We have begun the most heated part of the off-season, and it's time for the Wolve's staff to get into the fray. With plenty of player options flying around and things to be repaired on the team, the GMs of the Wolves have plenty to do. Minnesota's Free Agents: Trenton Hassel Fred Hoiberg Troy Hudson Darick Martin Oliver Miller Latrell Sprewell(Resigned) Gary Trent Latrell Sprewell has been resigned for his option of 14.25 mil for another year with the Wolves. An extension is being worked on. Next in priority after Sprewell was Troy Hudson, Minnesota's long time PG. Hudson is a free-agent and is currently looking at the market while the Wolves discuss resigning him. Next after Troy Hudson, would be Fred Hoiberg and Trenton Hassel, two of the roster's best role players. Minnesota has some trade options that they may very well use. Wally Sczerbiak and Michael Olowokandi are the two most tradeable players on the team, and are the best combination of players that the team would want to lose. The team's best option would be to trade the two for a strong post player, the post being the weakest area of the Wolves' gameplay. Post players are valuale, and there are few high-quality ones on the market this off-season.Two ideas are Darius Songaila from the Sacramento Kings, and Keon Clark of the Utah Jazz. Darius Songaila is a forward who has a lot of potential to be a great player. He did not get many minutes for Sacramento, but when he did, he often scored well. Keon Clark has never shown a lot of scoring potential, but was 3rd in the league in shot-blocking last season. Clark coud be a powerful asset to the team is he proved to be able to score. Some other options include Ginobli and Bruce Bowen. This thread can be further used for all discussion about the Timberwolves' off-season topics, such as trades and free-agents etc.
This will probably be a quiet offseason for Wolves. They will most likely resign Hudson, Hassell & Hoiberg (and maybe Gary Trent). Then the Wolves would sign a decent center. Also they might give Stepp a contract, if he plays well in the summer league. I don't think they will do anything big or sign any big free agents.
I don't expect a big one either. You may see them make a big trade for a good center, then resigning their key players. I, or whoever else does should just post any ideas they have or any new that happens this off-season.
Top Centers To Look Into: 1. Erick Dampier(Warriors)(No Longer Available) 12.3 PPG 12.0 RPG 2. Mark Blount(Celtics)(No Longer Available) 10.3 PPG 7.20 RPG 3. Etan Thomas(Wizards) 8.9 PPG 6.70 RPG 4. Greg Ostertag(Jazz)(No Longer Available) 6.8 PPG 7.40 RPG These are what I've found to be the best centers on the market this off-season. Going in order of best down, Dampier being the best player. All 4 of these guys are good players and decent possibilities to get. There was one other, Vlade Divac from Sacramento who is decent but has only a year or 2 left in his career and will very likely stay in Sacramento. So these are the top possibilities to be a Timberwolves Center next year.
Troy Hudson was resigned on a 6-year 37 mil deal on 7-13-04 Fred Hoiberg was resigned on a 2-year 1.7 mil deal on 7-21-04
Well it doesn't seem like the center search is going to well. Blount resigned with the Celtics, Okur is now with the Jazz, Ostertag is with the Kings, Vlade is with the Lakers, Dampier is to either the Hawks or Knicks, and Etan Thomas is going to either go to the Bucks or stay with the Wizards. So now the question is, who's left to maybe go after? Only person I can think of is Chris Mihm. There is some problems with Mihm, being that when he gets minutes he causes a lot of fouls and hasn't had that good of a season since he was a rookie. I'd like to see Mihm blossom into a dominant center, it's just that I don't see it happening. I guess it seems as though we will be sticking with EJ and Kandi. Although, I'd like to get Darius Songalia somehow. Given the minutes, he can be an efficient scorer and do many good things. In Sacremento, he wasn't given a lot of minutes with Brad Miller and Vlade there.
Now I do not think we will be getting a new center, and I also don't think the Wolves' GMs ever really meant to. I did say earlier that if we got Darius Songaila(hes a PF I think) to play center that he would be a great option but I don't really see that happening.
