Ok first off, I'd like to say that what the wolves should do is trade Flynn. Get better at the SG, SF, and C positions. And make Rubio happy and get him over here ASAP. It makes a clear pecking order at PG in Rubio, Telfair, and Bobby Brown getting limited minutes/filling in if anyone spends time injured.

Rubio's camp can't be ignorant enough to not know how the NBA works. If he comes over here now, he can get that rookie contract out of the way. He's young enough that if he's as good as advertised (and I think he is) he can cash in on 3! big pay day contracts. If he waits a couple of years he may only get a chance at signing two large contracts.

But anyways, I don't think Flynn is going anywhere so let's get off that subject.

Without anymore trades, we really have 2 options at SG:

1. re-sign Carney and have Gomes, Brewer, Ellington, Carney, and maybe spot minutes from Flynn at the SG and SF positions. Who starts at SG? Ellington? Although I like his game, he is a rookie, and a low first round pick at that. I don't endorse this plan. Brewer? He couldn't shoot even before he got hurt and we desperately need scoring on the perimeter. I don't like this idea either.

2. Does anyone else besides me think we should take a flier on AI (NOT AL, I mean Iverson.) This would be a perfect situation for him. He would actually be doing us a favor by getting his points (anywhere between 20-25 per game) as we don't have any other perimeter scoring whatsoever. 2 perimeter ball dominant players can't really coexist but a ball dominant perimeter and post player can easily work together. It's been proven. But really there's no guarantee that AL will even come back at his pre-injury level so that's not even a concern even if you were skeptical. (Besides, with AI not being the most efficient player in the world and AL and Love being such great offensive rebounders that's not a problem anyways)

AI isn't exactly in high demand right now. He wants to go to to Grizz? That's desperate. He probably can't get more than 3 mil per year right now. Give him the full MLE for 2 years. He would have to take that. That doesn't hurt our financial situation at all.

What I'm trying to say is this:

PG: Telfair (26), Flynn (22)
SG: Iverson (34), Ellington (14)
SF: Gomes (28), Brewer (20)
PF: Love (30), Songaila (13), AL (5)
C: AL (30), Thomas (18)

Makes a whole hell of a lot more sense that this:

PG: Telfair (26), Flynn (22)
SG: Brewer??? coming off an ACL? (20), Ellington (28)
SF: Gomes (35), Brewer (13)
PF: Love (30), Songaila (13), AL (5)
C: AL (30), Thomas (18)

The 1st team will put fans in the seats, and will be semi-competitive while the 2nd team is the worst team in the league. Think about it.

Maybe I'm crazy I don't know but I think AI would be an excellent fit here.

The reason I didn't include Craig Smith in the minutes is because HE NEEDS TO BE TRADED ASAP. He has no place on this team. With the exception of the Jazz if they re-sign Millsap, this is the absolute worst fit for him in the league. The wolves and the rhino would be better served if he were traded.

And Love needs to be traded because him and AL will never work but that's a whole nother discussion...

What do you guys think?

Howl.

That was a great post. To be honest I pretty much agree with it all.


And hell, let's get Iverson. Why not? Give him a 2 year deal for $10 million or something like that. If RUBIO stays in Spain then no worries. Heck, Iverson can play with Rubio, Flynn, or even both if we don't trade Flynn.

Granted, it would be getting Iverson about 3 years too late (stupid Foye non-trade!), but I'd still endorse it. He'd be a MUCH better fit for the Wolves than he would be on freakin Memphis! How does AI fit in Memphis with Gay, Mayo, AND Zach Randolph!??!?!

i definitely like these ideas of AI. i would LOVE to have allen iverson come to our team. he would instantly be a huge factor for us on the roster. a much needed boost. (yeah and 3 years late indeed CW lol. man if we got AI when we shouldve back then we might not have been in such a slump right now. who knows)

the only thing i would have against bringing iverson to our team is that this team is too young to have someone like him. after all we are in the rebuilding process and we want to have a young core growing together. iverson cant be a part of that. it could screw up the whole system once he leaves.

but then again, you can look at it where iverson can be the veteran presence of the team, the voice that teaches the younger ppl like carney and ellington. it would be good for them to have AI teaching em a few things. kinda like mike bibby with the hawks in a way.

and AI could help us sell tickets since rubio supposedly isnt playing this year. and HEY! he wont interfere with rubios playing time!!!

Please no. You do NOT want a guy like Iverson as a role model for a young team. There was a detailed article (I apologize for not having the actual source or link) on SI or ESPN that explicitly stated that Iverson was a bad influence on Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith. That's part of the reason Chauncey Billups had such an effect when he arrived in Denver. Is Billups that much better of a player than Iverson? No, but he showed the younger players on that team what it means to be a professional. We don't need that kind of influence here from a FORMER all-star.

