All Things 2025-2026 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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Ant has 18 assists and 23 turnover in his last four (4) games and his defensive ratings are plummeting. For comparison, SGA has 23 assists and only (6) turnovers in his last four (4) games.

As the primary ball handler, teams are now double teaming Ant as soon as he crosses midcourt which not only leads to turnovers but also takes him out of the offense.

Ant is a bonafide superstar but this experiment at PG needs a new solution for this team to maximize their potential.
 




Watched the Lakers at Sixers game. Doncic is so freaking good. James with a great last 4 minutes. Embiid seems about 5 years older then James.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Chris Paul is available.

The decision was not Paul’s and not one that was initiated by Paul, league sources told The Athletic.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It is 2:40am in Atlanta and Chris Paul just posted this <a href="https://t.co/YZpzPckDql">pic.twitter.com/YZpzPckDql</a></p>&mdash; Law Murray 🎄 (@LawMurrayTheNU) <a href="">December 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Paul to Wolves chatter via The Athletic, below

No he’s not the second even third coming, but who you’d rather give minutes to at this juncture - him, Silly Dilly or Given the 🐶 a 🦴?

Minnesota Timberwolves​

I woke up to a text from my friend Trevor (a massive Wolves fan) wondering if the Wolves should bring in Paul. And Minnesota is the type of team you should think of in this situation. Anthony Edwards as lead guard is good, but it’s going to wear him down at some point. Mike Conley is effective but limited because of his advanced age and NBA odometer. Rob Dillingham has not been good at all, to the point that the Wolves were throwing Bones Hyland on the court at one point. They need another player to initiate some offense, just to save Edwards’ legs.

The Wolves have been so bad at remaining serious in games they think they’ve wrapped up that it might be good to bring in someone with more intense focus. If there is going to be a chance of Dillingham getting it together this season, it might come from having to battle a 40-year-old CP3 for minutes. If he can’t prove he’s the option over what’s left of Paul, then that’s your sign he can’t contribute in the way the Wolves need.
 
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Rudy Gobert is the kind of guy that lots of folks say, "You hate him, unless he's on your team." I'm getting to the point where I hate him even if he's on my team. The defense can be great. But I'm more than over the outright stupidity. And it doesn't help that he rebounds and attempts to catch passes as if he's wearing oven mitts. As Harry Dunn said in Dumb and Dumber, "I dunno Lloyd. The French are assholes."
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Rudy Gobert is the kind of guy that lots of folks say, "You hate him, unless he's on your team." I'm getting to the point where I hate him even if he's on my team. The defense can be great. But I'm more than over the outright stupidity. And it doesn't help that he rebounds and attempts to catch passes as if he's wearing oven mitts. As Harry Dunn said in Dumb and Dumber, "I dunno Lloyd. The French are assholes."
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yeah last night was stupid. just slap him across the arms if you're going to take that foul.
 






Gopher_In_NYC said:
Sign Chris Paul
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They desperately need a pg. Please let it be anybody but CP. He's useless on the court and evidently very disruptive in the locker room. By reputation he's always been disruptive in the locker room. When he was a point god, he was more than worth it.

This is Ant's team and the pecking order is well established. Ant appears to have a good relationship with Finch. 40 year old CP is not worth risking potentially negatively impacting a functioning locker room.
 

jamiche said:
They desperately need a pg. Please let it be anybody but CP. He's useless on the court
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The writer for The Athletic apparently disagrees with you.

jamiche said:
and evidently very disruptive in the locker room. By reputation he's always been disruptive in the locker room.
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Not what I’ve heard, he’s a professional who expects others players to act like one as well.

jamiche said:
When he was a point god, he was more than worth it.
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You gig this one right 😃
jamiche said:
This is Ant's team and the pecking order is well established.
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A backup PG isn’t going to change that Mr. Beal🤦‍♂️
jamiche said:
Ant appears to have a good relationship with Finch. 40 year old CP is not worth risking potentially negatively impacting a functioning locker room.
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He just got caught from a team and could go to a team which will play meaningful games - I highly doubt your concerns would be a major issue🧐.

They would obviously vet him and make sure he knows the lay of the land and he can always bd cut if its an issue; he’s certainly a better facilitator than Dillh or Bones!!!
 
