All Things 2023-2024 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Does anyone care what that douche nozzle thinks after he said his biggest regret in his media career was voting Gobert as DPOTY?

You obviously don’t, but you don’t speak for everyone, do you?

Simply relaying something I found interesting, that maybe others would as well.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

that is what the current dispute comes down to. AFraud and Lore were buying the team in installments. a payment was due this Spring which would have made them majority owners. But Glen T. said the payment was not made by the deadline and that meant the deal was off. AFraud and Lore counted by claiming that they had the money lined up and they had submitted their paperwork to the league office, which supposedly gets them a 90-day extension on the deadline.

dispute went to mediation with no results. now it goes to binding arbitration, which is required to take place sometime this year, most likely in the Summer.

worth noting - if the 3-person panel of arbitrators finds in favor of AFraud and Lore, their purchase of the team still has to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors (i.e. the other owners).

so based on my understanding of the timetable, it is possible for the ownership dispute to be settled before the start of the next season - but that hinges on how soon arbitration takes place, and then what, if any, action is required by the Board of Governors.

Thanks.

I wonder how much more the team is worth now than when the sale price was negotiated.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Thanks.

I wonder how much more the team is worth now than when the sale price was negotiated.

as far as I know, the sale price was set at $1.5-Billion....OK, here's this from Sportico:

As of March 2024, the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise is estimated to be worth at least $2.5 billion. According to Sportico, the team is the 28th most valuable in the NBA, worth $2.94 billion. This is a significant increase in value in recent years. In May 2021, Taylor agreed to sell 80% of the team to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez for $1.5 billion in installments, but the deal fell apart.

so - math time - if 80% of the team was worth $1.5-Billion, that would put the total estimated value of the team at $1.875-Billion at the time the original deal was made. If the team is now worth $2.5-Billion, that is a 27% increase. If the team is worth $2.94-Billion, that is a 36% increase.

(if my math is correct......)

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

as far as I know, the sale price was set at $1.5-Billion....OK, here's this from Sportico:

As of March 2024, the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise is estimated to be worth at least $2.5 billion. According to Sportico, the team is the 28th most valuable in the NBA, worth $2.94 billion. This is a significant increase in value in recent years. In May 2021, Taylor agreed to sell 80% of the team to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez for $1.5 billion in installments, but the deal fell apart.

so - math time - if 80% of the team was worth $1.5-Billion, that would put the total estimated value of the team at $1.875-Billion at the time the original deal was made. If the team is now worth $2.5-Billion, that is a 27% increase. If the team is worth $2.94-Billion, that is a 36% increase.

(if my math is correct......)

Thanks.

I don’t know if Glenn is being a donkey or not, but I understand the motivation, especially for a hardcore businessman.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

First conference finals since 2011 to have the first 4 games decided by single digits.

 

[Slim Tubby]

Then that means moving KAT or Rudy will have to occur this offseason. Without that, the Wolves won't have the money or starting position that Naz can get from pretty much every other team in the league by the end of next season.

Or moving Naz before the trade deadline. They won't risk losing him for nothing if they decide to roll with KAT and Rudy.

 

[jamiche]

I think a long-term decision on Reid will be made long before he can exercise his option.

The great deal that the wolves got with Reid is now going to bite them in the ass. After this year, he's effectively on a one year deal. If they trade him at the deadline, they'll get nickels on the dollar. If they trade KAT, they won't get close to full value because of the new CBA. Their best option is to trade McDaniels and ride with KAT and Naz in 24-25.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Or moving Naz before the trade deadline. They won't risk losing him for nothing if they decide to roll with KAT and Rudy.

Trading Naz in favor of keeping KAT and Rudy would be a really dumb decision short and long term.

The good news is Connelly isn't dumb. As long as Glen Taylor doesn't mess it up and Connelly sticks around, he knows the future is Ant, Naz, and McDaniels, and continuing to put the right players that work with them.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

The great deal that the wolves got with Reid is now going to bite them in the ass. After this year, he's effectively on a one year deal. If they trade him at the deadline, they'll get nickels on the dollar. If they trade KAT, they won't get close to full value because of the new CBA. Their best option is to trade McDaniels and ride with KAT and Naz in 24-25.

