The Timberwolves haven’t received tempting offers yet for the top pick in next week’s draft, but executive vice president Sachin Gupta said “three phone” time is coming soon, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. That’s what Gupta calls the days immediately before the draft when front office members are balancing several phone calls at once.
“There’s not a whole lot of pleasantries that are happening with those calls,” he said. “There’s no time for it. It’s, ‘What do you want? What do you got for me?’ ”
Minnesota should find a lot of interest in the top selection between now and November 18. The Warriors and Hornets are both believed to be eyeing former Memphis center James Wiseman, while Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball may entice other teams to move up. The Wolves could have the luxury of playing teams against each another to drive up offers.
“We’ve always been active, and with these types of assets at our disposal, it really plays into sort of our mentality of turning over every rock and figuring out what all the possibilities are,” Gupta said.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Monte Morris could be the key to bringing Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday to Denver, suggests Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Singer states that the Nuggets would probably have to part with Gary Harris or Will Barton in a potential deal, along with Bol Bol. Throwing in Morris, who’s hoping for an extension this offseason, might be enough to get a deal done. Singer admits it’s a lot to part with, but contends that adding Holiday could give Denver the league’s best starting five.
- A potential December 22 starting date for the new season leaves the Thunder with little time to address a lot of business, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City is the only team without a head coach, and Chris Paul is among the most prominent names on the trade market. Danilo Gallinari, Nerlens Noel and Andre Roberson will all become free agents later this month, while Abdel Nader, Hamidou Diallo and Deonte Burton have team options ranging from $1.66MM to $1.75MM and Mike Muscala has a $2.3MM player option. Mussatto believes Gallinari will consider staying with the Thunder if Paul isn’t traded.
- The Jazz worked out Washington small forward Jaden McDaniels, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic.
How can OKC be such a poorly run franchise after drafting 3 MVP’s in 3 consecutive years? Here we are 10 years later and all of them are gone.
Stop hating. They turned players that didn’t want to be there into loads of picks. They have a super bright future. The only poor trade was Harden and it’s unfortunate KD walked for nothing.
Well at least they made it to the final in 2012 Something the Chockets never achieved since 1995!
Same way the rockets can have some of the top players in the league yet still never win anything.
A rockets fan thinks OKC is poorly ran? That’s rich.
Maybe beat the Warriors once before opening your mouth when talking about “poorly run franchises”.
The Rockets have been a joke of the league since 1996. Curry will win another ring before Harden or Westbrook do. Fact.
BTW I watched the 18-19 WCF highlights when the Rockets choked and blew a 3-2 lead again last night, still feels good haha 3 rings choke on them ALL and they ALL are legit and were gotten the right way. If Lebron wasnt a coward it would be 4 and if KD+Klay dont get hurt its 5 rings.
Feels good following not-the-Rockets, I gotta tell ya.
OKC did not draft KD that was the sonics.
The Sonics also drafted Westbrook. So what? It’s the same team.
Not the same team at all!
You see Seattle were the Supersonics, Oklahoma is the Thunder!
Also the history of the Sonics ain’t attached to the Thunder, so the day (hopefully very soon) that Seattle gets their team back, it will be the Sonics, with their history & their title banner in the arena, OKC hasn’t got a banner hanging, ergo not the same team, get it?
Semantics. It is the same group of players regardless of whether anyone wants to pretend otherwise. The originals Browns franchise is now the Ravens, the new Browns were an expansion team in 1999 even though the record book says otherwise.
Now it’s Monte Morris as a throw-in… I would ask for him before Harris, Barton or Bol! Save some money too.
According to this article
Warriors are eyeing Wiseman
Teams don’t win the championship without a good back-up point guard. I’d prefer Denver doesn’t trade Barton or Monte Morris or MPjr…unless it’s for an all star level player under age 25 and even then it’d have to be the right player. Isn’t there a good chance that Gary Harris game bounces back to how he played a few years ago?
Wolves need small forward like Kelly Oubre
Suns are willing to trade Oubre and 10 to Wolves for Johnson and 1
Kelly Oubre walks for nothing next summer
The deal turns out to be 10 for 1
How about the Wolves throw in Towns too? Sure sounds good right?
Wolves don’t know who is the best player this draft
Knicks are willing to offer 8 and Knox for 1 and Johnson bad contract
how do you know this??
Sure the Wolves shouldn’t throw in Culver and some cash too???
How about this..
1. Minny selects Anthony Edwards
2. Orlando Magic trade Terrance Ross and the 15th pick for the second overall pick using GSW trade exception. They select LaMelo Ball.
