Minnesota Timberwolves are loaded for Grizzlies . . . , er, . . . bear.
By Bret Stuter
When the Minnesota Timberwolves entered the 2022 offseason, we knew that this team had work to do. The team was young, has the assets to make offseason trades and free agency signings feasible, and the team’s new ownership was quite clear in their focus: Be aggressive. Do what it takes to make the Minnesota Timberwolves successful. Not just for one season, but into the future.
With that ambiguous directive, the options are many. But so are the number of ways to fail. While the Timberwolves have many paths before them, the NBA is a very competitive business. If a path to success is obvious, there are other NBA front offices that have already pulled the trigger while you pondered the impact. Following suit would achieve nothing for the Timberwolves.
To pull ahead of the rest of the field, to truly leapfrog teams in the standings, the Timberwolves needed to do things differently. And to do things differently, the front office needed to graft a successful outside-the-box NBA executive. So the search was on, and the man for the job was identified. Former Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly was hired, and the Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations arrived to assume the reins of the team.
Connelly got right to work, staffing the front office with other NBA executives he knew and trusted. And he began to survey the staff, coaches, and players for their thoughts on what this team needed to do to improve.
light. Trending. Minnesota Timberwolves: Top 30 greatest players of all-time
The options were many.
A team with young talent, a cache of draft picks and a GM unafraid to take big swings: Minnesota. ‘Wolves won’t be on Durant’s wish list, but I’m interested to see if Tim Connelly, who once eyed LeBron in Denver, gets into the mix.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 30, 2022
Armed with draft picks, some intriguing young and rotational players, and in pretty good shape financially, the team had all of the tools to drastically reshape the landscape of the roster and the layout of the entire NBA. Rather than do so just to make a splash, where would changes make the most significant positive impact?