Trade Talk (Part Six)

[Norseman79]

I just can’t see MIN trading Towns yet. The organization is tied to him, they brought in Russell for him, and they have only seen them play five games together. MIN is a poor free agent destination. KAT is young, and has plenty of room to improve even though he flashes stats as one of the best shooting bigs in NBA a history. MIN has him locked up for 3.5 more years, and will wait to see if they can compliment him with Edwards and their other young talent develop, or if they can make trades. Towns trades are unrealistic right now.

If I squint hard, I could see Rosas trading Beasley, but it’s unlikely. Malik has been very good offensively, shooting nearly 40% on three’s here, this season, and that’s important to the offense. The problem though is that he is a really bad pairing defensively with Russell as a starter. While Russell’s poor defense is because of a lack of athleticism and hustle, Malik’s is the opposite. He is overly aggressive, playing hero ball like Towns (used to do?), and he breaks the offensive system. That leads to us needing to play Okogie to get some defensive resistance, which makes the offense a mess. I could see the active-trader Rosas listening to calls. In the end though, I think Malik wants to be here, and we need more of that in Minnesota. I doubt he gets traded, but it’s a possibility.

Try this, shrink. When you come across a hypothetical trade involving Towns, pretend you didn't see the post.

Why am I having my free speech right to an opinion, being imposed upon by non-mod cops, like I was accused of?

This is RealGM. There is a reason it’s not called InsaneGM. There is nothing unreal about anything I posted, and I will continue to post a dose of reality here when I see any posts that I think are unreal.

“What if LeBron wants to join the Wolves now that he saw Edwards - what can we trade?” will also elicit reasons why this is nuts. Should we then continue, “well, except for all those reasons LeBron isn’t coming here, it’s a realistic trade, right?”

Look Shrink, you want realism? This team sucks, it was poorly assembled and ran, this season is over as KAT isn't good enough to carry a team on his own. Russell is overrated by homers. Beasley is a solid player, but not special. Saunders has no business coaching. We have a few intriguing young guys. Kat may not have expressed his desire to be traded yet, but it's coming, and anyone who thinks otherwise us in denial.

The term "realistic" is a matter of perspective. Your "realistic" is viewed in terms of likelihood others are pointing to trades and ideas that indicate a view of needing to take the team in a different direction. The proposals may not fit your reality, but they certainly indicate a realistic view that what we have right now isn't good enough and an attempt to acquire young talent, cap flexibility, and draft picks to better assemble a team is needed.

So while you view trades on "realgm" as needed to reflect your sense of practicality, others use it to brainstorm ideas of necessity. In the end, your opinion is worth about as much as you give to everyone else's.

[shrink]

Look Shrink, you want realism? This team sucks, it was poorly assembled and ran, this season is over as KAT isn't good enough to carry a team on his own. Russell is overrated by homers. Beasley is a solid player, but not special. Saunders has no business coaching. We have a few intriguing young guys. Kat may not have expressed his desire to be traded yet, but it's coming, and anyone who thinks otherwise us in denial.

The term "realistic" is a matter of perspective. Your "realistic" is viewed in terms of likelihood others are pointing to trades and ideas that indicate a view of needing to take the team in a different direction. The proposals may not fit your reality, but they certainly indicate a realistic view that what we have right now isn't good enough and an attempt to acquire young talent, cap flexibility, and draft picks to better assemble a team is needed.

So while you view trades on "realgm" as needed to reflect your sense of practicality, others use it to brainstorm ideas of necessity. In the end, your opinion is worth about as much as you give to everyone else's.

I agree with your assessment of the team. But if this shows you are a realist, which of my statements about Towns do you want to call “just my opinions,” and that you disagree with?

If brainstorming is, “if 2 + 2 = 7, then let’s brainstorm what we can do with the 7,” that’s not brainstorming, that’s fantasy self-gratification. We should at least start any legitimate brainstorming from a rational base, if we want to find anything productive.

A “change in direction” will not include Towns at this point, for the many reasons I listed, and many more I did not.

