The Minnesota Timberwolves have an optimistic feeling about the upcoming season after getting Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio back from injury and after adding a number of new names like Chase Budinger and Corey Brewer, the front office is expecting some big improvements.
Last season the team finished 20 games under .500 while dealing with injuries, but after adding more talent to the roster in the form of Kevin Martin and Brewer as well as first round pick Shabazz Muhammad, coach Rick Adelman is hopeful for the future. Martin likely will be inspired by playing for Adelman for the third time, as he has gotten the best out of Martin during his career, while Muhammad will be motivated by the teams that passed him up in the first round.
The Timberwolves were active this offseason in free agency and in the trade market and they brought back both Chase Budinger and Corey Brewer, while also dealing Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee in a trade. The team could have done even more this offseason before adding Brewer, as Pro Basketball Talk reports that the team had the chance to trade for Tayshaun Prince from the Grizzlies for "minimal" in return, but instead they opted for Brewer, likely due to Prince's high salary from the deal he signed with the Pistons.
At the time Prince looked like a steal at four-year and over $25 million, but now that deal looks like a tough sell and the Grizzlies now will have to pay him over the next two seasons if they can't deal him. The Wolves also signed Ronny Turiaf for depth on the bench and after they get Love back, their front court should be as formidable as any in the Western conference.
Budinger returned to the team on a three-year, $16 million contract, while Brewer agreed to a three-year, $15 million deal to come back to the team that drafted him back in 2007. He was solid last season while averaging over 12 points for the Nuggets and he will help replace the loss of Andrei Kirilenko. Derrick Williams remains after being named in numerous trade talks and with Turiaf in the fold, the depth on the roster is much better than last season. The team is working on an extension with Nikola Pekovic and even though they went just 31-51 last season, there is hop up North.
"It's always different when you come in with the expectations of a top-10 pick and you're counted on to carry a team. He's not going to have to carry this team," president of basketball operations Flip Saunders said.