The 15 Month Destruction of the Timberwolves
It’s June 22, 2017 and despite coming off a 31–51 season there is optimism brewing all around in Minnesota. Ricky Rubio has just enjoyed the best half season stretch of his career, Andrew Wiggins stepped up his play in the absence of Zach Lavine and Karl Anthony Towns looks to be the NBA’s brightest star under 25. They are a team loaded with young talent, have plenty of cap space and just seem to be some veteran leadership and 3&D players away from developing into contender down the line.
That night they would deal Zach Lavine, Kris Dunn and the #7 pick (Lauri Markkanen) to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler and the #16 pick (Justin Patton). The team was better off when Lavine was out and Dunn had been a massive disappointment despite being one of the older players in his draft class. In short, the Wolves traded expendable young talent in a stunningly good deal for one of the games ten best players and a top 20 pick in return. With Butler’s addition they appeared to be one of the few teams next in line to dominate the NBA right around the time you’d expect the current Warriors Dynasty to end.
Fast forward to today, it’s come out that Jimmy Butler has demanded a trade. It’s been an ongoing saga between Butler and the Wolves since the offseason began. Just like that, the Wolves have one of the bleakest future outlooks in the NBA. How did they go from perennial future contender to dumpster fire in fifteen months? Typical Minnesota mismanagement.
Remember Ricky Rubio, the defensive stalwart and playmaking wizard playing the best ball of his life? The Timberwolves dealt him away so they could pay an older, worse player and worse fit a lot more money (Jeff Teague). Taj Gibson signed shortly after and the team also acquired Jamal Crawford and Derrick Rose over time.
While Gibson proved his worth by stepping up big in game eighty-two, he also forced recently paid big Gorgui Dieng to the bench, making him a $64 million backup sparingly used. Clippers fans had grown tired of the continued uselessness Crawford provided for years and were elated to see him walk to another destination. Derrick Rose joined Crawford in the “mostly useless” camp as a chucker who doesn’t defend while stealing minutes from more talented and well-rounded players like Tyus Jones.
They noticeably acquired many former players that Coach Tim Thibodeau had worked with in Chicago. It seemed apparent he was behind these signings and the replacement of Rubio. The Wolves strategy seemed to be “let’s go all in now”, something I questioned in an article last year. Why acquire all these veteran players to try to make a run now? The current Warriors are likely the greatest team of all time and the Timberwolves core hadn’t even hit the age you graduate college. Time was their greatest ally.
Also, weeks before the season they decided to give Andrew Wiggins a five year $148 million max extension a year early, to the confusion of many. Locking Wiggins up early was a gamble, betting he’d continue to improve offensively and turn it up a notch defensively while teaming with Butler.
Despite destroying their cap situation and unnecessarily moving their window up they started out well. Deep into the season they were the #3 seed in a stacked Western Conference. They did this even though the team played as outdated an offense (no floor spacing/minimal ball movement) and defense (crowd stars/give up the weak side) as there was in the NBA.
Then Butler got hurt and it was the beginning of the end. In his twenty-four games missed the Wolves limped to a 10–14 record with seven of those wins coming against non-playoff teams as opposed to a 37–21 record with him. Rumblings came out about dissention between Butler and young cohorts Wiggins and Towns.
Jimmy Butler is a self-made man. He was the 30th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft after playing three years at Marquette. After doing virtually nothing as a rookie, he came back in his second year and earned a spot in the rotation with his defense. By his third season he was making All-Defensive Teams and by his fourth he was making All-Star games. His last season in Chicago he made his first All-NBA team and was regarded as one of the very best two-way players in the league.
He didn’t do any of this by being naturally gifted. He did it by out-working everyone else. After a disappointing third season, Jimmy locked himself in the gym all summer long. He went without cable and internet the entire time, focusing only on improving his game. He was an All-Star the next year.
