The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trading Wiggins is T-Wolves’ best bet
The Timberwolves won 47 games and made the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons despite an injury to their most important player.
Were the Wolves still building with young players, this season could be described as an overwhelming success. With their current coach and roster, it stands as a warning.
The Timberwolves are on the clock. Not for the draft lottery, but for an even more important game of chance.
They will have to play roster roulette over the next year. If they bet poorly they could quickly return to irrelevance.
Tom Thibodeau traded for Jimmy Butler to win immediately. Butler has one year remaining on his Timberwolves’ deal, as well as a player option for 20192020.
This week, Butler told the Chicago Sun-Times that he could see returning to the Bulls. Butler also said this:
“Young guys in this league don’t understand urgency. These guys don’t understand that you never know what the league brings, the times may bring. I think they do understand what it takes to win here and they continue to learn that.
“Decisions I make, the money, my contract, all of that will handle itself. I don’t ever worry about my money. I already have enough money for the rest of my life. It’s all about winning.”
I will interpret that as a critique of Andrew Wiggins, who again disappeared in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The Wolves signed Wiggins to a maximum contract that
goes into effect next season.
They are in danger of losing Butler to free agency after next season.
The Wolves can’t afford to lose Butler unless Wiggins is going to replace him as an ace defender, Alpha personality and go-to-scorer.
What are the chances of that happening?
Before the Wolves’ season opener in San Antonio, Thibodeau and Butler sat
courtside during the team shootaround and held a long, animated, conversation. They repeated that ritual often this year.
It’s time for them to hold a year-end summit. They need to figure out whether Wiggins should be traded. Yes, Butler should be a part of that conversation.
If the Wolves trade Wiggins, would Butler stay?
If Wiggins stays, will Butler
leave?
The Wolves already traded Zach LaVine for Butler. They can’t afford to find themselves in two years without LaVine, Butler and Wiggins — or with only an underachieving Wiggins.
There is another variable at play in these decisions: Butler’s health.
He underwent knee surgery during the season and couldn’t finish Game 5 of the playoffs.
He plays extensive minutes and will be 29 next season.
Raptors 102, Wizards 92
WASHINGTON — The Toronto Raptors overcame a halftime deficit in a road playoff game for the first time in 24 tries, using 24 points from Kyle Lowry and a tremendous effort from their finally whole second unit to beat the Washington Wizards
in Game 6 on Friday night and end their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Toronto trailed by as many as 12 points in the first quarter and was down 53-50 at the end of the second. The Raptors’ first lead did not come until the third quarter, and they were back down by five points entering the final period.
But with star guards Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who had a personal series-low 16 points, resting to begin the fourth, reserves led by point guard Fred VanVleet turned around the game. Bothered by a bad right shoulder, VanVleet had played a total of three minutes in the series until Friday, but he was just what Toronto needed in this game, with five points, four assists and four rebounds.
The home team had won each of the first five games, but the Raptors were finally able to break that road hex and close things out. The East’s No. 1 seed will face LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers or the Indiana Pacers next.
This marks the Raptors’ third consecutive trip to the second round of the playoffs; they last failed to get that far in 2015, when they were swept in the opening round by the Wizards.