Adelman wants a "very aggressive" off season

[AQuintus]

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_20472348/timberwolves-rick-adelman-seeks-quick-talent-upgrade

"We can't wait," Adelman, the Wolves' first-year coach, said Tuesday. "You hope your young people get better, but that's not a given. Other people you can get, in free agency or trades, are givens. We have to be aggressive in all those areas."

"We need better ball handling throughout the lineup, not just the point guards, and better perimeter scoring," he said. "We don't have that. I don't think we realized how hard it was going to be to replace people. We had made real strides until the all-star break. Then we fell apart. You have to evaluate how much better people can get and where do we go as far as adding depth to this team."

[Grits n Gravy]

definitely agree

[black bart]

T-Wolves need money for pek 60 million for 5 years. Rubio is cheap for 4 more years. So it leaves money for batum in free agency and a williams + ridnour trade. They could improve dramatically since with pek + love they were the best rebounding team in the nba.

[shangrila]

Well, expect Crawford to be targetted again. Probably Kevin Martin too.

[AQuintus]

I'm guessing that:

1. Beasley, Webster, Darko, and Randolph are gone for sure, and Tolliver is probably gone.

2. They'll use the Utah pick in a trade.

3. I expect that they'll try to trade Williams and Johnson.

4. They'll continue where they left off at the trade deadline and move Ridnour for a SG.

5. Iggy sounds like exactly the kind of guy Adelman wants, and he'll more than likely be available (and probably for cheaper than most fans expect).

Edit:

Something like Webster, Brad Miller, Wes Johnson, and the Utah 1st for Iggy.

They drop a boatload of salary and get a mid first, and we get Iggy while still having Williams and Ridnour available to help upgrade SG and backup C.

6. As fun as it is to speculate about, I think we can cross off any ideas about moving up for MKG or Beal, or any rookies for that matter.

Roster:

Pekovic / ???/ ???
Love/ ???/ ??? (Potentially Tolliver and/or Randolph)
???/ ???/ ??? (Potentially Williams and/or Johnson)
???/ Lee/ Ellington
Rubio/ Barea/ ???

No matter what, there's going to be a lot of turnover, and that probably isn't a bad thing.

[shangrila]

Eh, I doubt they're going to trade Williams. HIs value would be pretty low right now and, honestly, Adelman's comment was probably more about Beas/Randolph/Wes than Williams. Those are the young guys who wouldn't really seem like they'll improve.

[southern wolf]

We've had plenty of 'aggressive' off season's in the past, but they've mostly involved a bunch of bad trades and signings. I'm just hoping for a smart off season.

[Foye]

Eh, I doubt they're going to trade Williams. HIs value would be pretty low right now and, honestly, Adelman's comment was probably more about Beas/Randolph/Wes than Williams. Those are the young guys who wouldn't really seem like they'll improve.

So you're going to trade the players that have no value for players that have no value, too? Seems like that's not going to work out well for us. Trade Williams along with the pick for a good SG.

[shangrila]

I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything about trading those second batch of guys. I said that Adelman's comments were probably directed at those kinds of young guys rather than the rookies.

I did say I didn't think they would trade Williams, so that's where you got the trade stuff from? Maybe? I don't know. I still stand by that statement too.

[Dewey]

Well, expect Crawford to be targetted again. Probably Kevin Martin too.

Holy moly ... that has epic failure written all over it. There's a reason these guys are on the move - AGAIN.

[jpatrick]

I'm not sure Kahn will trade him but I think those comments smell of a Williams plus filler for Iggy type deal. I don't think we can get Iggy for scraps (ie salary dump) and I agree that it's overpaying and I wouldn't do it, but I think our coach is in such a win now mode he'll push something like that through if he's really the guy pulling the strings in the front office.

I could see us getting Iggy and then signing Mayo or Crawford. I could see Martin coming here in a Houston salary dump trade instead of Mayo/Crawford but if we're talking on Iggy and Martin's contracts, we're going to have to be sending out quite a bit of money in those deals as well.

As much as I'd love Gordon or Batum, I think their teams will match any offer. Neither can afford to lose them for nothing. Is it possible we could work out a S/T, yeah, but I don't think it's likely.

[Worm Guts]

As much as I'd love Gordon or Batum, I think their teams will match any offer. Neither can afford to lose them for nothing. Is it possible we could work out a S/T, yeah, but I don't think it's likely.