Besides, Iverson interferes with both Flynn and Rubio's playing time (if the latter ever shows up), as Iverson is a point guard as much as a shooting guard. He needs the ball to be effective.

I prefer Roundhouses first option of re-signing Carney. It may sound crazy to opt for Carney over Iverson, but I feel very strongly about this.

Let's start with Flynn.


While there is a valid BPA argument to be had regarding taking Flynn at 6, it would have been better to have taken a flyer on someone like DeRozan, Earl Clark or Terrence Williams.

Attempting to trade Flynn now is a play that could be read by any decent GM and would result in us getting 50c in the dollar on any deal. Flynn has more reason to be pissed than Rubio in all this; Rubio is going to get the keys to the team and Flynn is going to have to do all the accomodation in that arrangement.

And IF Flynn is the only obstacle to Rubio coming over, put yourself in David Kahn's position.

Do you tell Fegan:

a. "let's give it 12 months and see how it goes. Ricky is our number one guy."
b. "Yes sir, consider him gone. Shine your shoes, Mr Fegan"
c. "I run this team and Jonny Flynn stays until I'm ready for him to leave. If your client is going to run off to some 5000 seat stadium in Istanbul in a fit of pique, be assured I have his draft rights in my pocket. And If I can get my hand on John Wall next draft, I'll do that too. Ricky's best leverage with the Minnesota Timberwolves is to come over and become a key member of this team. I will not trade him."

The principle at stake is how much you let an agent or a rookie determine the construct of your squad.

Iverson

Iverson would certainly help in backcourt scoring, but what about defensively.


I'd like to see a run at Gerald Wallace.

No thanks to Iverson. Yes sir to Crash.

I concur with Marbury=Evil wholeheartedly. It should only be fair to give Flynn just as much of a chance as Rubio]. Both guys have incredible upside and it's unfair to toss either one of them out of the equation until we see them on the court. Yeah, realistically we all know that Rubio = the divine deliverer to many organizations. His "ceiling/potential" is perceived to be higher, I can understand that. However, before we start getting desperate for washed up allstars like Iverson (Who will not truly benefit us in the long or present run), we should just settle down and quit settling on the point of "I'm sick of seeing us lose, I want us to win as many games this season for whatever the price!"

Agree completely with YoLeo. It would be difficult for me to imagine a worse signing than Iverson--a cancer in the locker room; a bad influence on our youngsters; a shoot-first, on-the-ball hog who would retard the talents and development of Flynn and (if he joins the team) Rubio.

Patience, not panic, is the order of the day. We are in terrific shape, assets-wise and financially, going forward. Let's let the process run its course:

--Trade Rhino for a serviceable SG this year.

Then, after next season, use the formidable array of assets we'll have:

--Potentially six draft picks, including as many as three first-rounders, in a strong draft.
--The rights to the two best players in Europe (Rubio if he doesn't come this year, and Pecovic).
--At least five expiring contracts (Madsen, Thomas, Cardinal, Pecherov, Brown) and as many as eight.
--Two potential roster moves (the release of Gomes and the buyout of Bassy) which would have modest, easily absorbable cap impacts. (If Gomes is released before June 30, only $1 million of his salary will be guaranteed, and therefore on the cap, in 2010-11.)
--As much as $30 million-plus in cap space.

Kurosawa wrote:


--Trade Rhino for a serviceable SG this year.



Not sure that gets us much to be honest.

It's obvious that the team won't be a competitor this year. Why do you want to win NOW? We're rebuilding!
Now, for me at least, we are on our way to winning. We have Al, Kevin, Jonny and Ricky. At that point we really need a SG to start the season because Ellington can't be trusted to be a starter right away. And Brewer isn't a SG! Here are some steps I consider important to be a contender:

- Resign Carney

- Sign Birdman @around 2-3 mil per year

- Draft wizely at the next draft. 3 draft picks mean another great player + role players. If we land a SG with the first (and most important pick) and a SF and C with the other for role players, we are in a great spot.

- Bring here both Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic.

- Sign a SF through Free Agency next year, when we have cap room.

- Trade Rhino and Brewer for a center

So what does these steps do with the team:
PG: Rubio/Flynn
SG: Draft Pick 2010/Ellington/Carney
SF: Free Agent 2010/Ryan Gomes/Draft pick 2010
PF: Al Jefferson/Kevin Love
C: Trade from Rhino+Brewer/Nikola Pekovic/Birdman/Draft Pick 2010

Potential + depth. A team that starting 2010 will be playoff contenders. If we are patient the team will be great!

