The Minnesota Timberwolves are a team on the rise with a ton of young talent including the past three number one overall picks in the NBA Draft. To go with that young talent the Timberwolves have also decided that they needed to bring in some veterans to help lead this very young team. Minnesota acquired Kevin Garnett via trade last year and re-signed him, and they have also now reportedly signed veteran point guard Andre Miller, according to ESPN.com.
The Timberwolves already have Ricky Rubio as their starting point guard and they also traded for Tyus Jones on a draft-day deal, but that didn't stop head coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders from saying a couple of weeks ago that he thought the team still needed a veteran point guard.
Miller's deal is reportedly for one year at the veteran's minimum, and it will be his 17th season in the league at age 39. Miller's playing time will be a bit of a question mark, as Jones was a first round pick and is likely ready to be the backup, but Miller will still likely get some time to run the show and throw some lobs to his young athletic teammates. Rubio is coming off an ankle injury last year and Jones is just a rookie, so Miller should be able to have an impact on the court as well as off the court.
For his career the veteran point guard averages 12.8 points and 6.7 assists per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. Miller won't give the Timberwolves any perimeter shooting as he is only a 22 percent three-point shooter for his career, but he will bring leadership, poise and an ability to close out games for a mostly inexperienced team.
Miller played just 15.5 minutes per game last season between both the Washington Wizards and the Sacramento Kings, and that is about the range of minutes he should be expected to get next season. After being acquired by Sacramento in the middle of last season, Miller averaged 5.7 points and 4.7 assists in 30 games, so he still does have something left in the tank.
