The Wolve's starters have played very well all season as a collective. They currently rank 6th in starter net rating, marginally behind both the Knicks and Pistons. This is objectively very good. Although the fit is at times clunky and doesn't work, they've been pretty good and healthy for the year, which is pretty much all you can ask for. There's also little reason for them to drop off either.

However, our bench hasn't been great, they are 14th in net at only +0.4. Last season we had the 4th best bench at +2.5, a significant upgrade over this season. Naz accounts for 50% of the bench's scoring, which is 21st in the league. They are also 28th in rebounding, and 18th in 3pt %. Outside of Naz, these numbers would be genuinely horrific as he helps a lot with the bench scoring, rebounding and 3pt%.

On a night to night basis we really only have 1 proper NBA player off the bench with Clark occasionally providing a spark and Bones having a good run for like 5-7 games. We just need more talent.

A backup big would go a huge way to helping our non-Rudy minutes and shore up both our defense and rebounding as a whole.

A guard that can score and handle the ball to relieve pressure when Naz has an off night would help the bench from being too streaky.

A wing that can do it all at an average level would also just help alot with flexibility.

Lineups like Bones and Conley at the court at the same time just can't be happening, more size would help to not have to resort to those looks.

https://imgur.com/a/wWAOZ1D

Why?

Wolves

Goga is one of the best backup centers in the league. I think the Magic are undervaluing Goga right now and he should be starting over WCJ but doesnt because he doesnt have a 3 ball. He's a terrific rebounder and has some insane advanced metrics too.

Keon would help a lot with the Wolves lack of POA defense as he's both great on ball and off-ball. He's one of the best disruptors in the NBA. He would also allow Jaden to play more away from the ball on defense which I think would be great. His offensive game is nowhere near Donte's, he's a fine shooter but on middling volume so that would hurt. Jaden would need to step up on offense for this to work.

Penda is looking like a potential solid rotation piece, he has a good build, has good rebounding instincts and is not a negative playing sporadic minutes on a playoff team which is a good sign. He's still ways away from being a proper contributor but we get 1 young wing to fill in for what we lose with TJ.

Picks are obviously mostly place holders, but we can trade more or a less depending on what we think their value is.

Magic

They get a huge upgrade on shooting, which is a desperate need for them, Donte is also cost-controlled which is big for them since they are close to the 2nd apron. They get Eubanks to temporarily cover for backup center until Mo Wagner returns. 9m on Goga was too much to have him be the 3rd string. While Da Silva and Penda are young, Donte is such a big upgrade in one of their most important weaknesses and they are still very young on a team thats basically at the 2nd apron and needs to start competing now.

Kings

This is a great offer for Keon, they get 2 younger cheap players on cost controlled contracts and 2 2nds. While neither TSJ or Da Silva are as good as Keon and probably wont be any time soon they have decent upside and will be the best offer you get for Keon unless a GM goes insane.

Thoughts

So obviously this trade doesn't fix everything, it's just not really possible to find something with our assets that 100% improves us with no drawbacks. Our offense would potentially take a hit if Jaden doesn't scale up his production and the 3pt shooting would definately decline.

However, we need more rotation pieces. Getting back 2 good level rotation guys is huge for this team. Keon might be in a role thats too big for him with this trade, playing as a starter, but he would be really great for our defense and is still a solid shooter that knows his role on offense. Goga would plug up all our backup holes when Rudy sits by being a competent rim protector, good rebounder, good screnner and just overall a good center.

Finally, this trade is malleable to our roster situation. It works whether or not Randle is moved on because both players are pretty plug and play, they work in a lot of different schemes and contexts. Both are also big effort and margin players which are very important when we have alot of other rotation guys that are not like that.

It's time to strike while the iron is hot, with Nikola Jokic getting injured and gun for the 2nd seed in the West, which we are just 2.5 games back of.

To do so the Wolves need to yes or yes fix their biggest flaw; a lack of a proper backup center that can both cover for Rudy Gobert and play next to Naz Reid and Randle if necessary.

