[Windhorst] “The most aggressive team in the West right now is the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are in the game for Giannis, the Timberwolves are being aggressive. If they don’t make what I would call a Hail Mary Giannis deal, I think they are aggressively looking to upgrade their backcourt.”

35 comments

  1. Windhorst also said the Knicks like their team and aren’t making aggressive offers for Giannis. Sounds like it’s a 3-team race now. đź‘€

  3. I really don’t want to trade for a 32 year old, often injured guy on a massive contract. He’s been hurt the last three playoffs and he plays like 60 games a year, max. We’d also sacrifice significant depth.

    I also just don’t want to trade Jaden, even if it makes us better. I’d rather lose with Ant, Naz, and Jaden than win without them.

  7. Giannis instantly makes us a contender with our starters but I don’t know how we get better after the 5. Getting Giannis means we lose depth. And… we already have depth issues.

  8. I trust Connelly. Regardless of if it’s Giannis or not, I feel pretty confident that we’re going to add an impactful piece to our team by Thursday

  9. Ya know….I’m not gonna worry too much about what I cannot control. I don’t want it give up players we all like, but what can ya do? I’ll still be a fan.

    Same with the Wild. They both want to make a trade to get them over the hump, and both of them involves trading players we all like. Ugh.

  10. Look, Tim Connelly is always going to find himself at the table whenever there’s a star available. If the team does their Ps and Qs on Giannis and determines he’s suitable to contribute right away and they can shore up what we give up with channels of different deals so be it.

    I mean it’d be absolutely insane landing him and he’s healthy. I’m on the fence honestly because I’m weighing risk/rewards. I’d say all 3 of Naz/Jaden and Randle would have to be departed. Conley/ dilly and TSJ all likely gone. I’d prefer to keep Beringer.

    What I’m thinking makes most sense is Jaden shipped to get assets and maybe a depth piece or 2. Julius and Naz + assets for Giannis.

    We’d need a starting caliber wing/big and maybe a guard.

    Our new line up of Rudy/Giannis/x player/ant/DD

    our bench would be Bones/Clark/Beringer/ another player from Jaden deal. One of ant or giannis will be on the court too.

    Naz could be shipped while Jaden/julius goto MIL but he won’t fetch as much as Jaden can

    And I guess we know if Julius is your robin, the ceiling is incredibly low especially if Rudy can’t be played in certain series.

    We’ll see. I trust TC. I mean this could all be a smoke screen to drive up other offers.

  12. After seeing how the all big trades for starts went the last few years i think its an awful play to get depth for a 2 star pairing. Would much rather keep depth and make a small move for another guard like coby white

  13. I am so incredibly on the fence about this. So many pros and cons. One minute I want it and the next I don’t. Have we hit our ceiling with Jaden & Naz. Does Giannis take us up a level and bring us a championship?

    The Timberwolves have had a great solid core the last 5-6 years. Guys who like eachother and no BS in the locker room. I’ve seen teams make moves and it go pear shaped and the whole thing is toxic then.

    I’m so on the fence, but trust in Tim Connelly.

  14. I would say yes if we were in the East. In the West, one Giannis injury, and we can drop to 7-8th seed quickly with no depth. Dallas went to the finals with one star and a bunch of elite role players. Pacers did the same. Top-5 player + 5-6 elite role players around him is the best formula for contending. Randle/Donte/Jaden/Rudy/Naz are all elite role players, Wolves just need one more guy like that to have a chance.

  16. When I heard that Connelly was getting in on the action, this is kinda what I expected. The dude isn’t here to twiddle his thumbs and pump fake. Nah he’s tryna get shit crackin. I get excited when I hear that he’s getting active. Not because I dislike the team or anything, but it’s just exciting to have a GM who likes to get busy like that

  18. Not sure this seems like TC’s way of doing trades. All the other ones he’s made had very little chatter.

    Personal opinion but the more I think about this deal the less I like it. A combination of age, injuries, salary, and lost assets makes me pretty leery about doing this.

    But….it’s Giannis.

    If I was to bet IF we make a trade it will be for some scenario that hasn’t been mentioned or likely even thought of.

  19. I’m surprised TJ McConnell hasn’t come up more as an aspirational target. Maybe pacers don’t want to move him but seems a perfect backup pg for our needs

  20. This is the doomers Super Bowl. Where not watching the rest of the league and therefore over valuing our players meets intense pessimism. He’s still in the mvp voting every year.

  21. So many fans afraid of greatness. Reminds me of the Rudy trade.

    Ant – Giannis – DDV – Rudy is an incredibly talented group

  22. For what it’s worth, I have yet to hear any respectable NBA guy say that we should absolutely trade for Giannis. Unless TC fleeces the Bucks, which is unlikely, we’d need to gut our depth for a guy that’s missed a considerable amount of playoff games due to injury and he’s had the same calf injury for the last two seasons.

    I get the argument to take a shot with Giannis vs lose with our guys, but that also assumes the team won’t continue to change around Ant, Jaden, and Naz. They’ll continue to develop and the team will take shape around them. If we go all in on Giannis and the pairing doesn’t work due to fit and/or injury, then we’re looking at Ant demanding a trade in 3-4 years, which would be just as he’s starting his prime years.

  23. Just so we’re clear. When he says “most aggressive team in the west”, he is referring to the trade deadline as a whole, not solely Giannis.

  24. I think we’re primed to make a run this year. You can tell they have OKC on the ropes. Play Connelly less minutes, give more to Bones. Hopefully TSJ comes back healthy soon and gives us some more depth.

    At the end of the day, we need all our guys to be at their best mentally and physically in the playoffs. If we were to have played at our best last year, we likely would have won it. Many of our guys slumped in the playoffs with the bright lights.

    One more year under our belts now, they have the experience.

    They just have to bring it like they did last Thursday against OKC in most of the playoff games.

  25. The NBA is such a “win now” league with how the money is set up currently, we really need to do something. Unless you’re OKC with a pile of picks you do have to sacrifice some depth if the team needs that. Also Giannis prolly won’t be as injured on his next team Cz he won’t have to carry the weight as much.

  32. Breaking up Ant & Jaden for a guy with a calf strain in feels like bad karma waiting to happen

  33. One of two things tend to happen with these kind of trades / situations, should the Wolves get Giannis.

    Choice A) They immediately become title contenders / win it all

    Choice B) The team erodes completely due to a lack of depth

    Historically speaking, it’s choice A about 25% of the time, and choice B about 75% of the time, but man, part of me still wants them to go for it. He’s a top 6 player in the league that you should theoretically still have 3 or so seasons of elite play left. I’m conflicted I guess.

  35. Tim Connelly seems to be operating on an entirely different level than everyone else. Giannis makes no sense to me, but neither did Rudy. KAT made sense because of the money situation, but never expected it to work as well as it did. So I’m just going to sit back and see what happens. Back to back WCFs has bought Connelly a lot of latitude in my opinion.

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