From the Strib:

Meanwhile, Antoine Walker practiced with the team for the first time since last week. He diplomatically stated his disgust with his situation. He said there’s “no point” to a contract buyout now that he and the team failed to reach agreement on one by Saturday night’s deadline because he cannot join another team now in time for the playoffs.

He said he was worried about the situation here when he got traded from Miami to Minnesota and called it a “wasted year.” He said all he wants to do is play and called the Wolves’ contract buyout offer “ridiculous.” He remains hopeful that a trade can be struck this summer, when he has one season and a big, attractive expiring $9.3 million salary slot left on his contract.

“I didn’t want to be put into this situation, I got traded into this situation,” he said. “So it’s just unfortunate. I’m disappointed. I like to play; this is what I love to do and I’m not being allowed to do it, so it hurts. I’m going to be professional about it. This is a great group of guys. I’m going to be practice and if I’m called upon to play, I’ll play…It’s going to be a tough six weeks.”

A tough six weeks. (More nonsense here.)

Antoine Walker is (in all likelihood) a member of the NBA Players' Union. For years the union has advocated for guaranteed contracts. Antoine Walker is currently pulling down over $8 million in guaranteed money. You can view his career stats here. What does $8 million in guaranteed money buy you in the NBA these days? 892 minutes, 368 points, and an eFG of 44%. In the past 3 years, Mr. Walker has seen drop-offs in scoring, rebounding, assists, and shooting percentage. He's highly immobile, shoots 53% from the line, 36% from the floor, and 32% from 3. Amazingly enough, Walker's declining numbers magically coincide with contract escalators that will push his deal over $9 mil in 2008/09 and a $10 million team option in 2009/10 (which no one will pick up).

Let's be crystal clear about this: the only reason why Antoine Walker is currenly making $8 million dollars is because of the guaranteed contract he signed after the 2005 season...which was, incidentally, the last year of a 6-year, $70 million guaranteed deal. Let's continue keeping it real: the only reason why Antoine Walker is still in Minnesota is because of his guaranteed contract. Somebody get T-Hud and the Nutty Boys on the line: it's the stress of both worlds!!!

Walker can't have it both ways on this one. He can't complain about the Wolves' "ridiculous" buyout offer when the only reason why he makes so much money in the first place just happens to be the same thing that makes the buyout ridiculous: guaranteed money. Toine's entire NBA existence at this point in his career is owed to the very same thing that prevents him from being cut and moved to a contending team: guaranteed money. And here's the dirty little Toine secret: the reason why he won't give it up is because he knows for a fact that he really isn't worth it. And therein lies the rub of the guaranteed contract.

Going for the keeping-it-real trifecta, Antoine Walker is no longer a real and/or functional NBA player. He's a piece of contract meat. A chunk of useless matter at the top of the salary cap. Barely-athletic gristle. He's Tubby McThreeball in every way, shape, and form. Thumbs up to the Wolves for not giving into this piece of meat's ridiculous demands. Thumbs down to anyone who continues to promote guaranteed contracts in their current form. They literally turn players into nothing but numbers...or worse.

"

Just wanted to share a couple links from the weekend with you instead of working on the paper that will finish my graduate school career:

• Chris Richard's new team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, wears jerseys that look like this. He missed a double-double in his fourth game by one point. It's great that he's getting 24.5 minutes per game. Hopefully he'll have an opportunity later this season when he comes back to the Wolves. In case you're too lazy to click the first link, the answer was "camouflage."

Since fantasy is a much better option than the Wolves’ current state of affairs, let me engage in a bit of wishful thinking about the far-off possibility of the Blue and Green having something to offer another Association team for something meaningful in return. What do the Wolves have that other teams need? Thanks to wd’s post about finding a running mate for Big Al, this is the best I could come up with:

To the Chicago Bulls:

1. Theo Ratliff
2. Antoine Walker
3. Craig Smith

To the Minnesota Timberwolves:

1. Joakim Noah
2. Ben Wallace

Why would this work?