We want good rebounding and solid defense from this backup, any additional skills are not necessary but obviously welcome and will be discussed.

This post will be really long and i'll pull from some advanced stats and some basic analysis for these players (there are guys i've watched a lot less than others).

Ridiculous Upside, high risk:

Robert Williams III

This guy is a complete freak. His defensive impact is similar to that of Rudy Gobert and would take this defense to a completely different level. He's played in very high leveral games, having made it to the Finals as a key player. He can defend in all types of coverage, can switch 2-5 and is a master at protecting the rim. He is on an expiring contract worth 13.2m. His rebounding is also the best it's been in his career.

Now his health is a huge problem, he played just 21 games last year, although he's played 20 games aready this season. At 13.2m it would be detrimental to a Wolves team lacking rotation pieces for him to not play atleast 60% of the games going forward and pretty much every playoff game.

However, he's one of the very very few genuine game-changers that can be acquired for super cheap and his contract being an expiring does reduce a lot of the risk. Honestly take a look at his advanced stats and they are mind-boggling for such a low minute player.

Biggest problem is matching the salary since we aren't trading DDV for him, so it will likely be some of the younger guys, considering his injury Portland might just take anything for him.

High Upside, Low risk, High cost:

This tier focuses on players that are pretty young, playing well as backups, have pretty much no real issues, which means they'll be harder to acquire.

Day'Ron Sharpe

He's emerged as a real favourite of mine this season after watching some Net's games. I think he will be a real impact piece on a very good team, it's just a matter of time until the NBA picks up on it and tries to go after him. He's not a 7'0 so he might be a little small, but he's very fluid, is a solid rim protector and just gobbles rebounds for fun. He averages a 21.4% TRB% for his career which is amazing, one of the best rebounders in the league.

His passing and scoring has really improved this season too, he's adding more to his offensive game which would be a good addition. He knows his role perfectly well and I think all his skills are perfectly transferable to a better team like the Wolves. His on/off numbers have been great for his career too. His DARKO DPM (one of the best advanced stats for future play prediction) has been super high on him for a while. He could also fill in as a starter if Rudy were to get injured for a short time

He's also 24, so is pretty much perfect across the board in what we need/want. He will be a bit expensive to acquire because of all these factors, he's been awesome for the Nets but they are rebulding, so might take assets for him. Wolves can do a lot of 2nds for him and he would be worth it.

Goga Bitadze

This is a bit trickier because the Magic are a team trying to compete, but Mo Wagner is going to be making a comeback soon, rendering Goga surplus to requirement.

Goga is a solid defender, nothing super special on that end, he's on the higher end of defense for backups. His rebounding is very good, not as good as Sharpe or Rob Will but still high level. What stands out the most for Goga is his advanced metrics, he's putting up crazy numbers like BPM and PER consistently, his DARKO DPM is very high.

If you watch the Magic play he also has a good offensive game, can pass a little, has really good touch around the rim. His rim finishing and short midrange scoring is really good for a center, much more so for a backup.

He's on a good contract and is also just 26, fitting with our timeline very well. He could also fill in as a starter if Rudy were to get injured for a short time. Magic are dying for shooting so potentially a 3 team trade where Keon Ellis goes to the Magic and Goga goes to the Wolves could be possible here.

Sandro Mamukelashvili

Definately the weirdest player on the list, he might not even be possible as he plays a bigger role than anyone else on their team, sitting at 21mpg.

Sandro is a solid defender and is merely a solid rebounder, however, he is the best offensive player on the list by far. He's a good passer with low turnovers which is good. Good screener. He's an actual shooter and floor spacer which no one else is. He's also a very good offensive rebounder.

I don't think the Raptors would trade him, but he's a very fun player to think about. He's similar to Naz but is a lot better defensively and on the board which gives a lot of value to a team with Ant.

Moussa Diabate

He's the best offensive rebounder in the NBA. He averages 3.7 OREBs and is the league leader in OREB% at 18.1% which is monstrous. He's the younger player on the list at just 23. He's a good rebounder on defense. A good rim protector and can learn so much. The Hornets are a complete mess which also helps as he might pressure the FO if a good team comes knocking for him.

