Why should the Wolves trade him? If they want to cut salaries it will be next trade dead line. Who knows how the world/NBA will look by then.
yvmms
I think anyone who watches the games would agree that we still need KAT. Naz is a very good player but he’s probably two tiers below KAT overall
Frontier21
Wolves winning % with KAT: 69.3%
Wolves winning % w/o KAT: 66..6%
The story isn’t that KAT’s not needed. The story is a feel good story of the rest of our guys upping their contributions. Their improved play, plus KAT’s return, will be huge.
Safe_Lecture_5092
Their reasoning for losing without KAT: Because we didn’t have KAT and Rudy
WiSoSirius
I believe in the team. Coaching and players. We fought at a .500 record pace last year, and I don’t believe we have been under .600 since our 5th game against the Jazz on November 5th.
Cannot predict the future, so don’t go assuming we’ll be in the Finals, but we absolutely have the potential.
As for KAT – He is on our team and I want the best for him. I want him healthy more than I want him in rotation. But if he is healthy, I want him out there hanging points and assists like the badass that he is.
Skolcialism
Got a fair chance to win the title and people are spending their energy thinking about trades next year
Shit is diseased
takeitsleazy316
Here me out: when KAT comes back, have Naz take his starting spot and have KAT off the bench. Deadly combo
_AnythingIsPossible
This stretch has shown that Naz is a starting caliber player on a good team, so now a trade is easier to justify.
Should the Wolves trade KAT? If it means keeping Naz and NAW longterm while getting actual assets back (possibly PG of the future?), I think you have to look hard at it.
Anonymous_32
There is no trade out there involving KAT that makes this team better.
If they need to move someone for financial reasons, I don’t see a team out there that would have enough cap space that would also be able to trade even value for KAT.
The problem with all these “trade KAT” keyboard artists is they have a fantastical idea of what we could get for KAT without thinking about the teams could actually trade for KAT and the garbage we would get back in return.
donwothe
This discussion must be include what were getting back for him.
A bunch of Picks aren’t an option for several reasons but most important for me is that a team trading for kat is trying to win now and so those picks will be rough. I mean so far the jazz have two bench players on a team that won’t make the playoffs and the picks aren’t gonna get better.
From there it’s a question of what player you’re getting back and I’d recommend finding the ringers player rater as a framework and work down from kat. Not a ton of great players with as many years left that teams would let go of.
I think in an ideal world we get some sorta of playmaking wing/pg to fill out a ant mcd naz gobert starting lining up. Wing makes sense cause it’d keep us big just more mobile.
temple-of-the-dog
I have wanted to trade KAT all along so all this does is validate my previous thinking. I actually think it’s more controversial to want KAT to stick around longterm considering his salary, fit with the roster, importance in the starting lineup, etc.
For all the disrespect KAT has been thrown at him (much fair, some unfair), it was pretty weird he made the all-star team. Rudy is clearly the more important player. And Conley is the more valuable/important starter in the starting lineup.
The_Bran_9000
I think there are certain matchups where we tend to fare better with fewer KAT minutes (eg. Kings), but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that we don’t need him. His offensive production is too valuable, and he’s no longer a player you need to hide on defense. He gives us a really solid floor. Really my only critiques of him lately have been impacts on ball movement when he gets stuck in iso mode, and the offensive fouling tendencies he still hasn’t cleaned up in his game, but nothing that has me wanting to trade him. Dude’s been balling out this year! If anything, we should be encouraged by the notion that KAT can have an off-night and we can still win.
eman9416
Small sample size – don’t over think.
PlayInChampions
1) It’s still a relatively small sample size. Yes, the Wolves are winning, but they currently have the 14th offensive rating and the 9th defensive rating. They struggle to generate offense with the starting lineup, especially in the 1st quarters. The bench is really stepping up, but you can’t always rely on it, especially in the playoffs. The Wolves are getting fewer free throws. The 4th-quarter offense has been ranked #1 over the past 9 games, but this improvement began even before KAT got hurt.
2) There is only one trade that could help the Wolves save some money without getting significantly worse: trading KAT for Mikal Bridges and sending Ben Simmons to Detroit to make the money work. If this trade doesn’t happen, I don’t think the Wolves should trade Towns. He is still a huge part of this team and has won us many games.
jchunk13
We were also the #1 seed for the majority of the year with Karl-Anthony Towns.
