Minnesota Timberwolves: 10 wing options in free agency
By Ben Beecken
3. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was reportedly the player that Flip Saunders and the Timberwolves front office wanted during the 2013 draft. He was picked right before Flip took Trey Burke and shipped him to Utah for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng.
KCP was supposed to be a sharpshooter from day one, but shot just 31.9 percent from beyond the arc as a rookie. It took him until his fourth season to shoot 35 percent on 3-point attempts, and after joining the Lakers last year, he hit on a career-high 38.3 percent.
He’s actually a decent rebounder for a player who largely played the two, and his 3-point rate has improved each season until reaching .520 last year in L.A.
Caldwell-Pope is good defender, doing a solid job against most twos and, at 6-foot-5, is able to switch onto some small forwards and holding his own. Having a strong 3-point shooter and defender coming off the bench to slot in next to Jimmy Butler or Andrew Wiggins would be a huge step in the right direction for the Wolves.
He’ll probably get more money in free agency than the Timberwolves are able to offer as their cap space is currently allocated, but there is absolutely some upside remaining and he could be worth some creativity to add what could be a valuable sixth man.