Illini in the Pros (Basketball)

[NarrowJ]

Yeah, even with Gobert back there as rim protector, I don't really see how that works.

There could be another move yet to come here, we will see. Could involve TSJ, who knows.

But as it pertains to TSJ's place on that roster as it stands, they have just had too many players in general the last couple of years, and that's no longer true as a ton of their fringe was on expiring deals, DiVincenzo is hurt, and now they've traded guys. There aren't a lot of bodies now, even if all the bodies are perimeter guys.

We'll see what they add

I get that McDaniels is 6'9 but he is a 180lb wing who averages like 4 rebs per 30 mins

They'll be adding to the frontcourt for sure, unless they think TKR is the next coming (and good luck with that, if so)

EDIT: What I'm not understanding is the many people thinking their roster is complete... its June 25th... tons of roster churn still happening across the league from now until the season begins

 

[HensonHall71]

We keep saying this, like we kept saying this last offseason as well, but the Timberwolves keep adding guards to their roster. Actions speak louder than words, no?

Agreed- this is not a good trade for TSJ. The coach just said they figured out how to use TSJ and that was with the ball in his hands getting downhill and creating and getting to the rim. Then they add a ball dominate PG along with Ant and Ayo, TSJ will almost never have the ball in his hands. He'll get rotation minutes, but his role just took a step back from where he ended the season

 

[champaignchris]

We'll see what they add

I get that McDaniels is 6'9 but he is a 180lb wing who averages like 4 rebs per 30 mins

They'll be adding to the frontcourt for sure, unless they think TKR is the next coming (and good luck with that, if so)

EDIT: What I'm not understanding is the many people thinking their roster is complete... its June 25th... tons of roster churn still happening across the league from now until the season begins

A big part of what people aren’t understanding is that the T-Wolves have almost no cap flexibility and have traded away future draft assets for nearly a decade. They know the roster looks incomplete, they don’t understand how the Wolves plan to do anything about it.

I think there’s a pretty good chance they try to dump DiVincenzo’s contract and then sign a FA big. I would think that TSJ would be one of the T Wolves’ best available “sweeteners” to get a team to take that contract on.

 

[NarrowJ]

A big part of what people aren’t understanding is that the T-Wolves have almost no cap flexibility and have traded away future draft assets for nearly a decade. They know the roster looks incomplete, they don’t understand how the Wolves plan to do anything about it.

I think there’s a pretty good chance they try to dump DiVincenzo’s contract and then sign a FA big. I would think that TSJ would be one of the T Wolves’ best available “sweeteners” to get a team to take that contract on.

I do not think the 'almost no cap flexibility' is true. They actually just engineered significant breathing room and have more short-term flexibility now than they did at the end of the season. The two moves, Randle traded for a draft pick (Evans) and the Reid/Ball trade was a net positive that results in them sitting comfortably below that restrictive apron. They could add 3 veteran minimums, or even a mid-level exception plus 2 veteran minimums, plus there are cheap free agents and Ex-10s out there.

Agreed that there's a greater chance they trade TSJ than he plays 20+ minutes per game there this coming season. With the addition of Ball and knowing that McDaniels isn't going to play PF, this seems pretty clear.

 

[skamin7]

Any news on Boswell? Did someone pick him up as a free agent? I can't seem to find anything on it.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

I do not think the 'almost no cap flexibility' is true. They actually just engineered significant breathing room and have more short-term flexibility now than they did at the end of the season. The two moves, Randle traded for a draft pick (Evans) and the Reid/Ball trade was a net positive that results in them sitting comfortably below that restrictive apron. They could add 3 veteran minimums, or even a mid-level exception plus 2 veteran minimums, plus there are cheap free agents and Ex-10s out there.

Agreed that there's a greater chance they trade TSJ than he plays 20+ minutes per game there this coming season. With the addition of Ball and knowing that McDaniels isn't going to play PF, this seems pretty clear.

I don't actually think so. With the Ayo contract and Ball trade they have already eaten up the space created by the Randle trade and then some. They're now hard-capped at the second apron due to the Ball trade, and currently they are about $9.6 million under that hard cap.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2070149610916483542

I guess the upside here is that they may not actually be able to re-sign Hyland and/or Clark if they command anything above the vet minimum (Conley probably takes the minimum so I'm assuming they'd re-sign him) which could give some assurance to TSJ's prospects of playing. But the flipside is that the easy route to freeing up salary is dumping Josh Green's expiring deal and to do that you also have to give up something desirable. Without a ton of future picks to trade, I think TSJ looks like a viable candidate.

