The $28 Million Dollar Dilemma

Please note, all salary figures I estimate here are just approximates that I feel are fair market value. Feel free to agree or disagree.


28 million dollars to spend, but no real way to use it. It's the greatest problem a person, or team for that matter, can have, but there's no easy solution to this. It's clear that the Wolves have rounded out their starting 5 by drafting Willie Cauley with the #8 pick in the draft. But in doing so, that took away a lot of the cap space they allocated to spend. The Wolves had planned on spending a large chunk of their cap on a franchise center, someone they could really put next to Kevin Love and have on the roster for the long-term, and with no shortage of available centers this offseason, they could take their pick.

But now the question is: what do they do now? The Wolves are put between a rock and a hard place now, and it seems they've got a couple of options. They can a)Stay the course and make a splash in free agency and create quite possibly the deepest team in the entire league. Or b)With no real need on the team to spend it on besides role players on the bench, but that likely costs them another year, another chance at the Finals, and another reason for Kevin Love to leave. Let's examine the choice Jake has to make...

Option A - Ca$h Money
With option A, as I mentioned earlier, the Wolves could easily become the deepest team in the league. They would be able to play 10 deep on any given night. As of right now, the Wolves have 8 players that they're confident in, but they lack a backup small forward, center, and point guard. The downside to this, however, is that they're young guys don't get quite as many minutes to develop. Willie Cauley would have to split minutes with the other center on the roster, and DeShaun Thomas would see his minutes cut down, and this could cut down on both guys' development.

They could use every cent of that $28 million to add 3 new players. They could cash in on a backup center such as Emeka Okafor, Andrew Bogut, or Marcin Gortat. Then, they could take a look at small forwards such as Danny Granger, Luol Deng, or hell, they have the cap space to consider Gordon Hayward. And to top it off, they can sign a point guard, the most notable of which this offseason are Isaiah Thomas, Kyle Lowry, and Mario Chalmers. (To be clear, I absolutely understand signing Kyle Lowry, Gordon Hayward, and a center would require far more cap space than I have).

So, running through a hypothetical scenario here. The Wolves could possibly land Kyle Lowry at $12 million, that gives them a 2nd starting caliber point guard on the roster and leaves them with approximately 16 million in cap space left. Then, they could lock up their backup small forward position with a player from Jake's favorite team, the Pacers, Danny Granger at 8 million per year. Then, at center, with 8 million left available, the Wolves could spend it all on a solid defensive center, Emeka Okafor, who holds down the fort behind Cauley but won't necessarily hurt his development. And then, the Wolves fill out their roster by adding a 3rd string center at the minimum, someone cheap like Greg Stiemsma.

So with that, the roster would stand at:
PG - Jeremy Lin | Kyle Lowry | Gary Neal
SG - Ben McLemore | Jamaal Franklin | Delonte West
SF - Chandler Parsons | Danny Granger | Cleanthony Early
PF - Kevin Love | DeShaun Thomas
C - Willie Cauley | Emeka Okafor | Greg Stiemsma

Well, there you have it, the 10 deep roster that likely (knock on wood) pushes the Wolves to the playoffs for the first time in Kevin Love's career. But what about the other option, you ask?





Option B - Be Smart
Of course, the alternative to the balls-to-the-walls method is something that's been coined as "pulling a Rizzo". It's really easy. All you have to do is nothing. (Sorry Rizzo, it's the best way I could describe it) What this means is that you trash another season to be picking in the mid-lottery to hopefully grab another building block and save your cap space for another day. They could sit on that cap space and grab a guy like Carmelo Anthony a year later. That would pair two of the best scorers in the league right now together. It would keep GMs up at night thinking of combinations of PFs and SFs to stop Love and Melo, but in the end, they wouldn't be able to because it would be impossible. But that's pretty far ahead into the future to be putting a lot of stock into, and a lot of things can happen between now and then.

And the one obstacle that stands in the way is the fact that the Wolves do not own their 2015 1st round pick, which means trashing a season does so at the benefit of the Phoenix Suns, who own the Wolves' pick, sadly. Throwing away a season would clearly be the wrong choice if they couldn't pry that pick away from Jestor because, without it, they're just waiting to spend their money for another year and they don't even get a prospect out of it.