3. Charlotte select James Wiseman
4. Chicago select Deni Avdija
5. Cleveland select Obi Toppin
6. Atlanta selects Issac Okoro
7. Detroit select Tyrese Haliburton
8. New York select Killian Hayes
9. Washington select Onyeka Okungwu
10. Suns select Cole Anthony
11. Spurs select Patrick Williams
12. Kings select Devin Vassell
13. Pelicans select Aaron Nesmith
14. Celtics select Theo Maledon
15. GSW select Jaden McDaniels
16. Portland select RJ Hampton
17. Minny select Precious Achiwura
18. Mavs select Saqqid Bey
19. Nets select Jalen Smith
20. Miami select Tyrell Terry
Minny have a great draft, Atlanta make a bad choice, New York draft need over quality, Washington gets a steal, Suns get Cole Anthony who surprises many with how good he is, GSW build to be a threat this year.
Terrance Ross and 15 are not enough to get 2. Maybe if Wiggins and Gordon (or next year’s unprotected 1st) were added, you might have something.
Also, Cole Anthony is not going top 10. He will be lucky to go top 20. His high school ranking is completely immaterial now. I think Maledon might be a bit high too. Other than that, not too bad.
You’ll be surprised, Suns reached last year when they got Cam Johnson. Cole Anthony had a slightly down year but he was still really good.
Before the season started he was a top 5 pick then he didn’t quite live up to expectations. He still put up 18.5-6-4 shooting 40-35-75.
Let’s compare that, to Anthony Edwards (likely first overall pick) he had 0.6 points less, more rebounds, more assists, shot the same from the field but shot better from 3.
Anthony is so solid offensively, he can finish down low, in the mid range, from outside, has great athleticism, speed, handles and is confident. He’s also got a good Will to learn and improve. He constantly speed hours in the gym with Chris Brickley. Having him learn from Devin Booker and Ricky Rubio would be great for Cole. Rubio is a leader, pass first player and solid defender and Booker has a huge offensive game like Cole and could give him tips and pointers for the NBA. These two (Booker and Anthony) would be the next Lillard and McCollum.
I think it’s a perfect fit for Cole to adjust to the league and not be thrown in the deep end and have to preform. And for the Suns they get someone who has huge potential and good intangibles to succeed.
As for Maledon, I could be abit high but I think he’s a solid fit and has good potential.
He’s only 19 has got professional basketball experience from Europe.
He’s got size and length, great IQ, is quick, an excellent passer, nice defensively and overall just has so much potential. He wouldn’t be rushed to preform at the Celtics and would be learning from Kemba Walker. He’d have a solid coaching staff helping improve and develop in Boston.
Magic moving without giving up Ross is okay. Yes their will be lots of Trades on Draft night.
GSW can do better than Ross as the wing though, especially if they package assets.
Wouldnt it be better for them to take Avdija and keep everyone instead?
this would be a good draft for MIN
According to Minnesota newspaper, Wolves want to trade Jarrett Culver for a star.
IMO
Culver is not going to be better player than any of the Knicks young talents such as Knox, Smith Jr. and Frank.
Yes, the Wolves flopped on the Culver pick IMO. Rui Hachimura was my favorite for the Wolves at that time. He has proven to be much more useful sefensively. Think of the fit for MIN if they could get him or draft someone like him.
Defensively
So insert a star into the Wolves lineup that they can get for the #1 pick are they a top 4 team in the west? Most likely not at all. So why go all in for a older player instead build up your team with young all star players.
Yes, I say keep the #1 and get Edwards or Wiseman (who cares if he doesn’t want to come to MIN, if they win Wiseman will forget about that). And if he tanks because MIN drafts him, then he will really hurt his image and future salary elsewhere.
I think the most likely scenario is the Wolves take A-Edwards #1, unless they can trade with CHA (in which case they take Edwards #3 overall). I really like Edwards for this unit with the Beasley uncertainty.
If Edwards is available at 2 GS will grab him.
Because older players fail a lot less often than younger ones. Just look at Minnesota’s history after dealing Garnett. They’ve basically been rebuilding with younger players since 2008 now with nothing but small success here and there. Maybe it is time to start doing something different.
Your way would work fine if you could look into a crystal ball and know exactly which of the young players will succeed, but you can’t. So instead of guessing and wasting another year of KAT, maybe get a more known quantity with a smaller upside, but a much higher downside to help get to the playoffs.
Reply cut off. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that one guy doesn’t have to IMMEDIATELY make you a top 4 team. But if you can add a guy that will get you the 7 or 8 seed. Get some playoff experience, then next year maybe improve to the 4/5 game. Nobody wants to work their way up anymore.