Minnesota Timberwolves

          The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the most interesting teams in the Western Conference. The Twolves are going through a rebuilding process after trading superstar Kevin Love but how bad will the Wolves be? The Wolves landed first overall pick in the 2014 draft, Andrew Wiggins, who has the tools to be a superstar. Kevin Martin is a nice veteran shooter but he is best served as a leader since the Wolves are built for the future. The Wolves also traded for Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young. Bennett was the first pick in the 2013 draft and even if he suffered one of the worst rookie years ever, has potential to be a rotation player at the very least. Young is an odd case. Only 26, Young posted career highs in points (17.9) on a horrible team. Young goes from one rebuilding project in Philadelphia to another in a much colder climate. Young is an odd player since he can’t shoot threes and can’t rebound. Young is not a great defender and has a player option for 2015 at a little under 10 million. He could be a steal, or a massive overpay. 

 Lavine, Wiggins, Bennett and Young (from left to right).

          The Wolves spent the 13^th pick in this years draft on Zach Lavine out of UCLA. Lavine has a tremendous ceiling but is very raw. He’s only 19, so give him time but Lavine is a big boom or bust prospect. He’ll either be a star or out of the league in five years. Nikola Pekovic will shoulder the scoring load but where the Wolves get rebounds? Pekovic, Bennett and Young are not the greatest rebounds or interior defenders, teams will easily exploit those flaws. Gorgui Dieng could be relied upon for protecting the rim. 

X-factor: Ricky Rubio

Rubio (above) 

This is going to be a huge year for Ricky Rubio. Rubio is a historically bad jump shooter but his vision resembles the great Steve Nash. Nash isn’t much without his historically amazing jump shot. Rubio needs to at least be below average before he can be a good point guard in this league. Teams need to respect his jump shot and if he can improve to how Jason Kidd was when he was with the Nets, he will be fine. Rubio is a very good defensive point guard and has the best vision of any current point guard besides Chris Paul. Rubio is a jumpshot away from being a dominant point guard and worth of the max. If Rajon Rondo can be great without a jump shot, so can Rubio.

Question: Playoffs or lottery?

The Timberwolves are an interesting mix because they could be pretty good or they could be simply terrible. Rookies are hard to project for a reason and the Timberwolves will be giving big minutes to two (Wiggins and Lavine) and minutes to 2^nd years Anthony Bennett and Gorgui Dieng. This team will be exciting. Rubio throwing ally’s to Lavine and Wiggins will be fun, as will the Anthony Bennett reclamation project. Flip Saunders has a young core with veteran leaders so we’ll see how he handles the 2014 season.

Best Case: The best case for the Wolves is Andrew Wiggins proving he will be a superstar. If Anthony Bennett and Lavine have good years, it will be a good year for the Wolves. Wolves miss out on playoffs but compete like last year.

Worst Case: Not a horrible case but everything could go wrong with the veterans and the Wolves get a high pick in 2015.

Bold Prediction: Anthony Bennett is not horrible! I say he averages 11 and 6.