All Things 2025-2026 Minnesota Timberwolves Offseason Thread

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kg21 said:
Great players have to be coaxed by the coach to play defense?

Some of the greats are rolling over in their graves on that.
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You apparently have no concept of, or experience with, managing people and the responsibility you inherently assume to motivate your staff. And that's okay...just trade Ant.
 

Slim Tubby said:
You apparently have no concept of, or experience with, managing people and the responsibility you inherently assume to motivate your staff. And that's okay...just trade Ant.
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Does Finch motivate Jaden defensively?
 





Slim Tubby said:
Yes...he was hired to. Yes...he is paid to. Yes...it's expected of every NBA coach.

Or you can just trade Ant.
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He got Gobert and Jaden to play defense.

He must not know how to do the same with Ant.

It's so weird.
 

In their team history as a franchise, the Timberwolves have traded away four (4) Max contract players - KG, Love, Wiggins and KAT.

All four (4) players won NBA titles with their new teams.
 

Slim Tubby said:
In their team history as a franchise, the Timberwolves have traded away four (4) Max contract players - KG, Love, Wiggins and KAT.

All four (4) players won NBA titles with their new teams.
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That’s almost as depressing as this, per zthe Athletic -

2027 NBA title odds​


Spurs+250
Thunder+250
Celtics+550
Knicks+700
Nuggets+2800
Pacers+2800
Lakers+3000
Cavaliers+3000
Pistons+3000
Timberwolves+3000
Heat+4000
Warriors+4500
76ers+5500
Rockets+6000
Clippers+7500
Magic+8000
Trail Blazers+9000
Hornets+9000
Raptors+10000
Hawks+10000
 



kg21 said:
He got Gobert and Jaden to play defense.

He must not know how to do the same with Ant.

It's so weird.
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Jaden is very inconsistent defensively too, but he has to be a defense player first. Defense is all Rudy has.

Not all great players are great at everything right away. Ant has proven he can play D when he wants to. Good coaching/culture eliminates the inconsistencies.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Jaden is very inconsistent defensively too, but he has to be a defense player first. Defense is all Rudy has.

Not all great players are great at everything right away. Ant has proven he can play D when he wants to. Good coaching/culture eliminates the inconsistencies.
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When he wants, too!

Thank you!
 

I went on Google Genesis and asked for a list of the statistically top 20 defenders in the NBA for 2025-2026. Then I asked for the statistically top 20 overall players for this now past season. The only overlaps were Wemby, Chet and SGA.

Most of the top players excel on one side of the ball or the other. It's rare to find players who can dominate on both sides.
 

RandBall chimes in.

RandBall: Did the Knicks’ NBA title make the Wolves’ offseason more complicated?​


If the favored San Antonio Spurs would have continued their earlier-than-expected run through the NBA and won a championship this season, the Wolves’ offseason question would have been daunting but clear:

How do we catch up with a team that has such a young core, led by a player like Victor Wembanyama who has unprecedented skill for his size, and a load of future draft capital?

But the Knicks’ stirring five-game NBA Finals victory, capped with yet another comeback victory Saturday, will force the Wolves not just to look long and hard at the Spurs (and Thunder) as they try to catch up.

It should force the Wolves to look in the mirror and ask what the Knicks had that they lacked this postseason.

Why did the Wolves fold while the Knicks thrived?​

The defining moments in both series do not paint the Wolves in a flattering light. Minnesota was blown out in three of their four Western Conference semifinal losses to the Spurs, including the concluding Game 6 during which Anthony Edwards congratulated San Antonio players with eight minutes left and the Wolves trailing by 33. The Knicks, in contrast, trailed by double-digits in all five games against the Spurs. They won four of them, including the historic 29-point comeback in Game 4. New York showed an ability and willingness to battle through adversity and tough moments in order to put pressure on the much younger Spurs while the Wolves tended to get worse as San Antonio leads swelled.

The age of core players matters​

All five Knicks starters are between the ages of 28 and 31, as are a couple of their key reserves. That’s the sweet spot in a career where a player has enough experience and maturity to be a leader and handle pressure while still being young and athletic enough to play at a high level throughout a grueling game. Perhaps no single play exemplified this more than 28-year-old OG Anunoby’s tip-in basket that was one of the all-time great NBA Finals plays. A younger player has the physical skills to make that play. An older player has the awareness to crash the basket. But a midcareer player has both. The Wolves’ core is largely made of players younger or older than their prime. Anthony Edwards is 24. Jaden McDaniels is 25. Rudy Gobert will be 34 on June 26. Julius Randle will be 32 early next season. The Wolves’ calming leader is 38-year-old Mike Conley. The Spurs, meanwhile, are full of up-and-comers in their early 20s. The Knicks exploited the Spurs’ youth. The Wolves did not.

