Al’s value is high (regardless of anything we don’t like about his game) and Miller’s is still above average, despite not shooting the lights out right now. Kirk Hinrich’s injured and his trade value doesn’t seem terribly high to me. He’s hasn’t proven he’s the point guard in Chicago over the last few years, with ample opportunity to do so, and the Bulls just drafted Derrick Rose. Plus, Hinrich’s contract runs for another 3 seasons. That being said, I like Hinrich as a player.

Outlaw and Noah’s values wouldn’t seem high to me either. Noah can do some good things, but if we don’t have Al anymore, why bother with Noah (i.e. I think he’s more valuable to the Wolves as a complement to Al than on his own). Outlaw’s been mentioned in rumors for Mike Conley, but Portland seems to be the team needing to give up more in the deal.

The second deal looks like overpayment to me too, because although Wally and LaFrentz are expiring, they don’t as much value in exchange for Al since Al’s not overpaid in the least. If anything, his long-term deal looks like a steal given his production and room for growth.

Anyway, going the expiring route in general will never make sense to me for the Wolves as a maximizing cap-space strategy. Signing marquee free agents should not be in their personnel strategy at all. I still don’t think it’s a good way to build a team in general, but specifically, who wants to sign with the Wolves?

That it was a mistake to trade away Mayo? Also I don’t really feel like Minnesota is a realistic player in the Free agent bonanza in the next couple of years. I think it would be foolish to get rid of Jefferson and in my mind the Wolves should dump as many players as possible to pick up draft picks. I think they could still get some value for Brewer (I realize that people like his D, but I say try to pick up some future 2nd rounders for him) and dump Love because we don’t need him at the PF position anyways.

I think you can scratch any trade idea that includes Fernandez. He’s cooled off the last few games, but our tv guys say it’s because other teams are scouting him better and they fully expect him to adjust. But no way are the Blazers letting go of him this soon.

As much as we love Frye & Outlaw I think the fans realize one or the other is probably expendable.. If Martell Webster comes back with a bang (he’s expected to play in the next week) then Travis could be traded. Batum has developed so much faster than anyone expected (the original thought was D-League this season and now it’s going to be hard to take him out of the starting lineup to make room for Webster). Travis runs hot and cold. When he’s good he’s very good, but when he’s bad it’s hard to remember the good. Some fans still think he’ll keep improving (he’s better this year than he was last) but it would take more consistency to convince me he’s a keeper. Batum’s growth has been exponentially faster than Outlaw’s.

A few days ago there was a wild rumor floating around that included Outlaw to Memphis. Before the game that night Kevin Pritchard took Travis aside and told him he was not being traded and was quoted in the Oregonian, ""I like the team I have and really, right now is the quietest it has been (on the trade front) that I can remember." So Pritchard isn’t seeking a trade and any that came to him would have to be pretty special to be considered.

It is almost a month old, but Dave posted a story about what Blazers might be available for a trade. It’s a good read and would give you an idea of what players you might be able to pry lose from us for future trade suggestions.

Hmmm….While Al’s defense has been pretty bad, I still can’t agree that the second trade would get us anything close to value for Al. As a matter of fact, I’m really not sure where Al’s value is (considering his potential and cap friendly contract). That being said what about this deal

New Orleans Receives:

1. Big Al
2. McCants
3. Cardinal’s bad contract

Minnesota Receives:

1. D. West
2. Julian Wright
3. Mike James’ Expiring Contract (with no chance of us not buying him out)

I have to imagine New Orleans would immediately jump at this. Hornets don’t seem to have it this year, and they may be looking to shake things up anyway. If they had the opportunity to pair Paul and Al for the next however many years with Chandler to make up for Al’s defensive inefficiencies…wow.

I’m still not that excited about what the Wolves would get back though. A D. West and Love front court would still be (at best) average defensively, but I guess that is still way better than what we’re putting out right now. I also think Julian Wright is quite a player, although that would just add to our glut at the SF position. Another trade would have to follow this up.

that tile looks dope, but how are you draining the shower stall?

sounds like a great weekend out there. if you feel abject about your clandestine basketball watching, let me share that the international streams i use were apparently all down and i only got the games on audio. for the record, the thunder radio network announcers are incredible. incredibly bad, that is — reminded me of listening to high school ball back in my dakota childhood.

