Justin Patton: The good, the bad and the ugly

The bad: A year away from being a year away

Patton’s potential and still being a few years away from being a contributor sort of go hand-in-hand. He’s probably one of those players who is a year away from being a year away. Remember, it was only two years ago when he wasn’t ready to contribute to a Division 1 basketball program.

Unless he somehow took a huge leap in development over the summer (despite not being able to practice for the majority of it), he’s not going to contribute on the court in any meaningful way. Not that the Wolves need him to with their gluttany of big men including Towns, Gorgui Dieng, Taj Gibson, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich. However, it would be nice to have some insurance behind Town and Dieng, as Aldrich probably can’t be relied upon at this stage.

Who knows what will happen down the road with this team. Jimmy Butler only has two years left on his contract and, at this point, there’s no saying how those years will turn out.

By the time Patton’s ready to contribute, this team might be at a whole different stage. And that’s assuming he will ever be able to produce positive results. The thing about potential is it’s not a for-sure thing. There’s always a possibility the player doesn’t live up to the hype, as we’ve seen many times before.