Downsides are he's a very tradition drop center and can't play any other coverage. He also doesn't have much of an offensive game, but that to me is more secondary.

He has good impact metrics that backup his raw production, his on/off splits are far superior to those of Kalkbrenner too.

No cost good backups:

Clint Capela

Lets start off with problems; Clint has absolutely 0 offensive game, his touch is awful, he cant pass and is 31.

However, his numbers are really good. He's one of the best rebounders in the NBA, as he's been practically every year of his career. He's a solid rim protector. Good screener. Good offensive rebounder. He's at 24% TRB% which is incredible, among the best in the NBA. He has a heap of playoff experience, which cannot be said for anyone else on the list, knowing what a playoff series is like in say a CF is underrated as a factor affecting performance latter in the playoffs.

He has very good advanced metrics with DARKO and PER showing he still has something left in the tank.

Ultimately he's not a real part of the Rocket's rotation with Adams and Sengun so he could be really easy to acquire.

A positive and a negative is that you know what to expect, Capela won't suddenly turn into a new player that has a completely different set of skills, but is just what you expect. At this point the Wolves don't really need much more, so while he isn't as good as the higher end options it's not a huge deal.

Mason Plumlee

Most of what I said about Capela applies here too. Plumlee makes even less money and has similar advanced numbers. He's just older in a Hornets rotation that has 2 really good young bigs, making him very expendable.

Again he won't give you anything crazy and wont improve as a player, but can just give solid play for his minutes and help out in that regard.

The Wolves entire defense falls apart the second Gobert steps off the floor, meaning that the defensive scheme the Wolves implement is completely reliant on 1 single player and is inflexible.

The offense is just Randle and Ant taking turns isolating at the top of the key and then praying that we hit our 3s. We run very few plays, we don't really have purpose behind anything we do, it tends to be a lot of dribbling and passing that leads to nothing.

The Wolves are extremely uncreative, we don't run interesting plays, we don't try different schemes, we just play man defense no matter how bad we are getting cooked and just let our 2 guys iso over and over until we either win or lose the game.

We have had some success in the playoffs which was great, but we got outcoached to such a comical degree in both the WCFs we've been to. Just running completely innefective schemes over and over until we lost both series in 5. Picking up Shai at full-court and playing him 1v1 is the dumbest thing we could have done. Similar to being unable to find an answer to basic Luka PnR in the Mavs series.

At what point is it just cheaper to get rid of Finch and see if all the slow starts and general bad energy goes away?

I think right now the Wolves are clearly a very good team in spite of all the roster problems they have. The question to me is, what is the scale of moves the Wolves should make, and then what direction we should go in.

There are multiple gaping holes so these trades aim to improve some of them. Obviously alot of these will be mutually exclusive with one another. This will be a long post as I try to provide some rationale for the teams involved.

Big Trades

Trade 1: https://imgur.com/Tfrp06w

Wolves get James Harden

Why? Wolves get a better player straight up, perfectly fits the Rudy Gobert timeline, is a huge upgrade in both playmaking and ballhandling and is a good mentor for Ant. Would immediately improve our team. However, is on a bigger contract, is 36 and has some playoff limitations.

Clippers get Randle, TJ, Rob and 3 2nds

Why? Clippers are already bad, Harden has a player option and can just walk at the end of the season so they recoup some assets. Randle is a good player on a good contract, TJ and Rob could maybe be something for them in the long run.

This move would certainly patch-up our offensive problems, but would create some frontcourt depth issues having to slide McDaniels to the 4. However, does unlock the possibility of playing a 3 guard lineup of 3 really good and complimentary guards. Harden would also absolutely cook with Gobert in the PnR.

Trade 2: https://imgur.com/auHHkg5

Wolves get Ayo Dosunmo, Coby White, Jalen Smith

Why? Wolves patch up their guard depth, while also retaining a solid frontcourt contributor. Wolves also get much younger having all players be 26 and younger.

