The NBA has become a 12-month a year sport. A year has 12 months (even during leap year!), so this is a good thing if you’re on the business side of basketball.
We just wrapped up the draft and next on the calendar is free agency. Free agency officially opens on July 1. This is when players can start reaching verbal agreements with teams, restricted free agents can sign offer sheets and teams can sign players to rookie-scale contracts, minimum-salary contracts, and two-way contracts.
None of these signings can be made official until July 6, though. This also opens up a two-day period for matching restricted free-agency offers.
Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, along with General Manager Scott Layden, addressed the media on Thursday to discuss free agency.
Of course, the two didn’t tell us their top targets (they can’t) or what exactly their plan is. That would be foolish. But we were able to have a look into what their process looks like.
“When you evaluate all the free agents, you put them into tiers in where they might fit, but you also analyze the teams on what may happen,” Thibodeau said. “And then there’s another category of potential players who could be bought out that could be appealing as well.”
The Wolves likely won’t be as active as they were last season when we saw them trade Ricky Rubio while signing Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford. But there are moves out there for the Wolves, even if they don’t have the same flexibility as they did a year ago.
“I think the process is broad,” Layden said. “I think we use all of our resources to land the best players. It is a process. I think behind the scenes, it started several weeks ago when we had our scouts in and started to identify who will be a good fit.”
So, who will be a good fit?
Three things are at the top of the list, in no order. Shooting, defense and versatility.
The Wolves made just eight 3-pointers per game last season, a mark that ranked last in the league. And with that, Minnesota’s defensive rating ranked 27th in the league. To be fair, the Wolves did score 109.5 points per game, a mark that ranked eighth in the league. And the 107.3 points per game allowed ranked 17th.
And as far as versatility goes, that was the buzz word on draft night when the team drafted Josh Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop. You bet the Wolves will be looking for more of it in free agency.
How do players choose teams? Thibodeau says there are four major things most players are looking for.
“One being the city that you’re in,” Thibodeau said. “We feel very strongly about that. Secondly, I would say the winning is important to most players. Obviously, the third is the money and then the people that they’re playing with. We feel like we’re in good position there.”
It’s sure to be a crazy NBA offseason with plenty of big names out there. From what we know about history, those guys will likely set the timeline for the rest of the league and will dictate where other players sign, but a few players could fall through the cracks as the big prizes decide on where to sign.
“The top guys will be looking at their options and that will slow things down a little bit, but there may be opportunity go get a deal done (during that time) . . . As soon as we can, we’ll make contact with guys who we think will be a good fit for us,” Thibodeau said.
Expect plenty of coverage on free agency starting July 6 when we’re allowed to talk about it. Until then, enjoy the speculation.