Take a Side

[younggunsmn]

Sessions/Flynn:
If Flynn can improve his defense, I like flynn better, but that is a huge if because his d was nothing short of putrid most of the year. For a guy who is so quick to the hole to put so little on-ball pressure is puzzling.
I like Sessions's defense and his ability to organize a team. He clearly has a high BBIQ. Rambis is reworking his shot, and if they can do the same magic with him they did with corey, he could be an amazing player.

I like sessions long term as rubio's backup. If flynn and sessions can't share court time I have a hard time seeing rubio and flynn sharing court time. Rubio's strength is on-ball d, and there is no way flynn can guard 2's. If either is needed to sweeten a trade (trade up for turner if we land 3 or worse in lottery, or flynn+love+hollins for granger), I would do it in a heartbeat and sign a cheap backup PG for the year.

I would like to be greedy and keep both, but it may be smart to deal one this year instead of next year when everyone knows we HAVE to move one of our 3 pg's, not to mention a possible lockout making for a short trade season.

Darko or no Darko:
Definitely Darko. I think a one year deal is probably in the best interest of both parties. If he wants more than 1 year the most I would go is 2+ a Team Option. I think if we match whatever he would be offered in Europe he will come back. I can't see that being much more than 5 or 6 million, which I would be comfortable paying.

Gomes:
Definitely not back. Most likely bought out before 6/30 when the final 3 years of his deal become guaranteed. Small chance his unguaranteed deal is used as bait on draft day to move up or down.
Interesting point by Zgoda on the stiemsma signing, he has a fully unguaranteed deal for next year, which will make him tradeable by draft day. That small filler may be just enough to make salary matching work on a gomes deal. Otherwise Ellington is our only other small contract tradeable on draft day.
NO picks 11th, they are over the lux and ripe for a trade down to 16 or 23-25. Gomes + stiemsma for mo pete doesn't work, and we can't acquire songaila until after 7/1 because we traded him last year. This means we would have to give them gomes+ellington for mo pete + their pick to give them any kind of lux relief (would save them 4.2 mil + the value of their pick (minus the rookie min), doubled for tax purposes.

I like the wing talent in this draft. There are several "big 2 guards" /athletic 3's who are fits for the triangle, likely one or more available at both 16 and 23-25. Xavier Henry, James Anderson, Paul George. Lots of other good wings in that range: Stanley Robinson, Elliot Williams, Willie Warren, Devin Ebanks, Avery Bradley, Jordan Crawford. Probably would have been a good wing available at 32 had we not dumped it for 3+ million in the atkins deal.

I am very skeptical about the Center talent in that 16-25 range. Whiteside has bigtime attitude/maturity issues. Alabi has very little offensive skill and a Hollins-esque BBIQ. I'd prefer if we could land one of Jerome Jordan or Dexter Pittman at 45 and stash him in the D-league, and take wings at 16 and 23, even if we land turner. No big we could take at 16 is ready to see much court time next year.

Pekovic:
If Al or Love is traded, or Darko doesn't come back, sign him.
If we need to use him to get turner or acquire that stud wing, do it without hesitation.
If we sign him, hopefully it will be in the scola range (3yr 10 mil or so).
I'm guessing his standalone trade value is probably a pick in the 12-15 range in this year's draft to the right team.
If we have no room for him this year, trading him for a future top 10 protected pick from the right team isn't a bad idea.

[younggunsmn]

Jesus, Young. Have you ever heard of drawing fouls or 3 point shooting or TS%? Kevin is 25 % points higher than your hero in scoring efficiency.

With much better assist and rebounding rates as well.

Love doesn't shoot 3's well enough to warrant a green light. 33% is not good.
A .478 adjusted FG% is terrible.
Bargnani, another jump-shooting big, shot an adj FG% of .523

Al shot .500 on 2 pt shots, Love shot .474.
So what if Love shot more long range jumpers (why his TS% is higher).
It means Al is getting better shots than Love.
Would you rather have your big man taking jump shots or scoring in the paint?

I mentioned the FT's, but if you look at Al's pre-injury stats they are much closer there, and in rebounding.

When you need a "tough basket" Al can get one. Love can't.
Isn't that what Big Men do? Get the tough baskets?

Look at Al's stats the 2 years before his injury (and the triangle).
They're much better than his 2009-10 stats.
He had no outside shooters at all for spacing this year.

Love's rebounding numbers come with a price. He cheats on D and clogs the lane on the offensive end chasing his precious rebounds, disrupting the flow and destroying driving lanes for his teammates.
I will take pedestrian rebounding numbers and solid defense over Love's REB numbers and D every time (not that Al plays solid D).

Al needs to work on his passing. He has gotten better as the season has gone on, but still has a ways to go. 2.3 assists from Love is nothing to get excited about. His turnover rate is also much higher than Al's.

Al and Love both clearly have skills to offer. I just think low-post scoring is a much rarer and more valuable skill. 23 and 11 players are very few in this league, even if this offense might not let Al get back to those numbers.

[Worm Guts]

Al shot .500 on 2 pt shots, Love shot .474.
So what if Love shot more long range jumpers (why his TS% is higher).
It means Al is getting better shots than Love.
Would you rather have your big man taking jump shots or scoring in the paint?