[Norseman79]

Look Shrink, you want realism? This team sucks, it was poorly assembled and ran, this season is over as KAT isn't good enough to carry a team on his own. Russell is overrated by homers. Beasley is a solid player, but not special. Saunders has no business coaching. We have a few intriguing young guys. Kat may not have expressed his desire to be traded yet, but it's coming, and anyone who thinks otherwise us in denial.

The term "realistic" is a matter of perspective. Your "realistic" is viewed in terms of likelihood others are pointing to trades and ideas that indicate a view of needing to take the team in a different direction. The proposals may not fit your reality, but they certainly indicate a realistic view that what we have right now isn't good enough and an attempt to acquire young talent, cap flexibility, and draft picks to better assemble a team is needed.

So while you view trades on "realgm" as needed to reflect your sense of practicality, others use it to brainstorm ideas of necessity. In the end, your opinion is worth about as much as you give to everyone else's.

I agree with your assessment of the team.

But if this shows you are a realist, which of my statements about Towns do you want to call “just my opinions,” and that you disagree with?

If brainstorming is, “if 2 + 2 = 7, then let’s brainstorm what we can do with the 7,” that’s not brainstorming, and we should at least start any legitimate brainstorming from a rational base, if we want to find anything productive.

I don't really disagree with anyone's opinions on what to do with Towns or the team as people can make points on either side. Honestly, I haven't read enough of your takes on Towns to know if I would agree or not, but as long as you acknowledge the glaring deficiencies he possesses and that he, up to this point, hasn't proven to be a legit 1, then I would probably agree. He has taken some steps this year, but also regressed in other areas.

Stating 2+2=7 is a bit of an oversimplification. If the goal is to equal 7, and you are proposing using addition as the method, "x + y = 7" is a far more practical equation as in essence there are multiple variables that work with the only absolute being the sum. Now if you dig your feet in and say x can only equal 5, your are limiting the potential answers, and while that is an option, it isn't the only way to solve the original equation.

[Klomp]

If I squint hard, I could see Rosas trading Beasley, but it’s unlikely. Malik has been very good offensively, shooting nearly 40% on three’s here, this season, and that’s important to the offense. The problem though is that he is a really bad pairing defensively with Russell as a starter. While Russell’s poor defense is because of a lack of athleticism and hustle, Malik’s is the opposite. He is overly aggressive, playing hero ball like Towns (used to do?), and he breaks the offensive system. That leads to us needing to play Okogie to get some defensive resistance, which makes the offense a mess. I could see the active-trader Rosas listening to calls. In the end though, I think Malik wants to be here, and we need more of that in Minnesota. I doubt he gets traded, but it’s a possibility.

Only way they're trading Beasley is for a Booker/Beal type player in return.

[shrink]

Look Shrink, you want realism? This team sucks, it was poorly assembled and ran, this season is over as KAT isn't good enough to carry a team on his own. Russell is overrated by homers. Beasley is a solid player, but not special. Saunders has no business coaching. We have a few intriguing young guys. Kat may not have expressed his desire to be traded yet, but it's coming, and anyone who thinks otherwise us in denial.

The term "realistic" is a matter of perspective. Your "realistic" is viewed in terms of likelihood others are pointing to trades and ideas that indicate a view of needing to take the team in a different direction. The proposals may not fit your reality, but they certainly indicate a realistic view that what we have right now isn't good enough and an attempt to acquire young talent, cap flexibility, and draft picks to better assemble a team is needed.

So while you view trades on "realgm" as needed to reflect your sense of practicality, others use it to brainstorm ideas of necessity. In the end, your opinion is worth about as much as you give to everyone else's.

I agree with your assessment of the team.

But if this shows you are a realist, which of my statements about Towns do you want to call “just my opinions,” and that you disagree with?

If brainstorming is, “if 2 + 2 = 7, then let’s brainstorm what we can do with the 7,” that’s not brainstorming, and we should at least start any legitimate brainstorming from a rational base, if we want to find anything productive.

I don't really disagree with anyone's opinions on what to do with Towns or the team as people can make points on either side. Honestly, I haven't read enough of your takes on Towns to know if I would agree or not, but as long as you acknowledge the glaring deficiencies he possesses and that he, up to this point, hasn't proven to be a legit 1, then I would probably agree. He has taken some steps this year, but also regressed in other areas.

