https://reurl.cc/WkkgWy After the midway point of the season, Gupta said he was happy with the Wolves (20-22) being in contention for a playoff spot or spot in the play-in tournament. "We're two games out of the No. 5 [seed]. We're closer to five than we are to 10. That feels really good," Gupta said. "The coaching staff has done a great job. We've been a top-10 defense over the year so far, which this roster isn't one that we felt was the strongest on the defensive end.” Because of the Wolves' start and defensive ranking, Gupta said he would categorize them more as "buyers" at the deadline because there's an opportunity to secure a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament. But being a "buyer" doesn't mean shopping for a rental player who won't be in Minnesota beyond this season. Gupta said any deal the Wolves make will be geared toward improving now and over the next five years to maximize the "runway" Gupta said the Wolves have with center Karl-Anthony Towns and guards D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards. "We do see an opportunity to get up to maybe the five [seed], to work our way out of the play-in to just secure a playoff spot outright, which would be great," Gupta said. "Given that opportunity, I'd say we're more buyers. But generally I would say we're buyers over the long term.” Gupta 表示理想情況是避開附加賽直接進季後賽。而本季交易大限，球隊更 接近買家身份參與，主要提升以KAT、Dlo、Ant 為核心的長期競爭力，不會 把租借球員半季當作交易目標。 --- Vanderbilt has meshed with Towns on offense with his spacing, and his offensive rebounding has helped the Wolves become a top-five team in that statistic. He's also been a good pick-and-roll partner for Russell. "He's been really impactful. In a lot of ways [Vanderbilt] has been a good frontcourt partner for KAT," Gupta said. "That has changed a little bit how we look at things. He's gained a real starting role, playing big minutes and he's really earned that. I think we need to be cognizant of that, to look at other potential acquisitions to see how that impacts his minutes because he's really earned the minutes that he's playing right now.” V8 崛起改變了高層對球隊陣容的想法，制服組會把任何新進成員如何影響 V8 的出賽機會納入考量。 --- Despite the playoff push, Gupta said he did not feel like the Wolves are prepared to pay the luxury tax this season by taking on additional salaries, but that is on the table in future years. "We're probably not at the position yet where it's going to make sense to go into it and add to the potential to be a repeater at some point," Gupta said. 雖然要衝擊季後賽，但 Gupta 認為球隊還未走到承接更多薪資，繳交豪華稅 階段，也許再等幾個球季之後。 But the playoffs are in sight sooner than later, and Gupta said he's ready to strike to make the Wolves better now. --- 距離交易大限剩不到一個月，很久沒當買家了，Gupta 提供一些線索。 --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 1.169.212.145 (臺灣) ※ 文章網址: https://webptt.com/m.aspx?n=bbs/Timberwolves/M.1642347556.A.BB9.html 這一篇看起來是被誤刪...XD ※ 編輯: jinshenn (1.169.195.66 臺灣), 01/21/2022 23:54:18