 

[NarrowJ]

I don't actually think so. With the Ayo contract and Ball trade they have already eaten up the space created by the Randle trade and then some. They're now hard-capped at the second apron due to the Ball trade, and currently they are about $9.6 million under that hard cap.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2070149610916483542

I guess the upside here is that they may not actually be able to re-sign Hyland and/or Clark if they command anything above the vet minimum (Conley probably takes the minimum so I'm assuming they'd re-sign him) which could give some assurance to TSJ's prospects of playing. But the flipside is that the easy route to freeing up salary is dumping Josh Green's expiring deal and to do that you also have to give up something desirable. Without a ton of future picks to trade, I think TSJ looks like a viable candidate.

Maybe I'm just not sure where they were at when the season ended then... assumed they had less than $9.6M

The tweet you posted mentions them signing up to 4 more players, which is what I was originally getting at saying the roster was incomplete

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Maybe I'm just not sure where they were at when the season ended then... assumed they had less than $9.6M

The tweet you posted mentions them signing up to 4 more players, which is what I was originally getting at saying the roster was incomplete

Before doing anything, they had almost $17 million in space below the first apron.

Randle's cap hit was $33 million. Reid's $23 million. That's about $56 million going out.

Ball's cap hit is about $41 million. Ayo's about $19 million. Josh Green about $15 million (rounded down on ball and Ayo, so rounded up on Green). So that's about $75 million coming in.

So now they're about $3 million above the first apron, with about $9.6 million to go to the second apron (where they are hard-capped).

Yes, they have 4 spots to fill, but $9.6 million to do it (barring further trades) so essentially they have to find 4 guys at or below the veteran minimum. Not going to be impact guys. Unless they do it via trade. And via trade, their best bet is freeing up that Josh Green contract but you're going to have to sweeten that deal somehow.

 

[NarrowJ]

Before doing anything, they had almost $17 million in space below the first apron.

Randle's cap hit was $33 million. Reid's $23 million. That's about $56 million going out.

Ball's cap hit is about $41 million. Ayo's about $19 million. Josh Green about $15 million (rounded down on ball and Ayo, so rounded up on Green). So that's about $75 million coming in.

So now they're about $3 million above the first apron, with about $9.6 million to go to the second apron (where they are hard-capped).

Yes, they have 4 spots to fill, but $9.6 million to do it (barring further trades) so essentially they have to find 4 guys at or below the veteran minimum. Not going to be impact guys. Unless they do it via trade. And via trade, their best bet is freeing up that Josh Green contract but you're going to have to sweeten that deal somehow.

I think we're conflating traditional cap space with luxury tax/apron flexibility. The Bird rights allowed them to sign Ayo without using available cap space.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

I think we're conflating traditional cap space with luxury tax/apron flexibility. The Bird rights allowed them to sign Ayo without using available cap space.

Yes, and they've been well above the cap this entire time, and above the luxury tax. They were only $17 million below the first apron. Now they are above the first apron and below the 2nd apron. The tweet I linked shows that, and there are tons of articles explaining this. The main point is that they are hard capped at the 2nd apron now because of the LaMelo Ball trade. And they are only $9.6 million below the second apron once these deals go through.

Salary Cap Implications of Wolves' LaMelo Ball Trade — and What's Next?

Tim Connelly still has work to do after landing Ball in a blockbuster trade on Thursday.

www.si.com

 

[NarrowJ]

Yes, and they've been well above the cap this entire time, and above the luxury tax. They were only $17 million below the first apron. Now they are above the first apron and below the 2nd apron. The tweet I linked shows that, and there are tons of articles explaining this. The main point is that they are hard capped at the 2nd apron now because of the LaMelo Ball trade. And they are only $9.6 million below the second apron once these deals go through.

Salary Cap Implications of Wolves' LaMelo Ball Trade — and What's Next?

Tim Connelly still has work to do after landing Ball in a blockbuster trade on Thursday.

www.si.com

But $9.6M allows them to sign up to 4 more players, correct?

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

Green's contract is horrible.