ProblemLow5906
Small sample size. I mean the wolves are 11-5 lifetime without Ant and 2-1 without him this year. Wolves can’t win a title without Kat this year and people want to bring up the close losses but our wins haven’t been crazy good wins (wolves do not need to apologize for that)
Warriors (10/11th seed) Cavs (without Mitchell and Mobley) Jazz (12th seed) Jazz (12th seed with no players) Clippers (getting crushed then Kawhi hurt) Pacers (6th/7th/8th seed)
Once when not complaining at all but context matters
le_sweden
Dane and Jace had some great thoughts on it yesterday. TLDR is that the wolves are playing selflessly, they have more lineup flexibility, and Ant has leveled up his decision making. When you have Ant and KAT both being sticky with the ball (which happens naturally with both of them, but especially when the offense isn’t going and one of them hasn’t seen the ball in a minute, then they think, wow I better score here)… that hasn’t happened as much because the PGs and Naz are happy to get off the ball and move and Ant has adopted that mentality. If KAT comes back for playoffs I would love for him to also be willing and able to get off the ball and be ready for anything
whodathatcher
Send him! Kat doesn’t make winning plays. Palms up guy… the future is Ant. Don’t let Kat infect everyone else with his attitude
elboogie7
KAT’s top 10 when he’s on.
Fuck all that.
thestereo300
Unless forced to get rid of a player, it’s a good rule of thumb that you can’t have too many good players.
I do think in the short term Rudy gives this specific team a better chance to win than Karl because we have a better backup for Karl (Naz) than we do for Rudy.
Long term it’s not super wise to get rid of a cornerstone player you could have for 5 years rather than 1 or 2.
I would suggest they keep the band together next year and pay the tax and then Rudy is probably gone anyway. Problem will solve itself.
raki016
Let’s just finish the season, win the tile, and figure it out after the parade
gaybilly69
Would a max contract slot be better utilized on pretty much any other max player? Probably.
Is giving KAT $40 million/year a winning strategy? Most likely not, luckily the Wolves have mitigated this problem through other means.
ttttyttt678
If KAT can get back a star young PG (Garland) than go for it. PG: Garland/Conley, SG:Ant/Dyson Daniels SF:McDaniels/NAW PF:Naz Reid/Kyle Anderson C:Gobert. Need to grab a 3nD wing and back C if the trade happens. KAT-Pelicans, BI – Cavs, Garland + Dyson Daniels – Wolves.
PartyHavarti
KAT has made such strides defensively, this has been his best season ever. He’s been all in on Minnesota since he was drafted and become a great part of the community. If a money crunch forces a trade that’s one thing but I can’t believe there are wolves fans looking forward to it.
Good_Kid_Mad_City
Fuck trade talk. Can’t predict the future. Can’t change the past. BUT RIGHT FUCKING NOW…. Is so goddamn fun. Let’s just enjoy the ride.
27 Comments
Why should the Wolves trade him? If they want to cut salaries it will be next trade dead line. Who knows how the world/NBA will look by then.
I think anyone who watches the games would agree that we still need KAT. Naz is a very good player but he’s probably two tiers below KAT overall
Wolves winning % with KAT: 69.3%
Wolves winning % w/o KAT: 66..6%
The story isn’t that KAT’s not needed. The story is a feel good story of the rest of our guys upping their contributions. Their improved play, plus KAT’s return, will be huge.
Their reasoning for losing without KAT: Because we didn’t have KAT and Rudy
I believe in the team. Coaching and players. We fought at a .500 record pace last year, and I don’t believe we have been under .600 since our 5th game against the Jazz on November 5th.
Cannot predict the future, so don’t go assuming we’ll be in the Finals, but we absolutely have the potential.
As for KAT – He is on our team and I want the best for him. I want him healthy more than I want him in rotation. But if he is healthy, I want him out there hanging points and assists like the badass that he is.
Got a fair chance to win the title and people are spending their energy thinking about trades next year
Shit is diseased
Here me out: when KAT comes back, have Naz take his starting spot and have KAT off the bench. Deadly combo
This stretch has shown that Naz is a starting caliber player on a good team, so now a trade is easier to justify.
Should the Wolves trade KAT? If it means keeping Naz and NAW longterm while getting actual assets back (possibly PG of the future?), I think you have to look hard at it.
There is no trade out there involving KAT that makes this team better.
If they need to move someone for financial reasons, I don’t see a team out there that would have enough cap space that would also be able to trade even value for KAT.
The problem with all these “trade KAT” keyboard artists is they have a fantastical idea of what we could get for KAT without thinking about the teams could actually trade for KAT and the garbage we would get back in return.
This discussion must be include what were getting back for him.
A bunch of Picks aren’t an option for several reasons but most important for me is that a team trading for kat is trying to win now and so those picks will be rough. I mean so far the jazz have two bench players on a team that won’t make the playoffs and the picks aren’t gonna get better.
From there it’s a question of what player you’re getting back and I’d recommend finding the ringers player rater as a framework and work down from kat. Not a ton of great players with as many years left that teams would let go of.