First of all, the salary numbers match up—which is an accomplishment by itself in the NBA. Secondly, while the Wolves would be gaining a young true center, the Bulls would be jettisoning one of the worst free agent salaries in recent memory. Smith would probably require a sign and trade to make this deal happen, but the Bulls would be receiving $12 million off the books in 2008, which would help them recover from their stupid decision not to lock up Luol Deng and/or Ben Gordon during the last off season. They would also be getting a solid vet and a promising young bench player who can hit the boards and shoot for a high FG%. They are protected against the loss of Noah because of their depth and fellow rookie center Aaron Gray, who played well during Scott Skiles' last few games at the head of the Bulls’ bench.

Now that the Bulls are in crisis mode, they have shortened their rotation and Noah hasn’t seen a tremendous amount of action. In his last 3 games, he has seen the court for a grand total of 27 minutes. Gray has clocked in with 33 minutes during the last 3 contests.

On the season Gray is averaging 4.2 ppg and 2.6 rpg. Noah is putting up 4.1 and 3.0. Wallace is clocking in at 4.2 and 8.6. Gray and Noah have similar 40 minute stats. The bottom line here is that Wallace’s tank is running on E and Gray and Noah are an effective push on a team that has shortened them out of the everyday rotation in a last-gasp effort to make the playoffs.

The Bulls would also gain because Smith would give them an off-the-bench low-post presence and Walker is an experienced vet who can hit from 3 and provide leadership in the locker room. He’s also from Chicago.

Meanwhile, the Wolves get a true center that would bring a Corey Brewer-esque high-energy effort to the court each and every single night. They’d have to suck up Wallace’s massive contract for 3 more years but, in the grand scheme of things, Wallace has fewer years on his deal than does Walker and he could spell Jefferson and Noah at both the 4 and 5--allowing everybody to play in position and the Wolves to focus on getting either (fingers crossed) Michael Beasley or a solid guard in next year’s draft. How nice would either of the following line-ups look?

1. Telfair/Foye/Jaric
2. Foye/Brewer/Jaric
3. Beasley/Brewer
4. Jefferson/Wallace
5. Noah/Wallace

or

1. Derrick Rose (OJ Mayo/Ty Lawson/DJ Augustin)/Telfair/Jaric
2. Foye/Brewer/Jaric
3. Brewer/2nd round pick (or Gomes if Taylor wants to pay for it)
4. Jefferson/Wallace
5. Noah/Wallace

Hell, throw Eric Gordon into the 2nd rotation and roll with Foye and Gordon at the guards with Brewer, Jefferson, and Noah on the front line. I’m personally smitten with option #1, but I’d be happy with either one in fantasy GM land. Any way you cut it, you’d have the talent to end up with 20-30 wins and the core of a nice young team built for the long haul.

Folks, this trade isn’t too far out there. Granted, it would be a tough sell to convince the last-gasp Bulls to let go of Wallace, but $15 million off the books speaks pretty loudly to even the most desperate of teams; plus, they’d be getting a nice young post player in return. The Bulls are running 7 (maybe 8) deep right now and Joe Smith is their starting power forward. He could easily move over to the 5 and Andres Nocioni could move into the starting 4 with Smith off the bench. Plus, call me cynical but I have a strange feeling that Ratliff’s knee would feel a bit better in a Bulls uniform.

The Timberwolves are a very, very, very bad team. It should worry fans that they seem to be falling in love with a Smith/Jefferson combo at the 4/5. It should completely freak fans out that they are starting to whine about a lack of quality guard play instead of the non-existence of a true center. Wouldn’t it just top everything off if the Wolves picked OJ Mayo or Eric Gordon while not addressing the 5 and keeping Smith and Big Al as the starting big man duo? Signs are beginning to point in this troubling direction. They need to start thinking of ways to avoid all the problems that a Smith/Jefferson 4/5 combo would create for this franchise in the long-run. This is a fairly realistic way of doing so. I’d love to hear other suggestions.

Vote early, vote often, vote Toine. While you're over there, put in a vote for Manu. Let's have a 6th man start in the All Star game.

PS: After last night's festivities, let the Manu for MVP chants begin.

The way things look like now, the Wolves are on a crash course for 1 of 3 draft possibilities: a) a PG should the Randy Foye experiment not work out, b) Michael Beasley should he fall in their lap, or c) a big man should Foye show proficiency at the point and Beasley is off the board. Regardless of how they pick, the Wolves will have some holes they need to address on the roster. Theo Ratliff and Michael Doleac will be off the books; and Craig Smith, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, and Chris Richard will need to be decided on. In other words, 1/2 of the Wolves (and nearly all of their frontcourt players) have the potential to come off the books after the season ends.

