Why is Sundiata still on the team?

[NewWolvesOrder]

We have big men crisis yet we carry 4 pgs on the roster. Cut Gaines and bring an athletic big from D-league.

[shrink]

Just an FYI - I had to look all over to find his contract. Its not listed on sham or storyteller, but our homeboy wyn's got it at about $700,000. According to probasketball talk, it's completely unguaranteed, and they hoped at the time that Gaines would audition well enough that another team would pick him up when Flynn (and at the time, Ridnour) were healthy. So you're right, surely he's gone.

In the meantime, I don't think we'll see Gaines released until after the trade deadline, for a number of reasons:

1. If Telfair or Ridnour are traded to the Knicks (with maybe the unguaranteed Shawne Williams included in the return?), he'll serve as our third PG who likely is inactive unless we face another injury. He knows the system.

2. He's an unguaranteed contract, and that may have benefit to another team before the trade deadline. Now, right now that doesn't matter, since we'd release him for cap space. However, if we did a deal tomorrow that cost us our cap space and put us over the cap (like NJN just did), then there is a hidden benefit that we can now salary match at 125% in trades. This was brought up last week by NJN's front office, and it seems confusing to me, but in broad terms, having an unguaranteed contract on board for the last 7 weeks before the deadline is a good thing.

3. This could also be a thank you to Gaines. Sure, we don't need to pay him for a few more weeks of service, but its a small amount to the Wolves ($0.1-0.2 mil), and a huge amount to a borderline NBA player.

Gaines will be the first one gone the moment we do a deal that adds to our roster. In the meantime though, I think he'll be on the team for a while. I agree with your reasoning though.

[C.lupus]

Yeah, I think the reason he is still here is because Bassy is heading out the door. Seems kind of telling that Telfair hasn't played since Flynn came back.

[younggunsmn]

He's still here because bassy or ridnour might be traded or flynn might have a setback.

All contracts become guaranteed sometime in January, so the unguaranteed contract value bit has an expiration date well before the trade deadline (Jason Hart was traded last Dec 29th).

I fully expect the wolves to cut gaines before his deal becomes fully guaranteed and use 10 day contracts if we need depth because of injury later in the year. Even if we make a trade, 3rd PG's are a dime a dozen. We auditioned 3 others before we picked Gaines.

[Ice32]

I think a trade is in the works very soon which will include Brewer/Ridnour and/or Telfair...why do you think Brewer is playing 30 mpg over his lasyt 8?

I think we will be getting a big sooner rather than later....

[lumberpups]

Here are a few athletic bigs I would not mind checking out:
Chris Johnson http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/chris_johnson/
Sean Williams http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/sean_williams/
Latavious Williams http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/l ... _williams/

[Tha Juice]

Here are a few athletic bigs I would not mind checking out:
Chris Johnson http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/chris_johnson/
Sean Williams http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/sean_williams/
Latavious Williams http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/l ... _williams/

Chris Johnson- Skinny frame, will get pushed around by bigs in the NBA.
Sean Williams- Attitude problems and legal problems
Latavious Williams-

He was just asked to “run and jump in high school,” and things like half-court spacing, defensive rotations, advance scouting and other basic concepts were largely a mystery to him

Maybe he's learned since high school but him trying to learn the triangle doesn't sound like a great idea.

[horaceworthy]

Latavious Williams is property of the Thunder. He played for their D-League team last year and then they picked him up in the 2nd round of the draft this year.

The pickings are pretty slim for D-League big men this year. Most interesting names to me would probably be Tiny Gallon and Nick Fazekas, although neither one's particularly athletic.

The guy I'd really like to see replace Gaines on the roster is Kyle Weaver. 19/6/4 with 1.4 steals and 1.7 blocks per game, on percentages of 51.5/84.2/52.4. Not a big, but he's a wing that can actually handle the ball (played some point in college and OKC for small stretches).

[shangrila]

The guy I'd really like to see replace Gaines on the roster is Kyle Weaver. 19/6/4 with 1.4 steals and 1.7 blocks per game, on percentages of 51.5/84.2/52.4. Not a big, but he's a wing that can actually handle the ball (played some point in college and OKC for small stretches).

If Brewer is traded and they don't get a replacement then I agree. Actually, he could replace Ellington too. I'm not fussed.

Courtney Sims is the usual athletic big everyone goes for. Magnum Rolle might be worth a look as well. Indiana loved him and only cut him because they didn't have a spare roster spot. He's currently leading the D League in blocks too.