Minnesota Timberwolves: Learning team-building from small markets

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a small-market dilemma when it comes to team-building.

Through shrewd trade market maneuvers from President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and with the help of a heroic ping pong ball, the Minnesota Timberwolves have arrived at a philosophical fork in the road.

Mix the possible sale of the franchise by Glen Taylor to a bidder to be named later with relatively new names leading the front office and you may have a recipe for a changing of the guards in Minnesota basketball. Though some changes are more realistic than others.

Now what?

First, understand that marquee free agents are going to be few and far between for the Wolves, as they are for most small-market destinations. Minnesota is not Los Angeles; Minnesota is not New York. Fortunately for the Timberwolves (and their fans), a small-market designation is more of
a speed bump than a roadblock.

Most front offices deploy a number of different strategies in team-building on a case-by-case basis. But, sitting with the No. 1 overall pick presents two distinctly diverging paths in putting together a small-market roster.

Draft and build a contender in-house or trade your way to the top? You choose.

There is no definitive “correct” answer. In 2020, a team in both the Western and Eastern Conferences achieved top-four playoff seeding with opposite philosophies. The Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers may provide the scaffolding for the future of basketball in the North Star state.