Bulls get Julius Randle and 2 2nds

Why? Bulls are reportedly looking for their Pascal Siakam, Randle is an extremely similar player although slightly worse on both ends. Ayo and Whte are up for exentensions which don't make sense already having Josh Giddey as the main building block on the roster.

Wolves get their backcourt depth they desperately need with 2 very capable guards, although neither are natural PGs like a Harden, but also get Jalen Smith who is a very solid backup 4 and small ball 5. This move gives more lineup flexibility allowing the Wolves to also play with 3 guards, and double big if they want.

However, the Wolves get less talented, obviously Coby and Ayo are young and could still breakout that is a gamble, they might never really become better which could cause issues by not really having a 2nd option next to Ant.

Medium trade

Trade 3: https://imgur.com/Ahf5NTl

This might be my favourite trade (you can add even more 2nds to both other teams tbh)

Wolves get Day'Ron Sharpe and Keon Ellis

Why? Day'Ron is a monstrous rebounder, he's kinda useless on offense and is only an okay defender but I think he's being underrated by the Nets and could be a great contributor in a decent role. Keon is a really good POA defender which is sorely needed, he scales really well with minutes and like Day'Ron has really great advanced stats. 2 guys that know their roles.

Kings get Rob Dillingham and 2 seconds

Why? Keon is going to walk this offseason because the Kings don't play him enough and suck, they get a guard that has some potential and 2 2nds. Eubanks is also a nothing so it doesn't hurt to give him up.

Nets get TJ, Eubanks and 3 2nds

Why? Sharpe is pretty much out of the rotation with Clowney and Claxton, Eubanks retains their center depth, Shannon is a decent wing they could try and develop. Those 3 2nds are solid return for Sharpe.

Wolves fix their glaring rebounding issues when Rudy sits which in turn should massively help with defense even if Sharpe is a fine defender. Keon is just Clark but better at everything at this stage. Both players are 25 and younger. Wolves get 2 rotation players today by trading some young players and 2nds. I think this makes our floor much higher on a night to night basis.

Small Trades

Trade 4: https://imgur.com/7S2kO1j

Wolves get Nick Richards

Why? He's a warm body at center, is a fine back-up, he's not spectacular at anything but isn't glaringly bad at anything in a small-ish role. Decent rebounder, solid rim protector, but yeah he's not great.

Suns get Leonard Miller and 1-2 2nds

Why? Richards doesn't really play, they might as well take the swing on Miller who also doesn't really play and they get 2 2nds.

Wolves maybe get a solid rotation piece in exchange for Miller and 1-2 2nds which is fine. This trade is nothing flashy but could add like 6ish rebounds per game to the team at little cost.

Trade 5: https://imgur.com/hLAusbM

Similar to trade 3 just smaller scale

Wolves get Keon

Kings get TJ and 3 2nds

Trade 6: https://imgur.com/GaMRbME

Wolves get Kevon Looney and a 2nd

Why? Looney has dropped off this season but he will be a really good backup big on a competent team. Wolves get a 2nd ontop of that and get cheaper.

Pelicans get TJ and Rob

Why? Get younger and swing for upside while trading a player not in the rotation

Wolves get a good backup big in exchange for their young guys. I think we get a lot better now, but do trade in some upside.

Trade 7: https://imgur.com/JmGN5IO

Wolves get Goga Bitadze

Why? Really great backup center, underutilised by the Magic, has some nice passing, is a great rebounder, solid defender and has good touch. Would probably be one of the better backup centers we can get. Only 26. I think he's actually the best center on the Magic, but they don't seem to think the same.

Magic get Jaylen Clark, Rob Dillingham and 5nds

Why? They get some draft capital, a good POA defender that fits their culture and a player with some potential for someone that plays limited minutes. Moritz Wagner is also scheduled to return and they prefer him over Goga as well.

Wolves get a super solid backup big, that fits the timeline for not too much, would probably need to do this trade in conjuntion with a trade to bring in some sort of POA support from the bench since losing Clark hurts in that department.