The only real move the Wolves would need to make this offseason, if they stood pat would be just to grab a stopgap center and spend the minimum on a small forward. They could grab Spencer Hawes for $6 million and then sign Shane Battier for the minimum to fill in behind Chandler Parsons, leaving the roster like this:

PG - Jeremy Lin | Gary Neal | Lorenzo Brown
SG - Ben McLemore | Jamaal Franklin | Delonte West
SF - Chandler Parsons | Shane Battier | Cleanthony Early
PF - Kevin Love | DeShaun Thomas
C - Willie Cauley | Spencer Hawes

So that leaves them out of the playoffs once again, but would it be worth it? They could take a shot at a franchise player next offseason with a spot for a max contract because there isn't a max-worthy player this time around, and it helps their young guys develop some more. But you, and your franchise player, can only wait for so long.



Well, there you have it. The $28 million dollar dilemma. The best problem anyone has ever had, but still the hardest decision Jake will have to make this offseason.

Parsons needs an extension next season. This is the time to strike.

There's really no reason to wait another year.

Max out Bogut, failing that Gortat. Cauley is just a rookie and still raw, and I don't think he'll even get on either of those two's levels, much less be much better than an average center this season.

Then get whoever's best available with the rest of your cash, but not overpay. Fill out team with depth.

Team is in prime position right now to vault into contender status. It'd be a shame to see it go to waste IMO.

orangeparka (MIA) wrote:Parsons needs an extension next season. This is the time to strike.

There's really no reason to wait another year.

Max out Bogut, failing that Gortat. Cauley is just a rookie and still raw, and I don't think he'll even get on either of those two's levels, much less be much better than an average center this season.

Then get whoever's best available with the rest of your cash, but not overpay. Fill out team with depth.

Team is in prime position right now to vault into contender status. It'd be a shame to see it go to waste IMO.

Max contract to Bogut? The guy averaged 10/9 last year. Itd be pretty crazy for anyone to give him that kind of money.

I don't know what previous free agent periods were like but I'd hope in the future that less players would extend as seems a bit light on this year.

If next years fee agent class was going to have some serious talent, I'd probably hold off. Parsons is coming off a rookie deal so his cap hold won't be huge and you can do damage before you re-sign him back.

Jake0890 (MIN) wrote:

orangeparka (MIA) wrote:Parsons needs an extension next season. This is the time to strike.

There's really no reason to wait another year.

Max out Bogut, failing that Gortat. Cauley is just a rookie and still raw, and I don't think he'll even get on either of those two's levels, much less be much better than an average center this season.

Then get whoever's best available with the rest of your cash, but not overpay. Fill out team with depth.

Team is in prime position right now to vault into contender status. It'd be a shame to see it go to waste IMO.

Max contract to Bogut? The guy averaged 10/9 last year. Itd be pretty crazy for anyone to give him that kind of money.

Yeah, he's like a ten-year vet so his max would be high. I was thinking around something along the lines of a max off a rookie scale contract.

But the point still stands. You can't expect to sign an FA without overpaying.

You only need 15-20 minutes for Cauley, I think, so it's not necessary to start him. I love Gortat in DDS 3, and if we were further along in our build, I'd splash the cash to get him.

No offense taken on your "pulling a Rizzo" comment, but I just don't think it applies with your team. I had a very, very young core with Davis, Smart, Vasquez, Aminu, Anderson and Rivers. If we had made a move for a veteran before the season we definitely could have made the playoffs, but I thought that getting these kids some valuable playing time would be much more valuable.

Your team now is not only ready to make the playoffs but to do some serious damage. Which way you go this free agency is on you, but I think that you can't just sit tight this season and hold on to the cap space. You need to spend at least some of it. Either use it to round out your roster with 2-3 very good role players on small deals or make a big splash to really bolster the roster.

If you got problems to spend your money.. Just call Boston, Wallace and Mahinmi for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111eleven

Kidding.
No doubt, spend the money you have. With the upcoming Player Agents I believe Love will only extend if you are able to put a playoff team together.
So overpay Gortat and add some depth like OP said. Should be enough to do some serious damage this year.

Since Parsons will be getting paid next offseason, you have two choices, imo:

1. Make a free agent splash this year as Parsons will eat into your cap space next year, that way Parsons' extension doesn't kill cap space next year, it merely takes you further above the salary cap.

2. Trade Parsons so that he doesn't kill your free cap space next offseason.

In terms of free agent targets this year, Bogut seems like priority 1(a). Would probably stay away from Gortat, though he's a great C, just because I think you'd rather have a defensive stud at C than someone who can score. In terms of a contract, Bogut seems like a $12m/year player.

Thought Asik woulda been a perfect target for you, defensive C on an expiring contract would have been a great window to see how your new look Wolves operate but Charlotte struck 1st if I'm not mistaken.

