Franchise changing trades for the Wolves...
by twolvesgm on Feb 4, 2010 9:10 PM CST
Email
Print
All Timberwolves fans are anxiously awaiting David Kahn's next move and many are hoping it could happen at the trade deadline. Here are some scenarios how the Timberwolves could make the leap and have a team worth watching for the rest of this season with a ton of potential in 2010 and beyond.
The great debate in Wolves country is when will David Kahn make his big move to put the franchise on course to be a playoff team again. I strongly believe the move that will acquire a star to change the dynamic in Minnesota is a very attainable goal. Multiple teams across the NBA are looking to cut costs or begin rebuilding projects. The Wolves are in a position to take their rebuilding project to the next level and have a number of interesting assets for which another team may be interested.
Assets such as the $14.75 million total of Mark Blount's and Brian Cardinal's expiring contracts, the rights to Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, 2010 1st round picks from Charlotte and Utah, and players such as Ryan Gomes and Ramon Sessions can create a number of interesting trade concepts.
The profile of teams that would be interested in dealing a franchise changer to the Wolves would be looking to shed salary both in the short and long term. The NBA will be going through a significant financial change in the next CBA and teams are becoming more aware of that. The Wolves can be a team that takes advantage of teams fear of the future.
With that said here are some trade proposals:
1. Wolves receive: Chris Paul, Kevin Martin and James Posey
New Orleans receives: Mark Blount, Ramon Sessions, Ryan Gomes, Charlotte and Utah picks, and the rights to Ricky Rubio
Sacramento receives: Brian Cardinal and Jonny Flynn
2. Wolves receive: Chris Paul, Kevin Martin, Emeka Okafor and Ike Diogu
New Orleans receives: Mark Blount, Ramon Sessions, Ryan Gomes, S. Pavlovic, O. Pecherov, Charlotte and Utah picks, and the rights to Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic
Sacramento receives: Brian Cardinal and Jonny Flynn
Why these deals make sense: For the Wolves either of these deals would be a no-brainer. Even though Paul is hurt, he'd be the top player on the team when healthy and a real difference maker. Adding either Posey or Okafor to the deal makes it financially sound for the Hornets long term. Any player they wanted us to take in the package would be worth it for the Hornets because it would help them get under the luxury tax this season and begin to clean up the long term salary structure. If Okafor was put into the deal, then I'd be fine with the Wolves adding Pekovic's rights to the deal as a frontline of Kevin Love, Al Jefferson and Okafor would be solid IMHO. The only way I'm okay with trading away both Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio is in a deal like this where we acquire an entire backcourt in Paul and Kevin Martin. I would think Sacramento would be very interested in a backcourt of Tyreke Evans and Jonny Flynn. That'd be alot to get excited about in SacTown.
3. Wolves receive: Chris Paul, Andre Iguodala and James Posey
New Orleans receives: Jonny Flynn, Ryan Gomes, Thaddeus Young, Jason Kapono and Charlotte and Utah picks
Philadelphia receives: Mark Blount, Ramon Sessions, Brian Cardinal, Nathan Jawai and the rights to Ricky Rubio
Similar trade for the Wolves but we keep Pekovic and send Flynn to New Orleans to start their rebuilding right away. They also get Young from the 76ers and clear the salary of Posey. Philadelphia clears cap money, gets a guard who can help them in Sessions and get the rights to Rubio which is more then they would probably get from anyone else for the monsterous Iguodala contract. This trade would make the Wolves a very entertaining team to watch and keeping Pekovic opens up the opportunity to make another move down the line.
All of my scenarios have us keeping our first round pick this season. I think because we can offer both Flynn and Rubio in these trade packages along with two other first rounders that teams wouldn't necessarily need our pick to make the deal work for them. Anyways, I'd love to hear the thoughts from the board on these moves. Should be an interesting trade deadline.
11 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Chris Paul's
a stud but everything else the wolves get isn’t worth it. We loose all of our future flexibility. It all depends on what Kahn thinks of Ricky Rubio. If he feels that Rubio is going to be an all-star, then this deal is a waste of resources. It isn’t likely that this trade materializes since we are still trying to keep a low payroll.
