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Opinion
A team often plagued with scrutiny for wasting talent, the Timberwolves are still sitting stagnant and out of favour in the Western Conference playoff race.
Despite having one of the best big men in Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves have constantly struggled to support their young star with a decent supporting cast. The best the team has done since drafting Towns was trade for Jimmy Butler, who exposed a lot of the team’s weaknesses. The star accused Towns and Wiggins of being lazy and soft while defeating them in a practice match a few years ago.
Since that time, the team has not contributed much in improving the team. Despite Towns being a rebounding and scoring machine, he cannot do it all himself and has lacked toughness at times. However, the team attempted to change its fortunes by trading for All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell.
This move was a brilliant play despite giving up an immense amount to acquire his services. The Wolves traded both Andrew Wiggins and a 2021 first-round pick (top-three protected) in order to secure the talents of Russell.
Russell averaged 21.7 PPG and 6.6 APG during his 12 games for the Wolves, and seems to fit in well with Towns and the rest of the team. The Timberwolves also brought in solid contributors in Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez from the Denver Nuggets during the trade period, with the club experiencing a lot of player movement.
Most of the moves made sense for the club in the long term, however time will tell whether the transaction will pay off.
The Wolves will look to hang onto Towns and Russell, using them as the cornerstones to build their team around.
The most interesting prospect going into the offseason for the Wolves is their number one pick in the draft. There are a few moves that the team could make with the pick, with the most obvious being drafting Anthony Edwards at number one.
Edwards provides a much better fit in the team when opposed to players like LaMelo Ball. Edwards plays the shooting guard position, which fits the needs of the Wolves and he can create his own shot. This provides the Wolves with another offensive threat and an athletic guard that has tremendous upside.
However, another move they could make is trading the pick. I would personally love to see the team attempt to trade the pick for Devin Booker. Booker is one of the best scoring players in the game and nearly led the Suns to the playoffs during a tremendous stretch in the NBA bubble.
The Suns could look towards the future as the team has not had much success during their time with Booker and the young star would be interested in the prospect of playing alongside good friends D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Timberwolves have received a lot of scrutiny over the years, with their main success of the season being the trade that sent Russell to Minnesota. However, this offseason could be a major factor in changing their fortunes with the number one pick being how they shape their moves.
Things are certainly getting interesting in Minnesota.
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