Stating 2+2=7 is a bit of an oversimplification. If the goal is to equal 7, and you are proposing using addition as the method, "x + y = 7" is a far more practical equation as in essence there are multiple variables that work with the only absolute being the sum. Now if you dig your feet in and say x can only equal 5, your are limiting the potential answers, and while that is an option, it isn't the only way to solve the original equation.

My point was not on Towns’ value, high or low, but the impossibility of him being traded. I just listed several reasons, any of which should be enough for any realist to say, “Yeah, Rosas isn’t trading Towns now.”

Saying, “2 + 2 = 7 .. but what if it didn’t, what could we get for the 7?” isn’t algebraic .. it’s ignoring the rules we use to draw any conclusions. It has as much validity as, “what can we trade LeBron for once he signs here?” or “what can we get if Rosas trades Towns?” If you try to build on a false base, you can’t build anything constructive.

BTW, I agree with you that the Wolves need to make major changes. And maybe Rosas would consider trading Towns sometime in the future. But there are just too many reasons why he won’t be traded now, and if we want change, we need to look at moves involving other players.

[Baseline81]

Look, this is RealGM. There is a reason it’s not called InsaneGM. There is nothing unreal about anything I posted, and no one is debating that any one of these reasons might be enough to keep Towns off Rosas’ trading block.

“What if LeBron wants to join the Wolves now that he saw Edwards - what can we trade?” will also elicit reasons why this is nuts. Should we then continue, “well, if we ignore all those reasons LeBron isn’t coming here, it’s a realistic trade, right?”

I will continue to post a dose of reality here when I see any posts that I think are unreal.

I have agreed with you in regards to the impossibility of Towns being moved. To prevent another useless debate, I was merely giving you a suggestion.

[winforlose]

Moving Towns is just plain ridiculous. His defense is getting better, his shooting is quite possibly top 5 all time for his size, and his passing is elite. Dlo is very salvageable as well and having them as best friends keeps both here. We have plenty of young players who will develop into solid role players or even starters. The issue is the PF and backup PG. We need to consider moving Naz to backup PF or even starting PF with KAT and trading for a legit backup C. Vando is not good enough at scoring to be starting with Rubio. Our coaching and scheme is the biggest issue. After that aging up will help to fix some of the other issues. We just need to fill the gaps with minor trades or signing a high potential two way center.

[TheZachAttack]

The Towns trade conversations start and end with the fact that NBA stars create new situations for themselves in the modern NBA on the regular, especially star-caliber NBA players who are on teams that are bad with a culture/ownership/coaching staff/front office that are incompetent and can't put talent around them to win. This happens all the time while these players are still on contract. The Wolves and Towns certainly fit the mold of what it looks like when a star forces his way out.

I think the Rosas regime is better than a lot of the previous regimes, but the more that the Wolves continue to lose (whether it's the Rosas regimes fault or not), the greater chance that Towns chooses to try to create a new path for himself in order to try and win some games.

If posters here want to ignore that possibility and the fact that it's becoming more and more likely, they can call it unreal--but that doesn't change the fact that we're speeding towards that conversation and that if it happens Towns would not be at fault for doing it. However, that's the only way Towns will be traded.

[Klomp]

The Towns trade conversations start and end with the fact that NBA stars create new situations for themselves in the modern NBA on the regular, especially star-caliber NBA players who are on teams that are bad with a culture/ownership/coaching staff/front office that are incompetent and can't put talent around them to win. This happens all the time while these players are still on contract. The Wolves and Towns certainly fit the mold of what it looks like when a star forces his way out.

I think the Rosas regime is better than a lot of the previous regimes, but the more that the Wolves continue to lose (whether it's the Rosas regimes fault or not), the greater chance that Towns chooses to try to create a new path for himself in order to try and win some games.

If posters here want to ignore that possibility and the fact that it's becoming more and more likely, they can call it unreal--but that doesn't change the fact that we're speeding towards that conversation and that if it happens Towns would not be at fault for doing it. However, that's the only way Towns will be traded.

