Timberwolves Reach Agreement with Tayshaun Prince

In a move that has been speculated about for a few weeks now, the Wolves have signed forward Tayshaun Prince for one year at the veteran's minimum. Prince, who spent most of his career in Detroit, is 35 years old and in the nomad portion of his career, appearing last season for the Grizzlies, Celtics, and Pistons.

Following the signing of Andre Miller, the Wolves currently have 16 players with guaranteed contracts for next season, not including Lorenzo Brown.  This means someone has to go, and it appears likely to be Damjan Rudez, who was acquired from the Pacers in exchange for Chase Budinger.

While I don't expect Prince to make much of an impact either way for the Wolves, I can't say I see the point of this move. Prince has looked, frankly, done for the last couple of seasons, and the Wolves aren't exactly short on veteran nous with Kevin Garnett and Miller around.

It's hard to see how this helps; I think they would be better off keeping a specialist like Rudez or finding an interesting young guy to keep around in favor of Prince. Prince finished 74th out of 80 small forwards in RPM last season, posting significant negatives on both sides of the ball. It's hard to imagine him having any sort of rebound year at his age given the direction his career has taken over the last several seasons.

Of course Flip Saunders has experience with Prince, having coached him in Detroit when he was still a useful player, and presumably that knowledge is part of today's decision to sign him.

Ultimately it would be surprising if he sees the court much, but I can't help thinking I'd rather have Budinger as my emergency wing guy at this point than Prince, who brings very little to the table at this point.

Is there a limit to how many guys 27-32 you are allowed to have on your roster? The Wolves seem intent on avoiding that cohort.

What do you think?