2018-19 Minnesota Timberwolves

2017-18: 47-35 (8th in the West, lost in the 1st rd)
Draft picks: 20,48
Signed for next season ($121.4m): Andrew Wiggins, Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, Gorgui Dieng, Taj Gibson, Karl Anthony-Towns, Cole Aldritch, Jamal Crawford, Justin Patton, Tyus Jones

This summer's free agents: Nemanja Bjelica, Aaron Brooks, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Anthony Brown, Amile Jefferson, Derrick Rose
Personally I love Bjelica (but we all know he'll look better in a Spurs uni), I didn't even know they had Brooks, I don't know who Georges-Hunt is, and Brown and Jefferson are on 2-way contracts. Who knows where D-Rose goes from here, wouldn't be surprised to see him back with his mentor (and enabler) Coach Thibs, but he was active in the post-season so...Knicks, right? (They already had him. Yeah....so?)

Seeing as they got virtually nothing (4 minutes in 1 game played) out of last year's 1st round draft pick, Justin Patton, and Thibs pretty much just likes to run his main rotation guys into the ground, does it even matter who they draft? I can see them going for Grayson Allen (Duke) at #20, then perhaps Hamadou Diallo (Kentucky) in the 2nd round. On the other other hand I could see them drafting foreigners with both picks, since the draftees probably won't play, why not just wait another year on them?

Next year's squad will likely be: PG Teague, SG Butler, SF Wiggins, PF Gibson, C Towns with Crawford, Jones, Dieng, #20, (and Rose?) off the bench. 3 years ago this team was brimming with optimism, they were a fun team, a growing team. Then they brought in Coach Thibs and now they're the 2014 Chicago Bulls: old, monotonous, dull. *sigh* How does this team get better? They don't have money for free agents so the engine for growth is improving the players that are already there: Wiggins has not grown, Towns' game makes no sense at all, Dieng is an afterthought, Bjelica is likely on his way out, and Justin Patton is...I don't know what he is. But Thibs has shown no aptitude for doing that, so I am not optimistic. What they were this year is likely what they'll be next year, heaven help them if the Denver Nuggets get slightly better.