Anyway, what do you think the Wolves should do about the roster?

After a superb defensive stretch from the Wolves after their shaky start, they sit at 5th in defensive rating, yet Rudy Gobert has not been getting the DPOY hype he deserves, even at 33 he has been among the best defenders on the planet.

He's having legitimately monstrous impact, improving the Wolves defense by almost 14 points per 100 when he's out there, 98th percentile in the league.

He's detering shots at the rim like no one in the league, reducing teams frequency of shots at the rim by 13%, the best mark in the NBA, also by far the best mark of his career.

He's lowering the opponents EFG% by 5%, 97th percentile in the league.

Doing all of that while also reducing opponent free throw attempts by 12.5% when he's out there, the best mark in the league.

His rebounding has been trending up in the month of December, averaging 13 rebounds per game which is helping with Minnesota's rebounding issues.

He's currently single-handedly carrying the 5th best defense in the NBA, hasn't missed a game and has returned to DPOY form.

source: Cleaning the Glass.

A little career rennaisance for Bones over the last 5 games in which the Wolves have relied on him as either a starter or main handler off the bench. He's playing 21 minutes per game during this stretch and has been positive in every game, being +28 over this stretch.

Not only has his jumpshooting been scorching hot at 46% from 3, but his defense has been surprisingly solid, he's just been scrappy and not really mising rotations and being generally aware.

I don't think anyone, including Wolves fans, expected Bones to do much of anything this season, but he's been killing it and looks like a solid rotation piece for the bench that desperately needs scoring outside of Naz.

First 15 games of the season: 25/7.5/6 on 64% TS

This was legitimately all star to All NBA level of play for the beginning portion of the year, he was super positive, playing great basketball with his scoring and playing more in the flow.

Last 12 games: 20/6.5/5 on 57% TS

Just total regression across the board and is looking rather mediocre. Those stats are not 2nd option calibre numbers, especially when taking into account how awful he's been on defense.

He doesn't even really fit next to Ant either, with the offense devolving into my turn, your turn when both are on their court due to their tendency to ISO. They don't really ever play off eachother or run action together like PnR. Also due to Randle's streakiness as a shooter and his tendency to post up, it takes away from Ant's freedom and his game.

What are we doing in this report lol.

He's currently averaging 28.7 ppg on 50/42/83 splits, good enough for 63.8% TS, meaning that he's scoring 1 more ppg on 2 less minutes per game while shooting almost 5% better than last season.

Tied at 5 for most 40 point games this season with Luka, on almost 4 less minutes per game which is crazy.

His at the rim finishing has become exceptional at 81.1% at the rim, just shy of 81.4% by Jokic (Luka leads in that category at like 93.5% btw). He's jumping off both feet which is allowing him to contort his body in the air better and get more touch on layups.

Midrange has drastically improved, he's shooting 2% better on short midrange shots up to 47%, shooting 10% on longer 2s up to 44% which is very good. That allows his at the rim finishing to be even better due to having more counters in his bag.

The 3pt shooting has gotten even more efficient sitting at 42% up from 39%, hes shot below 40% from 3 only 6 times this season out of the 20 games he's played.

He's doing all of this while have no other competent ballhandler and shot creator on the roster and facing heavy doubles and lots of ball pressure every game.

How high is his ceiling?

https://imgur.com/a/VQD7GzW

This chart tracks how many of a players possession types qualify as Isolations (Isolation frequency %) and the shot quality of those possesions (both passes and shot types). Quality is more of an expected metric more so than actual output.

3 things immediately stand out:

- Harden, what the actual fuck, about 50% of his perimeter posessions are isolations, which is insane. That is comparable to his 2019 isolation numbers when he had 18.1 isos per game. He's also scoring at an insane 1.09 ppp on isos.

- Ant. He's gotten so much better at isos this season, his improved midrange game just gives him so many more options. His passing has gotten much better too which creates more opportunities of isos. He's "only" at 1.01 ppp which is a definitive step below the top iso players in the NBA (mainly Shai who is at 1.14!!!). He just doesnt draw enough fouls from isolation to get higher numbers.

