LAL/ORL/MIN

[shrink]

He's not. You guys don't even know the value of having a guy like Gasol. Your assets like Beasley and Johnson are nothing. One of them has been terrible the other one is injured and going to be a free agent. Randolph doesn't even play, Webster is an expiring contract coming off an injury. Ridnour is a backup PG, yet I keep hearing thread after thread whining from T'Wolves fans about we're young and this and that. You might be young but the guys you're talking about don't even play on a below 500 team. Oh and as far as money goes, the second Gasol becomes a T'Wolve for a bunch of extra assets, Love signs an extension and Minnesota is on the map.

Oh and Gasol will finally be able to put on some weight and just play C like he should have years ago.

You guys are so incredibly egotistical.

Love is going to sign an extension without anyone joining, because the CBA makes it incredibly risky not too. If a player is on rookie scale, and has a chance to sign to a $50+ mil dollar deal, or risk getting an injury where he gets nothing, what do you think every one chooses? It's compounded for Love, because he's paid so much, and MIN will match any deal, that he would have to risk playing two years without injuries to become a UFA. Sporting News recently ran the same story I've been saying.

Moreover, even if there was some reason Love would risk his financial future demanding talent, why on the world would that talent have to be Pau freakin' Gasol? You think he wants another PF on the team who age, salary, skill-set, willingness to be a #1, etc all don't fit the team, and that uses up all the financial resources necessary to get someone that fits? Nobody else - only Pau Gasol will make Love sign an extension?!?


And how come you never really talk about the money? Money matters.

[Klomp]

Moreover, even if there was some reason Love would risk his financial future demanding talent, why on the world would that talent have to be Pau freakin' Gasol? You think he wants another PF on the team who age, salary, skill-set, willingness to be a #1, etc all don't fit the team, and that uses up all the financial resources necessary to get someone that fits? Nobody else - only Pau Gasol will make Love sign an extension?!?

Pau Gasol is no scrub. 16/9 on 52% shooting is pretty damn solid. As for this "another PF" crap, you act like Gasol has no ability to play center. He's a 7-footer with good length. How many true centers are in the NBA now anyways that he'd have trouble with? Howard and Bynum maybe, but that's about it.

The salary is a valid concern. However, when you look at the pieces we're giving up, they are not that valuable right now. Beasley has shown very little improvement this year, and seems to be an injury waiting to happen since we traded for him. Miller is okay, but he's retiring at the end of the year. Johnson's been playing a little better, but it remains to be seen whether he can keep it up. Plus, why is keeping our salary low such a big concern to you? Once Love is extended, we'll be well over the cap anyways, so we'll only be able to use exceptions in FAs anyways. Taylor has shown he will fork out the money for a winning product.

shrink, I am constantly amazed at how you post trades for scrubs like Johan Petro, but won't trade similar pieces for someone who would fit pefectly in this offense. His defense isn't all-world, but it's not terrible either. Playing center, he wouldn't be asked to be on the perimeter defending the likes of Josh Smith, Dirk, Love, etc.

We are a team that is close. Center is one of our biggest weaknesses. Darko is a backup big on a normal playoff team, and Pekovic likely wouldn't sniff the rotation. Why not add a major upgrade to address our biggest need?

[shrink]

A trade for Petro (and I specifically said, don't get hung up on the specific player), was a minor deal to add more trade value.

A deal for Pau Gasol is a major, major trade that shuts us down for 3 full years.

Moreover, no one has ever said Pau Gasol is a bad player. I've said he's an expensive player, and he doesn't fit the needs of the Timberwolves. He can technically play center, but he is not the defensive presence we need behind Love - one we could get at a much cheaper price.

He is not a #1 scorer
doesn't create off the dribble,
doesn't want the ball in his hands at the end of the game
not the defensive presence
isn't the right age
no idea if he wants to be here, after leaving the Lakers
and is gawdawful expensive.

If we're going to make a one-way trip and add Pau Gasol, I think it horribly, horribly hurts our chances in the future, leaving our still great team needs unmet, and costing us the assets (in players and cap space), to address them.

[Kumar]

As a failed marketing major, this would be fantastic for the Wolves - millions could be made with a trade like this by pairing up the most popular Spanish players in the US. Glen Taylor's pockets will be so full you'd think he was promoting Viagra...fast forward - he is promoting Viagra - that money is used to pay Gasol's ridiculous salary. Win.

[Klomp]

A deal for Pau Gasol is a major, major trade that shuts us down for 3 full years.

We will already be over the salary cap once Love is extended. After this offseason, the only guys who will expire before Pau are Pekovic and Ellington. Hardly guys that will break the bank. Pau would come off the cap at the same time as Milicic, Ridnour, and Lee.

[Saltine]

Kahn doesn't take on bad contracts, and Pau's is bad. He may be worth half of what he's getting after that kicker fires... If Kahn wants to absorb a huge contract I think he'd aim towards a slightly younger player at a position of need. Like Iggy, Kevin Martin, or even Okafor. Paying Pau twenty million to pretend he is a center just doesn't seem wise, dude is 31 years old, he isn't getting better. Real centers cost less. Hell, offering Gortat the Max is a smarter deal.