Is internal growth for the Wolves possible?​

Given what we know, the Wolves’ best path forward would seem to be trying to trade some of their older players (like Randle and Gobert) for players who are midcareer or younger. That could give them some of the resolve they were missing against the Spurs. They will also need internal leadership and maturity growth from players like Edwards and McDaniels whose body language and attention to detail contribute to the Wolves’ volatility. Karl-Anthony Towns, who had his own problems in those areas with the Wolves, is a good example of a player who has grown with more experience — and more experienced players around him — and is now an NBA champion.

The Jalen Brunson factor​

Where all this analysis starts to break down, though, is the uniqueness of a single Knicks player: Jalen Brunson. He’s an ultimate competitor who scored 45 of New York’s 94 points in the Game 5 clinching win Saturday. He also signed a team-friendly contract extension that left more than $100 million on the table in 2024 in order to help the Knicks build a roster that could compete for a championship. Plop Brunson and that contract on almost any competitive roster and you have an instant championship contender. The Wolves do not have that.

Don’t overreact​

There’s also this: The Knicks were a pretty good (53-win) team in the lesser NBA conference. They steamrolled a weak Eastern Conference field and might have found the perfect Finals opponent. The Wolves can learn from them, but trying to re-create what New York did is not the ideal long-term path forward.


Howl Wolves!!
 



It’s almost like having no draft picks to select young hungry guys who can hit an outside shot and play defenses while maintaining cap space has worked to our hindrance.
 

upnorthkid said:
It’s almost like having no draft picks to select young hungry guys who can hit an outside shot and play defenses while maintaining cap space has worked to our hindrance.
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The only player in the Knicks playoff rotation that they originally drafted was Mitchell Robinson, 8 years ago. And he played 14 mpg.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The only player in the Knicks playoff rotation that they originally drafted was Mitchell Robinson, 8 years ago. And he played 14 mpg.
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Would you prefer if I added “and instead targeted a few borderline star players on oversized contracts and aging vets who can no longer compete” to make it easier.

McBride also played 15 min a game.

They also drafted numerous guys they moved for pieces on this roster with that young talent they drafted.

Also, San Antonio and OKC. Maybe the Knicks could’ve done it coming from the west and playing multiple long physical series before the final. We’ll never know but I’d be pretty ok if we would’ve gone the route of either of those 2 teams as well
 



upnorthkid said:
Would you prefer if I added “and instead targeted a few borderline star players on oversized contracts and aging vets who can no longer compete” to make it easier.

McBride also played 15 min a game.

They also drafted numerous guys they moved for pieces on this roster with that young talent they drafted.

Also, San Antonio and OKC. Maybe the Knicks could’ve done it coming from the west and playing multiple long physical series before the final. We’ll never know but I’d be pretty ok if we would’ve gone the route of either of those 2 teams as well
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The Knicks haven't drafted any better than the Wolves for the last 7 years. McBride was taken by OKC then traded to them during the draft. We know how the Knicks got KAT. Bridges was their version of the Rudy trade giving up four 1st rounders. They got their best player as a FA. The Wolves have built more of their roster through drafting than the Knicks did.

You don't build a NBA championship team with a bunch of picks in the 20s. None of NY, OKC, or SA were built this way. People need to stop whining about playing in the west vs the east. The Spurs also got the advantage of playing the Wolves and OKC who both had significant injuries to deal with.
 

BleedGopher said:
RandBall chimes in.

RandBall: Did the Knicks’ NBA title make the Wolves’ offseason more complicated?​


If the favored San Antonio Spurs would have continued their earlier-than-expected run through the NBA and won a championship this season, the Wolves’ offseason question would have been daunting but clear:

How do we catch up with a team that has such a young core, led by a player like Victor Wembanyama who has unprecedented skill for his size, and a load of future draft capital?

But the Knicks’ stirring five-game NBA Finals victory, capped with yet another comeback victory Saturday, will force the Wolves not just to look long and hard at the Spurs (and Thunder) as they try to catch up.