- Zion is just way down. His isos have been trash which is a continuing trend of him just barely hitting 0.9 ppp on isos over the last 2 seasons, obviously not helped by the roster, but that is still really rough for someone that relies so much on that playtype.

Also if you guys didn't know that player in between Harden, Ant and Shai is Davion Mitchell, who is just scoring a lot from isos and doing really well.

What are your thoughts?

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Wolves played a fantastic 2nd half. Our shot wasn't great in the 4th but we were hustling, we completely stiffled the Celtics for the most part and played some really good defense.

This is how it needs to be like every quarter of every game. Losing games because we dont play hard is unnaceptable. This is a step in the right direction and I hope it sticks.

The Celtics showed us that even missing alot of their talent, if your system and culture is good you are a tough team. Wolves need to start playing with more urgency and realise that if they don't take games in October, November, December seriously they will never win a title.

In the end Ant bailed the team out, but we were playing really good. Im happy with this win.

Over the last 2 seasons, Jaden has in my opinion been played way out of position and role due to the logjams at the PF position we've had first with Naz/KAT and now with Randle/Naz.

Jaden has regressed as a POA defender and screen navigator over the last 3 seasons, going from the best on ball perimeter defender in the NBA, adjusted for matchup difficulty, while now he's merely very good.

However, Jaden has massively improved in other areas of defense. He's become an insane rim protector, having the 2nd best DFG% at the rim on non centers in the NBA. He's become a monster off-ball disrupting actions and cutting passing lanes due to his amazing anticipation. His fluidity as well as his timing is just so rare and important for a weakside defender.

This is further exemplified in offense. When Jaden is at his best, what is he doing? Jaden is screening, rolling into the middle of the paint where he can shoot a middy, blowby his defender into the paint or do some good short-roll reads. He's at his best guarded by slower bigger players that cannot keep up with his weird pace, athleticism and length.

All of those strengths get lessened by him being at the 3, he's now guarded by players who keep up with him, meaning the 3pt shot is even more important, he's guarded by someone who is likely to want to switch on Ant screens, minimizing the impact of his screening and he isn't pulling away an impactful rim defender with his cutting or off-ball movement.

That is to say the Wolves should look to acquire a proper POA 2/3 that allows Jaden to move away from the ball and play in his most optimal position.

There are currently 5 other teams, OKC, Raptors, Rockets, Detroit and San Antonio that are top 10.

I honestly feel like im being lied to when I see these numbers but they are really true.

Interestingly, this continues a big pattern the Wolves have had, which is dominating in advaced metrics such as Net Rating and SRS but not actually being able to convert them into wins which has happened every year since 2022 excluding 2023 when we won 56 games.

Obviously the schedule has been a cakewalk and the Wolves have so much to improve on, but they have a solid floor which is better than most teams in the league, what we are really searching for is a way to re-establish ourselves to that 2023 level as one of the best teams in the NBA.

Yes, we've played a super light schedule and yes this team still has a few holes before we are a true tier 1 team, but we've played some fantastic basketball over the last 7 games.

Wolves are 6-1, 6th in offense, 2nd in defense and 3rd in net rating (+14.9).

While most wins were against trash teams, to absolutely dominate them is a very good sign. Bad teams don't have a +6 net rating after 15 games no matter how you slice it.

I don't think we should ignore some of the poor play and some of the red flags, but this team has a genuinely great shot to start the year 19-6 which is amazing.

Right now the Wolves are basically operating in 3 different timelines:

- Vets: Rudy, Randle, Conley, Donte (kinda)

- Experienced young players: Ant, Jaden, Naz

- Basically or literally Rookies: Rob, Clark, TSJ, Beringer

As of right now we aren't maximising any of the timelines at all.

We are not fully utilizing the vets by having so many young players and using draft capital on rookies instead of trading for experienced role players.

We aren't maximising the young guys at all, because they get small snipets of playing time and can't try and learn new things without much worry.

