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On the short list of most intriguing up-and-coming franchises lies the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Drafting well and good fortune have landed them two centerpieces for the future in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Other young and talented players like Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Ricky Rubio surround that duo.
The distant future appears to be in good hands while the near future still presents some things that need figuring out. Things like: Is a Ricky Rubio trade in the works? Or, will Kevin Garnett retire soon?
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor addressed many of the franchises pressing issues heading into next season, via Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune.
The backcourt is getting crowded after drafting Dunn, who has the potential to be a good combo guard in the NBA and, along with the emergence of LaVine, may help in making Rubio more expendable. Taylor says he doesn't see a Rubio trade as a likely scenario just yet though.
“I don’t see that as a likely possibility. I just think the coach, everybody, likes Ricky. …I think the coach wants to bring an assistant coach to help Ricky on his shooting and I think that’s where we’re going to start out and go and we’ll see how good Kris Dunn is.”
It's really not just the backcourt that's crowded in Minnesota. There are a number of bigs on the roster now, something that's made more interesting when you remember Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Garnett are due upwards of $20 million next season.
Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan retired this year and Garnett may be the next future Hall of Famer with that on his mind. Taylor says the Timberwolves have yet to put a timetable on Garnett.
“I think it’s more up to Kevin, a little bit. The sooner we know it’s helpful to us, but I mean Kevin is an important part of our past and came back last year to help us, and we all know Kevin was having some difficulty with his knees and legs or things like that. I think he’s the only one that can tell us if he can play or not play, and I don’t think we have put him under time frame.”
Minnesota will surely be one of the most popular League Pass teams next season. What happens, if anything, with Rubio and Garnett will be something to keep a close eye on.
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