2023 Wolves

They lost the first 2 games by a total of 4 pts… and in Mn fashion, with the help of some sketchy ref mistakes. Imagine they go up 2 games to 0….

Yeah they definitely had those two games stolen from them by calls.

Bad calls yes but 1 defensive stop and one made basket and calls dont matter. The end of game 2 with the terrible turnover and Luka making Rudy look as athletic as me with game winning 3, Naz still had a perfect wide open look at the buzzer that rimmed out that would have won the game.

Luka’s three on Rudy was a coaching mistake. I think Finch is a great coach, but with the Wolves up 2, the only type of defense you play is to force a two pointer and no fouls. Then you either win or you’re tied with the ball. Either way, the season was well beyond what I ever thought it would be.

Excellent trade by the Wolves GM in win now mode…. Antman got some serious scoring help!

Wolves traded a 2030 1st protected pick swap + 2031 unprotected 1st round pick for the #8 pick tonight and they took Rob Dillingham from Kentucky…

The kid is a scoring machine… he takes over when Ant rests…
https://x.com/shahbazmkhan/status/1806136888195260903?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Excellent trade by the Wolves GM in win now mode…. Antman got some serious scoring help!

Go on! Haven’t paid attention.

The NBA has to do a much better job of announcing draft trades BEFORE the pick, the ESPN TV crew spent 4 minutes AFTER the pick talking about how Dillingham is such a great fit for the Spurs only to have to flip the script and then talk about the Wolves getting him… they’ve been doing this for years…

Now use the #27 pick on a 3 point specialist or a big man that can learn to play defense under Rudy…

Or trade out for future drafts… god knows we could recoup some future picks…

Dillingham’s choice was to be drafted by the Spurs in one of his pre workout interviews. He got his wish, now bringyaass to MN! Perfect fit for the kid. He gets to sit behind Conley and take over next season while Mike slowly slips into retirement mode.

With the team strapped against the luxury tax, it is huge to get talented players on rookie or vet minimum deals if the plan is to run it back. Really young kid so it will be a learning curve for him. Finchy does not historically embrace playing time for the younger players.

Seeing more and more about these picks and they have me very intrigued.

I don’t care about who they drafted, they have a better chance of being a bench warmer than a star. But I do want to know more details on this guy they drafted at 27, who played for Ill, was in a bar in Kansas, was accused of sexually assaulting a gal, she picked him out in front of cops via their team photo, and after all of that the charges are dropped.

There’s obviously more to the story and I’ll likely just to have to locate it. But that’s a helluva story while still playing basketball at a good enough level to be considering a top 25 pick. He was a 5th year senior, so maybe a little more mature than some, but that’s a lot to deal with as a young man and still pay ball, even if you knew you weren’t guilty….manure can still happen.

Shams reporting KAT to the Knicks??

I never thought I would see this day!

Hope we get some picks back. Sounds like Randle and Divencenzo who are nice players. No way the wolves were going to be able to pay Karl and keep studs like Naz, Ant and Jaden. I would have pounded the table for Brunson and I am sure they did but I trust Connelly 100%.

SO EXCITED FOR THIS SEASON

Reports are they also get a first round pick via Detroit.

Netguy wrote:

Reports are they also get a first round pick via Detroit.

Thats even better news if true! TC is cooking up a feast. Love it so far

Not gonna lie, underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, not a fan of Kat’s antics, but Randle is just as big a turd, and a downgrade in every basketball aspect, PLUS he can’t stay on the floor. Couldn’t pick the other guy out of a two person line-up. We now have quite literally no one on the roster capable of guarding Joker, and are one ANT injury away from offensive irrelevance. There isn’t a player that would have been a worse trade than Randle, he won’t last 2 seasons here, book it. On the plus side, at least I won’t have to watch the slide back to mediocrity, I still ain’t paying one red cent more for Bally’s.

Randle was hurt last year so I give him a pass. Is it ideal…probably not but they get out of 220 million dollars which is crucial to retain better players like Naz and Jaden. You have to match salaries to move a contract that size.
Divencenzo is a lowkey star and will provide punch off the bench.
I ain’t worried about Joker, the 4 time DPOY better figure it out. Bally’s is a joke and there are many other options for free.

Problem is this minimizes Naz, he was best as mismatch 3, he’s ordinary as a true 4 and Randle isn’t playing that spot. Takes away his niche. I don’t take the popular opinion on Jaden, he’s a head case, great defender when he’s not taking stupid, emotional fouls, ok on offense, when he feels like it and isn’t all up in his own head. If he wasn’t still young, honestly I’d have rather flipped him over Kat, at least the ROI would have been better. Btw that draft pick isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, unless one suddenly has a great deal of optimism about the perennially awful Pistons.

The draft pick is good trade bait, let’s see what TC can flip it for.

Dante can shoot the 3 and when he’s on a streak he can be very dangerous.

I’m not a huge fan of Randle either but maybe he gets healthy and can be a piece.

Like eyeguy said, getting out from under KAT’s contract was a huge win in itself. And I think wildlifeguy is undervaluing what this does for Naz’s role on the team. He can be much more than he’s been asked to be up to this point.

I really don’t care to see Randle in a Wolves uniform. Hopefully that’s not the plan.

The draft pick is most likely a second rounder in 2027 with how it is protected the next two years and how bad the pistons are. It was a throw in to give the impression to the fans and media. This trade was nothing more than money saving proposition.

Randle getting out from under Thibs may have unexpected benefit. KAT under Thibs will be very interesting to watch. Both scenarios assume that those are the end destination for each player.

I think it’s a decent shuffle for the Wolves. They basically turned KAT and his contract into two players in Randle and Divencenzo which ultimately means depth and financial flexible . The Wolves have been linked to the later for quite some time attempting to lure him in free agency. He’s a damn good defender, rebounder for his size, and can get hot from deep. He doesn’t dominate the ball either. He will carve out a ton of productive minutes for Minnesota.

Randle is a consistent 20 & 10 guy who should continue to put up those numbers with the Wolves too.

dirtywater wrote:

And

I love Naz, don’t get me wrong. I just think some Wolves fans have blinders on when it comes to his limitations. The story is great, but he wasn’t highly sought after coming out for a reason. To his credit he’s worked his butt off to be a more complete player, but he’s not suddenly gonna be a different body type or taller. I think he played his perfect role last season, and the returns will diminish with more time. My biggest worry is what happens when ANT invariably goes down for any length of time, as he has every year lately, and who picked up the scoring slack. There’s no one least on this squad that has proven they can do that for any length of time, and Randle ain’t it.

Wolves were getting pretty high on the luxury tax threshold.

Before the trade:

2024-25 Payroll: $205.56 million

2024-25 Luxury Tax Payment: $105.62 million

2024-25 Combined Payroll and Luxury Tax Payment: $311.18 million

The only team other than the Suns with more than a $300 million combined in salary and tax bills are the Wolves, who have also cemented themselves in place with a hugely expensive Big Three. Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards are all on huge salaries, and will be for a while. Yet even if the Wolves had any regrets about this, they would be hard pushed to do much about it, given the inflexibilities in trade that teams over both aprons face.

KAT grew up in New Jersey. Playing for the Knicks probably not all that bad once he gets through the “surprise”.