Minnesota Timberwolves

Kris Dunn Actually Had a Good Rookie Season

          How can Kris Dunn had a good season with the Timberwolves if statistically he is not even a good player? Dunn's average are 3.8 PPG, 2.4 APG, 2.1 RPG, .5 BPG, 1.0 SPG at 17.1 MPG which resulted into an 8.13 Player Efficiency Rating. Thibs drafted him because he thought to be the replacement of Ricky Rubio this season in which he actually is not as of the moment. So what did Kris Dunn actually contributed to the team? and how is his season considered to be a good one?

Free Agency Series: Derrick Rose and Why He Does Not Fit.

          The rumors regarding about the Minnesota Timberwolves trying to lure Derrick Rose out of New York this offseason might be one of the biggest names linked to us, aside from having P.J. Tucker being interested in joining us next season. However signing Derrick Rose might make the team worst rather than do better in many ways.

Timberwolves' D-League Affiliate will get a New Identity.

          According to Travis Hine's tweet Iowa Energy is set to have a makeover due to the acquisition of the Minnesota Timberwolves' owner Glen Taylor. The new identity of the Iowa Energy will include the name, logos, and woodmarks.

Other Options If Rubio Asked for a Trade

          There is  news circulating around the web that Ricky Rubio has changed agent from Dan Fegen to Jeff Schwartz which can signify a trade since the new agent is more experienced agent, adding up to the news Darren Wolfson have a source telling that Ricky Rubio is demanding for a trade out of Minnesota. Maybe all the trade rumors each season got to him making him feel bad about both the fans and management.

          But setting it aside if Rubio is gone with the team it would set the franchise back on square one, having a glaring hole in the Point Guard position will most likely make the team less fluid, also Rubio is the leader in the team although he is still a 26 years old he is the longest Wolf in the team (aside from Pekovic). He is a pass first point guard which is rare in the league. Without him the team will be at a disadvantage on both ends on the floor.

          Assuming that Kris Dunn is not yet ready to assume the role as a starter and also assuming that we only receive draft picks and a bench player out of Ricky Rubio as we all know we won't get an equal amount of value if Rubio really wants out of the team, We still have a lot of options on filling the point guard position this offseason.

Plan A : Signing a Free Agent
          This should be really our first option as this upcoming Offseason a lot of key point guards are available in the market also almost all of them are Unrestricted Free Agents. With this we surely know that we are not making a gamble as we have seen what they can do in the league. But who can replace Ricky Rubio? Well eliminating some of the Free Agents like Steph Curry, Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry because obviously they want to play for the best contending team possible what we have left is.

1.  Jeff Teague - 15.3 PPG, 7.8 APG, 4.0 RPG, 1.2 APG  19.24 PER


     Jeff Teague has proven that he is a good player even if not playing for the Hawks he is also an experienced basketball player playing for eight seasons in the league, which his season in Indiana being his best season yet even at the age of 28. Even though he will be an Unrestricted Free Agent there would still be a possibility that he will re-sign with his hometown team which is the Pacers. But who knows the Pacers are looking for a change as they got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

2. Patty Mills -  9.5 PPG, 3.5 APG, 1.8 RPG, .8 SPG   15.28 PER


     Is Patty Mills ready to take a starting role in to another team next season? Right now he proved to us that he can fill up the place of Tony Parker in Spurs after his injury. Still young at 28 Patty Mills can run the floor very well. Also good at the defensive end having a .011 Defensive Win Share rating in the NBA. If the contract is right him playing for the team might be possible.


3. Jrue Holiday - 15.4 PPG,  7.3 APG, 3.9 RPG, 1.5 SPG  17.19 PER


     The Timberwolves might be taking a gamble by signing Jrue Holiday as he have yet to play for a whole season due to being prone to injury as his last 82 games season was his 2nd year in the league. He might be also the most expensive option out of the three players. But he can be the point guard we need as he is much a better shooter than Ricky Rubio.  




