All Things 2022 Minnesota Timberwolves Off-Season Thread

I've seen some people promoting a deal with Chicago where DLo goes to the Bulls and LaVine comes back to MN. I'd be OK with that if they can make the money match up.

LaVine and Ant on the wings would be a blast.
 

I've seen some people promoting a deal with Chicago where DLo goes to the Bulls and LaVine comes back to MN. I'd be OK with that if they can make the money match up.

LaVine and Ant on the wings would be a blast.
A third team is going to be needed imo. No way Chicago takes D-Lo with possibly two better pg's on the team.
 
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Very reluctantly, I have to agree. Unless the wolves can convince LaVine to return to the Flip PG experiment, he and Ant duplicate. However, it sure would be fun!
I don't know if LaVine would be ok being 3rd option. And I'm not sure you can get him to D up like you think
 


What do we expect ownership will do with Gupta? Keep him in his role? Try to hire above him and convince him to stay as the #2? Let him walk and bring in someone from the outside?


Howl Wolves!!
 

speaking of Doogie, heard him on with the Skor North gang.

According to Doogie, he was texting with a POBO from another NBA franchise. The POBO reportedly told Doogie that some people around the league are still questioning whether Taylor's deal with A-Rod and Lore will actually go through.
 


speaking of Doogie, heard him on with the Skor North gang.

According to Doogie, he was texting with a POBO from another NBA franchise. The POBO reportedly told Doogie that some people around the league are still questioning whether Taylor's deal with A-Rod and Lore will actually go through.
If ARod and Lore had the money to buy the team, they would own the team.
 



What do we expect ownership will do with Gupta? Keep him in his role? Try to hire above him and convince him to stay as the #2? Let him walk and bring in someone from the outside?


Howl Wolves!!
I'm concerned that ARod and Lore are being given too much say in important decisions, given that they don't actually own the team. They appear to be guys who love flash and dash and are bored by substance. Dave Benz is gone and Gupta looks like he may be next. I watched the two minute clip of Doogie's interview with Gupta. He may not be exciting enough for a couple of ADHD guys who are trying to buy an NBA franchise on layaway.
 

I'm concerned that ARod and Lore are being given too much say in important decisions, given that they don't actually own the team. They appear to be guys who love flash and dash and are bored by substance. Dave Benz is gone and Gupta looks like he may be next. I watched the two minute clip of Doogie's interview with Gupta. He may not be exciting enough for a couple of ADHD guys who are trying to buy an NBA franchise on layaway.
if they brought in tom clancy as another owner, maybe that would put them over the top
 

LaVine has never played defense. He's an electric offensive talent.
I must have gotten distracted when i was responding to you before. Not sure why I typed "D up like you think." It was supposed to be the wolves wouldn't be able to get him to D up like they need. Zach is fun to watch, but I'm afraid hes an over priced 6th man.

Speaking of, Wolves need a true 6th man, microwave type
 






if they brought in tom clancy as another owner, maybe that would put them over the top
Clancy had more money than these guys do. However, they have cooler shoes.

Seriously, ARod is a serial liar and Lore is a hundred millionaire. They have enough money to buy seats next to Steve Terry, who's a real Timberwolves fan, but nowhere near enough money to own an NBA franchise. The fact that they have input on anything more than the cooking temp of concession burgers is a farce.

MN sports fans and journalists are so gullible. Always follow the money.
 
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Even if it were true, which it isn't, it's not worth a mention.

It is. LaVine wasn't a good defender by any means but he worked harder and was better than Wiggins. Wiggins has improved now that he's surrounded by good defensive players, but he's still below average.
 

Are you watching these playoff games? Defense is what is winning. Hell, Philly couldn't score the last two games. Philly would destroy us physically in the playoffs.

Golden State has had trouble scoring in back to back games.

Phoenix has 43 points with 2 minutes to go in the first half tonight.

We are a weak defensive team who can't rebound, stop anything in the interior, or contain the perimeter.

LaVine does nothing to alleviate any of this.
 
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It is. LaVine wasn't a good defender by any means but he worked harder and was better than Wiggins. Wiggins has improved now that he's surrounded by good defensive players, but he's still below average.
They were both lousy defenders. That's why it's hardly worth mentioning. Wigs did draw tougher defensive assignments, which he often failed. LaVine worked super hard, but only on offense.
 


speaking of Doogie, heard him on with the Skor North gang.

According to Doogie, he was texting with a POBO from another NBA franchise. The POBO reportedly told Doogie that some people around the league are still questioning whether Taylor's deal with A-Rod and Lore will actually go through.

Doogie and the Hubbard Empire are still pining for Thibs..
 

Minnesota Timberwolves star center Karl-Anthony Towns underwent stem cell treatment and platelet-rich plasma injections in both knees, his left ankle, left wrist and right finger on Friday, sources told ESPN.

Towns played through his injuries during the Timberwolves' run to the Western Conference playoffs, and decided to get these treatments in the offseason with the hopes of avoiding surgery and making a full recovery by training camp.

Towns, according to sources, was dealing with pain in both knees, especially his right knee, which he wore a sleeve on during the playoffs. He also had a cyst in his left ankle, a subluxated left wrist with ligament damage and an aggravated joint on the middle finger of his right, shooting hand..


 

I had a cyst in my ankle back about 20 years ago. Unfortunately it was pressing against the main nerve. Absolutely the most painful injury I have had. I hope Kat's is nothing like that.
 

In his latest Scoops Podcast, Doogie said league sources are saying that the Wolves ownership is going "big game hunting" for a new President of Basketball of Operations. He said it could be as high as a current President of Operations which would require us to give up a draft pick. Doogie said it is bigger than an Elton Brand type of name and that they will ask Gupta to be the #2. Doogie thinks Gupta should be the #1.

