Phil Ervin: Pieces are now in place for Timberwolves to become something special
MINNEAPOLIS -- Local television reporter, reiterating a quip he heard floating around sometime on draft night as downtown Minneapolis hummed with newfound, basketball-related enthusiasm: "The Timberwolves walk into a bar. Only two of them can order a drink."
Wolves No. 1 overall draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns, quickly turning the smattering of press-conference giggles into a collective belly laugh: "Hey, some of us can't even get into the bar."
At the end of a 16-win 2014-15 season, Minnesota had the NBA's eighth-youngest roster (an average age of 25.8). And that was before it added Towns and fellow 19-year-old Tyus Jones in last week's draft.
Of course, as self-christened "COP" Flip Saunders -- coach, (part) owner and president -- points out, having 39-year-old Kevin Garnett in the fold "can keep the average up a little bit.
"If you take the mean, we're going to be about 19," Saunders cracked.
Truth is, the Wolves' notable youth is outdone only by the franchise's previous failures. Other than energize a fan base with excitement for the future, Saunders' group hasn't accomplished anything of substance.
Yet.
But it would appear the pieces are in place for the Twin Cities' 11-year playoff basketball drought -- not including, of course, the Lynx dynasty that shares a new $26 million practice facility with the Wolves -- is on its way to alleviation. If Towns is the two-way big man that projections say he is, if reigning rookie of the year Andrew Wiggins continues on his current trajectory, and if Saunders continues to place and implement the right players around them, something special could be brewing at 600 First Avenue North.
Saunders says it already is.
"I'm pretty comfortable where we are," Saunders said when asked how active he'll be in free agency, which begins Tuesday night at 11 p.m. Central.
He should be.
Since returning to the club he once coached to eight straight playoff berths, Saunders has delivered on his promise to put out the dumpster fire, clean up the residue and start turning it all into a masterpiece. He shrewdly landed two of the most efficient players from the 2013 draft by trading No. 9 overall pick Trey Burke for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng. He patiently waited out the Kevin Love conundrum and somehow parlayed the All-Star power forward's angst into obtaining Wiggins. He brought back Da Kid. Then on Thursday, he trusted his gut enough to pick Towns, who could be a generational, modern-day big man if he comes close to living up to his potential.
With Towns to anchor the paint for the foreseeable future and Jones to back up Ricky Rubio at point guard, Minnesota's roster currently stands at 10 players.
That's without re-signing Garnett, an unrestricted free agent who by all accounts plans to play at least one more season in "'Sota." The Wolves also have extended a qualifying offer to Robbie Hummel, rendering him a restricted free agent they hope to retain, and they're working to ink a deal with Euroleague MVP Nemanja Bjelica, a sharpshooting, 6-foot-10 forward whose rights Minnesota acquired in the 2010 draft.
That's a logjam of power forwards, Flip, what with Garnett, Towns, Dieng, Adreian Payne and Anthony Bennett all capable of manning the four spot.
"You can always make room," Saunders grinned.
Other than to re-sign Garnett, Minnesota won't be making much of a splash during the next couple weeks. Some 3-point shooting is still needed, but Saunders may have that checked off by bringing in Bjelica.
"I do believe if he is a player that was in the draft, he would've been a top-10 pick," Saunders said.
The pieces to finally turn this thing around are already in place. It can't be overstated how little the Wolves have achieved to this point, but their chances at reversing that trend have never been this palpable.
Wiggins, so far, looks like a decade-long megastar. Towns has a chance to be one of the league's best big men. And I'll continue to maintain Rubio can succeed when he has the right players around him -- dynamic, volume-scoring, floor-running athletes like Wiggins, Muhammad, Towns and Zach LaVine.
We're talking upward of KG-level accomplishment here. With a bunch this talented, perennial first-round exits and one fun run to the Western Conference Finals shouldn't be acceptable.
Garnett did it mostly on his own. Wiggins won't have to.
"This is the uprising," Wiggins said in May upon receipt of his rookie of the year award.
If ever there was one, this is it.
Follow Phil Ervin on Twitter
