Minnesota Timberwolves 2015 roster: Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns give hope for the future

That’s an exciting foundation for Minnesota, and one that puts it on track to return to relevance eventually. Wiggins and Towns are potential superstars. Rubio may be limited offensively but gives the team a stable, pass-first point guard to help others build confidence. Bjelica, LaVine and Muhammad could all impress, too.

Unfortunately, that likely won’t lead to much success in 2015-16. The Western Conference is just too good, and the talent on hand for Minnesota is too far away from its peak. That makes the upcoming season all about building and making progress. After being a pathetically bad defensive team that won just 16 games a year ago, the Timberwolves have some reason to be optimistic that rock bottom is behind them.

Franchise icon Kevin Garnett was acquired from the Nets last trade deadline, played a handful of games, and promptly sat down with knee problems for the rest of the year. The team re-signed him to a somewhat shocking two-year, $16M deal in the summer, and he’s slated to start at power forward. He won’t play a ton--20 minutes a night when he’s available seems a reasonable guess. Still, he’s likely to be their best defensive rebounder when he’s on the court, he remains a good defensive player, and has obvious leadership skills. Is it worth it?

Everyone universally raves about his demeanor in practice and on the bench, how much he’s teaching the young players, and how his commitment to defense and effort is rubbing off on the whole team. This is something impossible to measure, but certainly he means a lot to the franchise as the signature player in its history, and he probably helps some even at this late point in his career. That $8M won’t hurt them this season; whether it matters next season we’ll have to wait and see.

SB Nation presents: NBA Draft winners and losers