The Minnesota Timberwolves were fortunate enough to receive the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, and I would say grabbing Karl-Anthony Towns along with Tyus Jones was a pretty good move for a franchise still in its rebuilding process.
The Timberwolves already have a young star in Andrew Wiggins, who shot 43 percent and averaged just under 17 points per game. So you take last season’s Rookie of the Year and place him next to Jones in the back court and Towns down low, and you are guaranteed to win games.
Now I’m not saying the Timberwolves are going to be Finals contenders next year or anything. All three of these players are still extremely young, and Towns and Jones still have to prove their worth in the league. If these two draft picks stay healthy next season and live up to their potential, I doubt the Timberwolves will have a top-10 draft pick next year. They won’t need it.
With Minnesota being in the Western Conference, it will still be hard for them to make the playoffs, especially when the Lakers could potentially land a big man out of free agency to go along with D’Angelo Russell and be right back in the playoff mix, as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder with Durant coming back. However, even if the Timberwolves don’t make the playoffs next year, I still think they will have a decent season which will give them a lot to look forward to in the future.
If Minnesota is able to keep Wiggins, Towns and Jones together, along with adding other pieces around them in the next three or four years, they could be a team which could run deep into the playoffs. The great thing about having young, talented players on your roster is when they do start to show their worth in the league, older veteran players will start to gravitate toward them in hopes of being a part of a championship run.
There aren’t many experienced veterans on the team right now outside of Kevin Martin and Kevin Garnett, who only has a couple of years left. If the Timberwolves are able to land a few more bench players and another shooter in the next couple of years, they will be a force in the league.
Wiggins has showed he is the player everybody expected him to be; now Towns has to do the same. If Towns does not become as productive as he is projected to be, the Timberwolves will not become a playoff team in the near future. I think putting Towns next to a rising star like Wiggins is the greatest thing that could have happened to him. The reason why is because Towns will be able to develop properly because the scouting report will not be all about him. Wiggins is still the best player on the team, which takes some pressure off of Towns so he can just sit back and play basketball. If he ends up being great, the Western Conference better look out for the Minnesota Timberwolves, because they are on the rise.
frbonner@indiana.edu
