Minnesota Timberwolves: 5-step plan for a perfect off-season

Step III: Re-sign PF Taurean Prince

The Minnesota Timberwolves need front-court help. Unless some obvious upgrade lands in their lap, I do not think that the team should be willing to part with power forward Taurean Prince. For starters, the guy is an eight-year NBA veteran who is a young 28 years old.

Big men are scarce in this year’s draft, and bigs who love to play in Minnesota are even fewer. It really starts to make sense for the front office to initiate only a few changes, resign Prince to a short-term deal, and see if he has a larger role to play with the Timberwolves in the upcoming season.

Moving ahead forward Prince

Prince is a solid stretch-4 or small forward, a player who can make shots from all over the basketball court, and then flip the switch and apply solid defense to any range of the opponent. Right now, there is not an unlimited supply of available NBA-ready players who fit that description. So it really makes sense not to let him test the free agency waters until the team has a definitive plan in place of how to fill his void.

Does that mean that the Timberwolves are stuck in a long-term relationship with Taurean Prince? On the contrary, signing him to a one or two-year deal now affords the Timberwolves the enviable position of securing a key player who they can get onto the basketball court, or use as a blue-chip trade piece if the right deal comes along in the near future.