The Minnesota Timberwolves have a young core of players with immense talent and after losing some of those players to injury last year, the franchise feels that this season they can make the playoffs out West if Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio are healthy and so far that has been the case, making coach Rick Adelman very excited to start the year and now he is even more excited that Nikola Pekovic will be staying with a five-year, $60 million extension.
According to ESPN.com, the deal on both sides is now complete after some hangups. The team made a number of moves this offseason to help shore up the roster, including adding Kevin Martin, Ronny Turiaf, Corey Brewer, Chase Budinger as well as Shabazz Muhammad in the draft, all of which should help the offense and depth on the bench. The team has restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic on an extension and while that took some time, the team felt that he was one of their top young players and that they needed to do all they could to retain him to keep the frontcourt with Kevin Love strong and intact.
The Wolves also traded away Luke Ridnour to the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal to open up space to sign Martin and that also should help Ricky Rubio develop, as he has another star-type player to work with. Martin said that he is thrilled to play with Rubio and Love, as he said that playing with Kevin Durant and the Thunder showed what working with a superstar can be like. The Timberwolves also lost Andrei Kirilenko to the Brooklyn Nets, which makes the addition of Turiaf more important, as he can provide depth and rebounding for the team.
The Timberwolves were excited to bring back Budinger on a three-year, $16 million contract after he showed strong development since being drafted and the team also brought in Brewer, who was previously a top-10 pick for the Wolves back in 2007 and it comes after he averaged over 12 points with the Nuggets last season. The biggest get for the team was Martin, who came over in the three-team deal that sent Ridnour to the Bucks and now gives the Wolves another solid scorer to play alongside Rubio and Love.
Martin was solid after moving to the Thunder in the James Harden trade and the move reunites him with coach Adelman for the third time after stints with the Kings and Rockets and that is exciting for the Wolves, as the guard played his best basketball under Adelman. The sign and trade got the team Martin after he averaged 14 points and the team brought him in on a long-term deal after the trade. Adelman was sad to see Ridnour go after he played in all 82 games last season, but the coach also is glad to have Martin under his wing again.
Turiaf will add rebounding and defensive depth to the roster after playing with the Clippers and averaging 1.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 10.5 minutes in 65 games with the team and now he will join his sixth NBA team in his career. He signed a two-year deal with the Timberwolves and along with Muhammad, the team feels like it is ready to contend in the West.
Muhammad was solid during summer league play and the team likes how his offensive game is developing after playing one season at UCLA and along with Rubio and Love, he forms a very solid core of young players for the future. Lasts season the team finished 20 games under .500 with a 31-51 record and exec Flip Saunders predicts a much more successful season in 2013-14.