This isn't true. If a team traded for Naz at the deadline or this offseason, that would be extremely valuable for them because you can go over the cap to resign your own players meaning that you could pay more than most decent teams. It's part of the reason why we were able to get him for so cheap last year.

I also don't think it makes sense to trade McDaniels to keep Naz. I love Naz but JMac is more valuable.

 

[gophersfan]

Doncic 3 pointer should never had counted. he was fouled long before he shot the 3 pointer.

L2M Report

official.nba.com

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

The great deal that the wolves got with Reid is now going to bite them in the ass. After this year, he's effectively on a one year deal. If they trade him at the deadline, they'll get nickels on the dollar. If they trade KAT, they won't get close to full value because of the new CBA. Their best option is to trade McDaniels and ride with KAT and Naz in 24-25.

McDaniels and Naz are two different players who play different positions.

You keep worrying about getting full value for KAT. The the biggest value of trading KAT is just getting rid of his contract, even if they just get aging players on shorter/expiring contracts to make the money work.

 

[Slim Tubby]

The great deal that the wolves got with Reid is now going to bite them in the ass. After this year, he's effectively on a one year deal. If they trade him at the deadline, they'll get nickels on the dollar. If they trade KAT, they won't get close to full value because of the new CBA. Their best option is to trade McDaniels and ride with KAT and Naz in 24-25.

I disagree. Teams will pay huge for the chance to secure Naz's Bird Rights, effectively insuring they will have him for the next five (5) years.

I'm not saying they should trade him. They have plenty of valuable assets to move once they decide which direction they want to go.

Rudy has one (1) year left and then a Player Option for 2025-26. He will certainly want another guaranteed 5-year deal, making next season an "expiring" scenario and easy to move for real value.

It should be interesting to see what choices are made.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Rudy has one (1) year left and then a Player Option for 2025-26. He will certainly want another guaranteed 5-year deal, making next season an "expiring" scenario and easy to move for real value.

It's extremely unlikely that Rudy will get another 5 year deal and he's currently playing on the largest contract he'll ever get. He turns 32 in a month and will turn 33 right after next season.

I think he'll use his player option and take the 47 million rather than hitting the FA market after next season.

 

[Slim Tubby]

McDaniels and Naz are two different players who play different positions.

You keep worrying about getting full value for KAT. The the biggest value of trading KAT is just getting rid of his contract, even if they just get aging players on shorter/expiring contracts to make the money work.

You can hate on KAT all you want but the guy is an All Star in the stacked West and an All NBA caliber player no matter how hard people push the anti-Towns narrative. He's literally a 50/40/90 guy.

Trading him for scraps and Expirings is something David Khan would do.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Trading Naz in favor of keeping KAT and Rudy would be a really dumb decision short and long term.

The good news is Connelly isn't dumb. As long as Glen Taylor doesn't mess it up and Connelly sticks around, he knows the future is Ant, Naz, and McDaniels, and continuing to put the right players that work with them.

We may move KAT but it's going to be for another imperfect player.

If we trade him for pu pu platter and picks, that would be disasterous.

 

[Slim Tubby]

It's extremely unlikely that Rudy will get another 5 year deal and he's currently playing on the largest contract he'll ever get. He turns 32 in a month and will turn 33 right after next season.

I think he'll use his player option and take the 47 million rather than hitting the FA market after next season.

Disagree. Even if he can't get a 5-year deal, he would certainly be better off with a discounted offer of 3/$120M that is fully guaranteed and there will be plenty of teams that need a Big. We shall see.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I disagree. Teams will pay huge for the chance to secure Naz's Bird Rights, effectively insuring they will have him for the next five (5) years.

I'm not saying they should trade him. They have plenty of valuable assets to move once they decide which direction they want to go.

Rudy has one (1) year left and then a Player Option for 2025-26. He will certainly want another guaranteed 5-year deal, making next season an "expiring" scenario and easy to move for real value.

It should be interesting to see what choices are made.

