10 best NBA front offices

Potentially the most exciting team in the NBA on the cusp of a break-through 2016-17 campaign is the Minnesota Timberwolves. In a matter of three offseasons, the Timberwolves have gone from completely irrelevant in the deep Western Conference to potentially a team that can win a playoff series this summer.

How did Minnesota do this? Through great decisions emanating down from owner Glen Taylor and a strong pragmatic rebuilding approach by the late coach Flip Saunders. While the Timberwolves were mediocre for the last decade, the sister-team in the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx has gradually become the best-run organization in their league. Taylor owns both clubs and it was only a matter of time before the good vibes of the Lynx matriculated to the Timberwolves.

Minnesota’s first great move was to trade frustrated superstar Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. Bennett has busted catastrophically, but Wiggins should find himself contending for a trip to the 2017 NBA All-Star Game his third year in the league.

The Timberwolves have continued to build magnificently through the draft with Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns, and most recently Kris Dunn. They’ve also got a suitable starting point guard in Ricky Rubio who is a fan favorite and the franchise’s greatest player in Kevin Garnett helping in grooming these young players.

The quartet of Towns, Wiggins, LaVine, and Rubio was interesting last season with Sam Mitchell as interim head coach after the untimely passing of Saunders. The 2015-16 Timberwolves had an eerie vibe similar to what the Oklahoma City Thunder felt like their first few years in existence before breaking through.

Now the Timberwolves are poised to end their 12-year postseason drought in 2017 for three reasons:

1.) Minnesota hired the absolute best coach on the open market in former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau. This young and dynamic team is going to learn to play championship caliber defense under the best defensive mind the NBA has seen in 15 years.

2.) Towns is on the precipice of being an all-time great player and Wiggins feels All-Star caliber. That duo could be the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen component the Timberwolves frankly have never had. Stephon Marbury/Garnett was short lived and Love/Rubio had its limitations.

3.) The Timberwolves drafted what was easily the best point guard prospect in the 2016 NBA Draft in the Providence Friars’ Dunn. It’s still mind-numbing how he fell all the way to Minnesota at No. 5.

Getting Wiggins, LaVine, Towns, and now Dunn in three straight drafts has given Minnesota all the talent Thibodeau will need to get the Timberwolves over the top in 2016-17. If they get to the playoffs this summer and make some noise, the Timberwolves may have had the best rebuilding project in the NBA for the last 10 years. They are on the cusp of something special. Taylor, Thibodeau, and general manager Scott Layden feel undoubtedly united entering 2016-17.

Next: 8. Toronto Raptors.