It turns out that this brand didn’t exactly mesh with Wiggins and Towns. They were both #1 overall picks and gifted with enormous natural ability. However, they aren’t exactly known for having high motors. Wiggins in particular has a reputation for coasting by as games go on and Towns absolutely vanished in the post-season against the #1 seed Houston Rockets. Not to mention, they have both been proven to be two of the biggest defensive liabilities in the NBA since they’ve entered the league.
As a man who prided himself for ramping things up on defense, it must’ve bothered Jimmy to play with two guys as talented as Wiggins/Towns (who were both heralded for their defensive coming out of college) coasting by and not taking advantage of their physical gifts.
That isn’t to say Butler is blameless. He and Dwyane Wade are largely credited with destroying the locker room for Chicago in 2016 to the point that the team had what could essentially be called a mutiny midseason. Butler and Wade put themselves above the rest of the team, talking down to them and belittling them. The situation appeared to be corrected over the course of the year but Wade was dealt that off-season, Butler the year after. Odds are good this continued again in Minnesota. Especially as he became reunited with his former coach and ex-teammates.
This caused a division in the locker room. One that continues on today. The Wiggins gamble hadn’t paid off, he had regressed from the previous season in pretty much every way and his five year extension wouldn’t even kick in until the next season. Similar players signed deals for half of what he got this offseason, meaning the Wolves overpaid by about $15/year just because they were antsy.
KAT’s defensive woes became more apparent, as multiple metrics deemed him the NBA’s worst defensive player throughout the season. The eye test showed he really didn’t give a damn about it either. Offensively things came and went. He’d look like a future Hall of Famer one night and follow it up by disappearing or poor coaching leading to him being phased out of the offense. Crawford continued to be a liability on both ends of the floor and Rubio’s replacement Jeff Teague proved time and time again he wasn’t worth the investment.
The excitement of ending a thirteen year playoff drought seemed to drown this talk out. After Butler’s injury they needed to win the last game of the season just to get into the playoffs. Sneaking in as the #8 seed, they gave #1 seed Houston some surprisingly tough contests early before getting blown out as the series progressed.
Once the off-season hit things changed. Rumors swirled of tension between Butler and the Wolves and many chimed in saying Towns was a big part of the reason why. He rejected Minnesota’s max extension offer earlier this off-season, as he should have because he can make significantly more next season, but since that moment it has seemed inevitable there would be a breakup between the two parties.
Today it was reported that he demanded a trade to either the Nets, Knicks or Clippers. All three teams have loads of cap space to make a run at Jimmy Buckets and another max free agent next off-season. For Minnesota, his value will be at an all-time low knowing any deal made prior to next offseason could only be a rental. As with many franchises in the ‘Superteam Era’ they have no leverage. Rumor has it that he’s looking forward to teaming with his good friend Kyrie Irving in New Jersey or New York, or with Kawhi Leonard in Los Angeles.
Where does this leave the Wolves? Well, Tom Thibodeau has clearly worn out his welcome. His stagnant offense, outdated defense and crippling rotations are a running joke around the NBA. Owner Glen Taylor has reportedly regretted giving Thibs so much power over the team and may look to move on if possible. If forced to choose between Thibs and KAT, it’s been told Taylor would rightfully side with the latter. It’s also rumored that the reason Thibs signed so many ex-players of his is to sway the locker room in his favor (Luol Deng signed last week and there is rumored interest in human corpse Joakim Noah).
One thing is for sure. When Butler inevitably leaves, whether that’s via trade or walking next off-season, the Timberwolves are in a dire situation. They’ll still have four years of Andrew Wiggins at $30 million/year on the books, Jeff Teague locked up for twice what he’s worth, a looming extension for Towns and a roster full of washed up vets. We’ve already seen that the team is a bottom dweller without Butler and barring a drastic change out of their young guns that will continue to be the case.
Where do you go as an organization when you’re capped out, old and not good? The usual answer is rebuild, which if that’s the route they choose to take, would be roughly their 4th in about a decade. It seems like the Wolves did exactly what I said they’d do last year, the most Minnesota thing ever.