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
The Wolves desperately need a new coach
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Finch has the highest Winning % of any Wolves coach by a huge margin over Flip who is second. He's also led the Wolves to back-to-back WCF's and his teams are consistently ranked among the best, if not the best, in defensive efficiency and we're 8th in offensive efficiency this season.

There are things to be critical of but Finch didn't construct this flawed roster. Connelly did. His attempt to fix those flaws should be noted but his choice to do so has been an unmitigated dumpster fire thus far. Not to mention, Connelly essentially chose to keep Conley and Dilly over NAW. Oops.

If you can tell us what available coach is capable of doing better than Finch with this current roster, I'm all ears because your claims that Ant can efficiently play PG haven't exactly come to fruition. Most of us already knew that.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Finch has the highest Winning % of any Wolves coach by a huge margin over Flip who is second. He's also led the Wolves to back-to-back WCF's and his teams are consistently ranked among the best, if not the best, in defensive efficiency and we're 8th in offensive efficiency this season.

There are things to be critical of but Finch didn't construct this flawed roster. Connelly did. His attempt to fix those flaws should be noted but his choice to do so has been an unmitigated dumpster fire thus far. Not to mention, Connelly essentially chose to keep Conley and Dilly over NAW. Oops.

If you can tell us what available coach is capable of doing better than Finch with this current roster, I'm all ears because your claims that Ant can efficiently play PG haven't exactly come to fruition. Most of us already knew that.
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Having the highest winning percentages in one of the worst franchises in all of major pro sports is irrelevant.

A roster that makes back to back Western Conference Finals is not flawed. Finch was completely out coached in both of those series. If the Wolves had a top 10 coach, I believe they could win a championship with this roster. They will never win one with Finch. No team will.

The Wolves could have Luka Doncic at PG and it would not matter as long as Finch is the coach. No one has proposed a realistic trade that nets them a PG that makes this team better and keeps them under the 2nd apron. DD has the 2nd highest +/- on the team. You want to sit him when it matters? Ant has the worst +/- of the starting 5. That's a problem.

The problems under Finch have been consistent his entire tenure here. The Wolves bad losses are completely effort related, not talent related. Finch has the worst timeout usage in the league. They lose to bad teams because they don't try until it's too late in the 4th. They have big leads late in the 4th quarter against good teams and the choke purely because of coaching.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Having the highest winning percentages in one of the worst franchises in all of major pro sports is irrelevant.

A roster that makes back to back Western Conference Finals is not flawed. Finch was completely out coached in both of those series. If the Wolves had a top 10 coach, I believe they could win a championship with this roster. They will never win one with Finch. No team will.

The Wolves could have Luka Doncic at PG and it would not matter as long as Finch is the coach. No one has proposed a realistic trade that nets them a PG that makes this team better and keeps them under the 2nd apron. DD has the 2nd highest +/- on the team. You want to sit him when it matters? Ant has the worst +/- of the starting 5. That's a problem.

The problems under Finch have been consistent his entire tenure here. The Wolves bad losses are completely effort related, not talent related. Finch has the worst timeout usage in the league. They lose to bad teams because they don't try until it's too late in the 4th. They have big leads late in the 4th quarter against good teams and the choke purely because of coaching.
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I have a pretty radical suspicion that Luka would help this team at pg.

Finch is not a perfect coach but he's pretty damn good. He manages personalities really well which is 75% of coaching in the NBA. He's got a wildly talented superstar who is immature and supremely overconfident. The kid still listens to him. The wolves were not going to beat OKC last year and they ran into Dallas when Luka and Kyrie were at their peak.

Fans in this market think Connelly is a top 5 POBO, But his record is actually mixed. He left the roster guard poor and depth depleted this year. Ant is being asked to do too much.
 

jamiche said:
I have a pretty radical suspicion that Luka would help this team at pg.

Finch is not a perfect coach but he's pretty damn good. He manages personalities really well which is 75% of coaching in the NBA. He's got a wildly talented superstar who is immature and supremely overconfident. The kid still listens to him. The wolves were not going to beat OKC last year and they ran into Dallas when Luka and Kyrie were at their peak.

