Minny's 'Melo plan

[WolvesBigTicket]

Jason Flemming saying media might be underestimating Wolves

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=16933

Should get people excited a little....just dont forget were gonna be supremely disappointed when nothing happens again

[Wile E Coyote]

I'm sure Melo is on their wish list. I doubt the reverse is true unfortunately. The rumor is Melo/Paul/Stat want to meet up in NYC.

Wolves would have to show serious improvement for Melo to even consider signing here or an extend&trade (like KG). And he'd be replacing two of the potentially better players on the team in Beasley and/or Johnson. So he'd have to want to trust his championship aspirations to Rubio/Flynn and Love.

Not saying it couldn't happen - but it is definitely a long shot.

Here is another theory on why the Wolves are spending so little. Say the new CBA has a much harder cap. The Wolves are going to need to pay Love and Rubio at a minimum. If Beasley pans out, they'll also have to pay him. Perhaps the Wolves are just keeping cap space open to sign their own guys under the new CBA.

[TheLoneWolf]

Denver will resign Anthony IMO.I see the only chance the Wolves could get Melo is if they traded for him now and that's not happening because we don't have anything to offer outside of Rubio


But Melo is like Brett Favre to me.I HATED Favre when he was in Green Bay but love the guy when he is in Minnesota.I can't stand the Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony but he would look good in a Wolves uniform

[jacktion]

The thing is, hasn't Kahn been saying stuff like this all along? He is keeping cap space open and then will try to grab a big free agent in the next year or two.

When everyone in the nation keeps saying "What are the Wolves doing?!" we should come back and explain that this is the whole plan.

Step 1.
Get rid of bad players.

Step 2.
Get new decent players with lots of potential upside for cheap.

Step 3.
Sign the new decent players for low contracts.

Step 4.
Develop players for a year with Rambis.

Step 5.
Use tons of cap space to get a true superstar.

Step 6.
Sign Rubio and have a pretty darn good team.

[WolvesBigTicket]

My focus on the article was more on Fleming questioning whether people were reading Kahn correctly not whether or not we were getting Melo (I dont think we are). The canis article

http://www.canishoopus.com/2010/7/27...darth-jobs-aka

I thought did a fairly good job of seeing how people might be misreading Kahn. Now I agree with the Canis guy that Kahn could very well be garbage but people are just automatically assuming his move are crud because its outside general convention

[TJ Styles]

I, for one, am all for that. I mentioned during last off season that I did not have any problem with waiting until next off season to make a play on Anthony and one of the top-level centers that will be available. I would like to see them get a reasonable expiring contract on the board to the tune of $8-10 million if they could to dangle at the trade deadline, but I would not want to give up anything significant for it. There should be at least a couple of decent contracts out there that could be used to get assets from a potential contender at the deadline.

I also do not think that we are as bad an option as we people think. There are a few news people who take shots, but they take shots at everybody, including the best in the business that prove them wrong time and time again. Look at Jefferson. We constantly bashed him, but when we trade him to the Jazz he becomes a headline story and is talked about as the piece the Jazz need to really compete. I think we are harsher on our own team than others are.


With Carmelo I think the situation is different than it was with LeBron, Wade and company. First, Denver vs Minnesota is not that big a shift market-wise. I think that Denver is bigger, but we are not talking about LA, NY, Chicago or some place like that. Nike is not going to offer him a deal in Denver that they would balk at in MN. With the way TV and internet are today, the size of the market is based on the player, not the team the player plays for. Just look at LeBron in the tiny market of Cleveland, Ohio to see proof of that.

As for the talent on the teams, Denver has gone to the playoffs year after year. But, most of that is Melo. Billups made the team a contender, but he is on the down-slide of his career. He is still fun as hell to watch, but when Melo is considering 2 more years with Billups or 7 with Rubio, I have to believe that he will be thinking Rubio. I think he has to be thinking Rubio over Lawson, as well.

For the shooting guard slot, we potentially have Johnson there. He may be part of a sign-and-trade if we go that route with Denver, but maybe not. I hear a lot of good stuff about Afflalo, but he has played 22 games over 3 years. Not sure if that is injury or what, but Johnson seems pretty durable (yeah, I know he missed most of Summer League with a pulled hamstring). We also potentially have Webster, Ellington and Brewer at the 2 as well. Obviously the roster will change, but the Nuggets' shooting guard rotation is pretty thin at the moment.

For Small Forward, Melo is obviously the starter. But, no star likes to sit for a few minutes and watch the lead they worked so hard to build just slip away. The Wolves are deeper at SF than the Nuggets. J.R. Smith is a good player, but he is out of position at SF. We have Beasley Johnson, Webster, Hayward, and Brewer who can all put minutes there and be effective. Most of them can play the 2 as well, so it's not like we have a bunch of talent that is rotting on the bench if Melo comes over.

For Power Forward, I would have to say we have by far the better players. Al Harrington changes that position a lot, but I have never been a fan of Kenyon Martin. He is a decent player, but not a starter level PF on a champion team. Love is. Beasley could be. Both Love and Beasley have to improve and at this point Martin is a more complete player than either of them, but both Love and Beasley ought to be better overall players than Martin when everything is said and done. Al Harrington is good, but he is getting old. He is several months older than I am, and he has been in the league for 12 seasons. That takes a toll. He has not had the production of Love at any point in his career, and even Beasley is more productive, and Beasley is not playing anywhere near his potential.

I think the Nuggets have the advantage at center. Darko could be at Nene's level if he lived up to his potential, but Darko has severely undercut that, and I am not sure he can make up for it. It would take a lot for Darko to suddenly play at Nene's level. The good news is that Nene is an FA next season as well, and maybe he wants to go with Melo. We could potentially have enough cap space to sign Melo to close to the maximum and still give Nene a competitive contract. If the two have a good personal relationship, that would take the only position I feel Nuggets have a potentially long term fixture that is better than our out of the equation.