Howl Wolves!!
 

In his latest Scoops Podcast, Doogie said league sources are saying that the Wolves ownership is going "big game hunting" for a new President of Basketball of Operations. He said it could be as high as a current President of Operations which would require us to give up a draft pick. Doogie said it is bigger than an Elton Brand type of name and that they will ask Gupta to be the #2. Doogie thinks Gupta should be the #1.

Howl Wolves!!
I agree with doogs
 

Timberwolves start to make smaller moves in front office, while a big question remains​

Owner Glen Taylor, along with new limited partners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, told Gupta when he took over for the fired Gersson Rosas before training camp that they would evaluate him over the course of the season before making a decision on what they would do at the top of the basketball operations department. In the meantime, Gupta has been empowered to run the front office how he sees fit, league sources told The Athletic, and he has started to reshape the staff as the Wolves prepare to convene with the rest of the league in Chicago next week for the NBA Draft Combine.

The Timberwolves declined to pick up the option on assistant general manager Gianluca Pascucci’s contract for next season, league sources told The Athletic. Pascucci was one of Rosas’ top lieutenants and oversaw scouting for the draft and the team’s G League affiliate in Iowa.

Gupta also hired Steve Senior away from the Memphis Grizzlies for a newly formed position in the front office, sources said. Senior will join the franchise as an assistant general manager in charge of player development. Senior comes from a well-regarded staff in Memphis and has ties to Gupta and Finch when they were all together in Houston. He was also on the New York Knicks staff when Wolves assistant coach Pablo Prigioni played there and has connections to several other Wolves staff members.

Senior’s hiring follows several additions Gupta made to the analytics department during the season, including John Sears as vice president of basketball analytics.

Gupta being given the authority to make these kinds of decisions speaks to the confidence that Taylor, Lore and Rodriguez have in him. They want him in their long-term plans, and it’s now a matter of whether they will ask him to remain as the lead executive or stay on staff with a different primary decision maker.

Gupta took over the front office amid turmoil after Rosas’s headline-grabbing firing. His quiet approach to the job helped to calm the waters in a front office rippled with tension in Rosas’ final days.

“I think he’s outstanding, and he’s been a huge reason that we have stability in this organization right now,” Finch said at the end-of-the-season news conference on April 30. “He’s very smart. We have complete alignment. The players love him. He’s appropriate in his presence around the team. He’s not heavy-handed with the coaching staff.”

Gupta served as Rosas’ wing man until he was fired and had input into many of the moves made to assemble the roster, but the fingerprints were heavily Rosas for better (Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Patrick Beverley, Finch) and for worse (Jarrett Culver, attaching a pick that became Jonathan Kuminga to Andrew Wiggins for D’Angelo Russell and Rosas’ conduct that led to his firing).

Gupta was less active in his first season running the show, primarily because it was time to see what this roster could do after years of churn. He did not make a trade at the deadline in February, but he did preside over negotiations for Beverley’s contract extension and worked with ownership to sign Finch to a contract extension just before the playoffs started.

With Gupta and Finch leading the way on the basketball side, the Timberwolves doubled their win total from a year ago, finishing with a 46-36 record, a victory over the LA Clippers in the Play-In Tournament and their first playoff appearance in four seasons, losing in six games to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round.

Finch said in April he told ownership he would like to see Gupta remain in the lead role.

“I’m a huge fan, and I’ve advocated for him to have his opportunity to be the guy to run this team,” Finch said. “Nothing would make me happier than that. No better time, after this season, to be able to continue to build.”

Since their arrival on the scene last year, Lore and Rodriguez have conducted an in-depth examination of the franchise and looked for areas that need improvement. Lore often has preached, both with the Timberwolves and his other businesses, the importance of hiring the best people available in that particular field, no matter the cost. It is part of the “Vision, Capital, People” mantra that drives his leadership approach. How aggressive the Timberwolves are in applying that to their current front-office situation remains to be seen.

Taylor is still the man in charge, still the one making the final decision on major issues like this one. When Lore and Rodriguez first came aboard, with plans to eventually succeed Taylor as majority owners by the end of 2023, the three started a collaboration process on important decisions. Taylor wants the young owners to have a say in the major moves made to try to ensure a seamless transfer of power when the time comes. That is how things worked, for instance, when the Wolves hired Marquise Watts from Klutch Sports Agency to serve as the team’s new chief experience officer, a high-profile position geared toward making sure players and their families are attended to that was created after Lore and Rodriguez identified it as an area of need in the organization.

After getting Finch taken care of before the playoffs started, charting a clear course with who is running the front office is the next big thing on the Timberwolves’ to-do list. Whether it is Gupta or someone else, it is a decision they have to get right so a young team that made encouraging progress this season can continue to grow.


Howl Wolves!!
 

It sounds like Towns is already starting to break down. Great time to trade him while his value is high.

Of the 4 remaining teams, nearly all of their scoring comes from the G/F positions. The only exception is Bam Adebayo, who is an elite defender, unlike Towns.
 

In his latest Scoops Podcast, Doogie said league sources are saying that the Wolves ownership is going "big game hunting" for a new President of Basketball of Operations. He said it could be as high as a current President of Operations which would require us to give up a draft pick. Doogie said it is bigger than an Elton Brand type of name and that they will ask Gupta to be the #2. Doogie thinks Gupta should be the #1.

Howl Wolves!!

Also agree with Wolfson. As for Lore and Rodriguez?

How about instead of wasting money and draft choices trying to get a name Front Office guy, how 'bout getting somebody who can rebound and a couple of guys who can shoot!!
 




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