I know that Howard is a crying baby. But no one can blame any superstar now after LBJ had won his first ring and will most likely collect few more! Every supertar is now going to follow the LBJ experiment. But if we miss on Batum and don't want to trade for Iggy, and in the meantime, we don't see D-Will - while playing SF or behind Love - as a star to compliment Love/Pek/Rubio big three, then we should raise our bar! Honestly, I don't think our big three can compete with the likes of Miami, OKC, or even LA after signing Nash; and don't forget "the always competing" Dallas and San Antonio and now the Clippers.

Could we aim high like Houston and Nets, and entertain a S&T for Howard (extended for at least 2 more years @ $19.2 Million 1st year) Howard in exchange for (extened) Pek, D-will, and either Ridnour/Barea/Wes (Roughly a total of $14M of salary) and (2) or (3) first rounders (May be MN2012, Memphis 2012 and - if needed - MN 2014)? I know that Howard might not like to come here, but isn't it worth the shot? As LBJ leaving Cleveland triggered the superstar movement in the NBA, the Durant - small market experiment - offsets it! That is a way better deal than the Pau Gasol -thank God it didn't happen - deal that MN coveted and - guess what - the Lakers changed their mind after signing Nash. LOL

That package is way better than any team offered Orlando so far!! That would only reduce our current cap space (roughly $14 Million) by roughly $5-6M. leaving us with barely enough money ($8-9M) to sign Roy, Shved and a couple of D-Leaguer SG & C. With the trade of Cunningham for Ellington, we got a hard working, reserve big that can play both SF and PF similar to AT. Then we can either sign Hill/Steamer or bid on the Bird man with the Room Cap Exception (However Steamer and Bird-man are better than Hill, I like Hill in that case because he can play both PF and C). Assuming they take Ridnour,Our line-up will be:

Rubio, Barea, Lee

Roy, Shved, D-Leaguer SG

Budinger, Wes, Cunningham/Hummel

Love, Cunningham, Hummel

Howard, Steamer/Hill/Bird, D-Leager C

I can talk for hours about how would Love and Howard offensive and defensive rebounding along with great outside shooting wings and Rubio's un-selfishnessand PnR offense would be very hard to defend. Howard would rarely be doubled again with Love mostly sitting at the 3-point line. He will flourish just like O'Neal did in LA. And how would our exterior defense anchored by Rubio along with our interior defense anchored by Howard would frustrate teams.

That is a Championship contender team for years and UNDER THE CAP for three years till we extend Love and Rubio!!

After Three years of Contending, we can extend Love and Rubio and attract a lot of Vets at minimum salary and Exceptions going above the Cap but without hitting the Luxury Tax threshold which Glen Taylor doesn't like.

The only disadvantage of that trade is that the Wolves will raise their tickets prices just like they did when they got Rubio. It will be doubled or trippled next year and as much as that trade would make us happy and enjoy watching the team, it would be hurting our pockets, especially a fan-family like mine who goes to games with wife and kids :)

Pipe dream? It could be! But if Houston/Nets dreams it, why couldn't we? We have what it takes to get it done. It is way better than the Batum deal for God-sake. I am sure if you lived in Houston and the TwinCities, you would know which City living is better. Forget about the quality of living, market-wise, Wolves are covering 5-6 States fan-base (MN, IA, SD, ND, NE, & parts of WI). While Houston is only covering one third of Texas fan-base that is shared by SA and DAL. The only problem is that Rubio just signed with Adidas and Howard is their biggest endorser. You can call that an endorsement conflict.