Thoughts on LaMelo Ball and the Timberwolves

I was going to write about the Grizzlies draft today. I wanted to talk about my feelings of the team moving forward. But the Timberwolves and Hornets pulled off a blockbuster trade and that takes precedent today.

As I was driving my son to football camp this morning the notification came across my watch that the Hornets were sending LaMelo Ball to the Timberwolves. That was all I saw at 8:30 this morning. It wasn't until I got to my folks house that I saw the rest of the trade. The Hornets sent LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Timberwolves for Naz Reid and a bunch of picks and pick swaps.

This was wildly unexpected. I heard last night, during round two of the draft, that the Hornets were mildly shopping Ball. I thought it was just draft talk and would amount to nothing. I went to bed expecting Ball to be a Hornet next season. And then this dropped. I know that Anthony Edwards has wanted to be paired with another star around his age, and the Timberwolves were exploring a bunch of options. I know they kicked the tires on Giannis and Ja Morant, but those deals never really materialized. But they started to move other guys, namely Julius Randle to the Nets for picks, so it seemed like they were trying to cook up some kind of deal. Then they pulled the trade for Ball off.

This is kind of nuts. I figured the Hornets were pretty set with the team they had in place. They made a nice push to the play-in last season, and it looked like they were going to try and build off of that. It seemed like they were happy with their three top players, Ball, Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller. They also have some nice young bigs that fit their system pretty well. But they kind of blew that all up this morning. I know they have Coby White to step in for Ball, and Naz Reid will bring veteran leadership, and he is a big that can stretch the floor, but taking away the hub seems out of the blue. Ball ran the offense. He was very wild with it, and would make inexplicable turnovers far too often, but he ran this team. He got open shots for the shooters. He is a premier lob passer. He was eager to start any and every fast break. He is a sieve on defense, but he was their guy on offense. Now he is gone, replaced with future picks and an older big man. I think the Hornets are still going to be solid, they definitely unlocked some stuff last season. But they are going to struggle to find as many open shots or fast break opportunities. Coby White is a solid point guard, but he is not on Ball's level as a passer. Knueppel won't find as many open threes either. Brandon Miller is going to have to be a little more assertive as well. The Hornets have some stuff to work out, but they should still be able to compete, especially in the East.

As for the Timberwolves, this is wild to me. They have gotten off of Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Randle struggled in the playoffs and seems to have passed his prime. It seemed inevitable that he was going to be moved. But Naz Reid was about to be put into the starting lineup. He was going to be given his chance with this squad. Now he is off to the Hornets, where I'm sure he will start as well. The Timberwolves will look different now, and they won't have as much size. Ball is going to be the 1, Anthony Edwards the 2, Jaden McDaniels at the 3, probably their young guy they all love, Joan Beringer at the 4 and Rudy Gobert at the 5. This feels like an odd starting five to me. Ball and Edwards make for a solid backcourt. I actually think those two will find a way to coexist, as long as Ball understands that this is Anthony Edwards' team. Edwards drives this team and everything runs through him. As long as he is healthy and on the floor, Edwards runs the show. McDaniels has more than proven himself as a very good three and d guy. He really showed growth and potential in the playoffs this season and he looks primed to get even better. But it is the front court that would worry me most. Beringer is totally unproven. He is only 19. I know the coaches and front office are high on him, but he has proven zero in the league to this point. He has a ton to show. And Gobert is still as stout a defender as ever, but he is not a rim runner or lethal lob threat at this point in his career. Gobert makes his due on defense, as he should. But he may end up being a dunker spot player on offense as long as he is still on the T'Wolves. They do have some solid depth too. They just gave Ayo Dosunmu a long, and well deserved contract. Isaiah Evans was a great second round pick last night, Kyle Anderson may be washed, but he can still do things in spurts that will help this team. Josh Green was a nice throw in in this deal, and he seems like he is much better off the bench. And Bones Hyland may find his niche as instant offense off the bench this season. But the team up of Edwards and Ball still has a ton to prove, obviously.