Actually since I don't either team want to trade or lose those players, I think the most likely scenario is we make an offer those teams won't match.

[shangrila]

Well, expect Crawford to be targetted again. Probably Kevin Martin too.

Holy moly ... that has epic failure written all over it. There's a reason these guys are on the move - AGAIN.

I'll give you Crawford, he had a fairly shocking season this year (which might be a good thing if we could get him cheap and he returns to form), but Martin is still a good player.

[Andri]

As much as I'd love Gordon or Batum, I think their teams will match any offer. Neither can afford to lose them for nothing. Is it possible we could work out a S/T, yeah, but I don't think it's likely.

Actually since I don't either team want to trade or lose those players, I think the most likely scenario is we make an offer those teams won't match.

In my opinion there is a small S&T window for Gordon

Something like NOH lands Drummond and Lamb or Beal, making DW a potential good fit along those players, plus the utah's pick, or maybe other secundary asset. Eric is going to be at least a little bit overpayed, so maybe they think it's better for them to rebuild with young cheap talent, they won't make the PO next year anyway.

For me a win&win, not sure what they think though.

[eyeteeth]

Great article. Glad to see the team has given RA the freedom to talk like this. I think at this point Kahn should have the wisdom to listen to Adelman and his team. (If you think about it, Kahn listened to the people around him the last few years as well; what's different is that the quality of talent evaluation people in the staff has improved dramatically.)

What I take away from Adelman being allowed to say these things is that it's at least a moderate "go." There will be constraining factors in the real world, but within those constraints we should hopefully see some real movement.

I like the idea of making a big offer to Batum more than Gordon. Gordon's injury issues terrify me. Just how big of a contract makes sense for Batum? Rudy Gay sized? Is that large enough to keep Portland from matching?

[Krapinsky]

I like the idea of making a big offer to Batum more than Gordon. Gordon's injury issues terrify me. Just how big of a contract makes sense for Batum? Rudy Gay sized? Is that large enough to keep Portland from matching?

Rudy Gay is on the second year of a 5 year 82M max deal. I like Batum more than most, but that's waaaaay too much and I believe also more than we could potentially offer.

I could go something like $48M/4 for Batum -- and I would consider that overpaying. If Portland matched, I could very well live with that.

[Krapinsky]

"We need better ball handling throughout the lineup, not just the point guards, and better perimeter scoring," he said. "We don't have that. I don't think we realized how hard it was going to be to replace people. We had made real strides until the all-star break. Then we fell apart. You have to evaluate how much better people can get and where do we go as far as adding depth to this team."

Free agents and potentially available players

Eric Gordon
Monta Ellis
Tyreke Evans
Wilson Chandler
OJ Mayo
Jamal Crawford
Kevin Martin
Rodney Stuckey
J.R. Smith
Chase Budinger
Rudy Fernandez

[eyeteeth]

I like the idea of making a big offer to Batum more than Gordon. Gordon's injury issues terrify me. Just how big of a contract makes sense for Batum? Rudy Gay sized? Is that large enough to keep Portland from matching?

Rudy Gay is on the second year of a 5 year 82M max deal. I like Batum more than most, but that's waaaaay too much and I believe also more than we could potentially offer.

I could go something like $48M/4 for Batum -- and I would consider that overpaying. If Portland matched, I could very well live with that.

Is that a max deal? I thought the max was higher.

I think it'll take big money to get Batum. Might be worth it, though.

[Krapinsky]

Yes, it's a max deal.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=y ... lies070110

Gay agrees to max deal with Grizzlies
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
Thursday, Jul 1, 2010

Rudy Gay(notes) has agreed to a five-year, $81.6 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, his representatives at Octagon confirmed to Y! Sports.

The fifth and final year of the contract will be at Gay’s option.

“We have a verbal agreement on a deal,” said Gay’s agent, Jeff Austin.

The Grizzlies had the right to match any offer made to Gay because he’s a restricted free agent. But by reaching agreement quickly, they prevented another suitor – like the New Jersey Nets – from front-loading a contract offer with a signing bonus that could have necessitated a first-year payment of $20 million.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal first reported the agreement.

[Narf]

Anything more than 4 years, $48 mil is insane. He's not THAT good, and even $10 mil a year is overpaying.

I still think C. Lee as a 2 way player with solid defense next to Rubio does more than Gordon/Batum would to help us win....especially for the money.


Edit:
In fact, I flat out think Courtney Lee is just better than Batum.