That doesn't even begin to happen until the player has two guaranteed years left on his deal. Towns has four guaranteed years left on his deal.

[TheZachAttack]

The Towns trade conversations start and end with the fact that NBA stars create new situations for themselves in the modern NBA on the regular, especially star-caliber NBA players who are on teams that are bad with a culture/ownership/coaching staff/front office that are incompetent and can't put talent around them to win. This happens all the time while these players are still on contract. The Wolves and Towns certainly fit the mold of what it looks like when a star forces his way out.

I think the Rosas regime is better than a lot of the previous regimes, but the more that the Wolves continue to lose (whether it's the Rosas regimes fault or not), the greater chance that Towns chooses to try to create a new path for himself in order to try and win some games.

If posters here want to ignore that possibility and the fact that it's becoming more and more likely, they can call it unreal--but that doesn't change the fact that we're speeding towards that conversation and that if it happens Towns would not be at fault for doing it. However, that's the only way Towns will be traded.

That doesn't even begin to happen until the player has two guaranteed years left on his deal. Towns has four guaranteed years left on his deal.

Well, the scenario is that this season is essentially done. I think the heat around the Towns trade scenario starts based on the lottery results and if the Wolves hit on that 40%.

If the Wolves miss out on that pick and are looking bad again next season? Trade talk starts to heat up fast. Towns having 2+ years on his contract only ups his value.

That said, I would never want it to happen. I don't believe that you get back equal value to trading star players in almost all cases.

[winforlose]

The Towns trade conversations start and end with the fact that NBA stars create new situations for themselves in the modern NBA on the regular, especially star-caliber NBA players who are on teams that are bad with a culture/ownership/coaching staff/front office that are incompetent and can't put talent around them to win. This happens all the time while these players are still on contract. The Wolves and Towns certainly fit the mold of what it looks like when a star forces his way out.

I think the Rosas regime is better than a lot of the previous regimes, but the more that the Wolves continue to lose (whether it's the Rosas regimes fault or not), the greater chance that Towns chooses to try to create a new path for himself in order to try and win some games.

If posters here want to ignore that possibility and the fact that it's becoming more and more likely, they can call it unreal--but that doesn't change the fact that we're speeding towards that conversation and that if it happens Towns would not be at fault for doing it. However, that's the only way Towns will be traded.

That doesn't even begin to happen until the player has two guaranteed years left on his deal. Towns has four guaranteed years left on his deal.

Well, the scenario is that this season is essentially done. I think the heat around the Towns trade scenario starts based on the lottery results and if the Wolves hit on that 40%.

If the Wolves miss out on that pick and are looking bad again next season? Trade talk starts to heat up fast. Towns having 2+ years on his contract only ups his value.

That said, I would never want it to happen. I don't believe that you get back equal value to trading star players in almost all cases.

If I am not mistaken Towns has missed 20 games this season. We have played 28. That isn’t factoring in Dlo missed time, MB off court drama, or any of the other injuries or complications to the season (Covid being a big one.) My point is that this season is not a good barometer of much. What it does prove is that Ryan needs to go. Small ball needs to go. Rubio needs to go. Jo needs to improve his shot or go to the bench.

KAT wanting to leave means leaving Dlo behind. No team has enough cap space to trade for two max contracts and enough assets to make us want to trade both. KAT isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

[TheZachAttack]

That doesn't even begin to happen until the player has two guaranteed years left on his deal. Towns has four guaranteed years left on his deal.

Well, the scenario is that this season is essentially done. I think the heat around the Towns trade scenario starts based on the lottery results and if the Wolves hit on that 40%.

If the Wolves miss out on that pick and are looking bad again next season? Trade talk starts to heat up fast. Towns having 2+ years on his contract only ups his value.

That said, I would never want it to happen. I don't believe that you get back equal value to trading star players in almost all cases.

If I am not mistaken Towns has missed 20 games this season. We have played 28. That isn’t factoring in Dlo missed time, MB off court drama, or any of the other injuries or complications to the season (Covid being a big one.) My point is that this season is not a good barometer of much. What it does prove is that Ryan needs to go. Small ball needs to go. Rubio needs to go. Jo needs to improve his shot or go to the bench.

