Wolves GM Jim Stack breaks down the trade.

[Calinks]

More can be found plus audio at http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/In ... -1193.html

Jonah: From a pure basketball standpoint, let's start with Sheldon Williams and what he brings to this team this year?

Jim Stack: Jonah, he's a guy that obviously had a great career at Duke and drafted very high by the Atlanta Hawks, and you know when we looked at our situation, it was a situation where with Al Jefferson being injured, we felt like we had Kevin Love at that spot, and to give Kevin McHale a little flexibility, we felt like if we could add another big body to play that power forward spot, that gives Kevin more flexibility with the roster. Sheldon brings some shot blocking, he can score in the low post, and he's a big body, and hopefully he'll help in the rebounding area. It will be up to Kevin McHale how much he plays, but we think there was a void there a little bit. Craig Smith is a little bit of a different guy because he's more of a ball-handling power forward and can make plays, whereas Sheldon fits more than banger at the basket type of guy with Kevin Love. Hopefully he'll come in here and I told him on the phone, it's wide open. We'll be looking to evaluate him and there's an opportunity for him here, so it'll be up to him to take advantage of it.

Jonah: Williams was a tremendous shot blocker at Duke, a trait which really increased his draft status. Is that something you're going to really look at, what improvements and what production he brings to the defensive side of the floor?

Jim: I think so. We're obviously without Al right now, there's no question about that, but within that, that's a silver lining for some of these other guys to step in and show what they can do. We feel like we're looking for a guy who can be a basket protector and block some shots, and more importantly I think for Sheldon it's to acclimate himself quickly and pick up our system and just get a feel for his basketball IQ and see how he can do all those things. If he can kind of pick that up and get out there and learn quickly and be productive for us, we'll take that as a positive and see what happens for him down the line.

Jonah: Let's move to the second guy you picked up today, Bobby Brown, not the 80s pop star but the basketball player. This also fills a void with Kevin Ollie's injury and also provides a little bit of depth at the point guard spot. What do you see out of Bobby Brown this season?

Jim: Bobby's a guy we looked at a lot this summer. He played in the Las Vegas Summer League and played very well. Sacramento ended up signing him, and he even had some really solid games for them this year when Beno Udrih was out for some injuries, in fact against us as a matter of fact, much to my chagrin. He's a guy who brings speed, he's a competitive kid, he can shoot the ball with range, he's a tough guy, I think he's going to be a good, feisty defender for us and can push the tempo. It just gives us a different dimension for us as a fast guy who can hit shots with range, so we're looking forward to seeing what he can bring. We talked to him again this morning on the phone, he's excited to be here, and we'll see how he goes. There will be an opportunity for him hopefully to get on the floor and take it from there.

[4ho5ive]

Anybody else think Brown can be a Chalmers-lite

[Sephiroth]

Good read, but I would just like to say that it's getting annoying how everyone spells Shelden Williams' name incorrectly.

[4ho5ive]

You mean Shelldan?

[Rakocevicftw]

This is a big opportunity for Snelden.

[GopherIt!]

nice take on Sheldin

[Basti]

I'm really looking forward to what Schäldän can do for us if we give him enough minutes

btw: Bobby Brown played for my favorite german basketball team last season and after years of "failure" they became champions again. now that he's gone they're currently 4th. sooo... who's going to be the champion? they might as well hand us the trophy now. Bobby Brown >>> Mike "who?" James aka Tom Cruise, Michael Jordan and Jesus in one person.

[PeeDee]

Good read, but I would just like to say that it's getting annoying how everyone spells Shelden Williams' name incorrectly.

It's just our way of giving our proper respects to "Rashard McCants".

Speaking of, I was listening to KFAN on the way home from work and they were talking about the trade. Dan Cole called McCants "Rashard" several times. What a tool. Thanks for being a pro at what you do, Dan. He's only been a pro basketball player in the town you work in for 5 years.

Man that guy annoys me, even his voice makes me cringe.

[prefuse73]

Anybody else think Brown can be a Chalmers-lite

I don't think Chalmers has done enough in this league at this point ot have a "lite version". Chalmers was put on a team with no point guard (except chris quinn..............) and played 30 mpg with wade and marion in an uptempo style, I think both brown and telfair could do what he has done in that situation.

I am more excited about what brown could bring rather than shelden. Strong defender, with speed and range, sounds great to me (no matter who he compares too). I don't know if I would be happy going in to next season with a telfair/brown point guard combo, but I don' think its a stretch to think brown could pass telfair on the depth chart because of his supposedly strong D. All we need from Shelden is seriously, block shots and make people regret driving in the paint. I personally don't think he is athletic enough to do it in the NBA, but he had Thabeet type block numbers in his senior year at duke. (4 bpg).

