You couldn't have put this better.

[Slim Tubby]

Keeping tally on the Gobert trade: looks like the real cost for now is Walker and a 2027 unprotected.

2023 draft - not a starter
2025 draft - we actually drafted ahead and would had traded out, could we had packaged the two to picks for Yang?
2026 draft swap - not likely or we end up with a good pick anyway
2029 - top 5 protected (rest Ant for 2028 season )
Players - all gone from Jazz but some of you may still regret including our 1st round pick Leandro Bolmaro

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

Nope.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[Slim Tubby]

Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

Any Gobert talk must include 10th, 1th and 6th DefRtg and two WCFs, and therefore it automatically ends up being excellent return on value

Yup.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[TimberKat]

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Everyone eventually gets old. DLo got old faster than Conley. What is the tax implications between new rule vs old rule? I don't think it's a big enough difference to impact the Gobert trade decision. We just finished the best 3 years run in the franchise's history. You can't say we should gotten something better when we don't know what better is and what was available. Otherwise, I could basically argue any trade is a bad trade because it cost us to get something better.

[younggunsmn]

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

I like the rollercoaster metaphor.
Winning is momentum.
TC burned a lot of fuel (the Gobert trade) to get us up the hill.
He had to cut weight and throw it overboard to get us up the next hill (The KAT trade).
We're now at the top of the hill again.
The players TC has assembled have to be able to keep getting us up the next hill the next few years because we don't have a whole lot of fuel (draft picks) left to burn.

[KGdaBom]

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Everyone eventually gets old. DLo got old faster than Conley. What is the tax implications between new rule vs old rule? I don't think it's a big enough difference to impact the Gobert trade decision. We just finished the best 3 years run in the franchise's history. You can't say we should gotten something better when we don't know what better is and what was available. Otherwise, I could basically argue any trade is a bad trade because it cost us to get something better.

Excellent way of explaining it.

[winforlose]

IMO ridiculous way of looking at it. Gobert was by far the best player we could have got for that package at the time. He turned us into an instant contender. KAT went down first year than WCF the next two.

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Everyone eventually gets old. DLo got old faster than Conley. What is the tax implications between new rule vs old rule? I don't think it's a big enough difference to impact the Gobert trade decision. We just finished the best 3 years run in the franchise's history. You can't say we should gotten something better when we don't know what better is and what was available. Otherwise, I could basically argue any trade is a bad trade because it cost us to get something better.

Yes we just finished the best 3 year run in franchise history, but year one was barely making the playoffs after having been there the year prior. To call 22/23 an excellent year for us is… dubious at best. The other side of the argument is that Ant and Jaden have both emerged and that emergence created an opportunity that had not existed for decades. So for two great years we put ourselves in a bad cap spot, dumped KAT who is still an excellent player in this league, took on the salary dead end of Mike (for which we still have no good answer,) let NAW walk, and are desperately hoping for internal development of our youth. It is like Denver losing Brown, the next year they lost KCP. When you hit the apex and start falling it can get ugly. This what I am hoping to avoid.

Regarding trade returns, look to other similar talent level players and evaluate the returns. We overpaid for Rudy and were poorly compensated for KAT. It is self evident.

[KGdaBom]

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short. Now Mike is getting older, we have no replacement, and if we don’t course correct, it is a long way down. Rudy will get older and have diminished value. Randle is likely to regress this year. DDV is an outlier who seems to need to start and play large minutes to stay in rhythm. Ant might get us to the promised land at some point, but we need to be careful what we do now, and sadly I don’t think TC is gonna make the right moves to get us there. In which case Ant leaves and the franchise golden age dies. Mostly because we made the Gobert trade and didn’t anticipate the 2nd apron, then sold KAT short, while not replacing Dlo with a long term viable PG.

Everyone eventually gets old. DLo got old faster than Conley. What is the tax implications between new rule vs old rule? I don't think it's a big enough difference to impact the Gobert trade decision. We just finished the best 3 years run in the franchise's history. You can't say we should gotten something better when we don't know what better is and what was available. Otherwise, I could basically argue any trade is a bad trade because it cost us to get something better.

Yes we just finished the best 3 year run in franchise history, but year one was barely making the playoffs after having been there the year prior. To call 22/23 an excellent year for us is… dubious at best. The other side of the argument is that Ant and Jaden have both emerged and that emergence created an opportunity that had not existed for decades. So for two great years we put ourselves in a bad cap spot, dumped KAT who is still an excellent player in this league, took on the salary dead end of Mike (for which we still have no good answer,) let NAW walk, and are desperately hoping for internal development of our youth. It is like Denver losing Brown, the next year they lost KCP. When you hit the apex and start falling it can get ugly. This what I am hoping to avoid.

Regarding trade returns, look to other similar talent level players and evaluate the returns. We overpaid for Rudy and were poorly compensated for KAT. It is self evident.

Nope.

[winforlose]

Everyone eventually gets old. DLo got old faster than Conley. What is the tax implications between new rule vs old rule? I don't think it's a big enough difference to impact the Gobert trade decision. We just finished the best 3 years run in the franchise's history. You can't say we should gotten something better when we don't know what better is and what was available. Otherwise, I could basically argue any trade is a bad trade because it cost us to get something better.

