The Minnesota Timberwolves have just gotten a lot younger, faster, and more athletic heading into the season. They now have the "Bounce Brothers", Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, the NBA's next high-light reel tandem and still have one of the most gifted passers in the league in Ricky Rubio. That makes the slow and bulky big man Nikola Pekovic the odd man out in the Timberwolves young roster that is build to run up and down the court according to Adam Fromal of Bleacher Report:
With Ricky Rubio blazing down the court and preparing to distribute the rock to one of many athletic targets, it doesn't make sense to employ a lumbering center. Sure, Pekovic can jog down the floor and clean up some misses, and he's a strong offensive threat in the half-court set. But he's not a runner. Gorgui Dieng could be.
A lot of people around the NBA believe that Minnesota should consider trading Nikola Pekovic to create more opportunities for the young, promising Gorgui Deng, who performed extremely well when he was given the chance to play last season as a rookie. Dieng played much better and logged more minutes as the season progressed and was even named the Western Conference's Rookie of the Month in March.
And no matter how much the Timberwolves would let everyone believe that they intend to become a playoff contender this coming season, they are far from a playoff team especially in the brutal Western Conference. It would be best for the team to simply let their young, talented players loose until they blossom into the stars that many expect them to be. It would also be a great move for the team to keep adding young players to their team for the future and the best way to do it is trading Pekovic and his huge contract.
"I think they should look to move him and return younger players in a deal," Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders explained. "The problem then lies is he is injury prone and is owed a lot of money on his contract so who would want to pick that contract up? Saunders eventually gave in and traded Kevin Love with the future in mind so you'd have to think he has thought about this situation before. It may be best to play him this season and prove he can stay healthy and perform at a high level and then trade him while the stock is high."
Minnesota could put Dieng at the Power Forward position to play alongside Pekovic but he is better suited as a center, filling the role as the Timberwolve's defensive anchor and utilizing his athleticism and instincts to become an impact in both ends of the floor.
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