2018 has been a bizarre year for the Timberwolves, who were, before Jimmy Butler went down with a knee injury last season, the third seed in the Western Conference. Following Butler’s injury, Minnesota nearly fell out of the playoff picture completely, clinching a postseason berth on the last day of the 2017/18 season to snap a streak of 13 straight years in the lottery. However, that victory was short-lived, as the Wolves were quickly dispatched from the playoffs by the top-seeded Rockets, then went through the very public saga of a Butler trade request this fall.
With Butler officially headed to Philadelphia, some sense of normalcy may now return to the Timberwolves, who can go back to building around former No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, along with fellow top pick Andrew Wiggins.
Butler is probably a top-20 player in the NBA, so the club’s ceiling isn’t as high without him as it was with him. Nonetheless, with veterans like Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, and Anthony Tolliver also on the roster, and newly-added rotation players like Robert Covington and Dario Saric entering the mix too, not to mention promising rookie Josh Okogie, there’s still plenty of talent in Minnesota.
The dysfunction that Butler’s trade request created during the first month of the season appeared to be impacting the team on the court, as the Timberwolves got off to a 4-9 start, good for 14th in the Western Conference. Now that he’s gone, perhaps the new-look Wolves, who don’t have to constantly worry about whether or not Butler will play, or what he’ll tell reporters after the game, can settle in and find their groove.
Still, it’s not clear what sort of upside this team has in the short term. The Western Conference will be extremely competitive this season — the Jazz, Pelicans, and Rockets are currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, and figure to make a run at some point. The Grizzlies, Clippers, and Kings are among the pleasant surprises out West so far, and look capable of staying competitive. The Mavericks (4-8) and Suns (2-10) don’t appears to be major playoff threats, but even those two clubs have multiple talented young players and are capable of pushing any team on any given night.
With all that in mind, we want to know what you expect from the Timberwolves the rest of the way. Is this still a team capable of earning a playoff spot? Will they at least make a run at the top eight, perhaps finishing in the 9-to-11 range? Or is this a bottom-four team in the West for 2018/19?
Vote below in our poll, then head down to the comment section to share your thoughts on the new-look Wolves.
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They should play for the lottery. What’s the point of a one and out? Get a top 5 pick, hopefully find a third star to go along towns and wiggins, and with saric, okogie. Should be ready to compete in two years. Just in time for the end of golden state run and the retirement of lebron. If they’re smart or if we are lucky by being so out of it, the fire sale should happen at the trade deadline. The only problem is management, thibs and co need to go bye bye. Bring in a coach who relates to this generation. Billups as gm could be interesting. And again the only intouchables on the roster should be towns, saric, okogie, and wiggins.
Just like the Cavs are post LeBron, Minnesota is post Jimmy. Minnesota went 14 years without making playoffs without Jimmy. You’d think KAT and Wiggins would be enough. It wasn’t.
Get out of the Wiggins contract ASAP ala Blake Griffin. Find a player who is worth that type of investment.
Smart man!
The problem is who would take him and how many draft picks do you have to move to get the deal done. Most likely 2 firsts, that contract is awful for his amount of production. But the problem with that is if you move the multiple first you won’t have picks when your bad so no new young talent coming in from the draft.
Griffin had & has trade value. Wolves will do what they do with Wiggins.