Minnesota Timberwolves: 2016 Offseason Grades
The Minnesota Timberwolves weren’t particularly active this summer, but they still managed to add to their promising young core all the same. Here are their complete 2016 offseason grades.
There’s no question about which Western Conference team has the brightest future at the moment. The Los Angeles Lakers have a nice young quartet, and teams like the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns are slowly committing to fledgling youth movements, but the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ already impressive core is headlined by a future MVP-in-the-making.
Between Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, the underrated Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad and Tyus Jones, this extremely green team now gets the chance for a little seasoning under Tom Thibodeau’s stern and steady hand. For the rest of the league, winter is coming.
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How soon it arrives remains to be seen, but KAT was already one of the league’s best centers last season and is only going to get better at 20 years old.
With the ultra-competitive Thibs in charge of roster decisions, there was some concern that his first offseason at the helm would be spent making win-now moves to get the youngsters their first playoff experiences right away. Patience is a virtue, it’s just not Thibodeau’s virtue.
Luckily for the Timberpups, that wasn’t the case. In fact, it was a relatively quiet summer for the Wolves, who are wisely biding their time with internal development until this newly formed Golden State Warriors juggernaut look a little less unstoppable.
For a team in need of veterans and dealing with a few positional battles, the Wolves’ lack of activity this summer certainly isn’t the end of the world. Here’s a look at Minnesota’s complete 2016 offseason grades.
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