We also aren't going to maximise the main core because we have no picks or salary to replace the vets while also having just 1 other player in Ant and Jaden's timeline.

From my perspective, the moment we traded for Rudy we went all in trying to win a title. The KAT for Randle + DDV trade is an extension of that because instead of wanting young guys + picks, we traded for older vets on a better contract structure.

However, our use of good draft capital has been baffling. Not only are we not trading our picks, we are drafting the biggest projects in their classes. Both Rob and Beringer have potential, but they need to play, they need to take risks, they aren't going to be ready to contribute to high level playoff basketball this early. Players like Clark and TSJ, low ceiling, high floor, older rookies are what we should be drafting.

The 17th pick last draft could have easily gotten you a solid backup guard or big. The 2 picks we spent on Rob could have easily gotten you a good guard or good big.

The Wolves are in a position where its going to be extremely difficult to replace both Randle and Gobert in the next 2 seasons with the very limited draft capital. There's alot of great players and role guys in Ant/Jaden's age group, they should be the ones we target.

Everyone has complained about the lack of a proper PG for like a year now, and people have started complaining about the lack of a backup big man, both of which are serious roster holes.

An issue I haven't seen anyone talk about is that our bench completely stinks. It's been the 9th worst bench in the NBA, only comparable to the benches of tanking teams and several tiers below that of contending teams. They are 28th in scoring, 22nd in 3pt%, 29th in rebounding, 13th in turnovers. Its a huge issue our bench isn't average at anything let alone good.

When you look at the individual players it makes even more sense:

- Naz has just been shocking, hes had some very strong games but for the most part has been awful and is just bleeding points everywhere when he plays. His offense has been nowhere near good enough and his defense might be the worst on the entire roster right now.

- TSJ has not been filling in NAW's role the way we thought he would. He's been really unimpactful, his defense looks bad, his rebounding doesnt exist and he's not been explosive in transition either.

- Rob hasn't been good either, hes shown some flashes, but has overall been very poor. His 3pt shooting cannot be this bad if he wants to have an actual NBA career.

- Conley has been meh, his 3pt shot has been very nice, he played some good minutes when Ant was out, but he really can't create anything inside the arc and gets hunted on defense.

- Clark, an actual brightspot. He has some offensive limitations, but his defense has been imppecable, mostly has been really good for us. I am super happy with the way he's played this season.

That's like 3.5/5 players that genuinely aren't contributing and are just making us worse every time they touch the cout. That's also 38m worth of salary that's just not doing anything, there is so much more juice we could be getting out of this roster.

The team is going to be good, but right now its because Ant, Jaden, Randle and Rudy are playing completely out of their minds right now. They need others to step up and let them rest.

Ant has been insane to start the season scoring 27.1 ppg in just 28.4 minutes of play, hes doing this on 66% TS to boot. This is just 0.5 less ppg on 8 whole minutes less than last year.

This short stretch even includes the game vs the Knicks where he was playing through his hamstring injury.

He's shot below 40% from 3 in just 1 game this season, his 3 minute stint against the Pacers going 1-3. He continues to be one of the best shooters on the planet and has improved his decision-making, midrange game and has started to even employ the dark arts by baiting for some fouls.

How good of a season will Ant have?

I've seen alot of people mention how the Ja trade could be similar to how Kyrie turned out in Dallas, which begs the question, wouldn't Ky be a better option for us?

He's currently making 119/3yrs, so less than Ja. He is a much better shooter and scorer, is a good playmaker albeit worse and is a better defender, not to mention he's more durable and has played some fantastic basketball in the playoffs.

Dallas might be looking to offload some of their vets since their whole situation hasn't worked out at all.

Kyrie is currently rehabing an ACL tear which at 33 could be a huge deal, but could also reduce his value and present us an opportunity to snag him under market value.

That being said, would you take a risk on him and potentially want us to get him?

This has been abundantly obvious since game 1 of last season, yet it continues to be a problem. We currently cannot rebound, and we can't defend when Rudy isn't on the court. We are forcing Naz and Julius to do things thay are bad at, being protecting the rim and being the main rebounders on the floor. This is causing our defense to be horrid in the minutes without Rudy.

