Wolves Make 3 Deadline Deals to Make the Playoff Push

The Timberwolves are on the outside looking in of the Western Conference playoff picture, something they've grown accustomed to over the past few years. Since the front office dropped a total of $27 million bringing in 4 new players in free agency, the team has been a league wide example of how NOT to handle free agency and they've become the poster boy for underachievement. In basically a desperation hail mary, the Wolves are trying to turn the season around at the deadline, dealing all 4 of their recently signed free agents. Will it work?

The first trade saw Nick Young and Andray Blatche sent to Brooklyn in return for veteran Metta World Peace. Blatche and Young have been hovering around 40% due to Blatche's love for jumpers and Young's love for shooting the ball any time it touches his hands, which obviously didn't work. Though Metta World Peace is getting up there in age, he's still a lockdown defender. The hope is that for the few minutes he'll play per game, he'll at least be able to slow down the opponent's small forward, while not taking many shots, something that Nick Young just couldn't do.

And then in a financial move, 6th man Danny Granger and 3rd string point guard Gary Neal were shipped to Detroit for Kyle Singler, Jamal Crawrford, and Jeff Withey. A Granger - Crawford swap will save the Wolves somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 million, which they're going to need given Marc Gasol and Kevin Love's impending free agency. Crawford hasn't played a minute this entire season though, so it's unclear as to what he's really going to bring to the table, if anything. Withey will become the emergency center behind Willie Cauley in the lineup on a super cheap contract, and Kyle Singler is another young and cheap player who is a solid shooter. And Gary Neal simply became expendable after the arrival of Kirk Hinrich.

The third, and hopefully final, trade for the Wolves this season saw Jermaine O'Neal moving to Indiana for a 2nd round pick. With no room on the roster for Jermaine, it was better to get a mid-2nd rounder for him than see him waste away on the inactives list.

Maybe this finally solves some things for Minnesota. But probably not.

I'm not sure why Kevin Love is struggling so much this season...it seems to me that you've got to many players that are scorers. With Ben McLemore as your rising star, maybe try seeing what you can get for Kevin Love to add more depth? If Gasol resigns, he'll be your scorer in the paint.

I do like the way your team looks though, so I'll root for you to make the post season.