Flip Saunders and the Minnesota Timberwolves have had some luck lately. Switching Kevin Love for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young was the fastest way to rebuilding their core. Then, winning the 2015 NBA draft. What a 12 months for the Timberwolves!

But, something I haven’t found many people discussing is that this team in as short as 2 season from now could be a defensive powerhouse in the league. If they take Karl-Anthony Towns as they are projected to do with the 1st pick their defense at the rim will be significantly improved. Combine that with Andrew Wiggins impressive and improving wing defense the Timberwolves will have a lock-down defensive rotation. Beginning the 2015-16 season the Timberwolves line-up could look something like this:

1. Ricky Rubio

2. Kevin Martin

3. Andrew Wiggins

4. Kevin Garnett

5. Karl-Anthony Towns

With, Bennett, Zach Lavine, Gorgui Dieng all coming off the bench to headline a young second unit. The next question facing this roster is what to do Nikola Pekovic? The Bucks are on the hunt for an established center, could moving Pekovic to the Bucks for O.J Mayo and a 2nd rounder be an option? Is this something the teams would go for? Maybe the Celtics would take on Pekovic and his contract? Pekovic for Gerald Wallace, Luigi Datome and a future 1st rounder from Danny Ainge’s bag of goodies?

One last option is to swing Pekovic to the Knicks for Bargnani and 2 2nd rounders. Would this be something Phil Jackson and the Knick’s fanbase be interested in?

Moving Pekovic just free’s up playing time for Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng and lets them learn from Kevin Garnett. In 2 seasons from now, if all goes to plan the Timberwolves will have a roster resembling something like this:

1. Ricky Rubio

2. Zach Lavine

3. Andrew Wiggins

4. Karl-Anthony Towns

5. Gorgui Dieng

6. Anthony Bennett

7. Shabazz Muhammed

8. Adreian Payne

9. Anthony Brown (#31 2015 draft pick)

The best thing about the future is the players just listed as members of this team in 2 seasons from now are all currently quite raw and all have some sort of upside. Andrew Wiggins and KAT can easily become one of the most intimidating tandems in the league in a few seasons from now. KAT defensive plus/minus in college was an impressive +10.8 according to sports reference.com. Andrew Wiggins had a defensive plus/minus of – 1.8 in his first NBA season according to basketball reference. But, he showed some potential on the defensive end as can be seen below:

I expect that defensive plus/ minus to increase going into his sophomore season.

These two players alone if they live up to their potential can turn around the fate of this franchise, but with the potential of the other young pieces around them and with some room to grow, the Timberwolves are in a good place.

So Timberwolves fans, be patient and enjoy this growing phase. Your future is bright