At the start of the NBA offseason, it was hard to imagine how the Timberwolves could improve given their lack of high Draft picks and a looming salary cap crunch.
For roughly the same price as the contracts of free agents Kyle Anderson and Monte Morris, they added Rob Dillingham (eighth pick) (after a draft-night trade with the Spurs), Terrence Shannon Jr. (27th pick) and veteran Joe Ingles. What they lost in veteran stability and defensive acumen, they more than made up for in youthful potential, pace and shooting ability.
In the process, executive Tim Connelly proved once again that he’s a skilled roster builder. And in evaluating the Wolves’ offseason to date relative to their Western Conference peers, it’s clear that Minnesota will enter next year as a clear top-four team and a realistic contender once again — something I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast while breaking down the Ingles deal.
There’s still plenty of offseason left, given that we’re less than a week away from NBA free agency. Trades and signings could still shake up the order in the Western Conference. But consider what’s happened:
*The Clippers let Paul George walk as a free agent, not wanting to give him a fourth year and forcing him to go to Philadelphia in the East. It may have been the right decision given that the George-Kawhi Leonard pairing never lived up to expectations, but it clearly diminishes the Clippers’ hopes of being a true contender in the West next year.
*The Nuggets lost key starter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Orlando and appear to be relying on youth to fill holes in an already thin rotation while dealing with their own cap crunch. Denver will always be a contender as long as Nikola Jokic is at his best, but this isn’t the same team it was two years ago.
*The Warriors let Klay Thompson walk as their dynasty continues to fade. The Lakers can’t find the right pieces around two of the (still) best players on the planet, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Pelicans are way over the salary cap and their best player (Zion Williamson) can’t be trusted to stay healthy. The Suns are who they are, as the Wolves showed the world.
Next year’s top four in the West right now, in no particular order: Oklahoma City, which stole Alex Caruso from the bumbling Bulls and has an enviable mix of win-now talent and future assets; Dallas, which found its footing at last year’s trade deadline and added Thompson this offseason; the aforementioned Nuggets; and the Wolves, who should get an injection of youth to go along with Anthony Edwards’ continued rise.
As Ingles told KeynoteUSA after signing: “When the opportunity came up and you talk more in-depth about the basketball aspect, especially with the things I’m saying (that you still want to play, you still want to compete), it’s a basketball opportunity that was too good to pass up.”
Here are four more things you should know today:
*Chuck Aoki, an American Paralympian and Minneapolis native, also joined me on Friday’s podcast to talk about the prospects for the U.S. wheelchair rugby team later this summer.
*I also talked about a damaging night for the Lynx, who lost to Connecticut and saw star Napheesa Collier leave the game with a foot injury, and the Twins’ consistent, unwavering excellence.
*You should definitely read Tony Kennedy’s excellent outdoor profile of Jessica Berg-Collman.
*KeynoteUSA wrote about the best and worst NFL team cafeterias, which is certainly when you know it’s early July and nothing is going on around the league. The Vikings did very well, by the way, in nutrition and several other categories in a player survey conducted earlier this year.
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