Yes we just finished the best 3 year run in franchise history, but year one was barely making the playoffs after having been there the year prior. To call 22/23 an excellent year for us is… dubious at best. The other side of the argument is that Ant and Jaden have both emerged and that emergence created an opportunity that had not existed for decades. So for two great years we put ourselves in a bad cap spot, dumped KAT who is still an excellent player in this league, took on the salary dead end of Mike (for which we still have no good answer,) let NAW walk, and are desperately hoping for internal development of our youth. It is like Denver losing Brown, the next year they lost KCP. When you hit the apex and start falling it can get ugly. This what I am hoping to avoid.

Regarding trade returns, look to other similar talent level players and evaluate the returns. We overpaid for Rudy and were poorly compensated for KAT. It is self evident.

Nope.

lol. Compare the return on Bridges to KAT. Even Murray got more than KAT. DDV was a bust, Randle was filler, and Joan at 17 is a pleasant surprise, but not exactly the scale tipper you would hope for. If Randle has a bad year I would call the trade catastrophic, not to be confused with KATastrophic which would be a bad pun.

[KGdaBom]

Yes we just finished the best 3 year run in franchise history, but year one was barely making the playoffs after having been there the year prior. To call 22/23 an excellent year for us is… dubious at best. The other side of the argument is that Ant and Jaden have both emerged and that emergence created an opportunity that had not existed for decades. So for two great years we put ourselves in a bad cap spot, dumped KAT who is still an excellent player in this league, took on the salary dead end of Mike (for which we still have no good answer,) let NAW walk, and are desperately hoping for internal development of our youth. It is like Denver losing Brown, the next year they lost KCP. When you hit the apex and start falling it can get ugly. This what I am hoping to avoid.

Regarding trade returns, look to other similar talent level players and evaluate the returns. We overpaid for Rudy and were poorly compensated for KAT. It is self evident.

Nope.

lol. Compare the return on Bridges to KAT. Even Murray got more than KAT. DDV was a bust, Randle was filler, and Joan at 17 is a pleasant surprise, but not exactly the scale tipper you would hope for. If Randle has a bad year I would call the trade catastrophic, not to be confused with KATastrophic which would be a bad pun.

I thought DDV had a good season, but a bad playoffs. Randle took a while, but once he got acclimated he was great.

I checked DDV's stats. Based on those he had a very good season. KAT had his best season in a long time for the Knicks. Shooting 53% 43% 83% with his rebounding a career high at 12.8. His stats are incredible, but that's not enough to go on to say poor compensation was self evident. Many national analysts called the trade win/win.

[Klomp]

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short.

This league is not championship or bust.

Most playoff games played since 2021-22 by Western Conference teams
1. Nuggets 51
2. Warriors 47
3. Timberwolves 42

He has gotten us to the top. No, it has not resulted in championships yet, but we have been one of the most consistent franchises in the conference in the midst of an era where parity is at an all-time high.

[winforlose]

That is a valid way to look at it. Another is everything TC has done has put us on a rollercoaster. He sold everything to get us to the top, but we came up short.

This league is not championship or bust.

Most playoff games played since 2021-22 by Western Conference teams
1. Nuggets 51
2. Warriors 47
3. Timberwolves 42

He has gotten us to the top. No, it has not resulted in championships yet, but we have been one of the most consistent franchises in the conference in the midst of an era where parity is at an all-time high.

When you sell off all your picks and bring in a Rudy it is absolutely championship or bust. They literally told you so (TC, KAT, Rudy, Finch, ect…) The goal was to also accelerate Ant/Jaden/Naz’s development. The problem is we see teams go all in, fail, and get worse. Just today the Clippers had to give away Powell because they knew they failed and had to start over. The Nuggets are trying again after getting progressively worse every year since the title win. They are now relying on older backups who are not going to be as effective. The difference is we have a young core all pre prime. But our lack of balance dooms our season before it begins. We lack the tools to find balance because of salary situation and pick situation. The only move left is trading talent, namely Randle or Rudy. DDV’s money isn’t high enough to bring back all we need, and without a roster balancing, our season is likely not going to end a chip.

P.S we made the playoffs before the Gobert trade and likely would have again. The bigger issue is failing to anticipate something that was publicly telegraphed before it happened (the 2nd apron,) and responding poorly to it.

[Klomp]

The goal was to also accelerate Ant/Jaden/Naz’s development.

IMPOSSIBLE! You just said it was absolutely championship or bust! Nothing else matters then! Connelly must go! Finch must go! Rudy must go! Ant must go! This has been a colossal failure and it is worse than being a Charlotte Hornets fan right now because we went all-in on championship or bust!

[shangrila]

Keeping tally on the Gobert trade: looks like the real cost for now is Walker and a 2027 unprotected.

