Before anything gets misinterpreted, I do want to say, it is a good thing that Julius Randle got traded. Running it back with him after how sourly it ended just wasn't in the cards, and washing our hands of that whole experience was probably good.
But as much as Randle didn't fit at all on the roster, he did average 20 points per game and was very durable during his tenure. They just traded that for nothing. I don't buy that this is all that they're going to do, and I would bet that something a lot larger is coming and that Tim Connelly has something creative up his sleeve.
Because if he doesn't, it would be an extremely bad look for him for several reasons.
The entire Julius Randle era was a flop -- but it is still redeemable
Two years ago, the Wolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks, where Julius Randle was the headline piece coming back to Minnesota. Towns just won a championship, while Randle scored three points in an elimination game.
The Wolves then had to trade down in the draft just to get off of Randle's contract, which they chose to extend last offseason. They could have chosen to extend Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who just won the Most Improved Player award, over Randle, but they let him walk in free agency.
Luckily for the Wolves, they do have lots of roster flexibility and money to work with this offseason, to the point where I think this Randle deal can be considered incomplete for now. If the opening day roster next season is just the same roster that ended this year, minus Randle, serious questions need to be raised about how serious this front office is about winning.
The Wolves still need to find Ant his true co-star
At this point, I'm not sure what the Wolves will do. Maybe Kyrie Irving is available now? Maybe they trade into the Lottery and draft Labaron Philon to be the point guard of the future? Maybe they look to replace Rudy Gobert with a more offensive big man like Anthony Davis? Honestly, I wouldn't put anything off the table.
The Wolves' core, as it is, is good. But good isn't going to advance you to where you want to go. They've been to the conference finals; they now need to find the piece that can help them get farther than that.
Connelly has his work cut out for him this offseason, because if it flops, he might be known in the future as the guy who squandered Anthony Edwards' prime years due to his mismanagement of all of his assets and being too content with being good instead of striving to be great.