I'd rather have my big man be efficient. The entire point of being able to score inside is that it's supposed to be higher percentage. If I've got two players of similar efficiency, I'd rather have the one who spreads the floor.

[shangrila]

Al shot .500 on 2 pt shots, Love shot .474.
So what if Love shot more long range jumpers (why his TS% is higher).
It means Al is getting better shots than Love.
Would you rather have your big man taking jump shots or scoring in the paint?

I'd rather have my big man be efficient. The entire point of being able to score inside is that it's supposed to be higher percentage. If I've got two players of similar efficiency, I'd rather have the one who spreads the floor.

Spread the floor? Yes. Be totally reliant on his jumpshot to score at all? No.

[Worm Guts]

Meh. There's some value in being able to create your shot, but mostly I care about volume and efficiency.

[mandurugo]

I really liked younggunsmn's write-up, I agree with basically all of his points.

Al vs. Love: I used to think that Al was really limiting because despite his skills he needed such a specific front-court partner (long, athletic, defender, ideally jump shot) to maximize what he could bring to the team, but the problem with Love is that he needs an even more specific (and better player) - someone who is long, athletic, a great defender, but he must also be a low-post scorer and draw double-teams. Love would be great next to a great player, but pairing him next to even someone of Darko's skill level makes me nervous. If the wolves end up keeping Darko, I think they would be much better off keeping Jefferson. Ideally they would use Love to get someone like Favors, certainly they should be able to get something of value for him. On the other hand, if they end up drafting Cousins and he turns out to be a great defensive big, perhaps the best bet is to keep Love and trade Jefferson.

Sessions/Flynn: there is definitely merit to trading one now before your back is against the wall, but they will still need two point guards next year. I think it is better to give them both another year to learn the system and determine who is better - keep both for one more year.

Darko or no Darko: I would keep him, he's a better prospect than the wolves have had for 21 years at the center position.

Gomes I'm not a fan of him for the wolves, but the team could use some consistency and players with experience. Upgrade him if possible I guess.

[skorff26]

Al vs. Love: I'll pick Love. I think his style of play fits in better with what we are trying to do.

Flynn vs. Sessions: I'll take Sessions. I don't think we would have drafted Flynn had we known we could get Sessions. Sessions is the perfect backup for Rubio when he comes over. I think Flynn could fetch us a lottery pick this year to maybe get someone like Johnson, Aldrich, Monroe, or Aminu.

Darko vs. No Darko: Depends on the price tag. 4 million is the max I'd go, if Darko thinks he's worth more, I'd tell him to sign a one year deal with us, keep on proving that he is worth more, and we'll talk in 2011.

Gomes: gone, either through a trade to net us something (2011 expiring + pick for Gomes) or cut to give us more cap space

[TrentTuckerForever]

I agree dump the lot of them.

Disagree... there is talent here, just like on the Nets. What we're missing is a catalyst. No Wolves team I've ever watched has needed a "straw to stir the drink" more than this team. Not only did they lack a real difference maker and leader, they also lacked someone who THOUGHT he was (no Isiah Riders, Chrissy Laettners or Ricky Davises on this team.)

Oddly enough, one of those pretenders probably would have added 5-10 wins just by demanding the ball at the end of games. Of course, Ricky Davis would also have destroyed any player development that was accomplished this year, demanded a $40 million extension, and probably got Love hooked on pot in the bargain.

Anyway, my point is that the catalyst (Turner, Wall or eventually Rubio), if they can get one, will make all these guys fit more properly into their roles.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I agree dump the lot of them.

Disagree... there is talent here, just like on the Nets. What we're missing is a catalyst. No Wolves team I've ever watched has needed a "straw to stir the drink" more than this team. Not only did they lack a real difference maker and leader, they also lacked someone who THOUGHT he was (no Isiah Riders, Chrissy Laettners or Ricky Davises on this team.)

Oddly enough, one of those pretenders probably would have added 5-10 wins just by demanding the ball at the end of games. Of course, Ricky Davis would also have destroyed any player development that was accomplished this year, demanded a $40 million extension, and probably got Love hooked on pot in the bargain.

Anyway, my point is that the catalyst (Turner, Wall or eventually Rubio), if they can get one, will make all these guys fit more properly into their roles.

I think if we get Rubio or Wall, we still need some big time shooters at least, those guys can draw defenders off the perimeter, but we need knockdown shooterz on teh perimeterz

[TrentTuckerForever]

^Sure, but won't Love's rebounding help? Or Flynn's experience in running the offense? Brewer hitting threes and his defensive potential? The more I think about it, the more I think Kahn was right - there's no one on this roster worthy of being more than the 2nd or 3rd best player on a championship team. But they're being forced to play those roles - Al as the alpha dog, Flynn as a FT starter, Love as a 6th man instead of a starter, etc.

Makes me think of the Lakers and the Pau Gasol trade. Best thing about that deal was that Pau naturally slotted behind Kobe as the team's second-best player. It made the players further down the food chain (Bynum, Walton, Vujacic and especially Odom) play the roles more suited to their talent level. Everyone benefited. Same thing with the Wolves - how good would Jefferson look playing next to a dominant shot creator like LeBron, Nash or Paul (or maybe someday, Turner)?