Report: Sensing rare opportunity, Wolves could be 'aggressive' at trade deadline
Earlier this week, three players – Atlanta's Bogdan Bogdanovic, Washington's Tyus Jones and Brooklyn's Royce O'Neale – entered the rumor mill as potential "best fits" for the Timberwolves and a few other teams, and the belief from insider Jon Krawczynski is that Minnesota recognizes its rare chance as a true contender and could use that as a springboard to be aggressive before the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline.
"I do expect them to be very active and having conversations. I don't think it's going to be for a major move, but there are areas that they know they need to address. One is, do you need a backup point guard for Mike Conley? They're going to be playing a ton of back-to-backs over the second half of the season," Krawczynski explained to Zach Lowe on the Lowe Post podcast.
"And then I think the other area is some sort of bucket-getter in that second unit. They wanted Shake Milton to be that, maybe he can still eventually become that but he just really hasn't shot the ball well at all. Do they go try find someone like that who can give you more offense from the perimeter, and especially from the 3-point range? Because this team doesn't shoot a lot of 3s. They make 38% of their 3s but they only shoot 31 a game. I think they need to get that volume up if they're going to help this offense improve from 20th into 15th-10th area, they have to shoot more 3s."
More specifically, he described the need for a second bench scorer who can add 12-15 points per game.
Minnesota is the No. 1 defensive team in the NBA by a wide margin but they're 20th in offensive rating. It's an issue that Lowe says will prevent him from picking the Wolves to win the Western Conference in the playoffs.
"I just can't trust their offense. But they have 40 games to iron it out. It's there for them. If they can just get this a little cleaner, there's a pathway where they can make the Finals. Like 100% for sure," Lowe reasoned.
Jan 17, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Former New York Yankee and majority owner of Minnesota Timberwolves Alex Rodriguez watches the game against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.
Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Krawcyznski then noted how soon-to-be majority Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have shown a willingness to be aggressive when they see opportunity.
"I can tell you that the people in the organization feel that. They know that this is a very rare moment for this franchise," Krawczynski said. "From a talent standpoint, they are not going to be looking up at many teams that they play game in and game out, and certainly not even in the playoffs. And that is where I do think I'm going to be interested to see Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore and how they operate going into this trade deadline because they have been aggressive.
"They went out and paid a bunch of money for Tim Connelly, they OK'd the Rudy Gobert deal. They have shown that they're going to go after things when it's right there, and I believe that this organization thinks that this opportunity is there for them, that this window is open for the next year or two. So it wouldn't surprise me at all for them to be aggressive at the deadline. But they also know that they have put together a squad that can make a really deep run in the playoffs and that is something that just doesn't happen here."
