Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 available big men who can help right now

2. Roy Hibbert

Roy Hibbert has recently had injury problems. On top of that, the modern-NBA game has started to need old school rim protectors like Hibbert less and less. One coach who doesn’t care about modern trends is Tom Thibodeau.

I by no means mean that as a slight, Thibodeau has shown the ability to quietly form elite offense while having his team play tough on the defensive end. His teams rarely rely on the 3-pointer-Minnesota is currently 29th in the league in 3-point attempts — and they like two traditional bigs.

At 7’2″, Hibbert can still be a nuisance if he is allowed to roam the paint. Of course, teams can have their best guards go at Hibbert in the pick-and-roll as he drops back into the paint. Thibodeau would be willing to accept Hibbert letting guards shoot against certain matchups, and he obviously wouldn’t get any minutes in a game against a team like Golden State.

But the Wolves’ recent loss against the Charlotte Hornets was just one of many examples of when having some size like Hibbert would’ve been useful. Dwight Howard dominated Minnesota with 25 points and 20 rebounds. A decent amount of the time no one boxed Howard out, as he skied in for easy put-backs. KAT ended up with four fouls, and Gourgi Dieng was no match for Howard’s strength.

Hibbert wouldn’t solve all of Minnesota’s problems, but if healthy — and that’s a big if — and motivated, he could be an interesting spark plug in stretches for a Minnesota team that is 24th in points allowed and 22nd in rebounds.