Absolutely. It's actually more valuable than having him signed to a long-term contract.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

You can hate on KAT all you want but the guy is an All Star in the stacked West and an All NBA caliber player no matter how hard people push the anti-Towns narrative. He's literally a 50/40/90 guy.

Trading him for scraps and Expirings is something David Khan would do.

David Khan Lives!

 

[Slim Tubby]

We may move KAT but it's going to be for another imperfect player.

If we trade him for pu pu platter and picks, that would be disasterous.

With KAT being from New Jersey, it wouldn't surprise me if there are talks about swapping him for Mykal Bridges this summer.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

You can hate on KAT all you want but the guy is an All Star in the stacked West and an All NBA caliber player no matter how hard people push the anti-Towns narrative. He's literally a 50/40/90 guy.

Trading him for scraps and Expirings is something David Khan would do.

KAT is super talented and can put up great numbers, but he doesn't have the brain of a champion and he's not a #2 on a championship team. He's not worth close to the 50-60 million he's going to get for the next 4 years, plus he gets injured every year.

A David Khan move would be to keep building around KAT thinking his brain is going to change, and letting younger players who can be just as good if not better go like Naz. Naz stepped in for KAT and the Wolves didn't skip a beat this season.

I'm not saying just trade him for nothing, but if you can get an older, still productive veteran at the end of a max deal, or maybe a guard like Dejounte Murray and work it out with other expiring contracts for KAT, you have more cap space long term to keep Reid and can keep adding players via FA, and the Wolves will be a better team.

 

[atsgopher]

We may move KAT but it's going to be for another imperfect player.

If we trade him for pu pu platter and picks, that would be disasterous.

But…. But…. what if we could get Marko Jaric…. Better throw in the 12th pick in The draft, just to be sure we secure him.

 

[kg21]

With KAT being from New Jersey, it wouldn't surprise me if there are talks about swapping him for Mykal Bridges this summer.

It won't happen. I would literally cry with joy!

 

[kg21]

This isn't true. If a team traded for Naz at the deadline or this offseason, that would be extremely valuable for them because you can go over the cap to resign your own players meaning that you could pay more than most decent teams. It's part of the reason why we were able to get him for so cheap last year.

I also don't think it makes sense to trade McDaniels to keep Naz. I love Naz but JMac is more valuable.

I still don't know what to make of McDaniels. His defense is great, but I just don't get him on the offensive end. In the last two games, he has 0 assists, 1 rebound in each game, and he's little threat to score. He will then have a 20 point game, and be invisible on the offensive end for the next two games.

He's like the worlds biggest mystery to me.

Due to him not rebounding, it is hard to trade Towns, as he does rebound.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

I still don't know what to make of McDaniels. His defense is great, but I just don't get him on the offensive end. In the last two games, he has 0 assists, 1 rebound in each game, and he's little threat to score. He will then have a 20 point game, and be invisible on the offensive end for the next two games.

He's like the worlds biggest mystery to me.

Due to him not rebounding, it is hard to trade Towns, as he does rebound.

McDaniels gets frustrating on offense at times, but I wouldn't say he's little threat to score. He has scored in double figures more often than not in the playoffs, and he's currently their 3rd leading scorer this postseason behind only Ant and KAT.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

With KAT being from New Jersey, it wouldn't surprise me if there are talks about swapping him for Mykal Bridges this summer.

Yeah, I just don't love the fit. So he'd push McDaniels to the bench and we'd all-of-a-sudden be really thin in the front court?

Bridges has been a worse shooter, rebounder, and about an equal passer to KAT throughout their careers.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

KAT is super talented and can put up great numbers, but he doesn't have the brain of a champion and he's not a #2 on a championship team. He's not worth close to the 50-60 million he's going to get for the next 4 years, plus he gets injured every year.

A David Khan move would be to keep building around KAT thinking his brain is going to change, and letting younger players who can be just as good if not better go like Naz. Naz stepped in for KAT and the Wolves didn't skip a beat this season.

