The Iowa Wolves bring the noise
Ryan Grant, President of Operations for the Iowa Wolves GLeague team, made a commitment a few weeks ago: they were going to bring the highest quality basketball possible to the Wells Fargo arena.
Saturday, the team went into overdrive to make good on that.
GLeague draft weekend saw the Wolves ultimately trade away both of their draft picks as part of a whirlwind of roster moves that shaped the team into a suddenly formidable and exciting squad. Last season, the team was busy rebranding after being officially affiliated with the Timberwolves, and then focusing their resources on rehabilitating and developing Justin Patton. This year, they decided to come ferocious right out of the gate.
1. The Wolves acquired Xavier Silas and Roddy Peters for Daxter Miles Jr. This is the first big move the team has made in terms of really looking to build a winner. Xavier Silas is a GLeague All Star who’s been picked up by NBA teams on summer league, ten day, and training camp deals throughout the years, as well as played overseas and as a top talent in the BIG3 league. He’s a veteran scorer who can immediately step in as the first option on offense in the wake of Anthony Brown. There will likely be a give and take in that role between Silas and Jared Terrell, but the acquisition of Xavier locks down the small forward position for the Wolves at a very high quality.
As for Miles Jr, a trade made the most sense for both him and the team. Daxter is an undersized combo guard with a high motor and great athleticism. That’s fine, but also the same player archetype as Terrell, who’s already on a two-way deal. There was no good way to feature them both together when neither is a true point guard. Daxter will now have the opportunity at a focused role he wouldn’t have gotten here.
2. The Wolves acquired Jaylen Johnson and Jerrell Eddie for JaKarr Sampson and Mike Amius. This is an interesting trade. JaKarr is a veteran who’s played legitimate rotation minutes at the NBA level for the 76ers, Nuggets and Kings. Mike Amius was their second round pick who has a game that seemed to make him a good replacement for Amile Jefferson.
The trade highlights the interest the Wolves have in Jaylen Johnson, a 6’9”, 250 lbs forward with a vast array of skills.
Johnson’s ability to handle and sling passes from the frontcourt will allow the Wolves to continue running their inverted offense of cuts and kickouts they developed last season around Patton. Johnson will be challenged physically, as he figures to spend most of his time on the court as an undersized center (the team only has one true center on their training camp roster) But as we saw with Patton, bigs with guard skillsets can do a lot of damage by making plays other teams simply don’t expect from players that size. He’s going to be a ton of fun to watch.
3. The Wolves pick up their affiliate players from the Timberwolves’ training camp roster. For those of you wondering why Canyon Barry, Darius Johnson-Odom, and William Lee were signed to training camp deals then immediately waived, this is it. By signing those players to NBA deals, even for a few hours, the Wolves then own their rights to send to their GLeague affiliate. All teams with a team association do this now.
Johnson-Odom is the big name in this group. He’s a veteran point guard who’s spent time in the NBA, Euroleague, and GLeague, who will stabilize the backcourt while splitting time with rookie Jonathan Stark. I strongly believe every GLeague team should have a veteran point guard to play big minutes for them. The point of the GLeague is player development, which requires a steady hand to lead and execute the playbook. Last season, Melo Trimble was the starter, and with nothing against him (individually he was actually probably too good to be in the GLeague) he simply didn’t have the experience to really help Justin Patton. Having Johnson-Odom to direct the floor and serve as a mentor to Stark and Jared Terrell will help the team immensely in fulfilling their developmental duties, as well as provide a much higher quality of basketball for the fans.
4. The Wolves acquired Hakim Warrick.
Oh boy.
Oh. Boy.
I’m not sure I can properly describe my excitement for this.
Hakim Warrick was my favorite player on the Carmelo Anthony Syracuse team that won the NCAA title (thanks, in no small part, to Warrick making an impossible block on Lee’s corner three at the end of the game) And he’s remained a personal favorite of mine ever since. Like, how Corey Brewer is a favorite of yours? That’s Hakim Warrick to me. He’s my Corey Brewer before Corey Brewer.
Warrick is a MONSTER athlete who spent several seasons in the NBA playing for the Grizzlies and Suns, where he was a natural fit as a roll man next to Steve Nash.
He then spent a few seasons overseas, in the CBA, Australia, Euroleague, and most recently Israel. He’s 36 now, but last year he showed he still has his legs very much underneath him.
With Silas occupying the small forward spot, Warrick will almost certainly start at power forward, where his reach, leaping, and experience can play off the strengths of Jaylen Johnson as well as cover some of the weaknesses of Johnson playing as an undersized center. The two man game between them should be special. And having a legit NBA veteran to anchor the team will raise the floor of their competitiveness considerably.
Hopefully Warrick gets called up, since getting back on an NBA roster is the only reason he’d turn down Euroleague money to a $30,000 mercenary contract. Hopefully it’s with the Timberwolves. He can help them. The Wolves went way out of their way to get Elijah Millsap (another personal favorite of mine) last season, then never called him up even though he earned it and the Wolves were in dire need of depth on the wings after Jimmy got hurt. I’d like to think Warrick will get a fairer look.
In the meantime, getting to watch him play for Iowa is incredibly exciting. The Wolves dealt away a solid guard (and dunk contest level athlete) in Michael Bryson to get Warrick. It was 100% the right move. I was admittedly struggling to find a big interest with the Iowa Wolves to dig into this year like I had with Patton last year. When Warrick declared for the GLeague draft, I had a spark of hope that he’d be the answer for me. Then he was drafted two spots ahead of the Wolves’ pick, and I figured “well, that’s that” and moved on. Then a few hours later, BAM, Warricks a Wolf. My interest in the team spiked massively, and I imagine the same happened for all the fans in Iowa. This is big time for me, getting to see one of my favorites wear a Wolves jersey.
By acquiring a flotilla of veteran players with NBA experience, the Iowa Wolves have made a clear commitment to taking the competitive aspect of the GLeague seriously. Unlike last season, which was all about learning the ropes both on and off the court, this season the Wolves are here to rack up wins. And with athletes like Terrell, Silas, Johnson, and Warrick, they’ll produce more than their fair share of highlights for the fans along the way.
