Situation to watch: Minnesota T'Wolves

[Revenged25]

I can't see a trade situation where the Timberwolves don't just ask for, but require, Tristan to be a part of the trade. Now that would be hard for me to really decide. Obviously right now Kevin Love is the better player, though he has some injury concerns though they're not huge, he's a great scorer and rebounder, and with Mike Brown would become much better defensively, Tristan though is the vocal leader of our team and one of the hardest working guys on our team. Now obviously Kevin Love would put us as a favorite to make the playoffs with Irving and Waiters being the primary ball handlers kicking out to Kevin Love etc, still have holes at the 3 adn the 5 that has to be addressed though.

So I guess it just depends on the full deal. Obviously Tristan is a key part of it, what else needing to be thrown in will decide if I like the trade or not. If it's the Laker's pick and our 2014 pick unprotected, I think keeping it unprotected would give us the best chance at getting him for just Tristan and 2 picks, then looking to draft Porter or Len, and looking for the other in FA. Maybe be able to do Tristan, Andy, and our 2014 1st unprotected. Granted that gives us less depth in the front court, but it could gives us an ability to make a power play at one of the free agent Centers.

Trade Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, 2014 unprotected 1st, Sacramento 1st, for Kevin Love.
-We lose front court depth with trading both Varejao and Thopmson, but by trading two future firsts we keep our pick at #19 as well as our 2nds that can be used to bring in either another player via trade or add depth that way, even if it is some stash players.

Draft:
#3-Otto Porter, SF Gerogetown
-I think he fits in perfectly with what Mike Brown likes to do. All around above average player, able to play defense and with Love in fold only asked to be the 4th option on offense as of now.
#19-Sergey Karasev, G/F Russia
-Now doubling up at SF might seem like a bad idea, but Sergey has immense potential, might be a euro-stash player, but at the same time he could really develop as a combo G/F getting minutes at both positions behind Waiters and Porter in the future. Also with Brown as HC he can develop his defensive game.

Trade both 2nds to get into the late 1st.

#25-28-Mouhammadou Jaiteh
-Another potential cash and stash euro player, even if he comes over right away he could provide depth along with Zeller.

Depth chart:
PG-Kyrie Irving
SG-Dion Waiters/Sergey Karasev
SF-Otto Porter/Alonzo Gee
PF-Kevin Love/Mouhammadou Jaiteh
C-Tyler Zeller

So going into FA, those are the players on guaranteed contracts. That also puts us at around $35,536,186. That leaves us with about $23 million to spend in free agency. With that roster as it is might be good enough to attract Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum, non-fully guaranteed contract due to injury, to Cleveland as it's pretty much ready to compete for a title. Then you add in another depth player with the the MLE, let's say Jarret Jack, and that could be ridiculous.

PG-Kyrie Irving/Jarrett Jack
SG-Dion Waiters/Sergey Karasev
SF-Otto Porter/Alonzo Gee
PF-Kevin Love/Mouhammadou Jaiteh
C-Dwight Howard(Andrew Bynum)/Tyler Zeller

Now obviously the biggest question is if we can get Love and the cost. I'm pretty sure it's going to cost Tristan at least, which considering Mike Brown would rather have good offensive players and teach them to play defense than the other way around, I could see how Love would be a better fit for him, not to mention overall for the team, along with playing with Irving and Waiters. Can you imagine those two driving and kicking out Kevin Love to hit that pretty outside shot? Then if we can get Howard, which is a pipe dream I'm sure though that line-up could immediately face the Heat and Thunder and be considered favorites IMO, or Bynum, which if he stayed healthy would be the favorites still I think. Heck Bynum might actually be a better fit than Howard as he's more of the offensive player as well. But that could just get scary good looking at that.

 

[oasis05]

My favorite Kevin Love play.

[video=youtube;anVBuaWGTGk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anVBuaWGTGk[/video]

I'd have a hard time believing that minnesota will want to break that team up. they have a lot of salary coming off the books after next season, so they should be able to resign rubio, and pekovic. Kirelenko also comes off the books.

 

[wildfan]

Think you could add OKC to the teams to watch because of Cap issues and resigning Martin. Also the Jazz with their need for a PG-Burke.

 

[wildfan]

deleted triple post

 

[wildfan]

deleted

 

[MirORich]

You're forgetting that there's 28 other teams in the league beside the Wolves and Cavs. If Love becomes available, many, many teams will be interested. He will not come cheap.

I really don't think it would take as much as you're implying. Simply because it's clear that they have two choices, trade Love or let Pek walk.

 

[Revenged25]

You're forgetting that there's 28 other teams in the league beside the Wolves and Cavs. If Love becomes available, many, many teams will be interested. He will not come cheap.