KAT wanting to leave means leaving Dlo behind. No team has enough cap space to trade for two max contracts and enough assets to make us want to trade both. KAT isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

I mentioned that some of it is bad luck. Injuries and covid have essentially killed a season and a half of rebuilding time for the Wolves. A 26-27-28 year old KAT isn't going to be like hey I get that things may have been better without injuries or covid and 1.5 seasons of lost development time when trading time comes around. That's an insane thought process.

The whole point is that this is the time when we can afford to be bad and figure things out because we're at the beginning of a rebuild. Injuries and external factors are preventing us from doing that. If a year from now we're now saying hey we're figuring things out because we haven't had a chance to play together... there's a certain point where that really don't matter.

What I'm trying to say is the lack of core players on the team being able to play together is a valid excuse for being bad now to keep Towns sated. However, if the team continues to be bad and Towns starts to see himself starting to reach his peak career with no success... the reasons why you are bad start to matter less and the fact that you are bad is the larger point.

[Dewey]

Other team: Hey, we wanna talk about a possible KAT deal
Wolves: HaHa... What makes you think we wanna move him?
Other team: KAT wants to come here and team up with XYZ and we'd like to run some options by you
Wolves: No, we are not trading the Big Meow now
Other team: But we can give you the best package ... young players and picks
Wolves: We brought in DLo to help keep KAT here and now we have ANT too
Other Team: Tell you what, we will facilitate a trade to take DLo off your hands to a third team
Wolves: Hmmm ... but we're keeping Okogie
Other team: Fine, how about Juancho
Wolves: We're keeping him ... good actor.
Other team: How about the Rifleman
Wolves: Need a 2nd rounder and a couple reserves
Other Team: Okay ... We'll assemble expiring contracts, couple young players, fillers, and some picks
Wolves: Lottery picks right?
Other team: well late 1st rounders and 2nd rounders
Wolves: Fine but we want a bunch of them or we get another bench guy
Other team: Deal
Wolves: So 4 expiring contracts, 3 late 1st rounders and 4 2nd rounders
Yep: We get KAT, Rifleman, and we'll move DLo but your gonna need to throw in McD
Wolves: Click!
Other team: You mad?
Wolves: no battery died, but ya lets do it.
Other team: We love you

[Klomp]

Well, the scenario is that this season is essentially done. I think the heat around the Towns trade scenario starts based on the lottery results and if the Wolves hit on that 40%.

If the Wolves miss out on that pick and are looking bad again next season? Trade talk starts to heat up fast. Towns having 2+ years on his contract only ups his value.

That said, I would never want it to happen. I don't believe that you get back equal value to trading star players in almost all cases.

That's a lot of ifs.

[shrink]

Rank the Likelihood that each of these Timberwolves gets traded before the March 25th deadline. This is not their value. My guess?

Towns - see above

Russell - we suspect KAT’s relationship is so strong, we will keep him to keep KAT happy. Rosas will want to see the two play together. Little market for him with his contract size, and so many teams already having the PG position filled with a max player or lottery prospect.
Anthony Edwards - if he looks like a star, it helps Rosas keep his job

Malik Beasley - see above, but to summarize, his three point shooting helps the offense greatly, and he wants to be here. He doesn’t fit defensively with DLo though
Jaden McDaniels - looks like a keeper, but we need to see him more. Rosas will want focus on this year’s picks, not last year’s.

Naz Reid - KAT-lite. I think his possible skillset makes him more valuable to us than others. His contract leaves room for others
McDaniels - we know he’s good, and have the inside track on a cheap deal for him. Two-way players tough to trade for value.
Jarred Vanderbilt - getting serious run, and we probably want to hold onto his Bird rights through this summer
Jaylen Nowell - we need the shooting, but how many prospects can you develop simultaneously.

Jarrett Culver - he’s still very young, but he makes Rosas look bad for selecting him 6th. Most GM’s prefer to say “he’s not great YET” rather than “he’s not great” to save face, and this may make Culver less tradable. His value is pretty low.

