Is Tom Thibodeau, trading for frontcourt help the answer to winning now?
About a month ago, Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, shared the rumors that Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau was looking to trade one of his young stars in exchange for a veteran due to the slow 5-10 start to the season.
Things still haven't changed much for the T-Wolves who now hold a record of 7-18, and the 14th seed in the Western Conference. Multiple sources have reported that Thibodeau is now searching for frontcourt help.
However, Thibodeau needs to be cognizant of the idea that for one, he is no longer coaching a team in the Eastern Conference.
The Timberwolves are clearly still in “rebuild” mode, and I’m not talking Sam Hinkie and “Trust the Process” type of rebuild, but in rebuild mode nonetheless.
I understand that Thibodeau is interested in trading for a frontcourt player to complement rising superstar, Karl-Anthony Towns.
It has been rumored before that Thibodeau will go after one of his former players, such as Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and or Luol Deng. A player who understands his defensive-minded coaching style.
Gibson, who is averaging 12.0 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game and 1.0 blocks per game would be an excellent addition to the T-Wolves.
Yet, I don’t see a Chicago Bulls (13-11) team, who is currently the sixth seed in the East, trading away one of their top frontcourt players.
If Butler was in the trade mix, the Bulls would demand too much in return. Perhaps, Andrew Wiggins, Kris Dunn and maybe even a future 1st round pick for Jimmy Butler.
I think Wiggins is a better player than Butler right now. The more I watch Wiggins play the more I see shades of a young Kobe Bryant from his athleticism and his ability to be an elite two-way player.
Wiggins is a very efficient scorer in only his third year in the National Basketball Association, averaging 22.1 PPG with a 47% field goal percentage this season.
In addition, T-Wolves guard Zach LaVine is displaying that he not only good for wearing Michael Jordan's Tune Squad jersey, and acrobatics in Slam Dunk contests, but a valuable part of Minnesota's big three.
LaVine is averaging a career best 20.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.5 three point shots made per game.
Minnesota has a great foundation of Towns, Wiggins, and LaVine, yet they clearly are a few years away from being a bona fide contender in the West.
Rather than makes trades out of desperation, Thibodeau should be “patient” and free up cap space. Currently, Minnesota has over 10 million dollars in cap space and over 31 million dollars in luxury tax space.
The T-Wolves could trade Ricky Rubio as a means to free up even more cap space for a loaded 2017 free agent class of frontcourt players.
Frontcourt players in the 2017 free agent class includes: Blake Griffin (player option), Paul Millsap (player option), Danilo Gallinari (player option), Greg Monroe (player option) , Gibson (unrestricted), and Serge Ibaka (unrestricted).
Rubio has three years left on his contract worth $42,300,000 dollars through 2018-19.
A Rubio trade will help the development of Dunn, who I believe can be one of the best two-way guards in the NBA if he gets more playing time than the 17.5 minutes per game that he is receiving this year in his rookie campaign.
Thibodeau making a trade before the deadline would not instantly fix the T-Wolves many foibles, for they have two of the best young players in the NBA in both Towns and Wiggins, yet are 11 games under .500.
Thibodeau may believe that his team is ready to be a playoff contender, however it is not only evident that the T-Wolves are not a playoff contender in the West, it is becoming more evident that they would not even be a playoff contender in the East.
The Timberwolves only have one more win than the Philadelphia 76ers (6-18), who are tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the worst record in the NBA.