In defence of Kahn

[Krapinsky]

It's not a red herring. Beasley is making $5M this year and Ridnour $4M. Jefferson was due to make $13M. Would you rather have Jefferson and his 18-20ppg and 8-10rpg or take a risk on Beasley and settle for Ridnour?

For that $4M extra, what is better on your roster-- the backup PG and the headcase or the guy with elite post skills?

I know what you are going to say, so you don't have to bother responding with the justification. But we'll see what happens this year.

I'll go ahead and respond, thanks. First off, Jefferson is being replaced on the roster with more minutes from Love and Pekovic. Now, in anlyzing the Jefferson trade we are $9M under the cap. Last year we were above the cap. Why are you arbitrarily picking Beasley and Ridnour as Jefferson replacements and saying we are "rebuilding" around those two players. Why not pick Pekovic? Why not pick Tolliver? Why not two future first round picks? OR how about we wait and see what we do with the $9M?

You see you're ignoring the thought process behind trading Jefferson and arbitrarily comparing him to two new players on the roster. Our two best players were PFs. One made $14M and didn't make the players around him better. Are we any better off right now having Jefferson on the roster as an undersized center and winning 25 games or a younger Beasley on the roster and winning 20? Now consider we're saving an additional $9M under the cap and consider the opportunities that is likely to present to us in the future. I'll take Beasley + $9M + 2 future firsts over Jefferson and no cap any day.

[teven_1]

A team on the rise will encourage free agents to show up

[St.Nick]

You tell me what you think the Wolves are going to do with that $9M. Kahn used his capspace this summer on free agents Darko, Ridnour, and Tolliver a trade to get Michael Beasley and Martell Webster.

Name me some targets that you think you've got a good chance to get with that $9M which brings the Wolves a better player than Jefferson or a better collection of players.

The only ignorance here is from the guy who buys his GM's PR messages hook, line, and sinker. He chooses to ignore the poor moves made, the shoddy roster he's got, and simply hope that his GM's sales pitch about building this team hits the target in several years time.

Hope and faith can be an extension of ignorance. I see it here.

Anyways, game is starting. Going to try to tune in. Looking forward to picking up with a little game play evidence.

[Krapinsky]

You tell me what you think the Wolves are going to do with that $9M. Kahn used his capspace this summer on free agents Darko, Ridnour, and Tolliver a trade to get Michael Beasley and Martell Webster.

Name me some targets that you think you've got a good chance to get with that $9M which brings the Wolves a better player than Jefferson or a better collection of players.

The only ignorance here is from the guy who buys his GM's PR messages hook, line, and sinker. He chooses to ignore the poor moves made, the shoddy roster he's got, and simply hope that his GM's sales pitch about building this team hits the target in several years time.

Hope and faith can be an extension of ignorance. I see it here.

Anyways, game is starting. Going to try to tune in. Looking forward to picking up with a little game play evidence.

At the very worst we can make a Cole Aldrich-type trade come draft time next year with that $9M. We can also sell the cap space before then for future firsts -- i.e. Jared Jeffries trade. I think a combination of Beasley + two future firsts is already has potential to be better than Jefferson, especially when you consider Jefferson's playing time is being repalced by Love and Pekovic who will be more efficient and better defenders than Jefferson. Now that's before determining what we we do with the extra $9M.

[john2jer]

The public/media opinion of Kahn is already set. Kahn could somehow swing cap space and a couple of 2nd round picks to Denver and Portland to pick up Carmelo Anthony and Brandon Roy, yet somehow Kahn would be labeled an idiot who got hosed.

[St.Nick]

Hit me back when he gets Carmelo or Brandon Roy. I'll come here when his big acquisitions are Michael Beasley and Martell Webster.

[john2jer]

Hit me back when he gets Carmelo or Brandon Roy. I'll come here when his big acquisitions are Michael Beasley and Martell Webster.

My point being that Beasley and Webster could completely bust out this year due to having the opportunity to be lead guys, the Wolves could win 35 games while showing promise for continued improvement and people like you would still bitch about Kahn. The media/ESPN would still bag on him. All because you don't like the way he's gone about things and he goes against the grain. Maybe you're one of those guys that prefers the status quo, or prefers the coach/GM retreads that we see in sports all the time. I personally have gotten tired of the same old, same old. And I see that Kahn has a younger roster filled with guys who are more athletic, better defenders, better shooters, and genuinely seem to like being around each other. The Wolves have sold more tickets for the upcoming season than they have in a few years. Taylor could actually break even this year, which will be the first time in 10+ years. How has Kahn not done his job then if the roster is better with a better future, and the owner is sitting better?

Kahn swung and missed with the Sessions/Hollins signings, but the difference is he cleaned those up instead of compounding them. I feel he missed an opportunity with Chucky Atkins, but that issue is so minor, I don't think it had a huge effect onn our future.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with what he's done. I wasn't a huge Jonny Flynn fan, I'd have prefered Curry or Derozan, to be honest, but from what has been leaked about the Flynn pick, I understand his logic there.

I like that he's been quieter the last couple months, but honestly, I think some of the comments he's made have helped. No one has even thought about the Wolves outside of Minnesota in about 5 years. Hell, I remember "highlights" the last couple years in games that the Wolves would win, and you wouldn't see one basket on SportsCenter by a Wolves player. They'd show what the opponent did, the good game or nice shot the other team would make, then hurry through a , "Oh yeah, the Wolves won by 5..." For the first time in a few years people are actually talking about the Wolves. That right there is a success for Kahn. Maybe it adds an edge to the squad, or puts a chip on their shoulder and makes the team work that much harder. I'll take it.