There is also very little chance that NO would part with Chris Paul. He’s a likely HOF guy. They would much rather get rid of everyone else and see what they can build around Paul.
HA
I think the big trade by McCleak might be more crazy. I’m not big on giving up everything mentioned, but it wouldn’t be ridiculous thinking about the future lineup of Paul, Turner, Iggy, Jefferson, Hollins with Love and Brewer coming off the bench. The biggest problem tho would be this year. As mentioned, Paul is out with injury and we’re trading both our point guards, so who would be the facilitator til Paul got back? I like the thought and effort given in these trades but wouldn’t like to see it pulled off unless we still had some assets left over to play with. 2012 NBA Champs!
Yeah, McCleak is in front alright.
There is a good case for the boring option as stated in this well considered piece on TwolvesBlog.com
Free Alando!
Chris Paul is one of the top 3 or 4 players in the NBA. If we could get him without giving up too much we should definitely do it.
I’m not as sold on Martin. He is a good shooter, but “fragile/injury prone”. Giving up a Rubio to get Chris Paul is almost a no brainer from our standpoint. Chris Paul is a young version of what we all hope Rubio can become in our wildest dreams.
If we get Chris Paul at the trading deadline, with him injured its almost ideal. We continue losing so we still get a top lottery pick, like a Turner or a Wes Johnson.
If we end up with a line up of
Chris Paul
Brewer
Turner or Johnson
Love
Jefferson
We are competing for a championship in my view.
by Kevin Love Jefferson on Feb 5, 2010 5:49 AM CST reply actions
I would say paul is
more like in the 5-10 range. I would rather have, Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Durant and D. Will before Paul. Then you would have to consider D12 before him too, but he is really f***ing good. Martin is a top 50 guy…as is Jefferson (who I think can definitely be in the top 25 when healthy and motivated).
My problem with the trade is that it has us sending two PGs to NO, which already has Collison. Doesn’t make any sense for them. IMO.
by TheEvilProfessor on Feb 5, 2010 8:09 AM CST up reply actions
I think the idea for NO...
would be to have Sessions now to help Collison and then wait for Rubio. I will totally admit this makes us weak at point guard until Chris Paul got back from injury. However, I would be willing to bet we could get a stopgap point guard for a month in some other deal. I know I’d be willing to wait.
No guarantee
Let’s remember, there is no assurance that Rubio wants to play in Minnesota. I would think that if we can, getting Paul and losing Rubio makes sense. Then is he doesn’t want to play in the Big Easy, that’s their problem.
I would give up Rubio
I would give up Rubio in half a second for Paul, but that’s a pipe dream trade. Rubio’s value isn’t very close to Paul’s, IMO. Rubio doesn’t project to be that calibre of player. Not too far behind, but one tier down is where Ricky will likely be. I ,also, don’t really want Martin unless we get him on the cheap. As in not giving up Al or Love or anything but maybe expirings and the CHAR or UTAH picks.
Unfortunately
At this point I just don’t see NOLA trading CP3 without getting fair or better talent in return. If they were going to trade him for financial reasons, I think it would have been done before the season or a couple months ago. Frankly, at this point they are only a little over a year away from being in good cap position. If they can absorb this season’s losses, one more year is a no brainer because ultimately he is a franchise player.
They’ve gotten below the luxury tax and have already paid over half their payroll for the season, so the urgency (and gain) for saving money this season is greatly reduced. Then this summer a couple of their worst deals become expiring contracts. With all the teams below the cap they probably figure one or two (maybe even Peja) will be easy to move to a team that missed out on free agency and needs to fill a roster spot or two with decent players to keep fans happy.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Next Game
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Roy Hibbert tap-dances to Maine
- Grizzlies Valentine’s Day cards are the key to love
- Kevin Love would like the NBA to take the MLB’s approach on All-Star games
- Kobe Bryant fires a few hilarious salvos at Jeremy Lin
- Brandon Jennings states the obvious regarding his 2014 free agency, everyone goes nuts
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