No to Iverson. When I heard he was interested in the Grizz, my first reaction was excitement at the years that he and Zach Randolph would set back their youth movement and turn their young guys into selfish, me-first players. Maybe that's overstating it, but it's not like either of those guys have a great track record with young players.

Besides, he'll probably be signed within the next month, and I'd be surprised if the Wolves signed anyone before August or September. They're still restructuring their roster and can find guys to fill in the gaps. For all we know, they'll have another perimeter guy to play the two through a trade.

A resounding no thanks to Iverson, for my part. He's had a Marbury-like fall from grace over the last couple years, and while he might fit one short-term need (perimeter scoring), how would he possibly contribute to this team winning a championship at some point down the road? Let's just hope he also has an aversion to cold weather.

I never said getting Iverson was some genius plan that was foolproof. Just that it makes sense to me.

I think everyone is being too sure of AL and Brewer coming back and being perfectly fine. It usually takes a full season and then the next season they are back to form after an ACL tear. Even with them perfectly healthy, this squad is so talent-deprived that they could be epically bad. Just imagine what it will look like if AL and Brewer can't go.

At some point your young guys need to win some games. At least have some hope. I think we'll be lucky to win 20 games next year. Worst case we could have less than 10 wins. Nobody wants to see that happen.


Kurosawa wrote:
--Two potential roster moves (the release of Gomes and the buyout of Bassy) which would have modest, easily absorbable cap impacts. (If Gomes is released before June 30, only $1 million of his salary will be guaranteed, and therefore on the cap, in 2010-11.)


Bassy can contribute as a solid backup PG making 2.5 mil a year. Why buy him out? We held onto Maddog all these years who doesn't contribute to the team whatsoever. You really think we'd buy out Bassy?

I don't understand why Gomes gets so much hate from wolves fans. Look at him by himself and he has flaws. Look at him from a team perspective and he's the type of guy championship teams are made of. I envision him on San Antonio. He's not a go-to scorer that's the truth. Last year he was forced to do things that he shouldn't be doing because our team was so terrible. They can trade him if they want that'd be fine but if we release him that'd be a bad move.

I think Iverson would pull a bit of an Antoine Walker. Say all the right things and be a good teammate for the first half of the year. Then once the team was out of the playoff picture by 10 games in January he'd really lose interest and start whining about being traded to a contender.

That said... if Iverson would sign a 2y/$10M deal I'd still do it. For all the reasons roundhouse has said.

Even just getting half a season to get the rookies up to speed than trading the guy for not much to the first contender whose SG gets hurt wouldn't be a bad plan. Could you get a 1st round pick for AI if Ray Allen blows out his knee in January, but the rest of the Celtics are playing great? Maybe.

btw... Allen Iverson has NOT had a Marbury like fall from grace. There is a huge difference in being not an All-Star anymore and not an NBA player anymore.

Yea I agree. Even if we did trade him midway through the season he still filled in for half the year and we end up with assets that we wouldn't have had.

Somehow, someway, we need to get some players on this team that can contribute. Our roster is still very unbalanced and we have too many players that aren't good enough to get minutes in an NBA rotation.

Maybe Kahn is thinking us some trade or something, who knows. If he isn't, I think we should transfer our expirings over to next year so as to not lose our flexibility. Find a team that has open roster spots and a bad contract and do a 3-for-1 trade with them. Some combination of Cardinal, Madsen, Smith, Pecherov, Brown, Thomas, and Songaila. Dalembert would be great. Jason Richardson? Peja? There are a lot of these situations out there.

What this does for us:

Can we all agree the "great 2010 free agency bonanza" is a hoax? Even if it is real, the wolves will not be the team landing the big fish. Let's get past this dream.

1. Parlays our expirings to next year. If they aren't used in a trade, that cap room is lost and it does us no good.

2. Gets a player that can soak up some minutes for us.

3. Allows us to fill out our 15-man roster with young players or with players at positions of need. Would go a long way towards finally getting some balance on our roster.

btw... Allen Iverson has NOT had a Marbury like fall from grace. There is a huge difference in being not an All-Star anymore and not an NBA player anymore.

Totally disagree. a. Marbury was never as good as Iverson, so the magnitude of their falls is actually quite symmetrical, and b. the term "fall from grace" refers more to the hits that their legacies/public perceptions have taken than any decline in skills.

At one point, AI was considered to be one of the preeminent players in the NBA, a franchise cornerstone. Now? He's been traded twice in 3 seasons, and last year everyone got to watch Billups take the same dysfunctional Denver squad that Iverson floundered with to the Conference Finals, while AI was at the center of the fiasco as Detroit's season went down in flames.

If AI hasn't had an epic fall, then how do you explain why, as an unrestricted free agent, the erstwhile surefire Hall of Famer is getting almost no attention on the open market when his biggest competition is Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and a bunch of other average NBA players?