2023 draft - not a starter
2025 draft - we actually drafted ahead and would had traded out, could we had packaged the two to picks for Yang?
2026 draft swap - not likely or we end up with a good pick anyway
2029 - top 5 protected (rest Ant for 2028 season )
Players - all gone from Jazz but some of you may still regret including our 1st round pick Leandro Bolmaro

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

Wrong scenario.

It's more like buying a high class work van with cryptocurrency to help your growing business. A bunch of people in the peanut gallery freak out because what if that crypto turns out to be the next Bitcoin? You could buy a whole other business in that case! While you calmly point out that you want to continue building your business now, don't want to rely solely on unguaranteed organic growth, and realistically that particular crypto is likely a meme coin.

Several years later and despite the best success your business has ever had, led in many ways by the steadiness of that van you bought, people are still going on about what you could have bought with the fictional, theoretical value of a crypto coin that is still, to this point, more Hawk Tuah than Ethereum.

They go on to complain that acquiring this van forced you to sell your top of the line Tesla Model X at below market rate, despite you pointing out that it was taking too much electricity to use and would have forced you to remove several other pieces of cheaper but important equipment. They also have no knowledge of the process you went through to sell it nor apparently what the market rate is for a car like that, but still criticise you because they personally valued it higher. They lament that the BYD Shark 6 you bought is cheaper and less impressive, despite it in many ways fitting in better into your business requirements than the Tesla, and completely dismiss the scooter you were also able to get that helps your staff more easily make deliveries in the local city. You even used the leftover cash on a scratch lottery ticket, and while you've only scratched one third of it it's currently showing the icons for the top prize so hey, who knows?

[winforlose]

Keeping tally on the Gobert trade: looks like the real cost for now is Walker and a 2027 unprotected.

2023 draft - not a starter
2025 draft - we actually drafted ahead and would had traded out, could we had packaged the two to picks for Yang?
2026 draft swap - not likely or we end up with a good pick anyway
2029 - top 5 protected (rest Ant for 2028 season )
Players - all gone from Jazz but some of you may still regret including our 1st round pick Leandro Bolmaro

That’s like saying you have 20 dollars to spend on dinner, you buy Pizza for 16 so you saved 4 dollars. It ignores the fact that you owned the 20 and could have bought something else with it. If we traded Kessler (or better yet Moore,) and 4 firsts for a different C and a PG who knows where we would be. Any talk about the Rudy trade must include the KAT trade (one forces the other,) and therefore it automatically ends up being poor return on value.

Wrong scenario.

It's more like buying a high class work van with cryptocurrency to help your growing business. A bunch of people in the peanut gallery freak out because what if that crypto turns out to be the next Bitcoin? You could buy a whole other business in that case! While you calmly point out that you want to continue building your business now, don't want to rely solely on unguaranteed organic growth, and realistically that particular crypto is likely a meme coin.

Several years later and despite the best success your business has ever had, led in many ways by the steadiness of that van you bought, people are still going on about what you could have bought with the fictional, theoretical value of a crypto coin that is still, to this point, more Hawk Tuah than Ethereum.

They go on to complain that acquiring this van forced you to sell your top of the line Tesla Model X at below market rate, despite you pointing out that it was taking too much electricity to use and would have forced you to remove several other pieces of cheaper but important equipment. They also have no knowledge of the process you went through to sell it nor apparently what the market rate is for a car like that, but still criticise you because they personally valued it higher. They lament that the BYD Shark 6 you bought is cheaper and less impressive, despite it in many ways fitting in better into your business requirements than the Tesla, and completely dismiss the scooter you were also able to get that helps your staff more easily make deliveries in the local city. You even used the leftover cash on a scratch lottery ticket, and while you've only scratched one third of it it's currently showing the icons for the top prize so hey, who knows?

Clever if a bit technical and confusing. Utterly false, but clever. You are arguing in good faith that no other possible trades involving all that draft capital could possibly have ended well. You are also arguing that even if we decided to move KAT the best we could ever do is Randle, DDV, and #17 in a bad draft. Rudy had a terrible playoff after a bad season. He is showing his age and starting a very bad contract. He might have two good years left, and we would be smart to move him again.

P.S you just saw us lose NAW for nothing, we have no starting or backup PG this season (38 year old Mike should be a good 3rd string, and Dilly would be a G leaguer after a year like last,) and we have almost no money to fix it. But who knows maybe in 5 years Joan will prove a project worth selling so ludicrously short on KAT (the one asset we could afford to trade to get the PGOF which we sold for a backup SG.)

[shrink]

I agree that the price we paid for Gobert was high. But to me, it’s already been worth it.

Only one team wins the championship each year, so that doesn’t make the moves of the 29 teams, at least the playoff teams, “busts.” And yes, I agree that getting Ant into playoff experiences early is likely helping his development, and that of Jaden and Naz. But to me, the most important part of the Gobert trade was re-writing our image as the constant lottery team that no one wants to go to. Already we have seen benefits, with our best players wanting to stay here, and sometimes even taking less to stay in MIN. But we benefit by the national change in the way we are portrayed, perhaps even attracting free agents at some point. MIN is no longer a loser-franchise, and I don’t think we would have changed that opinion without Gobert.

I think the high price we paid was already worth it.