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Will the Minnesota Timberwolves be able to make another run to the NBA playoffs next season?
Minnesota added two rookies to its roster during the 2023 NBA Draft. They entered the draft with the need to boost their bench production after their bench scored 18.8 points per game in the NBA playoffs, putting them at 14th among teams that made the postseason. Four players scored in double digits for the Timberwolves during the team's five-game series against the Denver Nuggets.
Minnesota brought center Naz Reid back on a three-year, $42 million contract with a player option on Sunday. Reid averaged 11.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game during the 2022-23 season, adding on a 53.7% field goal percentage and a 34.6% average from the 3-point line. He joins 11 other players who can return to the Timberwolves for the 2023-24 season, according to sports contract and salary website Spotrac.
What was the best decision the Timberwolves made in the 2023 NBA Draft?
Trading for Leonard Miller
The Timberwolves took a chance on G League forward Leonard Miller after it traded two second-round selections to acquire the No. 33 pick in Thursday's draft. They would move on to take UCLA guard Jaylen Clark at No. 53.
Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly praised the duo after landing them in last week's draft.
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“Toughness. Competitiveness. As people, you guys should pat yourselves on the back, pat your support systems on the back, everybody swears by these guys in terms of what they bring to the building everyday,” Connelly said, via Bring Me The Sports. “Positivity. High IQ. Just guys you want to be around.
“So, I think, we got two of the most competitive, toughest guys in the draft. If you'd have told us when the night started we were going to walk out with Jaylen and Leonard, I wouldn't have believed you.”
Miller was taken with the 21st pick by the Brooklyn Nets in the most recent mock draft from ClutchPoints. The 6-foot-10-inch forward averaged 16.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game during the 38 games he played during the G League's regular season and its Winter Showcase. He played with now-Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson, San Antonio Spurs guard Sidy Cissoko and Indiana Pacers guard Mojave King last season.
“To come out of high school straight into the G-League, I feel like all I needed was reps and time to really watch film,” Miller said of his ascension, via the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I just kept playing, getting used to the pace, the NBA game and the players that came with it. They're grown men. It was playing and then reflecting on film.”
Taking a forward of Leonard's talents in the second round of the draft could prove to be a sound decision if he can live up to the potential he showed in the G League. If Leonard is able to tap into the talent that made him a reliable contributor for Ignite last season, he can be a fantastic part of a Timberwolves' rotation that averaged 41.9 rebounds per game last year, putting it at 23rd in the NBA.
He will need to work on his efficiency from the 3-point line after he ended last season with a 30.4% average from beyond the ark. But, along with Clark, the Wolves can move along with two promising young players as they try to make future runs for the postseason.
