NBA Free Agency 2018: 5 offseason targets for the Minnesota Timberwolves

3. Nemanja Bjelica

Nemanja Bjelica is a stretchy 4 man that offering a blend of shooting, off the bounce verve and passing nuance. That sounds like a perfect fit beside KAT in a starting lineup that isn’t exactly trigger happy from deep right? Not if you ask Coach Thibs. He never really trusted Bjelica last season, preferring to start Taj Gibson at the 4 spot.  Gibson had a nice year, but the minutes breakdown between Minnesota’s two primary options at power forward probably skewed too heavily toward Gibson. The 30-year old Serbian only entered the starting lineup after Butler went down with a meniscus injury in February.

Bjelica will become a restricted free agent in July and his financial situation will be tricky for Minnesota to sort out. His qualifying offer for next year is worth about $5 million. If Bjelica were to hit the open market, his value might be slightly lower. The two sides could theoretically agree to a deal in the summer but if Thibs doesn’t feel confident in Bjelica’s abilities, Minnesota might not even send a qualifying offer his way. That would be a mistake. At the very least they should extend the offer and see how his market develops.

Although giving Bjelica more minutes is not some sort of panacea for this team’s woes, he is a solid player. He’s better than any 4 man the Wolves can afford on the free agent market, so they should probably bring him back if possible. Of course, re-signing Bjelica or keeping him on the qualifying offer would probably limit their willingness to pursue other free agents at the taxpayer-MLE contract; the Wolves would then have to make due with minimum level signings to fill out the roster. But if they’re committed to avoiding the tax this coming year, they don’t have many attractive options.