On Sunday afternoon, ESPN reported that the Minnesota Timberwolves have signed power forward, Taj Gibson, to a two-year deal. The deal is reportedly worth $28 million. Gibson played the first eight seasons of his career with the Chicago Bulls before being traded last year to the Oklahoma City Thunder. While Taj was with Chicago, he was coached for five seasons by Tom Thibodeau.
Tom Thibodeau is the current coach for the Timberwolves and he has wasted no time recruiting some of his former players he coached while at Chicago. Almost two weeks ago on draft night, the Wolves traded Kris Dunn and Zach Lavine to the Bulls for all-star Jimmy Butler.
The addition of Gibson should give Minnesota the much-needed experience on both sides of the ball.
Veteran presence of Gibson
Taj Gibson has spent most of his career providing much-needed help off the bench. However, when his team has needed him to step into a starting role, he has shown he can elevate his game by playing tough on both sides of the basketball. Gibson has enjoyed almost his entire career playing in the NBA post-season as a member of the Bulls and the Thunder. Coming to the Wolves he brings career averages of 9.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game.
Minnesota Timberwolves and Taj Gibson agree to a two-year, $28 million deal, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 2, 2017
Adding more pieces
After their blockbuster trade on draft night, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been adding more pieces to surround their two young stars in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
This past Friday, June 30, the Wolves traded point guard Ricky Rubio to the Utah Jazz. Rubio spent his first seven seasons with Minnesota before the team decided to part ways with him. He has career averages of 10.3 points, 8.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game.
A day after the team cut ties with Rubio, they signed point guard Jeff Teague to a three-year deal worth $57 million.
Last season, Teague averaged 15.3 points and a career high 7.8 assists per game. After coming off the bench his first few seasons with the Hawks, he broke out into a starting role and has since played at the same level.
He was voted to his first ever NBA all-star game in 2015. He provides more scoring from the PG position than Rubio did.
Also, now that they also have all-star Jimmy Butler in the starting lineup, the team is already being considered a serious playoff contender by many sports analysts and experts around the league.
Gibson a possible starter
It is very well possible that Taj Gibson could be granted a starting role with the Wolves this coming season. Coach Tom Thibodeau appears to be taking the approach of surrounding his young stars with veteran experience and Taj Gibson could certainly help out center Karl-Anthony Towns a lot physically and mentally.
