Hoops Hype: 5 NBA execs feel ‘Timberwolves overpaid’ for Rudy Gobert

Timberwolves paying a premium for Rudy Gobert because:

The price for Gobert will be up for public debate for the next several years. Not because the deal itself is such an NBA landmark transaction, but because the availability of NBA star Kevin Durant has suddenly come to rely upon the Jazz-Timberwolves exchange as setting the market value of Durant’s new asking price.

There is no NBA team in existence to trade for Durant at that price. Teams that are in the hunt for an NBA Playoff would have to give up too much to get Durant, and would therefore not be positioned to compete for postseason play. Teams that can afford to get Durant with NBA Draft packages are not in the hunt for an NBA Playoff berth, to begin with.

Catch 22.

But let’s be clear. The Minnesota Timberwolves are out to get better, not to facilitate a trade to place Nets Kevin Durant on a new team. It’s simply as simple as that.

I – Changing the culture

The Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to convert the franchise into a destination sought by NBA free agents to come to play.  But much like the first investors in a gambling casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, the first impression was similar. They paid too much to build a hotel/casino in the middle of the desert that nobody would come to. But they are not saying that now.

Plan ahead.

That’s why we place shopping malls on the outskirts of towns. It’s why we build power plants that are far in excess of today’s electric demand. It’s why we buy children’s clothes one size too big.

They’ll grow into them.

And it’s why the Timberwolves were willing to pay so much for Rudy Gobert today. He will help the Timberwolves ascend to become one of the best team’s in the NBA, and will do so for the next four seasons.