Compounding matters even further is that even with these frontcourt players off the books, the Wolves are sitting at $55,124,864 in guaranteed salary (including Telfair’s qualifying offer; which I'm inserting to show how much one of the Boston guys would cost to resign). Add in $4 million for their 1st pick, $442,000 for the 2nd rounder/free agent they almost will have to sign at the league minimum to fill the roster, and they are sitting at $60 million without Green, Gomes, Smith, or Richard. As you can see, they’re already in luxury territory with the following roster:

Antoine Walker
Marko Jaric
Greg Buckner
Randy Foye
Sebastian Telfair
Corey Brewer
Al Jefferson
Mark Madsen
Rashad McCants
1st round draft pick
2nd round draft pick
(Troy Hudson)
(Juwan Howard)

Have I mentioned how much I love guaranteed salary? Before I go any further, could the Wolves make this roster work?

1. Foye/Telfair/Jaric
2. McCants/Jaric/Buckner
3. Walker/Brewer
4. Jefferson/Walker
5. Mark Madsen/Jefferson

Can you begin to see why they need Corey Brewer to work out at the 3? Wolves fans: even if you could clear Walker off the books, who is worth resigning to take his spot at the 3/4? Gomes? Smith? How much money would you really be saving if you signed Smith or Gomes to a $3 mil/year contract and bought out Walker for 7-8? It’s a push with his current $9 mil on the books. I wouldn’t bet on the Wolves extending too many more buyouts. They’re in enough of a pickle as it is. I think it’s trade or nothing at this point. Also, as long as Walker says things like this:

Q: A lot of vets in your situation would have asked for a buyout after winding up with a rebuilding team like the Wolves. Why haven't you?

A: Right now, I'm a Timberwolf. I plan on being here right now. I've got this year and next year on my contract, and I'm just gonna worry about these two years and then see where I'm at. But I want to play five or six more years if I can stay healthy. I'm only 31.

...it would be pointless to move him because they're not moving in free agency until 2009-10 anyway.

As you may have noticed, the Wolves are already above the likely 2008-09 cap with 11 players, no true center, and 4 frontcourt players (not counting their draft picks). They can take $3 mil off the books by not resigning Telfair’s qualifying offer, but do they then spend it on Smith or Green? Can they sign both? What about Green? Smith/Green/Telfair should be similarly priced players, and signing even one will push the Wolves over the $60 mil mark. Again, the Wolves are in a pickle. Are these the types of players they want to be locking up on their way to rock bottom?

What should the Wolves do?

1. Get Chris Richard to the D-League now….yesterday, if possible. Get him as many minutes as possible and get him back up in the Association come February. The Wolves can sign Richard for under $1 million next year and they will need to do so. He should be as proficient as possible and the D-League is calling.
2. Utilize the D-League to fill out the last spot on next year’s roster. Cheap, cheap, cheap is the way to go if the Wolves are going to spend some free agent money in the 2009-10 season. Possible frontcourt players: Nik Caner-Medley, Ronald Allen, Michael Joiner. Learn to love the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The Wolves could also use their 2nd round pick to take a 4th year college big man. Randal Falker, DJ White, and Joey Dorsey may be available at the top of the 2nd round. Whatever they do, they should not, I repeat, should not waste valuable cap space on the Matt Barnes and Jarvis Hayes of the world in free agency.
3. Do not make any long-term contract negotiations with Rashad McCants. T-Hud the Sequel does not deserve $4 mil/year and he sure as hell doesn’t get a long leash; especially when his 2009-10 qualifying offer could put $3.6 mil in the bank for a free agent run.
4. If they are going to buy out Walker, Jaric, Buckner, or Madsen, they need to do so immediately so that the multi-year contract agreements will expire before the 2009-10 free agent season. They do not want to miss out on that action. Do not make any trade unless the net salary loss eclipses a buyout + resign number for one of the Green/Smith/Gomes/Telfair combo and, if doing so, is a one year contract. (PS: As you may have guessed by reading this post, it's unlikely they have the money to buy anyone out at this point.)
5. If they are going to resign anyone currently on the roster, only sign 1 of the Green/Smith/Gomes/Telfair combo. This is more of a fiscal necessity rather than helpful advice. The Wolves have about $3.5 million to throw around at one of these youngsters. Who will it be? I’m partial to Smith myself (although Telfair is growing one me), and I think the Wolves almost have to go with a frontcourt player, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. That being written, if they can get away with not signing any of them, that would be for the best in the long run.
6. Do not trade draft picks for established players (i.e. salaries). This isn’t to say that they couldn’t try to package the Miami and Celtic picks to move up in the 2009 Draft, it’s just to say that they need to keep salaries low for the 2009-10/2010-11 free-agent seasons and 1st round picks are much less costly than any vet they would likely get in return. Whatever they do, they should not trade their own 1st round pick in 2008 or 2009 under any circumstances whatsoever. I mention this because of Wally and Cassell.

