Now that the draft is over, it’s time to shift our focus to free agency. Here are five options at the center position for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Minnesota Timberwolves had their first successful season in over 13 years.
Of course, a lot of that had to do with their drastic efforts to reboot the franchise by trading for Jimmy Butler and signing free agents such as Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, Jamal Crawford among others.
But the Wolves still have a lot of work to improve. The biggest need for the Wolves include defense, 3-point shooting and depth, and it at least appears as though Minnesota did a great job on draft night to help shore up all three of those issues.
The Timberwolves drafted Georgia Tech guard Josh Okogie and Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop. Both of these players play defense, can shoot the ball from three and should fix some depth issues, which is especially important since the Wolves biggest depth deficiency stems from the guard and forward positions beyond Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler.
Still, we don’t know for sure how well those rookies will do or even develop for the next few seasons. Free agency is where teams must fix any remaining issues for the upcoming season.
With July 1 marking the first day of the free agency frenzy, things will be underway before we know it. Everyone wants the big name free agents, but realistically that isn’t going to happen for most teams. Add in the fact that the Wolves don’t have a ton of money to spend this summer, and that leaves us with some of the smaller names that will fly under the radar.
Sadly, Minnesota won’t be able to try and go after the likes of Clint Capela, DeMarcus Cousins, and DeAndre Jordan, but that’s okay. There are still plenty of solid players that can be had for cheap. Plus, if Justin Patton, last year’s rookie can come back and play some minutes, then that’ll really be a major addition to the team.
With all that in mind, let’s take a look at five center free agents that the Wolves should target this summer.