Q: How much pick-up ball do players play during a normal off season? Presumably they've been play less but I've been wondering how much less both w/ the restart and the young T-wolves players? -- @Dharmabum13
A: Most players have workout plans in the offseason with trainers. A lot of players spend time in Los Angeles playing pickup games as part of those workouts. Needless to say, this has all gone out the window this summer. Wolves players have been able to go back into the Wolves facility for individual workouts for about two months now and the team re-convened in Minnesota over the last week. But these individual workouts can only go so far.
It's one of the reasons the Wolves, along with the other eight teams who didn't make the Orlando bubble, are trying to get a secondary bubble going. They are likely to go more than nine months without playing a game. That's a long stretch to go without any kind of competition or organized team activities. So I get why they want to hold something like this. I just don't know how feasible it's all going to be, especially if you try to compel players who are set to be free agents to put their bodies on the line for essentially nothing.
Q: How likely is it that [Malik] Beasley or Juancho [Hernangomez] remain with the Wolves? -- @MrMikeMQ
A: If the Wolves and President Gersson Rosas had their way both would be back. Of course getting down to the numbers is easier said than done, especially as the Wolves will have to evaluate where things stand with next season's salary cap. Reminder, as we've covered in previous mailbags (this is what happens when you go months without anything happening), both are restricted free agents, meaning the Wolves can match any offer that comes in for them.
Other teams are also going to be up against the likely reduced cap and that could suppress the market for both of them. As it pertains to Beasley, he's never had an opportunity like this in his career and his short stint with the Wolves raised his profile considerably. He has a chance to be a starter here for a while, a role he long craved with Denver but never got.
Hernangomez figures to command less money than Beasley. The question with him is if he's good enough to be the Wolves' starting four alongside Karl-Anthony Towns. It's a big if and I don't know that anybody knows that answer for sure. But Hernangomez looks the part for what the Wolves want to do offensively at least.
Q: If the universe aligns just right what percentage of scenarios do the Sixers implode in the playoffs, Wolves get #1 pick and trade LaMelo [Ball] , [Jarrett] Culver, James Johnson or Juancho (possibly plus 2023 1st) for Ben Simmons? And is there a better outcome for the universe? -- @BrianKoskey