[Worm Guts]

Anybody else think Brown can be a Chalmers-lite

I don't think Chalmers has done enough in this league at this point ot have a "lite version". Chalmers was put on a team with no point guard (except chris quinn..............) and played 30 mpg with wade and marion in an uptempo style, I think both brown and telfair could do what he has done in that situation.

Why would you think playing with Miami would improve Telfair's defense or shooting? Telfair's a completely different type of player than Chalmers or Brown.

[TrentTuckerForever]

I'm really looking forward to what Schäldän can do for us if we give him enough minutes.

Sigged!!! It's just Un-American to dislike umlauts.

[karch34]

It's just Un-American to dislike umlauts.

LOL. Unless you're like me and worked for a German owned company for too many years.

[Devilzsidewalk]

lets all have incredible basti sigs

[TrentTuckerForever]

lets all have incredible basti sigs

He's a wealth of... something. Umlauts?

Here's a section of Ben Wallace's Wikipedia page:

Early career

As an undrafted player, he was signed as a rookie free agent by the Washington Bullets on October 2, 1996 after playing in Italy.

In 1999, Wallace was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Tim Legler, Terry Davis, and Jeff McInnis for Ike Austin.

Detroit Pistons
Ben Wallace Was with Detroit Pistons from 2000-2006 until he signed as a free agent with Chicago Bulls for 4 years

On August 3, 2000, he was traded along with Chucky Atkins to the Detroit Pistons for Grant Hill, in what was at the time considered a one-sided trade; Hill had planned to sign with Orlando as an unrestricted free agent, but the sign and trade deal allowed Hill to receive a slightly more lucrative contract while Detroit received at least some compensation for losing its marquee player. Since the trade, he has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2001-02, 2002-03, 2004-05, and 2005-06 seasons, and was selected to six All-Defensive teams. In the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, he led the league in both rebounds and blocked shots, the first to do so since Hakeem Olajuwon. In 2003, he was voted by fans to the first of his four NBA All-Star Game appearances as a center for the Eastern Conference.


Now Williams obviously got into the league in a much different way than Wallace (#5 pick in the draft vs. undrafted free agent), but otherwise the parallels are similar. Wallace, an athletic but offensively limited big forward, bounced around a bit before he got to a team where he had a specific role in which he could blossom.

I'm not saying that Shelden Williams is the next Ben Wallace. What I am saying is that he's now on a team where he COULD be, for the first time in his career. He's young enough to grow into that kind of role alongside Love and Jefferson, highly skilled bigs who will attract attention away from Williams' deficiencies on the offensive end.

The key will be work - Wallace was and is a workout warrior (like his mentor, Charles Oakley.) Williams is supposedly 15-20 pounds over his ideal playing weight. So we shall see... but if I were the Wolves I would be putting Wallace's story right in front of Williams' nose, going "THIS is what we want you to be..."

[Worm Guts]

Williams doesn't have the athleticism to be the next Wallace or even to be legitimately compared to him. He's a guy that will fill the gap at center until next year, and that's it.

[TrentTuckerForever]

^He doesn't have a young Wallace's athleticism today, but the young Wallace I remember (in Detroit) was in terrific shape. Who can say what Williams' ceiling is if he's in shape and playing a specific role? I would assume his measurables coming out of college must have been pretty good for him to be a lotto pick; no doubt he was taken too high at #5 but he must be an NBA athlete to have been taken that high, right?

[Worm Guts]

He's an NBA caliber athlete and he was incredibly productive at Duke, but he's a different type of player than Wallace. The other guy you mentioned, Charles Oakley, is probably a better comparison or hope. Still, I think it's fairly unlikely he's more than just a body we can put at center.

[shrink]

I remember the ORL Ben Wallace. Nobody could have predicted he'd become the DET Ben Wallace at that point either. It certainly doesn't mean that Shellfish will become the DET Ben Wallace, but there was no obvious precursors that ORL Ben had that Williams lacks. I agree with Worm Guts though that the likely outcome is just a big body.

[Worm Guts]

but there was no obvious precursors that ORL Ben had that Williams lacks.

Quick and explosive leaping ability is something Ben Wallace had that Williams doesn't.

[Basti]

lets all have incredible basti sigs

He's a wealth of... something. Umlauts?

I've got plenty. even the scandinavian ones.