Minnesota Timberwolves: Buying or selling 5 power forward trade targets

Minnesota Timberwolves Trade Target: John Collins

So far, we’ve advocated for the Wolves to add two defensive-minded, low usage options to fill their void at the four. We’re about to buck that trend substantially.

The Minnesota Timberwolves should offer John Collins the highest contract they can afford to, and not bother looking back. (To be clear, it would have to come via sign-and-trade given the Wolves’ cap limitations.)

This may sound hypocritical: throughout this article, we’ve hammered home the Wolves’ need for (insert clichéd drumroll) defense and spacing. Isn’t Collins a defensive turnstile?

Well, a look at his career defensive box plus/minus (DPBM) gives one reason to question that reputation.

In 2018-19, Collins posted a fairly concerning DPBM of -1.9. Sometimes, in the NBA, reputations stick for longer than they deserve to. In the following two seasons, Collins finished with DPBMs of -0.6 and -0.4, and he finished these playoffs with a mark of -0.2. While none of those numbers point to an all-world stopper, they’re also fairly acceptable grades that are indicative of improvement.

Offensively, Collins is the best player named in this article. If you remove his outlier rookie season, he’s averaging a cool 19.5 points per game over his last three seasons, with an outstanding PER 0f 20.9 over that same span. Collins can roll to the rim for a sky-scraping dunk as easily as he can pop out to splash a three, and he can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot when necessary as well.

Yes, the Timberwolves would be well served to add a veteran role player at the 4 over this offseason, but if they can add Collins, they should be comfortable making an exception. Alongside the rest of Minnesota’s core, the addition of Collins has the Wolves resembling a young super team with four players who are at least mentioned in the same breath as the All-Star Game. That is, simply, far too tempting to pass up.

Verdict: Buy

It could be an interesting offseason for the Wolves, with an intriguing group of power forwards apparently on the wish list of Gersson Rosas and the front office. Stay tuned.