DENVER - In Chris Finch's first full season as their head coach, the Timberwolves won 46 games and made the playoffs, losing to Memphis in the first round.
Then the Wolves started thinking big.
They lured president of basketball operations Tim Connelly away from the Nuggets with a lucrative contract.
Connelly went big in a more literal way, trading a large package of draft picks and players for the best defensive big man in basketball, 7-1 center Rudy Gobert.
Connelly and Finch placed Gobert alongside 7-foot All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns.
Many NBA teams were featuring small lineups.