Plan B : Drafting a Point Guard
          Not the best of the options as the Timberwolves will be having a gamble yet again. Having to draft a unproven point guard might make or break the Timberwolves future again. Also there still might be a lot of better players aside from what we need. It is always a good option of drafting the best fit for the team rather than drafting someone hoping to replace another starter.

1. De'Aaaron Fox - 16.7 PPG, 4.6 APG, 4.0 RPG, 1.5 SPG 

     Likely to be pick before out turn to pick in the Draft. De'Aaron Fox is the 3rd Best Point Guard available in the draft right after Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball. Although being 3rd in the ranking he is one of the best point guards out there. The downside is he won't provide as the 3pt shooting we need as he prefers to be driving to the basket.



2. Dennis Smith Jr. - 18.1 PPG, 6.2 APG, 4.6 RPG, 1.9 SPG

     The 4th best point guard in the draft might be a better option for us, as Dennis Smith Jr. have both the physical tools and potential to be the better point guards out there. However his decision making between plays is needs to improve in order to start in the NBA, as his Turn Overs per game is 3.3. His defense is also a question.





3. Frank Ntilikina -  5.2 PPG, 1.4 APG, 2.1 RPG, .8 SPG

     At the age of 18 Frank Ntilikina is still raw on his game but has the physical tools to become successful in the NBA, at 6'5" and a Wingspan of 7 ft. Playing only 18.2 MPG Ntilikina did not failed to show his best. Playing unselfish basketball he is one of rawest Pure Point Guards in the draft.





          I would still prefer signing a Free Agent if Rubio decides to be traded. Besides we still have Kris Dunn to develop his game as he is a good defensive player the only thing left is to increase his production on par with his minutes. The Ricky Rubio news is not yet official but the good thing is we have something to fall back with just in case it happens.

Who Would be Available at the 7th Pick?

          The Minnesota Timberwolves unsurprisingly have moved up again in the NBA Draft Lottery. Originally positioned to pick 6th in the Draft we are now picking at 7th in this upcoming Draft in June. The Timberwolves have never improved position in the NBA Draft, dropping 11 times out of the 21 Draft Lotteries that the Timberwolves have participated. The good thing about moving up is we will have a cheaper rookie contract on whoever will we pick up with it.

          But at 7th we still have a lot of talented Basketball Players to choose from. Setting aside the obvious top picks namely Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum, and De'Aaron Fox ( Assuming that Draft Workouts from NBA teams won't affect the Draft) they are pretty much set to be chosen ahead before its our turn. So who will be available for us when out time is ticking? (Ranked at best fit for the team).


1. Jonathan Isaac (SF/PF)
          Standing at 6'10" and a 7'1" Wingspan, Jonathan Isaac might be one of the best defensive prospect out there if not the best. With a 9 ft standing reach his body is good defensively but he needs to bulk up a lot of weight before the NBA season starts. The Timberwolves seriously need to improve their interior defense as Karl-Anthony Towns is not enough to protect the rim, and he might be the fix the team is looking for. Although know for his defensive ability he is also good in the offensive end, averaging 12 PPG at 59 FG% and 34.8% 3PT% he is efficient with his shot.


2. Lauri Markkanen (PF/C)
          Dubbed as the next Dirk Nowitzki for his range at the height of 7 ft. Markannen shot 54.5% from the inside and and 42.2% from the outside making 1.9 triples out of his 4.4 Attempts. If the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted him, he and Towns would create a lot of space as they both can shoot from the inside and outside. The only problem is he hardly defends the paint as a 7 ft player he only average .5 BPG. Markkanen is a good offensive player but he really needs to improve his off-ball performance to make him a better fit in the Team.