When you look at it like that, I don't see any basketball reason why Melo would not at least take Minnesota into serious consideration when the other option is Denver. Add to that the fact that most other competitors and big market franchises are already capped out, it limits the places he could go. We could potentially be bidding against NJ, possibly NY, possibly Chicago, and who else? Just other small-market bottom-feeding teams. Any team Melo is on is a playoff team, and Melo will have to consider what other assets the team has in relation to himself. I think the Wolves are pretty well built at the moment to support Melo and give him a shot at a title. Rubio and Melo would be a hell of a lot of fun to watch, and I think it could turn into a very strong one-two punch, especially with the likes of Love, Beasley and/or Johnson filling out other positions. I do believe it is a longshot and we will have a lot of competition for Melo's services, but I don't think we are as far down the list as other people probably do.

[TJ Styles]

Originally Posted by WolvesBigTicket

My focus on the article was more on Fleming questioning whether people were reading Kahn correctly not whether or not we were getting Melo (I dont think we are). The canis article

http://www.canishoopus.com/2010/7/27...darth-jobs-aka

I thought did a fairly good job of seeing how people might be misreading Kahn. Now I agree with the Canis guy that Kahn could very well be garbage but people are just automatically assuming his move are crud because its outside general convention

Sorry, it took me a while to write that other post, so I didn't see this before I posted.

Given what we heard about the activity of Kahn before the draft with him having trade offers to most every team in the league, I would not be surprised if Melo is on his list of targets, but I would be surprised if that is the ultimate goal. That may be the best opportunity, but I bet Kahn has Plan B-Z plus backup plans for each of those. Now, whether those plans actually lead to well-balanced, title-contending teams is another story, but I bet Kahn has no shortage of ideas on what to do with the cap space.

That being said, I am not sure that I believe that having 1000 different ideas on what you can do is necessarily better than having 1 uber-move or bust scenario. So, I am not sure that I can say that Kahn is ahead of the game, even if he does have Melo on his radar. We could also have trade ideas for Miami to get Wade and LeBron, but that doesn't make Kahn a visionary. He is dumping salary to make cap space and there are FAs coming next season, is he a genius for it? We will see next season. Or, we might found out this season.

[NoelTheMole]

Could we potentially sign Anthony and Perkins (if healthy and can come back from this injury)?

Rubio
Johnson
Anthony
Love
Perkins

with Perhaps Beasley and Flynn on the bench?

This to me is a much better team than

Billups
Affalo
Anthony
Martin
Nene

[LEvine]

Originally Posted by TJ Styles

I hear a lot of good stuff about Afflalo, but he has played 22 games over 3 years. Not sure if that is injury or what, but Johnson seems pretty durable (yeah, I know he missed most of Summer League with a pulled hamstring).

Affalo played in 82 games last year with 75 starts. He played in 74 and 75 the previous 2 years. The 22 games are his playoff totals the past 3 years.

[TJ Styles]

Originally Posted by LEvine

Affalo played in 82 games last year with 75 starts. He played in 74 and 75 the previous 2 years. The 22 games are his playoff totals the past 3 years.

Man, I can't believe I did that. Ill have to check it again. This time, I will look at regular season numbers. 8)

[LEvine]

Originally Posted by TJ Styles

Man, I can't believe I did that. Ill have to check it again. This time, I will look at regular season numbers. 8)

I thought it sounded low, because I like Affalo and was pretty sure he had played enough to warrant liking him.

[spiker]

Maybe there is a Syracuse connection.

[Jockinit]

Originally Posted by spiker

Maybe there is a Syracuse connection.

Are we getting orange jersey's?

In all seriousness though, I Highly doubt Melo would even consider coming here. Don't forget how he bashed Garnett about not winning a championship for so long. Melo wants to win and surely won't see us as a contender. Honestly, I don't care because I hate the guy. Not on a personal level because I don't actually know him but just watching him.

I understand trying to piece together some logical explanation for what Kahn's been doing but I'm afraid there may not be one.

[Bob McCann]

Okay, stupid suggestion, but I'll throw it out:

-Flynn and Wes Johnson to Denver for Melo
-Rubio & Love to NO for Chris Paul

Throw in the recently-acquired 1st rounders as needed.

Do we have the cap space to do that?

Obviously, I'd prefer to keep Love over Beasley, but Beasley has no value now and Love does.

I'd think both Melo & Paul would be amenable to staying around if it was with each other. Rebounding and defense would be concerns, but we'd have some decent potential role players still on the roster with Webster, Hayward, Brewer, Pekovic, Darko, Ellington, and Ridnous (and most of them can shoot and don't have delusions of being THE guy). and Beasley could be a pretty decent 3rd banana next to two uber stars.

Won't happen, but fun fodder. I actually think that both trades are pretty good return for Denver and New Orleans compared to what teams like NY, ORL, and LA have to offer.

[dschroeder01]

Melo is fun to think about, but I'm not holding my breath.

As has been discussed before, I think the best use of our cap space will come via trade. All the market stuff goes out the window if we take a guy already signed to a long term deal. I've read that Kahn doesn't like guys like Kevin Martion or Iguodala, but if you believe the rumors, Kahn does like Granger.

Indy drafted Paul George. It's a decent bet that they'll struggle this year and if George impresses, he might make a full rebuild sans Granger their preferred route. I think that George's best position is going to be SF so he could make Granger their version of Al Jefferson (to George's Kevin Love).

[Wolfgang]

'Cuse FTW?

Hell, fire Rambis and go after Boeheim.