2017-2018 Finish: 40-42

Season Highlight: 

Timberwolves solidified as a strong playoff team. The franchise missed the playoffs four years in a row but got back into the postseson last year. They put all their eggs into one basket last june when they traded for McCollum and Cousins. It took awhile but Timberwolves played some solid basketball and looked a dangerous team midseason.

Season Lowlight: 

Should have put DMC's injury here, but we'll talk about that later enough.
It's been a long lone time since Timberwolves won a series. All in all they only got one postseason win in last 9 years, they went to conference finals in 2008/09. things didn't look particularly different this postseason either. Up and coming Clippers were just to strong and dispatched the injured T'Wolves in embarassing matter. CJ played well and Moore was effective in to big shoes. Everyone else disappointed or just wasn't good enough.

Best Trade:

Sabonis for Diallo. Sixers gave up on Domatas too soon. He had a terrible rookie season and got worse as the year went on. But a new team and a coach and teammates that trusted in him got him to perform much better as a sophomore. But TWolves didn't wait and moved him soon after before he had a chance to play for the team. Got back Winslow, who lasted a couple of months and was later trade to. So, kaminsky or Sabonis right now?


Worst Trade:

Jeff Teague and Justice Winslow for Kaminsky, Luwawu Cabarot and Carroll. Sometimes you give best two pieces in 5 player trade. Kaminsky was put into a big role and was giving Mudiay a run for the worst Timberwolf last year. Carroll got the bronze medal in that race, together they made Minesotta more then 5 points worse then their opponents. To be fair it all happened after DMC 1.0 went down.

Other Notable Trades:

So many moves, 22 since July 2017 altogether. Joshua has a sit on Traders Anonymous board firmly.

Austin Rivers and some 2nds for Norman Powell . Two solid overpaid guards swapped places.

Norman Powell, Alex Abrines, Emanuel Mudiay and Brooklyn 2020 first for Evan Fournier. A lot of quarters and lottery tickets for an average starter. If all that turns into something it might be good. Might just turn into vapor though.

Kevin Love And Etwuan Moore for Danilo Gallinari and Jabari Parker. Love is a star, though not a shiny new type anymore. Gallinari is an overpaid injury waiting to happen and Jabari is his understudy. I don't have much hope for Il'Gallo, but Jabari has a make or break season in Chicago this year. Always trade for a star when you can get him for spare parts.

Dougie McD for Bjelica. Lateral move in this one.

Winslow for Dougie McD and Sabonis. First trade for Joshua. Vultures 1, New GMs 0 was the first comment here. But the new GMs made an upset and it's Vultures 1, new Gms 2 in the end.

Darren Collison for Etwuan Moore, Cam Payne and return of 2020 pick.

And a gazzillion of lesser moves. A lot of guys came and went away.

Free Agency:

Kevin Love might be the biggest star in Minnesota and Josh was happy to extend him. but is it a good move? Kevin will be very expensive and isn't a guy that could lift your team on his back anymore. Timberwolves didn't really have any other options here, letting him go would be worse.

It's all about DeMarcus this autumn. DMC is not really a loyal guy, got an F there. TWolves record is not something he'd look forward to.So 99 points this year for a guy that will miss a big chunk of the season and might leave again next year. Tough decision. Josh has 89 points atm, which might not even be enough. If he hits the free agency all the NLL powers will try to sign him with MLE. Bucks are rumored to be in talks already.

Depending on what happens with Boogie, there will be a few millions in cap space	available, but nothing to hang your hat on.

Star: 

C.J. McCollum
CJ was supposed to be Robin to DeMarcus' Bruce. CJ came to Minesotta a week before DeMarcus in a trade for TJ Warren. There must be more to that trade, but it's lost in the deep web now. The ride was rocky, both stars played well, but TWolves just couldn't put it all together at the beginning. Then they finally gelled, but DMC fell down. CJ had a great season, scoring over 23 (16th in the league) including over 200 three pointers (farcry from records of Wes Matthews and Nicolas Batum in three point period of NLL but still top 5 in the league.). CJ will be the main gun next year too and he proved he can elevate his game in absence of other high primacy guys (28 ppg in last quarter of the season).

Goat: 

DeMarcus Cousins
It's unfair of course, but DMC's injury ended all hopes Timberwolves had. He came to the frozen north after 2017 draft for a relatively low price of 9th and 26th pick (Markkanen, Bradley) and two veterans in Chandler and Matthews. Boogie played well for first 49 games, scored a lot and efficiently and was his usual MVPish self.

Draft Grades (from Insider):

Pick 31, Elie Okobo, France
He’s a high upside pick here and rumoured to already be talking about a 4 year deal in the $6mil range, days after being drafted! The Wolves are trying to address their PG need via trade but Okobo can learn under the wing of an experienced guy for a year or 2 and then will likely surpass the likes of Cam Payne and Mudiay by then. Grade: A
Okobo could be good. Or not. He dominated some games in french league, though his team lost anyway. Does he have it to fight with the big guys?

Pick 55, PG Devonte' Graham, Kansas senior
Devonte’ is 23 and retiring next year which is probably why he slid 21 spots from his last mocked out spot. What you see is what you get, and what you get is unselfish, reliable and a good shooter. Safe pick even if 20 picks higher, so here is a steal. Grade: A+
Graham fell 20 spots in NLL draft for some reason, nobody probably remembered he's still on board. he plays for Hornets now. Graham was solid in the summer league and performed better than many people expected, which must have been pretty low as he got 10 points and 6 assists on 36% from the field without any threes.

The Future: 
It's obviously a different team with or without DeMarcus. If he stays and can play and play well the a lineup of Collison-McCollum-xy-Love and Cousins can compete with anyone in the west. Not tier one, but a strong playoff team. If DMC goes away then it's suddenly an average team fighting for the playoffs. Timberwolves are in danger of turning into a treadmill team. No high picks or good prospects are on the horizon. Mudiay and Kaminsky are both probably career journeyman. okobo could turn out into Arenas or Beaubois. He might get his chance in NAB sooner then later with injury to Devin Booker. And Timberwolves don't have their own pick till 2021. Win now it is for them.