Proof Donovan was The Issue

[HermanG]

What about McDaniels and KAT? Heard they are pretty good at basketball. The difference between Ant and Mitchell is far less compared to KAT/McDaniels against the rest of our roster.

What are you even talking about? The hypothetical was that we make the Mitchell trade but not the Gobert trade.... so in that scenario we dont have Don but do have Lauri, Sexton et al.

 

[LogGrad98]

But the Wolves aren't a team of shooters and it has worked...

Yep. Rudy didn't need "shooters", he needed decent positional defenders who could do one other thing well. And a star who didn't show utter disdain for any defense at all. ANT isn't some defensive stalwart but he's no slouch either. We surrounded Rudy with defensively-inept players who could do one single thing well. We had one guy that had more than 1 talent and that was and undersized defender we expected to lock down the leagues best players in Royce. It just wasn't anywhere near the right mix. Add into that the fact that we were severely undersized in everything except center and it was a recipe for early playoff outs when the game slowed down and careful game planning will open any crack into a crevasse.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

But the Wolves aren't a team of shooters and it has worked...

They are the 17th best offense. It's working in the playoffs so far because Ant has gone MJ level good so far.

Their lineup is also significantly better shooters than the Favors/Rubio lineups.

 

[jom2003]

What are you even talking about? The hypothetical was that we make the Mitchell trade but not the Gobert trade.... so in that scenario we dont have Don but do have Lauri, Sexton et al.

Well the hypothetical just became a reality, didn't it? A Rudy-less Wolves just held the defending champ to 80 pts in a playoff game. A healthy Jazz team were letting non-playoff team like the Rockets drop 80 on us...at the half.

We were the worst defensive team in the entire league. Not sure having Rudy on the team would make enough of a difference.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I will say I'm very optimistic for the 2025 Cavs pick if Mitchell ask out.

 

[Douchebag K]

i don't think he'll even need to ask out, the Cavs will probably trade him because of all the speculation without a commitment from him

 

[MT Steve]

i don't think he'll even need to ask out, the Cavs will probably trade him because of all the speculation without a commitment from him

True, but if they're going to get a good return, they'll likely need Mitchell to commit ahead of time to the team they trade him to.

 

[Douchebag K]

True, but if they're going to get a good return, they'll likely need Mitchell to commit ahead of time to the team they trade him to.

absolutely And i can't see them getting anywhere near the same return they paid for him

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

absolutely And i can't see them getting anywhere near the same return they paid for him

He may not demand a trade but he can soft demand it by saying “I won’t sign an extension with you but here are a few teams I would sign an extension with”.

I think they get 50-60 cents on the dollar for what they paid (consider Lauri a non all star not the leveled up version).

 

[Douchebag K]

He may not demand a trade but he can soft demand it by saying “I won’t sign an extension with you but here are a few teams I would sign an extension with”.

I think they get 50-60 cents on the dollar for what they paid (consider Lauri a non all star not the leveled up version).

spot on fingers crossed if that happens the Cavs take a massive step back, have a disastrous year next year and get us a lottery pick ! One can dream

 

[HermanG]

Well the hypothetical just became a reality, didn't it? A Rudy-less Wolves just held the defending champ to 80 pts in a playoff game. A healthy Jazz team were letting non-playoff team like the Rockets drop 80 on us...at the half.

We were the worst defensive team in the entire league. Not sure having Rudy on the team would make enough of a difference.

Lol. The FO has skinned the roster twice and we have had little continuity, so picking a single bad game from current timeline doesnt really tell anything about an alternate hypothetical timeline.

Kessler looked damn good in that 2022-23 roster, so we should assume Rudy would have elevated us by quite a lot. That is why @LogGrad98 said what he said.. and I merely pointed out that we still would have needed the true #1.

 

[NAOS_pt2]

Yep. Rudy didn't need "shooters", he needed decent positional defenders who could do one other thing well. And a star who didn't show utter disdain for any defense at all. ANT isn't some defensive stalwart but he's no slouch either. We surrounded Rudy with defensively-inept players who could do one single thing well. We had one guy that had more than 1 talent and that was and undersized defender we expected to lock down the leagues best players in Royce. It just wasn't anywhere near the right mix. Add into that the fact that we were severely undersized in everything except center and it was a recipe for early playoff outs when the game slowed down and careful game planning will open any crack into a crevasse.

ANT is playing pretty awesome defense in key, game-planned situations. The difference between him and Mitchell looks pretty ****ing enormous on that side of the ball… to me at least.

 

[LogGrad98]

ANT is playing pretty awesome defense in key, game-planned situations. The difference between him and Mitchell looks pretty ****ing enormous on that side of the ball… to me at least.

Frankly the difference is shocking. ANT is truly on another level from Mitchell right now. Mitchell is a solid 2nd tier all-star. ANT right now is looking like an MVP candidate. Put this version of ANT on our past teams in place of Mitchell and there is a good chance we have at least one ring at this point.

 

[rjfan]

He may not demand a trade but he can soft demand it by saying “I won’t sign an extension with you but here are a few teams I would sign an extension with”.

I think they get 50-60 cents on the dollar for what they paid (consider Lauri a non all star not the leveled up version).

I guess they still might be able to get between 2 to 3 picks (light to no protections), no swaps, some quality young piece (like a Jaime Jaquez Jr or Reaves) and/or some decent role player (that also pending on what they get in picks and young players)