A look at the five biggest needs for the Timberwolves in the 2017 NBA offseason.
The 2016-17 season for the Minnesota Timberwolves will be categorized as a disappointment by some as the T-Wolves went 31-51, finishing with the third-worst record in the West. Despite the fact that many people projected this team to compete for the eighth seed in the West, this might be more of a disappointment than a reality check.
Everyone was talking about how a raw Kris Dunn was going be in the discussion for Rookie of the Year and players like Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Cole Aldrich were going to lock people up in a complicated defensive system that they would be spending their first season in.
Right now, the Timberwolves are in the precarious place where they need to decide if they want to run it back while adding a piece here or there, or if they need to take a step back and fill up some holes that were not sealed during the rebuild.
If you find yourself with Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Zach LaVine, and a lottery pick, on your roster, you aren’t doing bad for yourself. However, there are still a few things that need to happen this offseason to put the team and franchise in the best position to succeed.
Looking to the summer ahead, these are the five biggest offseason needs for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
5. Trade Ricky Rubio
It’s time. It’s time to admit that the Timberwolves have to sell while Rubio’s stock is still (sort of) high. It doesn’t matter that Dunn didn’t absolutely blow our minds in his first season. It was his first season. Kyle Lowry, Isiah Thomas, Mike Conley, Rajon Rondo, and John Wall did not come in and dominate the league their rookie year and look at them now.
Dunn had a rough rookie year, but he has so much potential and it is time to unlock that by giving him the full-time gig. With a steal percentage of 3.0 and a block percentage of 2.3 in last years’ campaign, Dunn became the fourth-youngest in a group of only 29 to record those numbers in the minimum of forty games. That list includes Tony Allen, Dwayne Wade, Draymond Green, and Michael Jordan.
A few potential Rubio deals would be sending him to the Kings for Arron Afflalo and their tenth overall pick in this years draft, or possible to the Spurs for their first round pick and a player to make the salaries work.
The Kings have been very interested in Rubio for quite some time now and might opt to go with a proven commodity over taking a chance in the draft, picking up their future small forward with their eighth pick instead of a point guard. A lineup of Rubio, Buddy Hield, Jonathan Issac, Skal Labissière and Willie Cauley-Stein would definitely be a step in the right direction for the Kings.
After this move, the Timberwolves would hold the sixth and the tenth pick in the NBA Draft with some decisions to make. Rubio is 26 and with two years left on his contract, he hasn’t exactly excelled in Minnesota. If you keep Rubio around and only get one pick in this year’s draft, then lose him to free-agency two years later, what was the point?
Strike while the iron is hot, and bring back some assets that will peak with the rest of the talent the Timberwolves have and not three years before.