Fans in this market think Connelly is a top 5 POBO, But his record is actually mixed. He left the roster guard poor and depth depleted this year. Ant is being asked to do too much.
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Sure he would help them at PG, but he doesn't play any D and they would have to give up a ton to get him, so would the team be all around better? Luka isn't coming but neither is some savior PG that's going to change the outcome of this season. And they can beat the best teams with their current guards. They've proven that repeatedly the last two seasons.

Ant doesn't listen to him though. He says it all of the time. Same for other players too. I think Finch is a good X's and O's guy but a poor leader. He was a long time assistant for a reason, because that's where he belongs. This team constantly comes out lazy and sloppy, and the sloppiness shows even more in clutch time. That's all fixed with better coaching.

Ant's not being asked to do anything more than every other star guard in the league are. That's ridiculous.
 

jamiche said:
I have a pretty radical suspicion that Luka would help this team at pg.

Finch is not a perfect coach but he's pretty damn good. He manages personalities really well which is 75% of coaching in the NBA. He's got a wildly talented superstar who is immature and supremely overconfident. The kid still listens to him. The wolves were not going to beat OKC last year and they ran into Dallas when Luka and Kyrie were at their peak.

Fans in this market think Connelly is a top 5 POBO, But his record is actually mixed. He left the roster guard poor and depth depleted this year. Ant is being asked to do too much.
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It’s like people just completely ignore those in the league regarding finch as well as the leadership style of the team/franchise. Finch is regarded as a great coach by GMs, ant and Mike are both regarded as some of the best leading players, and they’ve got one of the top assistants in Nori. I’m probably going to side with the GMs who know the GMs who know the actual inner workings than people who decide things based on random interviews and watching on tv

www.nba.com

2025-26 NBA GM Survey: 49 questions ahead of new season

The annual survey is here. NBA general managers react to key topics before the 2025-26 season tips off.
www.nba.com www.nba.com
 

upnorthkid said:
It’s like people just completely ignore those in the league regarding finch as well as the leadership style of the team/franchise. Finch is regarded as a great coach by GMs, ant and Mike are both regarded as some of the best leading players, and they’ve got one of the top assistants in Nori. I’m probably going to side with the GMs who know the GMs who know the actual inner workings than people who decide things based on random interviews and watching on tv

www.nba.com

2025-26 NBA GM Survey: 49 questions ahead of new season

The annual survey is here. NBA general managers react to key topics before the 2025-26 season tips off.
www.nba.com www.nba.com
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Because GMs are never wrong and never get fired right? How is Luka in top 5 for best PG, SG, and SF?

It's also funny that OKC is tied for #1 on most fun to watch. Yeah I love watching teams that can mug the other team while constantly flopping on offense. It's a joy to watch.

That being said, it's not going to matter who the Wolves have at PG or who is coaching them. As long as OKC is officiated differently than every other team in the NBA, they will flop their way to another championship.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sure he would help them at PG, but he doesn't play any D and they would have to give up a ton to get him, so would the team be all around better? Luka isn't coming but neither is some savior PG that's going to change the outcome of this season. And they can beat the best teams with their current guards. They've proven that repeatedly the last two seasons.

Ant doesn't listen to him though. He says it all of the time. Same for other players too. I think Finch is a good X's and O's guy but a poor leader. He was a long time assistant for a reason, because that's where he belongs. This team constantly comes out lazy and sloppy, and the sloppiness shows even more in clutch time. That's all fixed with better coaching.

Ant's not being asked to do anything more than every other star guard in the league are. That's ridiculous.
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You used a ridiculous hypothetical and I pointed out the absurdity of the straw man argument.

Finch is managing a roster that has been mismanaged. The situation is becoming analogous to the Vikings. The wolves have almost nothing to show for every draft since Connelly took over. The top draft contributor over the four years is Jaylen Clark. That's just bad. Dilly is a bust. TJ can't go right and the league has figured that out. Leonard Miller waves a damn good towel. Berenger is raw. Really raw. Minott is gone. Zikarsky looks like he might have some NBA ready skills. I hope they don't let draft order politics get in the way of giving him some kind of a chance this year over Berenger, while Berenger tries to figure it out.

The team needs a pg and a backup center who can play some defense. That's Connelly's job.

Outside of Spoelstra and Kerr there aren't any coaches in the league who are more than a terrible 2-3 weeks from being fired. That's the NBA. Finch is a fine coach. Your concerns are misdirected.
 

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