The Minnesota Timberwolves are poised to turn around their franchise with the current roster that they have. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins as the young leaders for this youthful Wolves team, the sky is the limit. Both Rookie of The Year’s have grown enormously in their short time in the league and the sky is the limit for such a talented young team. We’ve seen teams come from the bottom of the Western Conference to contend for titles in recent years by building through the draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors are prime examples of what the Timberwolves are trying to do. Karl-Anthony Towns already expressed how excited he was for the upcoming year, especially with the acquisition of Head Coach Tom Thibodeau and 5th overall pick in this year’s draft, point guard Kris Dunn. Now, Andrew Wiggins is sharing some of that excitement.
Wiggins sat down to speak with Complex magazine about losing in horse, the presence of Kevin Garnett on the Wolves, and most importantly, the future of Minnesota:
I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm with you and Towns, a lot of people really like your core. Do you feel this year is kind of a playoffs-or-bust year with Thibodeau, you guys and the fact the Timberwolves haven’t made the playoffs since 2004?
Yeah, it’s been a while, but I think this year we can do it. Just keep at it, keep getting better and keep building off what we did last year. Our season wasn’t great last year, but we beat the big names. We beat the best teams on their home court. We beat a lot of good teams. So we have to build on that going into this year.
Now with the Timberwolves, they bought in Tom Thibodeau this offseason. I’m sure you’ve been around him at least a little bit this offseason. What changes has he bought so far and what changes do you think he is going to bring to that team?
He brings a seriousness to the team. He does things a little different than some of the past coaches I’ve had in my career. Every coach has a different style. The way he carries himself is different. I’m really looking forward to the season with him; he’s a very defensive-minded coach. We just drafted Kris Dunn who’s a great defender coming into the NBA, so I’m looking forward to it.How does Kris Dunn fit in with the core of you and Karl-Anthony Towns?
He fits in perfect. It’s great to have another athletic, responsive guard on the floor that’s defensive-minded too. That’s what we need. That’s [a good thing] because last year, we struggled in that area.
Wiggins is right. Despite only winning 29 games last year, it was clear that the Wolves were headed in the right direction. They beat the best of them last year at home, beating the 73-9 Golden State Warriors and showed resilience against other power houses as well. With a young core of Wiggins, Anthony Towns, Dunn and Zach LaVine, the sky is really the limit for this young Timberwolves team.