I think in an ideal world we get some sorta of playmaking wing/pg to fill out a ant mcd naz gobert starting lining up. Wing makes sense cause it’d keep us big just more mobile.
I have wanted to trade KAT all along so all this does is validate my previous thinking. I actually think it’s more controversial to want KAT to stick around longterm considering his salary, fit with the roster, importance in the starting lineup, etc.
For all the disrespect KAT has been thrown at him (much fair, some unfair), it was pretty weird he made the all-star team. Rudy is clearly the more important player. And Conley is the more valuable/important starter in the starting lineup.
I think there are certain matchups where we tend to fare better with fewer KAT minutes (eg. Kings), but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that we don’t need him. His offensive production is too valuable, and he’s no longer a player you need to hide on defense. He gives us a really solid floor. Really my only critiques of him lately have been impacts on ball movement when he gets stuck in iso mode, and the offensive fouling tendencies he still hasn’t cleaned up in his game, but nothing that has me wanting to trade him. Dude’s been balling out this year! If anything, we should be encouraged by the notion that KAT can have an off-night and we can still win.
Small sample size – don’t over think.
1) It’s still a relatively small sample size. Yes, the Wolves are winning, but they currently have the 14th offensive rating and the 9th defensive rating. They struggle to generate offense with the starting lineup, especially in the 1st quarters. The bench is really stepping up, but you can’t always rely on it, especially in the playoffs. The Wolves are getting fewer free throws. The 4th-quarter offense has been ranked #1 over the past 9 games, but this improvement began even before KAT got hurt.
2) There is only one trade that could help the Wolves save some money without getting significantly worse: trading KAT for Mikal Bridges and sending Ben Simmons to Detroit to make the money work. If this trade doesn’t happen, I don’t think the Wolves should trade Towns. He is still a huge part of this team and has won us many games.
We were also the #1 seed for the majority of the year with Karl-Anthony Towns.
Small sample size. I mean the wolves are 11-5 lifetime without Ant and 2-1 without him this year. Wolves can’t win a title without Kat this year and people want to bring up the close losses but our wins haven’t been crazy good wins (wolves do not need to apologize for that)
Warriors (10/11th seed)
Cavs (without Mitchell and Mobley)
Jazz (12th seed)
Jazz (12th seed with no players)
Clippers (getting crushed then Kawhi hurt)
Pacers (6th/7th/8th seed)
Once when not complaining at all but context matters
Dane and Jace had some great thoughts on it yesterday. TLDR is that the wolves are playing selflessly, they have more lineup flexibility, and Ant has leveled up his decision making. When you have Ant and KAT both being sticky with the ball (which happens naturally with both of them, but especially when the offense isn’t going and one of them hasn’t seen the ball in a minute, then they think, wow I better score here)… that hasn’t happened as much because the PGs and Naz are happy to get off the ball and move and Ant has adopted that mentality. If KAT comes back for playoffs I would love for him to also be willing and able to get off the ball and be ready for anything
Send him! Kat doesn’t make winning plays. Palms up guy… the future is Ant. Don’t let Kat infect everyone else with his attitude
KAT’s top 10 when he’s on.
Fuck all that.
Unless forced to get rid of a player, it’s a good rule of thumb that you can’t have too many good players.
I do think in the short term Rudy gives this specific team a better chance to win than Karl because we have a better backup for Karl (Naz) than we do for Rudy.
Long term it’s not super wise to get rid of a cornerstone player you could have for 5 years rather than 1 or 2.
I would suggest they keep the band together next year and pay the tax and then Rudy is probably gone anyway. Problem will solve itself.
Let’s just finish the season, win the tile, and figure it out after the parade
Would a max contract slot be better utilized on pretty much any other max player? Probably.
Is giving KAT $40 million/year a winning strategy? Most likely not, luckily the Wolves have mitigated this problem through other means.
If KAT can get back a star young PG (Garland) than go for it. PG: Garland/Conley, SG:Ant/Dyson Daniels SF:McDaniels/NAW PF:Naz Reid/Kyle Anderson C:Gobert. Need to grab a 3nD wing and back C if the trade happens. KAT-Pelicans, BI – Cavs, Garland + Dyson Daniels – Wolves.
KAT has made such strides defensively, this has been his best season ever. He’s been all in on Minnesota since he was drafted and become a great part of the community. If a money crunch forces a trade that’s one thing but I can’t believe there are wolves fans looking forward to it.
Fuck trade talk. Can’t predict the future. Can’t change the past. BUT RIGHT FUCKING NOW…. Is so goddamn fun. Let’s just enjoy the ride.
Our offense is a lot better with KAT
Naz cannot rebound like KAT.