Zach Lowe of ESPN.com has an informative and quite long piece on winners and losers in NBA free agency this offseason. Of note: The Timberwolves were not mentioned. That speaks, I suppose, to their relatively muted offseason.
Lowe did have this to say about ex-Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine, who landed a four-year, $78 million deal with the Bulls after they matched the Kings' offer sheet:
"LaVine should develop into a useful player. He's a better shooter than critics acknowledge; he hit 39 percent from deep over two seasons before tearing his ACL, suggesting he could crack 40 if he develops the faintest idea of what constitutes a good shot. … But his defense has been so, so bad, and his judgment on offense so spotty, that there is a higher-than-usual chance for a big-name restricted free agent — maybe 30 percent — that LaVine just isn't good. ... Paying almost $20 million per season to find out the end of that story is a shaky bet."
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. mrand@startribune.com