I like the position you're in though you definitely have to be selective and precise with whatever decision you make though personally I'd scour for a scrappy FC (if possible) via trade. Worst case bite the bullet package Parsons maybe WCS and go for Hibbert or something if possible and get a SF to replace Parsons.

Edit: I'm mistaken, Charlotte traded with NY after your Rubio deal. I think you focused so much on WCS in the draft it slipped your mind maybe to get a C via trade prior to or during FA unless you definitely know you can get your FA C target.

WillyJakkz (HOU) wrote:Thought Asik woulda been a perfect target for you, defensive C on an expiring contract would have been a great window to see how your new look Wolves operate but Charlotte struck 1st if I'm not mistaken.

I like the position you're in though you definitely have to be selective and precise with whatever decision you make though personally I'd scour for a scrappy FC (if possible) via trade. Worst case bite the bullet package Parsons maybe WCS and go for Hibbert or something if possible and get a SF to replace Parsons.

Edit: I'm mistaken, Charlotte traded with NY after your Rubio deal. I think you focused so much on WCS in the draft it slipped your mind maybe to get a C via trade prior to or during FA unless you definitely know you can get your FA C target.

Yep, the Asik for Lee trade came after the Rubio trade to fill the SG hole left by Jamaal Franklin going to Minnesota. So yeah, I could've kept Jamaal and ship Asik to the Wolves too, but the trade didn't negotiations didn't take that way.

I really didn't have much interest in Asik to be honest. i would rather bring in my own guy in FA rather than soaking up some of the cap space for him.

I will say this and only this; outside of maybe 3-5 players, there isn't a player in this FA class that I would be chasing. Especially when a lot of the "more known," "better" players will be free agents next season.

LakeshowAK7 (LAL) wrote:I will say this and only this; outside of maybe 3-5 players, there isn't a player in this FA class that I would be chasing.  Especially when a lot of the "more known," "better" players will be free agents next season.

Well yeah, if you're looking for a franchise piece in free agency, as is the Lakers custom, then there's nothing here for ya. But there's tons of starting caliber players in free agency this off-season.

Could you do both? Make a couple of depth offers this free agency and plan to save enough for a max deal on someone next year?

As I mentioned, with Parsons cap hold being rather small, you can go to work and sign someone to a big deal before he signs or you need to match. Especially if we're using player agents and you can communicate this to them to hold off on the deal until you bring in more talent.

bt (TOR) wrote:Could you do both? Make a couple of depth offers this free agency and plan to save enough for a max deal on someone next year?

As I mentioned, with Parsons cap hold being rather small, you can go to work and sign someone to a big deal before he signs or you need to match. Especially if we're using player agents and you can communicate this to them to hold off on the deal until you bring in more talent.

You're saying wait until free agency to give Parsons a new contract? Thats pretty risky to let a player like him hit the free market.

Hypothetically, I could do that but I risk losing Parsons for nothing.

He's a RFA so there's no risk losing him at all. The only issue would be if you didn't want to give him a max deal and someone else did but even at a max, it's probably only a small amount over what you would give him anyway.

No risk letting him get to FA though. He'll be restricted.

bt (TOR) wrote:He's a RFA so there's no risk losing him at all. The only issue would be if you didn't want to give him a max deal and someone else did but even at a max, it's probably only a small amount over what you would give him anyway.

No risk letting him get to FA though. He'll be restricted.

He's a 2nd round pick so he would not be restricted.

Like others have mentioned, Parsons is in for a big pay raise next off-season. It might be better to make a splash this year, lock up Parsons and go from there.

Jake0890 (MIN) wrote:

bt (TOR) wrote:He's a RFA so there's no risk losing him at all. The only issue would be if you didn't want to give him a max deal and someone else did but even at a max, it's probably only a small amount over what you would give him anyway.

No risk letting him get to FA though. He'll be restricted.

He's a 2nd round pick so he would not be restricted.

  

Ah, my bad, I always assumed he was a 1st round pick without even looking. Pretty good talent to slip to the second.

Well, ignore my idea then, lol. Unless we apply the Gilbert provision here. Up to the MLE first year, larger later on

I do not know why anybody has told you this but I think Hawes is the best option for you

he was underused last season in Miami and even that was the 5th most effctive player of his roster so he can give you his best if signing him.

I think he is truly a better options above all of those who tell you to sign old bogut for 10M!!!! As a friend of mine told me, first go for big deals, then you will have time to go for bogut and other...

Hope this helps you

Saving FA money for a "star" is a waste of time IMO. It's very unlikely in the NBA, And even more unlikely in the CSL.