So which comes back to the question of, what will he cost. Do you think my proposal, Tristan, Andy, our 2014 1st unprotected and Sacramento's 1st would be good enough? Would they want the #19 pick this year instead of one of the future 1sts? Pretty much in a trade for Love there are only 3 things that are off limits, Irving, Waiters, and our own pick in this draft unless we fall to #6 with no realistic chance at either Len or Porter.

 

[Josh Criiiiibbs]

Everyone keeps bringing up Waiters and/or Thompson, but I'd personally prefer to trade this year's pick assuming it's not #1. If they'd prefer Dion or Tristan that's another story, but personally I wouldn't trade either for anyone in this draft not named Noel and I'm guessing Minnesota would rather have the pick anyway so that they can get their own guy.

So it seems to me like a draft day trade of 2013 Top-6 pick + Varejao + Sacramento or Memphis pick and if necessary Zeller or #19 isn't a terrible offer for Love and I honestly wonder who can come up with better.

That said, if Minnesota decides to wait until the trade deadline, we'll have the new rookies and a better idea of our 2014 picks to put together a competitive package.

At this point, any trade the Cavs don't make is because the other team is asking for too much, not because we don't have the assets to get a deal done.

 

[gourimoko]

It'd take A LOT more than Varejao and picks.. A lot...

I'd look at the James Harden deal as a basis for what it'd take..

I'd say Tristan, this year's pick, a future Cavs 1st and probably the Grizzlies/Kings 1st...

I'd do it in a HEARTBEAT without thinking twice..

 

[The Oi]

I'd do it in a HEARTBEAT without thinking twice..

If I thought Mike could get Love to play defense and sign him to a long contract, I think I would too. This draft isn't exactly loaded where the Cavs are picking. The Cavs future 1st's probably won't be very high. That Kings pick is never coming. And Tristan could be very good, but never anywhere near as good as Love.

I think I'd jump on this.

Assuming Waiters turns into the All Star he has the potential to be, an Irving, Waiters and Love trio would be one of the most versatile scoring big threes in the league. You could not guard all of them successfully at the same time. You'd have one of the most versatile scoring PG's in the league, a SG that can get to the rack at will and the most versatile scoring PF in the league all on the same team. It's conceivably that all three of them could score over 18ppg in a season together. If you can get Love and Irving to play even a hint of defense, they could start pushing the Heat in a couple years.

Sometimes you have to make a big move and sacrifice the future to become an elite team now. This would be an example of being able to do so...with three players under the age of 25.

 

[Tornicade]

the thing with the harden trade is that okc was already contending, so a veteran specialist (shooter, obv), was a decent sized incentive for them to do the deal. houston got to dump their "star" (who isn't a star), plus a good young asset (toronto pick) and a few mediocre young assets.

the wolves would presumably be rebuilding, so the cavs wouldn't have the option to offer a veteran that would be of any use to minnesota. granted, varejao is the only one who could possibly fit the bill anyway. so they'd be forced to offer a package entirely centered around youth.

that said, if the cavs were confident in love's health going forward, i'd do that deal. mid-20yo borderline superstars are not easy to come by. though i think they should provide some resistance to the inclusion of the memphis pick.



except 2 of the 3 are completely useless to the cavs

so no.

dont you have to have something "built" in order to "rebuild"

 

[iLLGiLL]

If we're in a position to select McLemore on draft night, our pick could have nice value for the Wolves. They really want 3pt shooting and scoring on the wing.

Varejao/Miles/Zeller/Gee/3rd pick (McLemore)/Kings 1st round pick

For Love/Roy

I think it's great for them, they get out of the Love dispute and have themselves a nice combination of young talent and vets around Rubio to go for the playoffs:

Rubio/Ridnour/Barea
McLemore/Shved/Miles
Kirilenko/Gee
Williams/Varejao
Pekovic/Zeller

+ they still have their 9th pick who could end up being Cody Zeller, Alex Len, Anthony Bennett, Shabazz Muhammad...

It seems a better deal to me than what OKC got for Harden because of McLemore's upside and fit with Rubio.

 

[getBUCKED]

Kyrie Irving & Kevin Love would be the best pick and roll/pick and pop combination in the entire NBA. You literally would never be able to stop it. This needs to happen.

 

[RyanStackAttack]

Kevin Love would push the needle in a massive way.

It bears watching how the front office and coaching situation plays out in Minnesota. If it remains status quo, there might be enough contention that Love gets shipped out.

He'd be costly but worth it.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Minnesotta would probably prefer a package centered around Andy over a package centered around TT. Andy would add depth, add leadership, has 1 year left on his deal, rebounding, defense, etc. Not to mention itll clear time for DWill. You couldnt develop him and TT on the same team. Unless of course a 3rd team was involved.

Varejao + Kings 1st + Lakers 1st + 2nd should be enough considering Love wants out. We could throw in our 1st this year instead of another, but idk how they would feel about having so many high picks.