Kevin Love agreed to a new contract with the Timberwolves today for a four-year deal worth between $60-62 million dollars.  A major caveat in the deal is the fourth year is an option year for Love, who can decide to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2015.

Deja Vu?

At first glance, keeping Kevin Love in Minnesota is a boon for the small-market Timberwolves, who most people don't expect to shell out big dollars for players under the current system.  A lot of people remember the gargantuan contract that Kevin Garnett signed during the 1996-97 season which, was for six years, but worth a remarkable $126 million.  That contract severely hampered the Timberwolves' chances of winning for many years because of their inability to surround Garnett with quality free agents.

  The Wolves' inability to secure quality free agents led them to their "secret" deal with Joe Smith, which ended up costing them three first-round picks and further handcuffed them to that contract.

Why Is This Different?

This deal is smaller than the max contract that could have been offered, which was for five years and around $80 million.  In addition, the opt-out clause after three years is a very underrated part of this deal and something that Love deserves.  Players get promises made to them all the time by management about surrounding them with talent, but it doesn't always pan out.

Players get frustrated and don't play up to their potentials.  This deal allows some wiggle room financially for the Timberwolves, should they decide to sign a high-profile free agent.  The contract also allows them to offer a big deal to one of their own players ::cough Rubio cough:: if they become superstars.

Small Market Teams Don't Win Championships Anyway

This is both true and false.  Since 1980, the only NBA titles that went to a small media market was when the San Antonio Spurs won in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007.  No other small market team has won a title regardless of good fortune (Cleveland drafting LeBron), big free-agent spending (Orlando), or even shrewd business (Oklahoma City).  You can do it with two or three of those, which is what Oklahoma City is trying to do currently.

The Spurs Blueprint That The Wolves Are Following

The Spurs' constant in all of their titles was Tim Duncan.  San Antonio had the 2nd best chance to win the lottery in the 1997 draft, which they did win and ended up drafting Duncan at No. 1.  This paired Duncan with another No. 1 overall pick from 10 years previous, by the name of David Robinson.  They would go on to win the title in 1999 by drafting well and adding lower priced free agents. 

They drafted the rights to Manu Ginobili in the 1999 draft, and kept him stashed away until 2002-03 and Tony Parker in 2001, who joined the team the next season. In Ginobili's first year with the team (2002-03), they won another NBA title.  The top three scorers on that team were Duncan, Parker, and Stephen Jackson (free agent signed two years for under two million).

Their next title was in 2005, with Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili as the top three scorers.  For their 2007 title, the top three scorers remained the same.

The Spurs were able to draft well and bring together a nucleus of players to build around for many years.  They were willing to pay to keep their stars in San Antonio and did their best to mix in quality veterans who wanted to play with them.

Timberwolves Following Suit

The Timberwolves acquired Love in a draft day trade in 2008.  In 2009, they drafted Rubio, who was to stay in Spain until his contract was up.  In the same 2009 draft, they also acquired sharp-shooter Wayne Ellington, who is starting to develop now that he has Rubio passing to him. 

2010 saw the Timberwolves take Wesley Johnson, who is still trying to find his stride, but has been garnering some starting experience as of late.  This year, the Wolves took Derrick Williams who has shown some excellent signs of being a real player in the future.

The Wolves roster base has been formed through the NBA draft.  The first step in creating the nucleus is complete.  Next, they had to lock in their superstar, as they have now done.  Not only do they have young talent in place and under contract, they also have assets to trade and money to spend on free agents to surround Love with the talent he deserves.

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