Answering the five biggest questions facing the Minnesota Timberwolves entering the 2019-20 NBA season.
1. What does success look like for the Timberwolves this season?
Trading Andrew Wiggins without taking back any major long-term salary.
The experiment hasn’t worked out yet and his promise to play harder once he received his maximum extension has mostly fallen flat on its face to this point. He seems to be the exact same player he’s been for the majority of his NBA career.
A lot of teams underwent major transformations this offseason, so it will likely take some time for any such deal to materialize that Minnesota would even consider doing. However, if they can find a team desperate enough to take Wiggins and keep their future cap sheet relatively clear, that would be the ultimate swindle by this franchise.
2. By the end of the season, Andrew Wiggins is ________.
Oh, this is a bit awkward … by the end of the season, Andrew Wiggins is collecting $27.5 million. With him, it’s truly hard to predict what he will do — unless he’s playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, then he looks like a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection. The talent and athleticism are there and clear as day, yet year after year he’s unable to put it all together consistently.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are under new management with former Houston Rockets executive Gersson Rosas taking over as president of basketball operations. He’s yet to make an earth-shattering move, but you can bet that one is on the way.
Wiggins would make the most sense as the team attempts to build the best roster around Karl-Anthony Towns. Wiggins isn’t really great at any one thing, but he is highly skilled and can do just enough of everything to make him a tantalizing prospect.
That still doesn’t mean he’ll remain with Minnesota for the entirety of the season, and it also doesn’t mean that any of the other 29 teams will be pounding down the doors of the Timberwolves offices to get him in a trade.
3. Come up with a nickname to describe the defensive chops of the Wolves’ wing trio — Robert Covington, Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie.
“Analyze This.”
Robert Covington is Robert DeNiro, Josh Okogie is Chazz Palminteri and Jarrett Culver is Billy Crystal. Analytics is going to be a big part of the Wolves franchise with the regime change. All of the new statistics that basketball analytics have brought to the NBA have helped to make the game better and more easily defined.
However, defense is the one area that is still trying to be calculated in a more efficient manner. Yet, when you have the talents of Covington, Culver and Okogie, there isn’t much use for advanced stats and data. If you need more of an explanation, then go watch the classic 1999 film.
4. The Timberwolves finish __th in defensive efficiency this season.
The Timberwolves finish 25th in defensive efficiency this season. I’m just not a believer yet.
5. ______ is to the Timberwolves as getting an Apple credit card is to making smart financial decisions.
Andrew Wiggins is to the Timberwolves as getting an Apple credit card is to making smart financial decisions.
(PS: I didn’t go into this preview intending for it to become a hit-piece on Wiggins, but it looks that way now. Here’s to Wiggins shutting me up in a major way and becoming an All-Star and a player worthy of that big-money extension he got two years ago).