It should force the Wolves to look in the mirror and ask what the Knicks had that they lacked this postseason.

Why did the Wolves fold while the Knicks thrived?​

The defining moments in both series do not paint the Wolves in a flattering light. Minnesota was blown out in three of their four Western Conference semifinal losses to the Spurs, including the concluding Game 6 during which Anthony Edwards congratulated San Antonio players with eight minutes left and the Wolves trailing by 33. The Knicks, in contrast, trailed by double-digits in all five games against the Spurs. They won four of them, including the historic 29-point comeback in Game 4. New York showed an ability and willingness to battle through adversity and tough moments in order to put pressure on the much younger Spurs while the Wolves tended to get worse as San Antonio leads swelled.

The age of core players matters​

All five Knicks starters are between the ages of 28 and 31, as are a couple of their key reserves. That’s the sweet spot in a career where a player has enough experience and maturity to be a leader and handle pressure while still being young and athletic enough to play at a high level throughout a grueling game. Perhaps no single play exemplified this more than 28-year-old OG Anunoby’s tip-in basket that was one of the all-time great NBA Finals plays. A younger player has the physical skills to make that play. An older player has the awareness to crash the basket. But a midcareer player has both. The Wolves’ core is largely made of players younger or older than their prime. Anthony Edwards is 24. Jaden McDaniels is 25. Rudy Gobert will be 34 on June 26. Julius Randle will be 32 early next season. The Wolves’ calming leader is 38-year-old Mike Conley. The Spurs, meanwhile, are full of up-and-comers in their early 20s. The Knicks exploited the Spurs’ youth. The Wolves did not.

Is internal growth for the Wolves possible?​

Given what we know, the Wolves’ best path forward would seem to be trying to trade some of their older players (like Randle and Gobert) for players who are midcareer or younger. That could give them some of the resolve they were missing against the Spurs. They will also need internal leadership and maturity growth from players like Edwards and McDaniels whose body language and attention to detail contribute to the Wolves’ volatility. Karl-Anthony Towns, who had his own problems in those areas with the Wolves, is a good example of a player who has grown with more experience — and more experienced players around him — and is now an NBA champion.

The Jalen Brunson factor​

Where all this analysis starts to break down, though, is the uniqueness of a single Knicks player: Jalen Brunson. He’s an ultimate competitor who scored 45 of New York’s 94 points in the Game 5 clinching win Saturday. He also signed a team-friendly contract extension that left more than $100 million on the table in 2024 in order to help the Knicks build a roster that could compete for a championship. Plop Brunson and that contract on almost any competitive roster and you have an instant championship contender. The Wolves do not have that.

Don’t overreact​

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I’d love to see a gross overreaction.

BleedGopher said:
There’s also this: The Knicks were a pretty good (53-win) team in the lesser NBA conference. They steamrolled a weak Eastern Conference field and might have found the perfect Finals opponent. The Wolves can learn from them, but trying to re-create what New York did is not the ideal long-term path forward.


Howl Wolves!!
Click to expand...
 

Ayo listed as the 25th best FA, per this article in the Athletic -

www.nytimes.com

From Jalen Duren to LeBron James to Ayo Dosunmu, the NBA offseason’s Top 25 free agents

Free agency officially starts on June 30, and we might have a lot of running in place this July.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com


25. Ayo Dosunmu, SG, Minnesota: $14,485,494​

After a midseason trade from Chicago, Dosunmu proved his worth to Minnesota in the postseason with a 43-point game and several other notable performances. He’s an unrestricted free agent, so the Wolves will have to deliver a market-value deal, but it seems like they could come in at the nontaxpayer MLE or slightly above and ward off any reasonable competition on a three-year deal for the 26-year-old.
 

In this UTUBE clip, Burelson tells how Dallas screwed up his resigning whey he wanted to stay there, and how the Knicks lucked out

youtube.com

how the Mavs fumbled Jalen Brunson ð³

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtube.com youtube.com
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
In this UTUBE clip, Burelson tells how Dallas screwed up his resigning whey he wanted to stay there, and how the Knicks lucked out

youtube.com

how the Mavs fumbled Jalen Brunson ð³

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtube.com youtube.com
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It takes a special kind of FO incompetence to lose both Doncic and Brunson for virtually nothing.
 

Also, keep in mind, Brunson took 100 million less on his last contract than he could have gotten.

No New York championship if he doesn't do that.

It's almost unreal.
 







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