IV: Not Cole, bro
The Minnesota Timberwolves continue to try to find the right center, and once more tried to add a seasoned veteran who was a bit past his prime. 6-foot-11 250-pound center Cole Aldrich played a total of 83 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves but really had little positive impact in those games. In fact, the Timberwolves benefitted from his last two seasons in the NBA.
But I’m not going to lie about it. ‘Benefit,’ is a very strong term for an NBA player who averages 1.4 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game. But the biggest headache of it all is the fact that he earned over $7.6 million in 2016-17, and earned $7.3 million in 2017-18.
And he took home over $685,000 for each of the next three years not to play. Yikes!
While he was a career 3.1 points per game and 3.3 rebounds per game when he signed with Minnesota Timberwolves, he was at the prime of his NBA career at 28 years of age, and he seemingly was breaking out, having strung together two NBA seasons of 5.5 points per game, nearly 5.0 rebounds per game, and 1.1 blocks per game.
Well, you never saw anything close to that as he competed for the Timberwolves. In fact, his two-season average with the Timberwolves was the worst chapter of his NBA career.