Nemanja Bjelica joining the Minnesota Timberwolves could possibly be a sneaky good move for the young and upstart Timberwolves. The team already has a load of talent with Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad, Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, Kevin Martin, Adreian Payne, Anthony Bennett and now they add a foreign star that could actually help the team.
Bjelica recently agreed to join the Timberwolves, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Euroleague star forward Nemanja Bjelica has agreed to a three-year, $11.7 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
“I am excited to announce that I intend to sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves and fulfill my dream of playing in the NBA,” Bjelica told Yahoo Sports in a statement sent through his agent Arn Tellem on Monday. “Thank you Flip Saunders and the rest of the organization for the confidence you have shown in me. I’m looking forward to joining the team and helping it become a contender.
The Timberwolves are paying an additional $625,000 – the most allowable contribution – for his buyout clause in Europe, sources said.
So who is Nemanja Bjelica? He’s been long considered a hidden gem overseas since getting drafted 35th overall in the 2010 draft. Bjelica fits in with the NBA trend of the stretch bigs taking centerstage in NBA gameplans. He can play inside and out at either forward position and he can handle the ball, one of the best skills he possesses. He averaged 12 points per game, shot 35% from three last season while he pulling more than eight rebounds a game for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce Ulker. The team brought in Pero Antic to try and help deal with the loss of the former MVP.
Following from former NBA GM and NBA assistant coach Brad Greenburg courtesy of Basketball Insiders.
“Bjelica is the most efficient and consistent player on his team,” Greenberg said. “He’s unique because he can move with and without the ball, run the floor and start a fastbreak. He has isolation sets run for him, he can attack from the top and poses all sorts of problems.”
“He is a power forward who can matchup against small forwards, but NBA teams would look at him as a tweener because he is long, can shoot and run like a wing,” said Greenberg.
Greenberg also reflected on what might be a comparable NBA viewpoint for Bjelica: “Nikola Mirotic is doing well in Chicago. That probably makes guys like Bjelica think – ‘I know him, I played well against him. If he can do it, I can do it’ – but the truth is Doug McDermott got hurt, so that opened a window and Mirotic took advantage of it. The NBA is all a matter of situation.”
Check out some highlights of the next prospect to join the Timberwolves, Nemanja Bjelica.
