NBA Offseason Guide 2022 - The Minnesota Timberwolves have big extension decisions this summer

Looking at the big picture, the 2021-22 season was a success for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They won multiple playoff games for the first time since 2004 and their 46 regular-season wins were their second-most in the past 17 seasons.

The short-term outlook, however, will view the first-round playoff loss to the Memphis Grizzlies as a missed opportunity. The second-youngest team in the playoffs lost three games it led by double-digit points in the fourth quarter.

While we can chalk that up to inexperience, history has shown that there is no guarantee that Minnesota will be in position to advance to the second round in the future. The nucleus of this roster returns but so does a Western Conference that projects to be the strongest in recent years.

MORE: Timberwolves rank 15th in Future Power Rankings

Roster status: Playoffs but beware of a deep Western Conference

The 41 games that Chris Finch coached last season should have been an indicator for the 2021-22 campaign.

Finch was hired in February 2021, and the Timberwolves went 16-25 during that stretch of games, including a 9-7 record to finish the season. In the last 16 games they ranked eighth in offensive efficiency.

The question heading into this past season was whether the small amount of success was fool's gold or a sign of a team that got healthy and bought into Finch's system. The Timberwolves were returning 12 players from 2020-21, did not have a first-round pick and were pressed up against the luxury tax. Their big offseason deal was trading for veterans Patrick Beverley and Taurean Prince, along with re-signing Jarred Vanderbilt.

Those transactions — along with a healthy Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell, the continued development of Anthony Edwards and a