Rubio - unlikely to be traded now that DLo’s out, and we may make a little run. He may become odd man out though if Russell comes back earlier. I expect him to recoup some value now that he’s a starter with the ball in his hands. MIN may seek to get off his second year.

Josh Okogie - useful defender, but his offense is so bad, we can’t play him. We only have 1.5 more years on his deal

Jake Layman - 2.5 years left, but cheaper than ...

Juancho - i think Rosas must be regretting this signing. Supposedly he’s liked around the league, especially in Denver

Ed Davis - salary filler. Comparable back up centers can be found in free agency that cost less.


How would others rank their likelihood to be traded?

[shrink]

Ranked by Trade Value .. my guess. I’ll use a trade return if an expiring plus picks to compare them

KAT .. somewhere between Jrue and Harden. With age and contract, closer to the latter. Several good picks and swaps.

Anthony Edwards: 2021 Lottery pick, Top 3 Protected.

Malik Beasley: Late lottery 6-10. Contract improves his value

DeAngelo Russell: late 1st. Personally I think MIN should have to give up value to get expirings, and the Trade Board voted him the NBA’s 6th worst contract. However, for whatever reason, we see players that can score and are well known bring back token value.

Jarrett Culver: lottery protected 1st. I wonder if he’d be better if he was traded closer to home (TEX, OKC?)

McDaniels: late 1st (could be more if he proves his good play is legit over the next few weeks)

Ricky Rubio: 2nd. Bad season so far, but teams know Rubio helps most teams.

Josh Okogie, Naz, Vanderbilt, Nowell: 2nd, if they are a fit on a team

Juancho, Layman, Ed Davis have no value.


I would imagine Rosas would value receiving
1. A PF solution
2. A pick somewhere in the 2021 draft, to give his scouting department a purpose
3. A little wiggle room under the lux threshold.
4. Always looking for a superstar, Morey-style. Just doesn’t have the ammunition.

[Klomp]

Rank the Likelihood that each of these Timberwolves gets traded before the March 25th deadline. This is not their value. My guess?

Towns - see above

Russell - we suspect KAT’s relationship is so strong, we will keep him to keep KAT happy. Rosas will want to see the two play together. Little market for him with his contract size, and so many teams already having the PG position filled with a max player or lottery prospect.
Anthony Edwards - if he looks like a star, it helps Rosas keep his job

Malik Beasley - see above, but to summarize, his three point shooting helps the offense greatly, and he wants to be here. He doesn’t fit defensively with DLo though
Jaden McDaniels - looks like a keeper, but we need to see him more. Rosas will want focus on this year’s picks, not last year’s.

Naz Reid - KAT-lite. I think his possible skillset makes him more valuable to us than others. His contract leaves room for others
McDaniels - we know he’s good, and have the inside track on a cheap deal for him. Two-way players tough to trade for value.
Jarred Vanderbilt - getting serious run, and we probably want to hold onto his Bird rights through this summer
Jaylen Nowell - we need the shooting, but how many prospects can you develop simultaneously.

Jarrett Culver - he’s still very young, but he makes Rosas look bad for selecting him 6th. Most GM’s prefer to say “he’s not great YET” rather than “he’s not great” to save face, and this may make Culver less tradable. His value is pretty low.

Rubio - unlikely to be traded now that DLo’s out, and we may make a little run. He may become odd man out though if Russell comes back earlier. I expect him to recoup some value now that he’s a starter with the ball in his hands. MIN may seek to get off his second year.

Josh Okogie - useful defender, but his offense is so bad, we can’t play him. We only have 1.5 more years on his deal

Jake Layman - 2.5 years left, but cheaper than ...

Juancho - i think Rosas must be regretting this signing. Supposedly he’s liked around the league, especially in Denver

Ed Davis - salary filler. Comparable back up centers can be found in free agency that cost less.


How would others rank their likelihood to be traded?

