(Wherein Wolfenstein discusses the merits of various players that match our position of need)
Rhetorical Question: Is it a sign of desperation that you could talk me equally easily into trading with
Atlanta for $100 million worth of
Joe Johnson or for
Tracy McGrady at the veteran's minimum?
Boston probably won't do anything, but if they did,
Avery Bradley would be a guy who could help take minutes and improve our perimeter defense. Barring that, we could always settle for
Ray Allen or
Paul Pierce. I mean, if we had to.
As far as players from the awful
Charlotte team are concerned
Gerald Henderson would be a nice fit; we could use a versatile combo guard who can defend.
Chicago is getting Richard Hamilton back- does that mean
Ronnie Brewer could be available?
The
Cleveland Cavaliers have the same problem the Timberwolves have, only they are not as good. Maybe
Alonzo Gee would work? Doubt it. Pass.
Wonder if
Dallas might be willing to move
Rodrigue Beaubois for the right price, or to trade
Shawn Marion for some cap flexibility. Either guy would be upgrades for us.
Detroit has an aging
Ben Gordon who would actually be serviceable on our team. $35 million serviceable? Eh...
Dear
Golden State, while he's a very good player, given what you are probably asking for
Monta Ellis, I probably would rather go the extra mile and give up more to get
Stephen Curry, who really belongs on our team since we drafted him with the 6th pick in 2009. Since I'm not keen on giving up Love or Rubio for Curry, I'd rather give up less for a
Brandon Rush, a
Dorrell Wright, or a
Klay Thompson, thank you very much.
Houston has a couple guys that would fit nicely for us,
Kevin Martin and
Courtney Lee. Either one would fill a huge need, perimeter scoring.
Chase Buddinger would also be an upgrade.
Indiana probably won't have to choose between
Danny Granger or
Paul George (keep em both!) but that may leave
George Hill available.
As weird as it would be, the guy from the
Los Angeles Clippers that makes the most sense for us is... former Timberwolf (and the only former Timberwolf still on the Clippers)
Ryan Gomes. CW would love that.
There is literally no one on the
Los Angeles Lakers who makes any sense for us right now.
Andrew Goudelock? Nobody.
Memphis... Apparently we don't like
OJ Mayo, or else he doesn't like Minnesota. Makes a lot of sense, but like Portland they are competing directly with us for the last playoff spot, so there's no desire to help us fill in the puzzle. Besides Mayo,
Sam Young and
Tony Allen would both be very good fits, if Memphis wanted to trade.
Hey,
Miami- want to trade Wade or LeBron? No? Am I the only one that thinks that
Shane Battier has a couple more years of veteran glue guy (a la Jason Kidd or Grant Hill) left in his tank? Yes? I'd still take him.
Milwaukee has a couple guys that would be intriguing,
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who would be a perimeter defensive stopper, and
Stephen Jackson, who would bring the competitiveness that the Timberwolves are missing on the wing.
New Jersey is struggling but has a nice young rookie in
Marshon Brooks who looks to be squeezing
DeShawn Stevenson and
Anthony Morrow out of minutes. There should be no reason one of them can't be obtained.
New Orleans is awful. However, they are also probably not going to help us improve since it devalues what they once thought was their most valuable asset. However,
Marco Bellinelli is decent and
Eric Gordon is elite when his knees are healthy. Either would help. An intensely unproven
Xavier Henry would be a more typical move.
Iman Shumpert would be a good development guy since
New York apparently wants his minutes to go to JR Smith. If they'd rather keep Shumpert we could always take
Landry Fields off their hands.
If
Oklahoma City thinks they are set with
Thabo Sefolosha and
James Harden, I'd take a good look at
"Daequon's Dance Moves" Cook.
It would be smart to swoop in and scoop up
JJ Redick or
Jason Richardson if
Orlando does decide to blow it up.
My mini-obsession with
Evan Turner is well-documented. However, assuming
Philadelphia won't part with Turner or
Andre Iguodala,
Jodie Meeks would make a ton of sense for our team.
While nothing that has happened this season in
Phoenix has blown my hair back, I'm not totally opposed to the
Shannon Brown idea at SG provided we don't give much up to get him and add a quality 3 at some point.
Some kind of trade with
Portland for
Nicolas Batum or
Wesley Matthews would probably be a good idea, except that we're competing with them.
It's hard to know if the shoot first, ask questions later mentality of a guy like
Marcus Thornton is a product of the dysfunctional circumstance in
Sacramento, or if that's who he is. Worth a look, I suppose. You could probably convince me to take a guy like
Travis Outlaw to fill minutes when Beasley is on the bench or playing PF.
P.S. How creepy is John Salmons' look in his ESPN pic?
Assuming
San Antonio doesn't want to totally blow it up and part with
Manu Ginobli, the guys that make the most sense from their roster are
Danny Green and
James Anderson, whose agent has been making noise.
The only player in
Toronto that seems appealing at all is
DeMar Derozan who is almost certainly off limits (or as off limits as any player on a team 13 games under 0.500 can be).
Utah doesn't make a ton of sense as a trading partner now, since like us they are front court heavy and they are also competing for the same playoff spot(s) that we are, but they do have a guy I think would fit well in
C.J. Miles. Not high on my list but a guy nonetheless.
Washington can keep
Nick Young and
Jordan Crawford, but you have to throw their names on the list anyway.
That's the list. By my count 55 (?) perimeter players who to some degree or other are not "untouchable," each of which would improve the Wolves to some degree. It would be fun to rank them, although some of the guys (like Manu, Ray Ray, Pierce, and Iggy) would be untouchable. That will be a subsequent post.
The colored text is a nice touch. 
). I looked at Travis Outlaw's recent stats and his career stats and had a tough decision because I'm not a huge Marcus Thornton fan. I decided that as a second guy (to supplement Kevin Martin, for instance) he would be adequate. A lateral move from Tolliver probably, but another body wouldn't hurt?
