ALessKosherScott

Always listen. But don't be surprised if you're nonplused by the offers for a 1B/DH coming off a 104 OPS+ season.

I like that somehow defying logic this team has a winning record now.

I believe it was based on my comment where Covington handles the defensive aspects of the hole Butler leaving creates but it's going to fall to Wiggins to handle the ball-in-hands offensive responsibilities. But I think more reasonably Covington is an elite defensive piece, and love it or hate it Thibs is always going to be a tough-minded defensive coach. You hope you can get back to the playoffs based on that. And if not, well, it's not a bad year to be in the lottery. Right now, the guy who's going to be in the 8-10 range looks like a 4/5 overall pick most years.

I see Saric playing the Bjellica role at first, where Taj is the starter but Saric sees just as many minutes.

I think my comment to that article is Joe Smith was the biggest bungle in T-Wolves history, and it wasn't even close. I think Thibs gets graded from this point forward on how Okogie evolves and how well his new lineup works out. Covington can fill Butler's defensive duties, but the next step has to be restarting Wiggins offensively and getting him back to the levels he was at in his age 20 and 21 seasons, pre-Butler. He's never going to have Butler's all-around game, but he and Towns have to shoulder the offensive responsibility while Taj and Covington shore up the defense.

I will admit I thought a Jimmy Butler trade was going to end way worse for the Timberwolves than it did. They were never going to win a Butler trade, but they did better than I thought they would. And four 20-something first picks from Houston was never a good offer. I'd trade Lavine for Covington, knowing full well that Lavine and Wiggins are pretty much the same pieces. I'm not as sure on Markannen for Saric and Dunn for Bayless and a second. And as an added bonus, you put Butler in the worst possible situation for him where Simmons already plays the point forward role for Philadelphia.

What I'm saying is don't make a bad situation worse by taking other team's bad contracts for marginally good players.

Trading a short-term, treatable cancer for something that's a longer lasting variety of cancer isn't a win. If the Wolves pay Jimmy Butler $20 million dollars this year to not play, it's better than dealing him for Dragic and Whiteside. At least the Butler cancer is gone at the end of the season.

I think Thibs has the right to expect a good player who doesn't kill your team long-term in return for a second-team All-NBA player. If Miami doesn't want to part with Josh Richardson for Butler, the Timberwolves shouldn't trade Butler to Miami. If the Clippers don't want to deal Tobias Harris for Butler, the Timberwolves shouldn't trade Butler to the Clippers. If the Bucks don't want to deal Khris Middleton for Butler, the Timberwolves shouldn't trade Butler to the Bucks. Every trade of what's "officially" been offered on that tweet from a couple of days ago makes the Timberwolves worse. The only one that offers anything revolving around a young talent is the Milwaukee one, and Tyus Jones > Brogdon.

Maybe. But then there has to be good pieces of value coming back from Miami to do it. Dragic is essentially the better scoring/worse shooting version of Teague. Whiteside is the better shot blocking/worse shooting version of Dieng. The version of the trade floating around of Butler and Dieng for Whiteside and Dragic sets the franchise back.

You don't unload Dieng's contract to pay Whiteside more money to play the same position as KAT, albeit over two years instead of three.

At some point if you're the Wolves, you have to realize it's okay to choose "None of the above."

Reasonably, draft picks, young defensive-oriented wings (Thornwell, Shai Gilgerious-Alexander, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Caris LeVert, really no one from the Knicks) and salary relief in getting rid of the $48 million they still owe Dieng. I wouldn't hang up if the Nets called up with a package around RHJ.

Not a bad draft. If one of Okogie or Diop can be a three-and-D type, that's a piece the Wolves are missing.

Rooker had one season in college where he had anything resembling plate discipline. More often than not, he was a free swinger, including a 37-5 K/BB ratio in the Cape Cod League. Larnach has somewhat consistently drawn walks and Jeffers has more walks than strikeouts the last two seasons and a run in a summer league where his K/BB was 29/26.