As of now, it looks the Timberwolves could potentially end up with a lone second round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. But, either way, they could still find some great prospects.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are riding high right now. Only the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers are ahead the T-Wolves in the Western Conference standings. The core still needs time to jell, but they could still use a lot of improvement on the bench.
Their bench unit depends on 37-year-old Jamal Crawford to create most of the offense, along with Shabazz Muhammad, who was re-signed for cheap and has been a shell of himself. Developing young second round talent may be the best way for Minnesota to build up their bench unit.
As of now, the Timberwolves bench is 26th in the league in scoring. A decent chunk of their losses are due to early leads being chipped away over time. Three players on the Washington Wizards bench had double-digit scoring efforts to one bench player for Minnesota in their most recent loss Tuesday night. Tom Thibodeau is a believer in veterans to fill out the roster, but Minnesota needs to add some youth to a bench that is the least explosive in the league.
Here is a look at five college players that could play interesting roles in Minnesota.