So Minny wants our Clipper's first for Michael Beasley...Wes Johnson anybody?

[PosImpos]

i think it depends now much beasley is willing to resign for,

I think it depends more on what sort of offer sheet another team would give Beasley.  Ideally, Ainge would like to sign Beasley for the one-year qualifying offer.  He has to be concerned that some team will come along and offer something like 3 years/$30m.

If Ainge likes Beasley as a long-term piece and has given up on this season, then he should wait for the off-season.  I can see the case for Minnesota being unlikely to match an offer sheet.

It's possible Ainge would want to have Beasley on hand for 30 games to get a better sense of him as a person and as a player and then decide what to offer.

I don't think any teams will offer 3 yrs / 30 million, but Beasley might get an offer like 2 yrs / 15 million, or 3 yrs / 25 million.

and even then, you have his bird rights...so if some team offers him that you can do a sign and trade and get something in return.

right now we are getting nothing in return for JO coming off the books

I don't think Bird Rights really matter if you're gonna be way under the cap anyway, unless some other team wants to offer Beasley 4 or 5 years (doubtful).

[cman88]

another question would be IMO...isnt beasley kind of redundant if we have Jeff Green possibly back after the summer?

sure theres no guarantee he will re-sign with us. but the fact that he's still hanging around the team(and has stated he wants to remain here) puts us in the drivers seat to re-sign him.

although IMO Beasley has a higher potential ceiling

[Smutzy#9]

Beasly would be good to have but he would definatly have to accept the fact that he will be coming off the bench for the rest of this season. Also it gives us a little room if Green doesnt sign in the off season. I would much rather have Green sign with us and see him just explode back onto the scene (the guy does have serious potential) But i think Beasly could offer us some good scoring numbers off the bench which is what we desperatly need atm.

[LooseCannon]

It's possible Ainge would want to have Beasley on hand for 30 games to get a better sense of him as a person and as a player and then decide what to offer.

I can't see that being worth a late first round pick.

[PosImpos]

It's possible Ainge would want to have Beasley on hand for 30 games to get a better sense of him as a person and as a player and then decide what to offer.

I can't see that being worth a late first round pick.

Probably not, but if the team wants to invest a good amount of money in Beasley, they ought to be sure about it first.

[jdz101]

Keep away from Wes Johnson.... Got underwhelming written all over him....

[Cman]

another question would be IMO...isnt beasley kind of redundant if we have Jeff Green possibly back after the summer?

sure theres no guarantee he will re-sign with us. but the fact that he's still hanging around the team(and has stated he wants to remain here) puts us in the drivers seat to re-sign him.

although IMO Beasley has a higher potential ceiling

Jeff Green is a free agent. Beasley would be a restricted free agent.

[timepiece33]

It makes sense to offer Jermaine O'Neal and the clippers number 1 to get either Beasley or OJ Mayo

[Chris]

I'm confused by this logic.  Minnesota wants the Clippers pick in order to get value back from Beasley, so we are going to make them include their lottery pick from a couple years ago, in order to include it?  Why would that make it more likely for Minny to pull the trigger?  It is actually making it a worse deal than just JO for Beasley straight up, from their point of view.

[bfrombleacher]

I'm confused by this logic.  Minnesota wants the Clippers pick in order to get value back from Beasley, so we are going to make them include their lottery pick from a couple years ago, in order to include it?  Why would that make it more likely for Minny to pull the trigger?  It is actually making it a worse deal than just JO for Beasley straight up, from their point of view.

The way I see it, Beasley is gone anyway. They're giving him away like they did a few years ago.

My interpretation is that they're warming up to JO + money (essentially cap space) but want a bit more.

That little bit more could be a fresh start from Wes Johnson.

He's been underwhelming for them but he's long and athletic so he has potential. From what I heard he played the 4 in college and is now playing the 2 so perhaps he'd fare better at the three.

Kurt Rambis stunted the development of the team with his own version of the complex triangle offense, forcing Johnson to play at the 2. Now, Adelman's system gets his bigs good shots, not Wes Johnson, and he's still playing the 2.

Essentially, we'd be 'drafting' Johnson instead of our pick.

My scouting report (a couple of google inquiries) is that he's long, athletic and plays solid defense (and possesses some awesome PF attributes like shot blocking and rebounding). He's been in the wrong system playing at the wrong position (and the Wolves are stacked at the three). He'd probably be more NBA ready than what we might get with the Clipper's pick.

We'd turn the pick into a sort of low risk, medium-low abnormal return (again, because he's just been a bad fit. Worst case scenario you get a solid defender/trade bait) investment from what I see.

In contrast, drafts are relatively high risk. Even in stacked drafts (see 1996), something like half the first rounders are non-players. Needless to say the lower you go, the more risk you bear.

http://landof10klosses.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/2011-2012-timberwolves-season-preview/ <--- scroll down to his summary. Sums up what I think pretty well in terms of his ability.