I don't know that this puts Minnasota on the level of the Thunder, Spurs or Nuggets at this point. I want the Timberwolves to succeed because I'm a big fan of Anthony Edwards. Time will tell and this deal may take a little longer to bear fruit than the Timberwolves may want. We will see. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

It Has Been a Crazy Day in the NBA

There was a flurry of NBA news this morning. Chris Paul was put in health and safety protocol. Kawhi is out with a possible Achilles injury. People were still talking about KD's epic game last night. Scott Brooks and Stan Van Gundy were relieved of their job as head coach. Also, LaMelo Ball won rookie of the year.

This has been a nutso day.

I know people are freaking out about CP3 being in health and safety protocols, but I do not think it is a really big deal. Did we all already forget that LeBron was about to be put in health and safety protocols? Did he miss any playoff games? Also, the Suns wrapped up their series last week, and the Jazz and Clippers are playing game five tonight. That series is going to go, at least, one more game, and then the East will have to finish their two series, and then the conference finals will start. I'd say, at most, Paul misses one game, if any at all. He will be fine.

The Kawhi injury is a bummer for all Clippers fans. They looked like they were putting it all together. They were playing very good defense. And Kawhi was really asserting himself as a force on both ends of the floor. He was starting to look like the Toronto version of Kawhi. With him out, who knows. No one seems to know how serious the injury may be. The Jazz are not playing great right now. The Clippers are deeper. I mean, they could still win this series, but they are going to get smoked by the Suns if Kawhi misses more time than people expect right now. I picked them to play the Nets in the finals, but I was not comfortable with that pick at the time, the Dallas series only furthered that discomfort and now Kawhi is out. Maybe the basketball gods really do dislike the Clippers.

KD was great last night. He did it all for the Nets, and they are down their other 2 star players. Harden did play, but he did not look comfortable. He looked slower than normal and could not shoot the ball. KD played every single second of that game. He was everywhere on defense. He grabbed 18 rebounds. He had 49 points, 31 in the second half. He was making incredible shots and he dished out 10 assists. That was an all time performance. KD does this all the time now. This is commonplace for him. He shows up big in the biggest moments. He was amazing to watch last night. Games like that are why I love the NBA.

LaMelo most likely deserved the rookie of the year, so his win was kind of expected. I thought after he got hurt that Anthony Edwards was going to run away with the award. He also got better, so I wouldn't have been surprised if he won it. But LaMelo played on a better team, he ran the offense and he was pretty awesome. It is very clear he is the most talented Ball brother.

Finally we have the two coaches being let go. The Scott Brooks thing was kind of expected. He has done a solid job of doing just enough in Washington of getting the most out of a not so loaded roster. He's gone to the playoffs a few times. He has put together some nice winning streaks. He got Russ to play an all around type game. Bradley Beal has flourished under him. But the Wizards never met their own personal high standards. They only made the east semis once. They were a team no one was really afraid of in the playoffs. They have not been very good for the past couple years, and Brooks' time there had come to an end. He did all he could, and it was not enough. He will still get interviews from other teams, but I think Brooks is exactly as good as he will ever be as a head coach. Any team that may hire him in the future will know exactly what they are getting from him. His team's will be okay, but never great.

As for Stan Van Gundy, that one surprised me. I read that some of the players on the team did not really like him, and he has not been great in his last two stops, but letting him go after one shortened season, that is cold. That franchise is doing everything they can to keep Zion, but this will be his third coach in his third season. That kind of inconsistency would leave me a little nervous if I were a player. The constant change is not good. There is no continuity. He will have to learn yet another game plan. So will all the other players. This is a problem. They should have given him at least one more season, just to see what happens. But teams just do not want to wait around anymore. They want instant gratification, and if it doesn't work right away, they just move on. That's a bummer.

Now we will just have to wait and see if the NBA throws anything else at us today. It has been crazy enough already, but hey, there is still 10 hours left in the day. It could get even wilder.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.