3. Malik Monk (SG)
          If the Timberwolves are looking for a perimeter shooter than look no more, Malik Monk is the best perimeter shooters out there making 39.7% of his 3s in his freshmen career he once made an 8 out of his 12 3 pointers in a game also finishing 47 points in the game against UNC. The problem is with his size and built he lacks to show a defensive presence in the game. Having a smaller wingspan than his height will give him a hard time defensively. Likely to be gone before our time, if Jonathan Isaac is not available then getting Malik Monk is the 3rd best option.

Wild Card



4.  Ike Anigbogu
          Probably one of the high risk high reward players to enter the Draft. Standing at 6'10" with a Wingspan of 7'6" he averaged 4.7 PPG ,4.0 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 13 MPG coming of the bench, Ike did not have a good amount court time because of injuries and a deep bench. But within the 13 minutes on the court he showed that he is an efficient and useful player for the Bruins. His averaged in a 40 minute game would bump up to 14.5 PPG, 12.4 RPG (4.4 ORPG),  and 3.7 BPG. He is both good offensively and defensively in the court and always shows effort to grab the offensive rebound.If he is a starter in UCLA he might be able to show that he is a Lottery Pick.

          

The Timberwolves Need Gallo to Complete an All-Foreigner Starting Five

          The decision of Danilo "Gallo" Gallinari opting out of his last season is eminent as he himself said that he wants to see what his value in the Free Agency is like. The one piece that made the Carmelo Anthony shift to New York from Denver Nuggets is him and he build a pretty solid performance with them as he averaged in 6 seasons in Denver 16.83 PPG, 4.4 RPG,  2.13 APG,  .85 SPG. 31 MPG. Hoping to land a max contract this coming Free Agency period he would like get it but from what team will he play next?

Free Agency Series: Is Rudy Gay the Veteran We Need?

          After only playing 30 games with the Sacramento Kings which was cut short by a season ending injury Rudy Gay chooses to opt out to his $14,263,566, in which he intend to look for a team that he can sign for a long term deal with a considerable salary cut. According to his manager he intends to play for a team that can giver him a long term contract or even a short term one to increase his value.

Ricky Rubio is Better Than Derrick Rose

          It is the Offseason Time again with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and their is this one bizarre rumor in which Thibodeau is likely to sign Derrick Rose as a Starting Point Guard of the Timberwolves, and Thibs would likely trade away Rubio or waive his contract with still 2 remaining seasons under it. I would say Bizarre because having Derrick Rose start over Rubio will not actually make the team any better in anyway. And this are the reasons why.


          Rubio is actually a better 3 point shooter than Derrick Rose, whom only made 13 out of his 60 attempts beyond the arc which translates to 21.7 3PT%. Rubio on the other hand made 30.6 3PT% of his 3 point attempts.

Free Agency Series: 2017-2018 Cap Space

Free Agency Scenario Acquiring Alan Williams

          Alan "Big Sauce" Williams is one of those good basketball players in which he's not getting the attention he deserve, being a bench player behind Alex Len and playing for a non-playoff team may be the reasons why. But the undrafted Power Forward has shown in the league that he deserves to be an NBA player. Before being signed by the Phoenix Suns in a contract, Big Sauce was a player in the Chinese Basketball Association who averaged 20 PPG, and 15 RPG for over the 35 games he played.

Former Timberwolf, Will Be Part of the Philippine National Team

          Greg Smith last played for the Minnesota Timberwolves who he played for 18 games in which he averaged 2.4 PPG, 2.3 RPG, .3 APG,  10 MPG. After his last season in the NBA he decided to play for Istanbul BSB in which he averaged 6.86 PPG, 5.43 RPG, 1.43 APG,  20 MPG before ending up in the Philippines in which may be his best career as of the present time. Greg Smith was signed as an import by a PBA team Blackwater Elite in which he averaged 26.5 PPG, 22.15 RPG, 4.75 APG, 1.12 SPG, 1.12 BPG,  43 MPG.


