Howls And Growls: Naz Reid Re-Signs
Reviewing the Wolves' latest roster move, from both sides of the fence.
Naz Reid has inked a 3-year, $42 million deal to remain with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Just when it seemed he would drift into free agency as a wanted man with offers aplenty, Reid secured his future before the offseason’s feeding frenzy even began.
Less than a week after completing some draft night moving and shaking, Tim Connelly and his front office fellows seemed unsatisfied. Now, they have their biggest free agency question answered. Securing Reid allows them to head into free agency with one less worry and a clearer picture of their salary cap situation, roster structure, and potential roles for next season.
With Reid officially in tow, let’s dive into what we need to howl from the rooftops about and what deserves a guttural growl.
Howl: Reward For Effort
Before all of the money machinations and humdrum spreadsheets start to enter into the equation, it’s worth taking a minute to appreciate Naz Reid’s winding road to a big fucker of a payday. There just isn’t enough appreciation around for players these days. Winning is the biggest part of the sport, it’s what drives every person in every organization, but it’s nice to take a step back and revel in a fantastic story.
Reid was a pudgy ball of clay who watched 60 selections come and go on his draft night, his name uncalled and his professional dreams wilting. After he signed a post-draft two-way contract with the Timberwolves, he showed enough immediate potential to force the Gersson Rosas front office to axe his two-way and turn into a low-paying guaranteed deal.
Every year since his whirlwind beginnings, Reid has improved. He slimmed down, turning from a butter block into a piece of chiseled granite. He became a better shooter, then a better finisher, and this past season he took steps as a defender and a rebounder while continuing to finetune the rest of his game.
He still has burrs to polish in all of those areas, but he hasn’t shown the fans or the organization any reason to doubt his growth arc. Work ethic of that nature, whether it’s in sports or any other profession around the globe, should be rewarded. It’s nice to see Reid reap his rewards.
Growl: That’s A Fat Stack
Now that we’re done appreciating the path Reid took to his bulging wallet, it’s also time to acknowledge that that’s a lot of money for the cap-strapped Timberwolves to commit to a third center. According to Spotrac, Reid’s $14 million average annual value would be the 16th-highest among the league’s centers. Again, that seems a smidge high.
For many other teams around the association, Reid would make a ton of sense on that deal, but the Wolves have now tripled down on the really-fucking-big roster experiment, despite the looming specter that is the new collective bargaining agreement.
Of course, signing Reid hasn’t doomed them. They have a number of paths to cap space freedom, including an eventual (maybe inevitable) trade of one of the bigs, and there is a legitimate chance they might make their zigging-not-zagging style work next season. Still, everything about the Wolves’ roster is strangely assembled, and this deal isn’t any different … for now.
Howl: Changing Of The Guard
If the Timberwolves front office is true to their word and are now considering Anthony Edwards (and, by proxy, Jaden McDaniels) as the future and the present of their team, then this was the first move that actually stayed true to that timeline.
Before now, it’s been all about Karl-Anthony Towns’ prime and exhausting resources in order to maximize it, but this was an actual commitment to youth and to Edwards and McDaniels. That feels new and it feels right.
Reid hasn’t always been an advanced stats or on-off darling, but the Wolves were 14.8 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor alongside McDaniels and Edwards compared to when Reid played without the dynamic wing duo. Not only did they vibe on the court, but it’s no secret that Ant and Alfredo were leading the recruitment charge to keep the big man in the Twin Cities.
Edwards, who’s now unequivocally the franchise’s face, has watched his employer ship a number of his mentors and close friends off since he arrived in the league. First, it was Ricky Rubio, then he lost the chance to storm any more scorer’s tables with Patrick Beverley, and last season he lost D’Angelo Russell. All of those moves — many of them justified from an organizational standpoint — were intended to win now and maximize Towns and later Rudy Gobert.
This was a move not only for Reid, but for Edwards and McDaniels and the future of the franchise. Finally.
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