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Timberwolves Roundup: Butler’s dinner, Taylor on Wiggins

By Ben Beecken

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 11: Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves looks on during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 11, 2017 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 11: Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves looks on during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 11, 2017 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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New Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler treated Chicago Bulls staffers to dinner, and Wolves owner Glen Taylor continued to discuss his thoughts on an Andrew Wiggins maximum contract with some notable comments.

Jimmy Butler has impressed since landing in Minnesota on draft night via trade back at the end of June. He’s a pro with the media, and has made the rounds on the late night talk shows, ESPN’s daytime shows, podcasts, and anything else one could appear on.

But he’s also apparently a great guy. According to the Chicago Tribune, Butler took about 35 members of the business operations side of the Bulls out to a three-hour sushi dinner on Sunday night to say “goodbye and thank you”. He was in Chicago to assist with Dwyane Wade‘s youth basketball camp, and didn’t leave town without leaving a positive impression on some of the behind-the-scenes folks in the organization.

These are the kinds of under-the-radar stories that are great to hear about. Butler has done an impressive job toeing the line between honesty about being ready to move on from his situation with the Bulls and thanking the fans and others from Chicago. Sunday night’s dinner was yet another example of that.

On the Andrew Wiggins contract extension front, owner Glen Taylor was back at it again in the media. This time, he spoke with Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press and made a couple of eyebrow raising comments.

"“To me, by making this offer, I’m speculating that his contribution to the team will be more in the future,” Taylor told The Associated Press. “We’ve got to be better. He can’t be paid just for what he’s doing today. He’s got to be better.“So when you’re talking about negotiations on his part, I’m already extending to him that I’m willing to meet the max. But there are some things that I need out of him, and that is the commitment to be a better player than you are today.”"

Let’s break this down. The first quote makes tons of sense, and as most of the writers here at Dunking With Wolves (and throughout the Wolves blogosphere) have said consistently, Wiggins is not a max-contract player as of today — not even close. The Wolves will be paying for future production and projecting out what Wiggins might be. That much is obvious.

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It’s far from ridiculous for Taylor to ask for a commitment to be a better player, either. So, no real problem with the above comments. Let’s read on.

"For all of the big scoring nights he has enjoyed early in his career, he has been much more inconsistent in many other areas of his game, including defense and rebounding.“I think it’s important. I don’t know what else you can do but look at the person face-to-face and trust that he will follow through,” Taylor said. “He seems like a very good person. He seems to have the ability and so the only thing it would be is for some reason he didn’t work hard enough to obtain the skill sets. That’s what you’re asking him to commit to.”"

The “he seems like a very good person” comment is odd. Taylor has known Wiggins now for three years, and it’s hard to see why he would have any reason to believe that he is not a good person. It’s also not usually a reason cited for whether or not a player deserves a large contract; it’s not as if Wiggins has been any legal trouble that would suggest he won’t be able to stay on the court to produce or anything of that nature.

The rest of that quote is odd, also. Not wrong, of course — obviously if you’re about to hand someone a contract well north of $100 million it’s understandable to want someone to work hard. It’s just that it’s a strange thing to elect to say in the media.

And that’s probably the most notable thing about all of the above is exactly that, that Taylor felt the need to go on record with these comments. Really, none of it should be a surprise. The man is about to open his checkbook for an insane amount of money and hitch his team’s wagon to a player that has been, to this point, wildly inefficient and not an overall positive contributor.

But much of what was quoted by the AP should have probably been kept between Taylor and the Wolves front office and Wiggins himself. There’s no reason to go public with it, especially since it’s pretty much just Taylor wondering out loud if Wiggins is as good a guy as he thinks he is and if he’ll hold up his end of the bargain. Again: it’s fair, but odd to announce in this forum.

Next: Not Trading Andrew Wiggins For Kyrie Irving Is Smart

All things considered, it will be interesting to see how this shakes out. More likely than not, it will end with the Timberwolves forking over the max and Wiggins signing it and not being traded for Kyrie Irving. But it has been a weird off-season…