The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the youngest teams in the league and although they have talent, they had a rough season last year while dealing with a number of injuries to star players, which is why they may decide to trade Derrick Williams to the Knicks for Tyson Chandler to get more veteran depth.
The team also has a number of questions apart from deals heading into the summer, as they have the number nine pick in the draft and could get a very talented player to add to the core they have with Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. According to ESPN.com, the team has worked out Shabazz Muhammad and they also have taken a liking to Victor Oladipo, although they likely would need to make a trade to move up to get him and that is where Williams comes in.
The trade to the Knicks for Chandler is just considered chatter and so far it has no real legs, while Williams could be packaged to another team, including the Cavaliers, Magic, Wizards or Bobcats, as they all have top four picks and that would allow the team to draft Oladipo. The team went 31-51 last season while dealing with injuries, but since they got off to a very good start, the front office feels that they aren't far from a playoffs spot. Kevin Love has been mentioned in trade rumors, but Flip Saunders said he isn't going anywhere and that bodes well for the future of the franchise.
Love is an elite player and Rubio has elite talent, so adding a free agent could be a good option as well and some names include O.J. Mayo as well as Monta Ellis, as both could be potential scorers for the team. Mayo has been a target for the team in rumors since the season ended and one free agency starts they could go after him hard, as Mayo had a good season in Dallas but is ready to leave. Andre Iguodala could be an option as well after averaging 13.0 points, 5.4 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game and he could be an elite defender, which the team needs badly.
The move of Williams may clear the way for bringing back Nikola Pekovic and Andrei Kirilenko, but that is still a ways off and the team will have to go through the draft before any of those decisions are made. The team ranked 20th in scoring last season without their big players and allowed over 98 points per game and those numbers will need to improve for the team to get to the postseason. The team was 14th in rebounds and 16th in assists per game and after winning their final game against the Spurs, they will take some momentum into next year.