          The Philippines is one of the most dominant Asian National Basketball Teams as of present time sitting next to China in the Rankings, is now facing a next level of Basketball as FIBA decided to change the league competition in which they have also add OCEANIA region in which it includes the countries Australia and New Zealand. The Philippines have no time to become comfortable even in the South East Asian Region in which only one team will qualify for the Asian Cup that will start in August 8, 2017. Before the Philippines was only sending Filipino College Players to represent in SEABA but after the competition rules changed they have decided to send in the National Team. Greg Smith was only invited as a practice player for the National Team "Gilas" in which his role is to prepare their Naturalize Player that is also a former NBA player Andray Blatche. But Blatche, 30, recently got a newborn son in which he needs to take care of and due to personal reasons decided not to show up at practice one week before the SEABA competition.

Philippine National Team Accomplishments





       









       
       
           Greg Smith as of today agreed verbally to be the next naturalized player of the Philippines. Right now the only thing in the way is the Legal Process of being a naturalized citizen in the Philippines in which the national team are in hope to bring up in speed and make Greg Smith's naturalization process be prioritize for the upcoming competition. Right now the only thing Greg can do for the national team is to be a practice player for them.

          Greg Smith an undrafted NBA player has found his place in the Philippines in what he said was a "blessing" to be part of. The 26 years who is still young plans to play with the Philippines until 2023.

Here is a Greg Smith Highlight in the Philippine Basketball Association in which he scored 40 pts.

The Future That We Could Have vs. What We Had

          2011 NBA Draft was a year full of hidden gems in the Draft Pool but majority of the teams did not know it including the Minnesota Timberwolves. Some might even say that after Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams it was a shallow draft (Uhmm They were wrong about Derrick). The 2010-11 Season the Minnesota Timberwolves had the worst record having 17 wins and 65 losses in which in return they have the best chance of choosing the # 1 pick of the draft but we ended up picking #2 and with that pick we ended up choosing.......

Derrick Williams
11-12 Stat  8.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, .6 APG, .5 SPG, .5 BPG,  21 MPG
12-13 Stat  12 PPG, 5.5 RPG, .6 APG, .6 SPG, .5 BPG,   24 MPG

          We ended up picking Derrick William a product of the University of Arizona in which they draw comparisons of Michael Beasley in his game they even said that he was a version 2.0 of him, which I doubt why we draft him because we have Michael Beasley currently in the team. But that comparison is where it failed because we ended up having a prototype of Michael Beasley in which we can't rely on both scoring and defending. Also a big disappointment on his 2nd year in which we thought will be his breakout season but we barely see any improvements on his game.

What if we have Nicolas Batum instead of Andrei Kirilenko?

          In the 2012-13 NBA Free Agency, Restricted Free Agent Nicolas Batum and Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement of a 4 year / $46 Million contract in which the Portland Trailblazers match the offer afterwards. If not for extending his qualifying offer Batum would be an Unrestricted Free Agent in which being a Wolf would be inevitable. But what if the Portland Trailblazers did not match the offer that was offered to him the Minnesota Timberwolves?

Free Agency 17-18 PART 2 (A Not so IN-DEPTH look)

          While your at it I can say that the Timberwolves' Facebook page is right about saying that Karl-Anthony Towns is indeed a superhero for the Minnesota Fans out their, the last player to be ever drafted by Flip Saunders may end up to be one of his best pick yet (Sorry KG). But right now even super-heroes in the NBA need a side kick that can help them reach into playoffs, sorry but Andrew Wiggins is not enough to win Championships for this Franchise. That is why I am creating a list of NBA players here in the Free Agency that can help this Young Wolves to Win a Championship/


          We really need to examine our roster in order to know what our weaknesses are in which are the reasons why we can't win enough games to enter the playoffs. I have identified 3 reasons why they aren't winning even though Tom Thibodeau is their coach
1. Defense - In which my previous post showed that they ranked 27th in the League
2. 3P% -  In which they ranked 20th with 34.9%
3. Leader - A veteran that can still play because Rubio is the only leader in the court, while Brandon Rush and Jordan Hill are there they are not fit to become a leader.