By [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Josh Redetzke
redball77@yahoo.com
5/31/06[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2006/07 Minnesota Timberwolves Payroll: $54.5 million
2006/07 Estimated NBA Salary Cap: $52 million
Roughly: $2.5 million over cap[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Kevin Garnett[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Good: [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Timberwolves had a lousy year, but you can't blame it on the Big Ticket. Kevin Garnett led the league in rebounding at 12.7 per game and he was his usual self in other areas (21.8 points, 4.1 assists, 1.4 blocks, 52.6% shooting). He will be paid $66 million over the next three years and he is worth every penny. It seems he has been in the league a long time, but KG just turned 30 years old and has a lot of good basketball left in him. Will he be spending his remaining years frustrated in Minnesota?
Ricky Davis has been traded many times in his career, but there is no doubt that he is a skilled player who provides great value for his contract. Davis averaged 19 points and he filled up the box score with 4.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. For this, he will earn just $6.3 million next year and $6.8 million the year after. He's the kind of player who puts up good numbers, but has a tendency make bad decisions with the ball, but he brings good value for the price.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Bad: The trade for Marko Jaric could go down as the worst in franchise history. Not only did the Wolves give up Sam Cassell, who turned the Clippers into the darlings of the NBA, but they also threw in a first round draft pick (to be redeemed either this year or the next). With the current state of the team, that pick is a lock for the lottery. For all of that, Minnesota obtained the rights to Marko Jaric, a player who shot less than 40% from the field and lost so much confidence that he was benched for a time and had trouble getting minutes. To make matters worse, Jaric is still owed $32 million dollars over the next five years. The trade for Jaric can only be considered a disaster.
In another disappointing trade, the Wolves acquired certified stiff Mark Blount from the Celtics. Blount has always shot well on offense but he is one of the worst rebounding seven-footers in the league, averaging just 4.8 per game. His desire on the court is also lacking. Blount has four years and $28 million remaining on his deal, a ridiculous amount for his services.
Despite his flaws, Blount still earns more of his contract than Troy Hudson. The often-injured point guard shot 38% from the field and contributed just 2.9 assists in 22 minutes a game. He hasn't averaged double figures in scoring for three straight years. That won't stop Hudson from gathering $24.5 million in paychecks the next four seasons. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Future: Does Minnesota have a future with KG or without him? That is hard to tell. The Wolves certainly won't be a good team next season as they have no cap space and it is doubtful they could pull off a high value trade with the pieces they have. With proper management, they might be able to clear some space and turn things around in two years. But, will KG want to wait that long and basically throw away two good seasons of basketball?
The Wolves need Garnett to fill the seats and without him, attendance and interest would plummet. However, it is in the team's best interest (and KG's) to trade him. For Kevin Garnett to win a championship, he needs another superstar. Shaq had Kobe and now Dwayne Wade. Tim Duncan had Robinson and now Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Garnett can carry the team for three quarters, but he needs that one player who can take over in the fourth.
Minnesota doesn't have any trade assets that could bring in another star (Marbury is NOT the answer), so their only other option is to trade Garnett. His price would still be very high and the Wolves could fetch a combination of cap relief, young prospects, and draft picks. Since Kevin McHale is so fond of trading them, those draft picks will be greatly appreciated. One trade partner that seems to make sense is Chicago. They have two high picks in this year's draft, plus the right to switch picks with New York next season. They have many young prospects already and may not feel the need to add more. A superstar like KG might be what propels Chicago into the top half of the playoffs instead of the bottom.
What would I do if I were McHale? Send KG to Chicago for Tyson Chandler, this year's #2 pick, the Bulls top pick next year (likely the Knicks), and an expiring deal or two. The Wolves pick to the Clippers in the Cassell-Jaric trade is top ten protected until 2011, so they most likely won't be giving it up for a while. That would give the Wolves two possible chances at landing Greg Oden and rebuilding the franchise from the ground up with a solid base of young talent.
Am I dreaming? Absolutely. But the fact of the matter is that KG deserves a shot at the title and he will not get that in Minnesota for a long time. The Wolves can't hang on to him forever so they might as well get used to life without KG while they can still do something positive about it. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bonus Points… for handing over the point guard duties to Marcus Banks. Even though they paid a high price for Marko Jaric, Banks was simply outplaying him and needed to be the guy. Banks is a free agent and the Wolves would like to resign him after he posted 12 points and 4.7 assists in 40 games with the team. If he can improve his consistency, he could be around for a while.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Grade: D+
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http://www.nbadraft.net/2006stateofthecapminnesota001.asp
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