by James Finneral
One of the biggest stories of this offseason was when Timberwolves former star Kevin Love was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Love has been the center piece for the Timberwolves for many years and frankly their only all star player in a while. At this point the Timberwolves are in rebuilding mode and they already have some talented young players to start them off.
Although they lost an excellent player in Love, the Timberwolves were able to pick up a great amount of talent and potential this offseason. In the three team deal the Timberwolves acquired the number one overall picks the last two years in Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennet as well as former Philadelphia 76er's powerhouse, Thaddeus Young. Minnesota is very happy with this deal especially because of the potential of Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins is one of the most athletic players to come out of the draft in the past few years. He is efficient in transition and has an excellent vertical leap allowing him to rise above defenders for easy points. If Wiggins can develop his jump shot and his defensive game, he could become another great young player in the NBA. Anthony Bennet was taken two years ago by the Cavaliers at the number one pick and he did not live up to expectations last year. Bennet only averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds last year hurting his chances of starting for the Timberwolves. Bennet is a pretty physical player and will be a decent bench player for Minnesota. Thaddeus Young is a great small forward and is definitely better than Corey Brewer, but the Timberwolves might have to move Young to the power forward to have a stronger starting lineup. Thaddeus Young is strong enough and athletic enough to play a stretch four and still put up the same numbers as last year. Losing Love hurts, but this trade could eventually pay off for Minnesota.
Ricky Rubio was a great compliment to Kevin Love because Rubio specializes in passing. He is one of the best passers in the game and creates so many opportunities for his teammates. Rubio should still have a similar type of season this year because there are still a lot of premium scorers on this team still. Rubio is a great guy for Andrew Wiggins to play alongside because he will get a lot more scoring opportunities. The Timberwolves were also able to get a nice backup point guard in Zach LaVine. The Wolves took LaVine 13th overall in this year's draft. It was a pick completely based off potential. LaVine is one of the most athletic players in this year's draft, but he needs to polish his game a bit. His jump shot could use some improving and he also needs to get stronger to play big minutes in the league. He will be able to learn from Rubio the next few years and be ready to take on a starting role somewhere. Lastly Nikola Pekovic is one of the more underrated players in the league. Pekovic and Love headed out a front-court that had the sixth most rebounds per game last season. He is one of the physically strongest players in the game and is really tough to handle down low. If Pekovic can stay healthy he should have no problem posting a bunch of double-double games this season.
This team is young, talented and athletic, but they need a couple years to build chemistry with each other and develop their younger players. In such a difficult conference, the Timberwolves will probably not make the playoffs, but do not expect a big drop off from them this year just because they lost Love. They will have a very similar record and will only get better in the years to come. This deal seems great for the Cavaliers now, but in a few years this trade will pay off for Minnesota.
Potential Starting Lineup:
PG: Ricky Rubio
SG: Kevin Martin
SF: Andrew Wiggins
PF: Thaddeus Young
C: Nikola Pekovic
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