Minnesota Timberwolves: Top free agents to consider

1. Logan’s pick: Maurice Harkless (NYK, UFA)

Neat fun fact, the Timberwolves only had one player on the roster over the age of 25, James Johnson. The rest of the team is not only very young, but most of them are finding themselves in larger roles than they’ve ever played or even just trying to get their NBA footing. Bringing in a veteran like Maurice Harkless could pay massive dividends in terms of lockerroom leadership and mentoring.

The team cannot say enough nice things about Johnson for example. And Harkless is a guy who could fit into this mold and fill the need of a 3&D forward. He would add some more defensive teeth to the team and, although he’s inconsistent at times, he’s typically a competent three-point shooter, especially later on in his career. Harkless would likely be available for around the tax-payer mid-level exception or biannual exception and would be a tremendous help for the team.

EB: I like the idea of bringing another veteran onto this team to help the young players develop, but I’m not sure Harkless is it. Johnson can handle mentoring the young bigs, so another veteran would probably need to be a guard or a wing (hello Korver!)

While his 3-point shooting has improved and certainly could continue to improve, he’s still been a little too inconsistent for my taste. I hate to keep harking on the “team identity” and the Timberwolves being a “3-point shooting team”, but they are, and someone who shot below 28.0 percent for four out of his eight seasons is just a little too risky for me.