Philadelphia 76ers Fans Should Follow The Timberwolves

By some accounts, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a year ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers. To anticipate the future, the team could keep an eye on their progress

The Minnesota Timberwolves finished dead last in the 2014-2015 season with just 16 wins to 66 losses. As a result, the team selected top of the draft center Karl Anthony Towns, a dominating center with great potential, to pair with recently acquired shooting guard Andrew Wiggins.

In one season, the Timberwolves improved from a 16 win team to a 29 win team, and are now expected to flirt with .500 and a possible playoff appearance this season.

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In similar fashion, the Philadelphia 76ers have added a center with great potential this year in Joel Embiid. But even the most optimistically minded know that Embiid will be limited initially. Still, Embiid is not the only new face to the team.

Embiid will be joined by the top pick of the 2016 NBA Draft, Ben Simmons, as well as two year awaited power forward Dario Saric.

The Timberwolves did not exactly take the full trajectory of the Philadelphia 76ers, but did retool the team by severing ties with productive, but aging, veterans. The refurbished Timberwolves now will likely start Kris Dunn/Ricky Rubio at point guard, Andrew Wiggins at shooting guard, Shabazz Muhammed at small forward, Gorgui Dieng at power forward,and Karl Anthony-Towns at center. That is a starting lineup with an average age at 23 years old. This team is expected by many to end up at or nearly .500 by season’s end.

While the Philadelphia 76ers will be less successful this season, they too are invoking a youth movement, much to the chagrin of President Bryan Colangelo. On some nights, the team will likely have Jahlil Okafor at center, Dario Saric at power forward, Ben Simmons at small forward, Gerald Henderson at shooting guard, and T.J. McConnell at point guard. That too is a team with an average age at 23 years old, but the team is only expected to win 20 games by the national media.

Fortunately, the Philadelphia 76ers are still “tooling” the team. Gerald Henderson was signed to bridge this next two year period while the team loads up on the likes of shooting-guards-in-the-wings Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Furkan Korkmaz. That happens next year at the earliest. So too did the team sign up Sergio Rodriguez to cover the point guard while Ben Simmons acclimates to the NBA.

The Minnesota Timberwolves did much of the work Sam Hinkie did for the Philadelphia 76ers, but they did it on the fly, and with a constant stream of draft picks to continue to feed their team with talent. The delay for the Philadelphia 76ers was due in large part to the need to reconnect the team with the draft. The Timberwolves loaded up with talent by securing Andrew Wiggins from the Cleveland Cavaliers for power forward Kevin Love, but buying out Kevin Martin‘s contract to make room for Wiggins, and by following up last year’s draft with more attention to the back court in drafting top point guard Kris Dunn.

The Sixers had to start from scratch. With a draft pipeline disassembled by the previous regime, the team used a very austere approach to restore the NBA drafts for the future. While both teams should improve this season, it could very well be the 76ers who improve more over the longer haul.

Next: Joel Embiid Feeling Confident Heading Into Rookie* Year

After all, this is the team which boasts a fan in the White House.

Why Philadelphia 76ers Fans Should Follow The Timberwolves

By Bret Stuter | Aug 4, 2016

By some accounts, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a year ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers. To anticipate the future, the team could keep an eye on their progress