I'm not saying just trade him for nothing, but if you can get an older, still productive veteran at the end of a max deal, or maybe a guard like Dejounte Murray and work it out with other expiring contracts for KAT, you have more cap space long term to keep Reid and can keep adding players via FA, and the Wolves will be a better team.

KAT is absolutely good enough to be a #2 on a championship team. The biggest gulf between us and Dallas is that we don't have a true #1 yet. Ant is a 2(a) and KAT is a 2(b). Him getting injured every year and being a 7' 250 lbs guy is a real concern.

Expiring contracts don't help us out. We will be up against the max.

As far as what Kahn would do, I think we have different memories of Kahn. His failures were drafting and he overvalued decent players. He was notorious for handing out "Kahntracts" to decent role players as FAs and that's just not how you build a winner. He ended up having a ton of money tied up in players 5-9 on the team.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't think of any examples of Kahn being too stubborn to move on from a player. We moved on from Flynn after two years. Jefferson after 1 year, Corey Brewer after 2 years. The only guys he really held on to that he could have moved were Kevin Love, Rubio only played for him for about a year. . .

 

[kg21]

McDaniels gets frustrating on offense at times, but I wouldn't say he's little threat to score. He has scored in double figures more often than not in the playoffs, and he's currently their 3rd leading scorer this postseason behind only Ant

slightly deceiving though...............naz is scoring way more per minute.

Rudy and McDaniels are basically dead even in scoring while playing the same minutes.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Kahn was pure comedic gold. S. Curry to the kfan interviews.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

KAT is absolutely good enough to be a #2 on a championship team. The biggest gulf between us and Dallas is that we don't have a true #1 yet. Ant is a 2(a) and KAT is a 2(b). Him getting injured every year and being a 7' 250 lbs guy is a real concern.

Expiring contracts don't help us out. We will be up against the max.

As far as what Kahn would do, I think we have different memories of Kahn. His failures were drafting and he overvalued decent players. He was notorious for handing out "Kahntracts" to decent role players as FAs and that's just not how you build a winner. He ended up having a ton of money tied up in players 5-9 on the team.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't think of any examples of Kahn being too stubborn to move on from a player. We moved on from Flynn after two years. Jefferson after 1 year, Corey Brewer after 2 years. The only guys he really held on to that he could have moved were Kevin Love, Rubio only played for him for about a year. . .

Ant is a #1, he's just a young and learning one. He doesn't have the experience that Luka and especially Kyrie have, but he has put the team on his back and won multiple playoff games this season.

Completely disagree on KAT. He hasn't proven that, he's currently in his prime, and in his biggest playoff series of his life, he has been mostly terrible. Even last night when he was good offensively, he still committed dumb foul after dumb foul. No matter how many times Ant or Finch or whoever tells him to stop committing dumb fouls, it never changes. That's not what a winning player does.

We will be up against the max no matter what next season. Shorter/expiring contracts help us out significantly beyond next season compared to what it's going to be like keeping KAT's 50+ million salary for the next 4 years.

I think you're just taking my Kahn comment too literally. I wasn't thinking about it as what would Kahn specifically do, just as what any bad GM, like Kahn, would do and continue to think KAT is going to change with more time.

 

[Gophers1992]

Ant is a #1, he's just a young and learning one. He doesn't have the experience that Luka and especially Kyrie have, but he has put the team on his back and won multiple playoff games this season.

Completely disagree on KAT. He hasn't proven that, he's currently in his prime, and in his biggest playoff series of his life, he has been mostly terrible. Even last night when he was good offensively, he still committed dumb foul after dumb foul. No matter how many times Ant or Finch or whoever tells him to stop committing dumb fouls, it never changes. That's not what a winning player does.

We will be up against the max no matter what next season. Shorter/expiring contracts help us out significantly beyond next season compared to what it's going to be like keeping KAT's 50+ million salary for the next 4 years.

I think you're just taking my Kahn comment too literally. I wasn't thinking about it as what would Kahn specifically do, just as what any bad GM, like Kahn, would do and continue to think KAT is going to change with more time.

Recent #2’s on championship teams include Jamal Murray, Khris Middleton, Kyle Lowry, and an aging Klay Thompson. These guys are not vastly superior to KAT