And I feel your pain. Last year I had to do the same thing, since I’m often working abroad and the NBA didn’t even offer league pass broadband internationally last year (independent of a US cable contract). So I had to make do with a number of crude P2P apps and Flash streaming sites while also paying for an expensive local pay tv channel who carried exactly two games per week (three during playoffs). Great. This year they at least do offer league pass broadband internationally at a fair price, and while I’m thankful for that and not blacked out the quality is often underwhelming and very blocky / choppy. I emailed them with a request for an improvement since I know it’s not on my side (more than T1 speed with a cable modem) – so far only silence. Last year I had complained all the way up to a director of international relations and marketing, but she also was not really helpful. She did reveal though that my pay tv channel sometimes had just a few thousand viewers in the middle of the night but they made the deal anyway.

The NBA – where not allowing loyal customers to view our product in good quality or at all happens.

About Big AL
Define cornerstone player. I think Al is somewhere between Melo and Bosh. Melo won’t ever win a championship as long as he’s the best player on a team and Bosh might, but he’ll need more than one “semi-star”. I don’t even think that any one player is good enough to make it without having at least 1 other semi-start on the roster. Even Kobe and Lebron couldn’t do that. I think the problem with this organisation is not with it’s star player(s).

I feel defense is all about the team concept. I feel it’s the coaches responsability to make sure the defense runs at least acceptable. Don’t tell me Jefferson is unwilling to work on that end of the floor, so sure, he will never be a star at that end of the floor, but, our defense seems to be just not clicking, not just with Jefferson, this is something that should and could be fixed by coaching.

That’s why I disagree that a coaching change would not affect the long term future. I do think it shouldn’t be based on the outcome of one game but I do believe a coach makes all the difference in the world for a long term future. A lot of it is psychological: installing a good work ethic, chemistry, etc, another bit is the development. Or are we just having the bad luck that we always make the consensus pick for the position we’re drafting at but always seem to get the guy everyone misjudged… come on.
Not that a coaching change would miraculously fix things up but I just can’t see the problem being with the players.

I can even see a lot of Spurrishness in our lineup, check this out:

A big man in the middle, not really THE best defender but very solid fundamentals, more of a skill type of player but not a pushover either. Draws double teams
 — Duncan/AL —
The difference: Al needs to improve some aspects of his game, namely passing and defense

A mostly defensive role player that has only one weapon on offense, can sometimes completely shut down the other team’s best perimeter guy.
— Brewer/Bowen —
The difference: Brewer seems like the Tazmanian Devil while Bowen is the classic English gentleman. Brewer’s weapon is his speed while Bowen’s only weapon is a 3pt shot.

A starting 2-guard who’s primary weapon is jump shooting. Can do some other things as well. Offers some veteran xp.
— Miller/Finley —
The difference: Miller’s defense is not as good as Finley’s?

A 6th man that can completely change the makeup of the team by changing the tempo because he plays a lot faster that the starting 2-guard. Also has a good shot but has some other qualities as well, namely driving to the basket, getting fouls.
— Ginobili/FoyeAndMccants —
The difference: will Foye ever play like (a poor man’s) D-Wade? Will Shaddy ever fit his talents into a team concept?

Obviously at C we don’t have the putback/energy guy .. bring in Noah!
Obviously at PG we don’t have that penetrator/distributor/floor general .. bring in Rubio!

For the rest, I think our roster is definitly deeper than the Spurs’ was when they won the championships. They had Elson, Barry, Udrih on their bench, we have Love, Gomes, Carney and Telfair. That’s a no brainer.

So the difference? Popovich/Wittman + years worth of experience off course.

For the people who don’t think coaching makes that much of a difference, I say to thee: january 23, 2007.

Trade Proposal #1: Not completely botched but just not enough valueback. I agree with wyn that there’s not much use for Noah if Jefferson isn’t here.

Trade Proposal #2: It feels to early to blow up the team just for a chance to start over on a weak draft/free agency. We’d end up back to this exact square in 2-3 years as long as Wittman is here. Especially since it relies on free agency to get us some new players, which won’t work.

Thanks again for the good stuff, I’ve really had some nasty side effects from not being able to read something new here every day. I actually had to go out of the home and get me a new girlfriend, thanks a lot SnP, now how am I gonna find enough time to keep reading this? ;).

of you posting pictures of your basement after Wittman’s comments – dude you’re just giving him ammunition! ;)