[jscott]

If I can have Pau for 20
or
Martin/Okafor for 25 (combined)

I'll take the younger players that fill 2 spots/needs for us.

Pau is a better player but just doesn't make sense from a financial or (more importantly for me) an age perspective.

I feel the other guys are better fits for us and probably wouldn't cost much more.

[shrink]

If I can have Pau for 20
or
Martin/Okafor for 25 (combined)

I'll take the younger players that fill 2 spots/needs for us.

Pau is a better player but just doesn't make sense from a financial or (more importantly for me) an age perspective.

I feel the other guys are better fits for us and probably wouldn't cost much more.

+1! GMTA. In fact, I had to run errands after my last post, but as I was leaving in the car, I wish I had five minutes to say the same thing (strangely, I was also going to use Okafor and Kevin Martin).

The problem financially isn't about being over the cap -- it's about being under the lux. If we start spending $21 mil/yr on Pau Gasol, we will not have any room left to address those 7 major holes that the team has right now.

[Dewey]

we cant continue trying to make chicken salad out of chicken sh!i ... we need to start to build in some veteran players, and Pau would be clear upgrade at Center. Yes, the dollars are rediculous for his 3 years, but geez, we'd be dumping some salary too. We really do overvalue our mediocre players just like everyone else, but at some point, we need to be all about winning.

Johnson, Webster, Milicic, and Beasley are not currently a big part of our long-term success ... right now they are merely role players. They are live examples of the types of players we cannot continue to dance around. If there's a quality veteran, we need to take a serious look.

[Saltine]

If you move Johnson, Beas, and Webster. Who plays small forward? And how do we get him with nothing but a $5 million mle. The Wolves have an issue with SG, this deal creates a new problem at SF, solely to play an old PF twice what he's worth to play center; this on a team that already has 5 PF's.
And it makes a competing team, in our conference, get out from a massive salary obligation so they can improve their cap position... It's utter craziness.

[Klomp]

If you move Johnson, Beas, and Webster. Who plays small forward?

I'm not trading Webster

[Saltine]

If you move Johnson, Beas, and Webster. Who plays small forward?

I'm not trading Webster

Wonderful, we'll just pray for his health

[HotelVitale]

All I'm saying is, if you have the opportunity to pick up a player like Pau Gasol for next-to-nothing, there are many reasons for doing so. In the CP3 deal, Gasol was just traded for Martin and Scola before the league took the trade back. The Rockets would NEVER do the same trade for Beasley and Wes Johnson. I understand that, if you had your choice of all the players in the league, you might not take Gasol and his contract now, but there are few real-life situations in which you can get a very very good player for nickels and dimes.

Also, I thought that Gasol's effectiveness was common knowledge, but a quick reminder: Gasol has never had a PER below 20, and he generally puts up PERs in the same range as Love has the past year and a half (app. 23-4). Gasol has many of the same limitations as Love does, but you should accord them similar status as players (age and contract notwithstanding).

[[RCG]]

All I'm saying is, if you have the opportunity to pick up a player like Pau Gasol for next-to-nothing, there are many reasons for doing so. In the CP3 deal, Gasol was just traded for Martin and Scola before the league took the trade back. The Rockets would NEVER do the same trade for Beasley and Wes Johnson. I understand that, if you had your choice of all the players in the league, you might not take Gasol and his contract now, but there are few real-life situations in which you can get a very very good player for nickels and dimes.

Also, I thought that Gasol's effectiveness was common knowledge, but a quick reminder: Gasol has never had a PER below 20, and he generally puts up PERs in the same range as Love has the past year and a half (app. 23-4). Gasol has many of the same limitations as Love does, but you should accord them similar status as players (age and contract notwithstanding).

The reason Gasol is available is because of his age/contract. The same reason he makes no sense on a rebuilding team.

[Klomp]

The reason Gasol is available is because of his age/contract. The same reason he makes no sense on a rebuilding team.

Well thats good, because we're done rebuilding

@JerryZgoda Jerry Zgoda
Kahn on #Timberwolves: "There is no more rebuilding. There are no more wholesale changes. I like a lot of players on the team...
https://twitter.com/JerryZgoda/status/38354532736045057

[Dewey]

The reason Gasol is available is because of his age/contract. The same reason he makes no sense on a rebuilding team.

Well thats good, because we're done rebuilding

@JerryZgoda Jerry Zgoda
Kahn on #Timberwolves: "There is no more rebuilding. There are no more wholesale changes. I like a lot of players on the team...
https://twitter.com/JerryZgoda/status/38354532736045057

so ... KLove contract is a done deal and we will handle SG and Center by committee until the off-season.

It's just nice to have a PG that can run a team and play some defense ... everything else is frosting right now considering where we've been. Gotta give Kahn his due for laying it on the line with Ricky.

[Krapinsky]

I'm in the minority of posters that wouldn't mind taking on Gasol, but I think if you do that, you've got to send out some big men -- at least two of Darko, Randolph, Tolliver, Pek.

I don't see another way we can get a player as good as Gasol, who fits a position of need, without giving up Williams.

[shrink]

"Let's trade and extend Jason Kidd and Steve Nash for three years instead!

Hey, they are good players, and Love won't re-sign without good players!

Who cares if they fit .. just spend the money, Glen!"