Minnesota Timberwolves Begin to Ask “What If?”


Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Timberwolves did not enjoy the 2012-2013 as much as they thought they would. Going in, they knew if they had a healthy squad that they could compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. What they got instead was an injury-plagued season ending with many fans asking, “What if?”

This question, asked by many fans around the league, is something that the Timberwolves’ players and coaches know all too well by now. Head coach Rick Adelman said he just wanted his team to rebound after a tough home loss to the Utah Jazz earlier this week, heading into Wednesday night’s contest with the San Antonio Spurs.

After the Wolves came out victorious, Adelman said: “We know if we get healthy and we get people back, we have a chance to be a pretty good team. You look back, it has been a tough year, but the guys got better and learned a lot about what it’s going to take for us to win.”

Throughout the year, the Wolves were at times without forward Andrei Kirilenko, guard Chase Budinger, point guard Ricky Rubio, center Nikola Pekovic, guard Brandon Roy, and of course star forward Kevin Love.

Love and Roy were out the majority of the year and never really got to string together a few games at full health. The experiment with Roy, specifically, was one of the bigger disappointments.

Next year, the Wolves have many things to look forward to if all goes according to plan. They need to first worry about bringing back Pekovic, otherwise they are in some serious trouble in the paint. Secondly, the front office has to make a decision about the back-and-forth swaying over whether or not to trade forward Derrick Williams. If they do, it would be wise to deal him for a starting shooting guard so that they don’t have to play so many point guards who aren’t 100% comfortable at that spot.

If the Wolves do a few things right, look for them to be right up there fighting for playoff position in 2014.

Ryan Heckman is a writer for  www.RantSports.com covering the NBA and NFL. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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