Tier 1: Towns -- Next question.
Tier 2: Beasley, Edwards -- Only included for a star-type player in return (Beal, Booker, Simmons).
Tier 3: Russell -- I don't think it's very likely.
Tier 4: McDaniels, Reid -- I think a very good player/prospect would have to be coming this way.
Tier 5: Culver, Nowell, Vanderbilt -- A value rung below Tier 4's return.
Tier 6: Rubio, Okogie, Hernangomez, Davis, Layman -- Provide skills that someone could find useful.

[shrink]

I just can’t see MIN trading Towns yet. The organization is tied to him, they brought in Russell for him, and they have only seen them play five games together. MIN is a poor free agent destination. KAT is young, and has plenty of room to improve even though he flashes stats as one of the best shooting bigs in NBA a history. MIN has him locked up for 3.5 more years, and will wait to see if they can compliment him with Edwards and their other young talent develop, or if they can make trades. Towns trades are unrealistic right now.

If I squint hard, I could see Rosas trading Beasley, but it’s unlikely. Malik has been very good offensively, (21 PPG, shooting nearly 40% on three’s, this season), and that’s important to the offense. The problem though is that he is a really bad pairing defensively with Russell as a starter. While Russell’s poor defense is because of a lack of athleticism and hustle, Malik’s is the opposite. He is overly aggressive, playing hero ball like Towns (used to do?), and he breaks the offensive system. That leads to us needing to play Okogie to get some defensive resistance, which makes the offense a mess. I could see the active-trader Rosas listening to calls. In the end though, I think Malik wants to be here, and we need more of that in Minnesota. I doubt he gets traded, but it’s a possibility.

[Jedzz]

Dame Lillard shoots 38% 3s and is known to up that percentage in clutch moments. 45/38/93 this season, he get's lawded for clutch end of game shooting, gets paid 31 million this year then from 40 to 48 million each of the next 4 years.

Beasley in his first year with a solid starting role is avg 38-40 range from 3 and currently showing a 45/40/86. Because he's on a team run by clowns that tank annually, endlessly, his late game clutch shots are often posted about as garbage stat padding. He just signed a $15/yr deal and some people can't wait to use that as a trade piece. He's also got to constantly be labeled a bad defender in nearly every post just to remind everyone how they think he should be a 6th man and how tradeable he should be in all our heads. Because we can't have all bad defenders and just about everyone on the team is. So, single out the only great shooter for his lessor defensive attributes to fix it?

Meanwhile Dame Lillard is the same level defender (117 Drtg past two seasons, per100) and nobody ever says anything about it. Their team fights for wins every year, not tanks, because that ultimate competitor wants to win. Beasley may not be as all around skilled a playmaker as Dame yet, but he's that level of competitor and working on his other skills. Maybe, just maybe when Beasley(4,746 minutes played) gets near 20,000 "starintg" minutes played (Dame = 23,313 starting minutes played) Malik might edge closer to the playmaker Dame is now. He might even learn to be a much better defender by then, we know the effort is there.

Maybe he should be described as untradeable, while the team should focus on getting better players from every other player/position on the team. In Dame's 5th season(already 14 thousand starting minutes served) (Malik is on yr5 w/4k mixed minutes), Dame shot 47/37/90 as the lead focus of his offense. Malik is trying to earn a team's respect enough to lean on him more and more, but he's fighting against so many superbrains in MN overthinking it as usual.

[shrink]

Beasley in his first year with a solid starting role is avg 38-40 range from 3 and currently showing a 45/40/86. Because he's on a team run by clowns that tank annually, endlessly, his late game clutch shots are often posted about as garbage stat padding. He just signed a $15/yr deal and some people can't wait to use that as a trade piece. He's also got to constantly be labeled a bad defender in nearly every post just to remind everyone how they think he should be a 6th man and how tradeable he should be in all our heads. Because we can't have all bad defenders and just about everyone on the team is. So, single out the only great shooter for his lessor defensive attributes to fix it?.

Dude, just drop this. The mods asked us to stop, and no one wants to hear you start this up again.

As for defense, Beasley is 10th from the worst in the nba in DBPM, and DLo is 17th worst. Beasley’s shooting really helps the offense, but I’m far from the only person who questions the pairing defensively.