The main goal for the Wolves is to become a .350-.450 team again in the 2009-10 season and a playoff team the following year with a solid base of extremely young talent and mid-20s “vets” like Foye, Brewer, and Jefferson. If things go right—and by “right,” I mean very, very bad—in the mean time, the Wolves will have had 2 consecutive top-5 picks, Miami’s 2009 pick between 10-15, and the Celtics first round pick in 09 by the time they lace ‘em up in late 2009. (Remember to check out Canis Hoopus' excellent draft info page.) Here’s what the 2009-10 roster will look like if no further buyouts take place:

(Marko Jaric)
(Greg Buckner)
(Mark Madsen)
Randy Foye
Corey Brewer
Al Jefferson
2008 1st rounder
2009 1st rounder
2009 Boston 1st rounder
2009 Miami 1st rounder

Have I ever mentioned that another reason why the Wolves can’t (and shouldn’t) lock up Green/Gomes/Smith/Telfair is because they will be swimming with guaranteed 3-year deals at the start of the 2009-10 season? Let’s throw in a 2nd rounder to bring them up to 11 players and the Wolves are sitting pretty for a big free agent run with a young team, a PF in his prime and, hopefully, 2 extremely talented top-5 draft picks. Since NBA rookie salaries are slotted, let’s take a quick look at exactly how much the Wolves should have to play with in the 2009-10/2010-11 free agent seasons should this scenario play itself out.

Jaric- $7,100,000
Buckner- $4,018,518
Madsen- $2,840,000
Foye- $3,575,761
Brewer- $2,916,120
Jefferson- $12,000,000
2008 1st rounder- $4,000,000 (est pick 1-3)
2009 1st rounder- $2,750,000 (est pick 3-7)
2009 Boston 1st rounder- $800,000 (est pick mid 20s)
2009 Miami 1st rounder- $1,300,000 (est pick 10-15)
Misc 2nd rounder- $442,114 (league minimum)

That’s $41,742,513 and 11 players for you folks playing at home. The 2009-10 cap should be somewhere around $60 million, which means the Wolves would have roughly $20 million to spend in free agency and enough room under the luxury exemption (which Taylor has said he’ll spend on a good team) to resign any good players under the Bird exemption should they get higher offers elsewhere. There’s a lot of cool stuff you can do with $20 million in the NBA. I’ll run down who will be available in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 free agent seasons in a future post, as well as what I think the Wolves should do with the money. (Remember, San Antonio is the model.)

The moral of the story is that next year’s Wolves are going to suck at least as much as (if not more than) this year’s squad. If the Wolves are going to be competitive free market players in 2009-10/2010-11, and if they are serious about keeping their 1st round draft picks, this year is not (cannot) be rock bottom. In order to clear salary, next year’s team will have to be a bare-bones operation and it’s not going to…no, it shouldn’t look pretty. If the KG trade is going to work, they need to clear this cap space to become players in 2009-10/2010-11. This is the only realistic way they can get it done.

PS: How big of a mind f#$k will it be for fans to have a scenario where the only way the KG trade will work is if Gomes, Telfair, Green, and Ratliff are all let go? As I have mentioned before, I don't think this season is about finding out what sort of talent the Wolves received in the trade. It's about seeing if Foye can play the point, seeing if McCants can work at the 2, clearing cap space, and getting ping pong balls. Green can dunk, Gomes can miss shots, Ratliff can give us $11 million off the books, and Bassy...well, he may be a nice back up 1. There...another moral victory.

PPS: Don't forget about the Derrick Rose/OJ Mayo showdown tonight on ESPN. Details here.