Take a team like Detroit. Better talent, probably, right? Is anyone really talking about them? Joe Dumars is a supposed amazing general manager, but does their future look all that bright? They're essentially capped out the next three years with really Greg Monroe as the only youth to build on.

[teven_1]

Darko has to get more aggressive. I feel that will come with time. There are also signs of a logjam at the wing positions and few true "2 guards". I don't know what a crunch time lineup will be.
Overall I am pleased

[St.Nick]

Watched most of the game tonight. If Webster and Beasley play like that all season long then I'll be eating crow.

Webster was creating his shot with effectiveness. Really displayed some athleticism I didn't know he had.

Beasley turned on the shooting and had a huge burst in the 3Q. Impressive there.

Of course, it needs to be said that this is pre-season and the Lakers were playing their scrubs, but the Wolves still played very well.

Darko was a rock, Love did his thing, Pekovic was a nice contributor, Wes Johnson looks like a player, and Ridnour held it down.

I think the Knicks will play their starters a lot more than the Lakers did, so that will be a bigger test. But after their first public showing this team looked good.

[john2jer]

Watched most of the game tonight. If Webster and Beasley play like that all season long then I'll be eating crow.

Webster was creating his shot with effectiveness. Really displayed some athleticism I didn't know he had.

Beasley turned on the shooting and had a huge burst in the 3Q. Impressive there.

Of course, it needs to be said that this is pre-season and the Lakers were playing their scrubs, but the Wolves still played very well.

Darko was a rock, Love did his thing, Pekovic was a nice contributor, Wes Johnson looks like a player, and Ridnour held it down.

I think the Knicks will play their starters a lot more than the Lakers did, so that will be a bigger test. But after their first public showing this team looked good.

I was curious how you were going to react, but lot of respect for the way you did. Totally agree with what you said. It was the Lakers scrubs, but I think the Wolves showed a TON of improvement over the garbage they put on the court last year. Beasley needs to fix those turnovers, but it's a good start.

[teven_1]

Watched most of the game tonight. If Webster and Beasley play like that all season long then I'll be eating crow.

Webster was creating his shot with effectiveness. Really displayed some athleticism I didn't know he had.

Beasley turned on the shooting and had a huge burst in the 3Q. Impressive there.

Of course, it needs to be said that this is pre-season and the Lakers were playing their scrubs, but the Wolves still played very well.

Darko was a rock, Love did his thing, Pekovic was a nice contributor, Wes Johnson looks like a player, and Ridnour held it down.

I think the Knicks will play their starters a lot more than the Lakers did, so that will be a bigger test. But after their first public showing this team looked good.

I was curious how you were going to react, but lot of respect for the way you did. Totally agree with what you said. It was the Lakers scrubs, but I think the Wolves showed a TON of improvement over the garbage they put on the court last year. Beasley needs to fix those turnovers, but it's a good start.

The first half was a little disheartening with what seemed like a D-League select squad keeping pace with us. We really turned it up and yeah no Kobe or Pau made things different but still a great game by us.
Darko will become more assertive with time, looking to score more often, I can't wait.
Love and Beasley can really tear things up.
Martell as leading scorer on second unit?

beaz or web could have easily dropped 30, but yes lets keep this in perspective it was pre-season.
I will say I think if we maintain focus (something that could be an issue given our youth) we will improve on last year

[Esohny]

Looks like Pekovic (as expected) had some trouble adjusting to the refs calls. I'm looking forward to seeing him after he gets used to what the NBA officials will call for fouls down low.

[Krapinsky]

Looks like Pekovic (as expected) had some trouble adjusting to the refs calls. I'm looking forward to seeing him after he gets used to what the NBA officials will call for fouls down low.

Kind of explains the Tolliver signing

[LOBO 7]

Looks like Pekovic (as expected) had some trouble adjusting to the refs calls. I'm looking forward to seeing him after he gets used to what the NBA officials will call for fouls down low.

Kind of explains the Tolliver signing

Yeah, at first I thought the Tolliver signing was a bit questionable because I didn't think there would be minutes for him, but I bet Pek will only average about 15 MPG for the first couple of months, and I really think Tolliver will be a wonderful surprise. I absolutely love this team's depth, especially once Flynn comes back. If Flynn comes off the bench, I really think our bench this year will be more fun to watch than our starters last year:

Flynn
Brewer
Webster
Tolliver
Pek

Lazar
Koufos


I know it was just one meaningless game, but I really can't contain my excitement to watch this team play 82 games.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Looks like Pekovic (as expected) had some trouble adjusting to the refs calls. I'm looking forward to seeing him after he gets used to what the NBA officials will call for fouls down low.

I didn't see the game, were his fouls coming on post D or defending the rim against guys driving off the perimeter

[Esohny]

Looks like Pekovic (as expected) had some trouble adjusting to the refs calls. I'm looking forward to seeing him after he gets used to what the NBA officials will call for fouls down low.

I didn't see the game, were his fouls coming on post D or defending the rim against guys driving off the perimeter

Anybody who can answer that? I didn't see the game, I was going by the 5 fouls in 12 minutes and the game thread comments.


Also, brilliant general board topic on who the worst teams will be this year. Guess who is easily the worst in the West?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1056617

[Klomp]

Mostly the latter, I would say

[teven_1]

http://hardcourtmayhem.com/sphericalstudies/?p=94
i think the article sums it up. For the first time in a long time (for a bunch of different reasons) we are all excited