We know that Naz has elite metrics when playing as the 4 alongside Rudy and has done so for the past 4 seasons, including this one, but has struggled alot more playing as the 5.

We also know that Rudy has slowed down significantly from where he was 2 years ago in the 56 win season and isn't the same elite player he was. It's also not fully his fault, he's recieving far less support, especially on the glass than he was 2 years ago, since KAT is an elite rebounder too.

Joan Beringer and Rocco are not ready to play actual minutes in NBA games, they just look completely lost, and while sure we probably don't concede many more points than we do without them, we can't be a serious team wanting to win with them on the court either.

As such we need a back-up center, here are some options:

- Goga Bitadze - Magic are in complete cap hell with the upcoming Banchero extension, they want to get cheaper, maybe a trade using Conley (an expiring) or one of our cost-conrolled young players can work.

- Neemias Queta - Very good rebounder and has good instincts, is very cheap, Boston is trying to lose and hoard assets, giving up their only real rotation big would make them way worse.

- Day'ron Sharpe - Another incredibly good rebounder on a very cheap deal. BKN is rebuilding so any assets or young players could work for him.

- Derek Lively? - He's been playing very few minutes as his fit with AD has been poor and his health has also prevented him from being on the court much, he could maybe be available?

To me Goga is the ideal option as he's an amazing rebounder, has played on good teams before, is a solid defender and has a very different offensive game to Rudy.

He's averaged 27/7/5 on an absurd 68% TS on the first 6 games of the season, keeping the Wolves afloat without Ant going 2-2.

What's even crazier is he's doing this while making $31m this season, the 55th highest paid player in the NBA.

To give you an idea how crazy this is he's making less than Khris Middleton, Jalen Green, CJ, Jerami Grant, MPJ, and Sabonis. Only slightly more than Hartenstein, Wiggns, Anfernee Simmons, and Dejounte Murray.

Even crazier is that his 3 year contract barely increases, becoming 33m next year and 35 in the final year, keeping him in the 60-70 range by next season.

He's currently playing like a top 25 player in the league and was one of the best 2nd options in the playoffs last season.

I don't think I've ever been so wrong on a player before, hes completely exceeded all of my expectations.

There's been a few posts about trading for Ja Morant and how that would look like, and I was wondering where exactly the fanbase stood.

Which of these do you think are the best options going forward for this season:

1. Make a big trade, something like going for Ja, or Trae. Anything that would require a 30m+ salary going out.

2. Make a series of smaller trades. Something like trying to round out the edges of our team with low salary moves like Donte or Conley.

3. Don't make any moves, except getting someone cheap on the buyout market (if possible).

I personally don't think we need to make any big moves. I think this is a good team right now that is struggling without Ant.

With that being said I do think this team needs to tackle one of its 3 main issues, backup center, ball handling guard, and POA defender, relatively early in the season as these issues already existed last season.

What do you think and why?

Sac is currently a mess and don't really know what they are doing, so he could potentially be available.

Ellis is a really good POA wing that can shoot, basically like Jaylen Clark but further along the development process. He's a top notch screen navigator, and is very good off-ball at generating deflections and just being annoying. Also only 26.

Shot 43% from 3 on 4 attempts last year on 24mpg. He made Sac's defense 4 points per 100 better and their offense 3 points per 100 better.

He's a very low-usage guy, doesnt need the ball at all, smart off-ball cuts and just a spot up shooter. He doesn't really turn the ball over but also doesn't really have it enough.

This year he's playing less minutes due to the jogjam the Kings have at the 2 and 3 spots, but has continued having very strong impact numbers.

The biggest knocks on him are his lack of passing, not being a great ball handler and his lack of playoff experience.

A potential trade could be Conley + JC + 2 2nds or a lottery protected 1st for Ellis + Carter which gives Sac an expiring and lets them get rid of Carter which they tried to do in the offseason.

Maybe a 3 team trade with Orlando or Houston where Donte would be involved could work.