So, by now, we all know that the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Karl-Anthony Towns with the 1st overall pick in this year’s draft. It was quite predictable for some time and no one was shocked when it happened Thursday night. Then, Minnesota went on to trade their two second round picks (Rakeem Christmas and Cedi Osman) for Tyus Jones. Say what you want about that trade, but I would say that all in all, it was a very successful draft for the Timberwolves.

But, was it a good enough draft to make Minnesota relevant in the West?

If the Timberwolves were in the East, I would say they would be a top 4 team, no doubt about it. The problem is that they’re not. The Western Conference is extremely deep and you can bet that free agency will have some of the teams in the cellar improving very quickly.

Still, with all of this being said, I believe that Minnesota has become a true contender in the Western Conference.

First, let’s take a look at their probable starting 5. Ricky Rubio will start at the point with Kevin Martin alongside him in the backcourt. Their best player, Andrew Wiggins, will be starting at the 3 with Karl-Anthony Towns and most likely Nikola Pekovic rounding out the 5. Not bad at all, but what’s even more impressive? Their bench.

Their 2nd round pick of Tyus Jones will lead the bench that consists of Zach Lavine, Shabazz Muhammad, Kevin Garnett, and Gorgui Dieng. Oh my, that’s impressive. I didn’t even mention Adreian Payne who might fit in there as well. Now I don’t know if they will decide to place Kevin Garnett in the starting lineup to replace Pekovic allowing Towns to start at center or if Lavine or Muhammad would start over K-Mart, but either way, you have to be impressed with the roster.

Also keep in mind that we haven’t even hit free agency yet. They might decide to trade away some of their depth to acquire another superstar. That remains to be seen, but look for Minnesota to run teams down their throat all season while making some noise in the Western Conference.

Will they make the playoffs? If you had to ask me right now, I would say no, but this is a team with a lot of promise. I believe they will contend for an 8th seed in the West, but the team is too young right now and they’ll need a couple more years before they can be a consistent playoff team once again.