Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 goals for Justin Patton in his rookie season

1. Take Bjelica’s minutes

This should really be the ultimate goal for Patton this season. To return from a grueling injury to take a legitimate piece of the rotation pie down in Minnesota.

And that’s what he will have to do, take it.

There will be no easy minutes from Coach Thibodeau and incumbent backup power forward Nemanja Bjelica won’t be an easy man to push aside for minutes, as he is still hungry to find his place in the NBA landscape.

If he really is to take Bjelica’s place in the rotation its really down to two things:

Can he continue to show he is an NBA-ready defender and can he turn his glimpses of 3-point marksmanship into a consistent perimeter threat?

If he can do either or both of these things at a high level then with Bjelica’s deficiencies on defense and rebounding, Thibs will be forced to roll out the less experienced Patton, who looks already better at both.

As mentioned, Thibs will not just give Patton these minutes. He is a strong advocate for ‘Bjelly’ and has shown faith in the Serbian from the moment he took over as Head Coach and President Of Basketball Operations.

A new father and unproven role player himself, Bjelica has just as much to prove as Patton. But if there is anything we have learned from Patton’s rise from unknown college prospect to first-round NBA draft pick, it’s that we should never write this kid off.

Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Final roster predictions

A rocky start to Patton’s NBA career is on the backburner now and with these goals in mind, we hope he can start to show his overflowing potential in 2018.