2020-2021 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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NEW YORK -- Before the Minnesota Timberwolves tipped off against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, Karl-Anthony Towns jogged over to the stands and reached out to grasp hands with a fan in a white No. 32 jersey that said "Towns" on the back. The fan was Karl-Anthony's father, Karl Towns Sr.

The game, which the Timberwolves lost 112-107, was the first Towns Sr. had attended since his wife, Jackie Cruz-Towns, died from complications of COVID-19 on April 13, 2020.

After the game, Karl-Anthony Towns said his father being there meant "everything" to him.

"He understood how upset I was after the loss," Towns said. "But he came to me, and he told me something I don't know if he should've told me. It got me a little emotional. He told me my mom would've been proud with how I played tonight."

www.espn.com

KAT: 'Emotional' having dad at game without mom

Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns said it meant "everything" to have his father in attendance for Monday's game at Barclays Center, the first game Karl Towns Sr. had attended since his wife, Jackie Cruz-Towns, died from complications of COVID-19 last April.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 

(Thibs) Knicks, one of the best defensive teams in the league, made life hard on the Wolves most of the night. The Wolves played from behind most of the night until Anthony Edwards helped bring them back for a 102-101 victory.

An Edwards runner pulled the Wolves within 98-97 with 1 minute 48 seconds to play, and after Wolves forward and Thibodeau favorite Taj Gibson responded with a free throws, Edwards answered back with a reverse layup to tie the score. Old reliable Gibson tied it back up with a putback before Edwards decided he wasn't going to shoot it on the next Wolves possessions. Instead, he found an open Malik Beasley for a three and a 102-101 lead. The Wolves had the ball up one but turned it over before Randle missed at the other end, the ensuing scramble for the ball ended in the Knicks' hands, but R.J. Barrett missed at the buzzer.

Edwards finished with 24 points while Beasley had 20. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 18, as did Jaden McDaniels.

www.startribune.com

Timberwolves mount 4th-quarter comeback to defeat Knicks 102-101

The confident rookie hit shots, made a key pass.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
 

Edwards led the Wolves with 3 blocks? Nice!

If you want a good laugh, take a look at the Win Probability graph for this game as the game progressed; I stumbled across this looking for a box score, made me laugh;

Wolves - Knicks Matchup

How 'bout those Wolves??!?!?! Finishing the season with some optimism for next year would sure be nice. Jaden McDaniels sure seems to be a diamond in the rough. They need to hit on one or two more like him for some depth
 


From the NY Post:

Knicks blow it late in loss to NBA-worst Timberwolves​


Tom Thibodeau wished he wasn’t so prescient when it came to the Timberwolves, his former club.

“It’s really a loaded roster,’’ Thibodeau said before Wednesday night’s game about the league’s worst team. “No lead is safe against them.”

And so it was. The Knicks blew an 18-point lead in the first half, recovered and took a 13-point lead early into the fourth quarter before dropping an awful 102-101 decision at Target Center.

“There’s 30 teams, 29 capable of beating you if you don’t come with that edge, with the mentality to play 48 minutes,” Thibodeau said. “If you get loose, you’re going to get knocked down..”

It was the first time in seven weeks that the Knicks have lost two consecutive games.

nypost.com

Knicks blow it late in loss to NBA-worst Timberwolves

Tom Thibodeau wished he wasn’t so prescient when it came to the Timberwolves, his former club. “It’s really a loaded roster,’’ Thibodeau said before Wednesday night’s game about the league’s worst …
nypost.com nypost.com
 


Wolves win! Wolves win!

Sounds like Ant and Jaden were their best players again. Build around these guys. Trade KAT
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
Wolves win! Wolves win!

Sounds like Ant and Jaden were their best players again. Build around these guys. Trade KAT
Click to expand...

Towns had 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 18 points. They still haven't had him, Russell and Beasley on the court together since the 2nd game of this season. When they were 2-0.

So, ah no. 😊
 

Iceland12 said:
Towns had 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 18 points. They still haven't had him, Russell and Beasley on the court together since the 2nd game of this season. When they were 2-0.

So, ah no. 😊
Click to expand...

You honestly think Towns, Russell, and Beasley are going to make them a juggernaut?

C'mon man!
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Edwards led the Wolves with 3 blocks? Nice!

If you want a good laugh, take a look at the Win Probability graph for this game as the game progressed; I stumbled across this looking for a box score, made me laugh;

Wolves - Knicks Matchup

How 'bout those Wolves??!?!?! Finishing the season with some optimism for next year would sure be nice. Jaden McDaniels sure seems to be a diamond in the rough. They need to hit on one or two more like him for some depth
Click to expand...
McDaniels would have been top 5 pick if he would have been able to come out of HS.

Wolves got really lucky with him. Like the rest of the NBA, wolves passed on him starting at pick #18
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
You honestly think Towns, Russell, and Beasley are going to make them a juggernaut?

C'mon man!
Click to expand...

You read the post and thought it said that it would make them a juggernaut? 😅😅😅

So you think trading Towns will get them LeBron, Giannis, Zion and 4-1st Round picks?Or would they have to throw Beasley in there too?

You've been on the political board WAY too much.
 

Yes, I put words in your mouth. But why would you keep Towns and DHO if they didn't turn the Wolves into a juggernaut. Fighting for the 8th seed, at best, every year does nothing.

And I do believe a 4 way trade where LeBron, Giannis, and Zion AND four first round picks going to the wolves for KAT/DLO HAS A WAY better chance of happening then the wolves being a top team with KAT and DLO on it.

And I haven't posted on political board since early January. My brain is almost fully grown back.
 

stocker08 said:
Damn Timberwolves. STOP WINNING GAMES!
Click to expand...
Bottom 3 have the same amount of combinations.

Right now the standings at the bottom are:

Minnesota 12-36 - 24 games left
Detroit 13-34 - 25 games left
Houston 13-34 - 25 games left
Orlando 16-31 - 25 games left
Cleveland 17-30 - 25 games left

If the Timberwolves follow their post-ASG pace of .400 ball the rest of the way (10-14 rounded), Orlando will have to play .315 ball, slightly worse than what they are doing right now.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Bottom 3 have the same amount of combinations.

Right now the standings at the bottom are:

Minnesota 12-36 - 24 games left
Detroit 13-34 - 25 games left
Houston 13-34 - 25 games left
Orlando 16-31 - 25 games left
Cleveland 17-30 - 25 games left

If the Timberwolves follow their post-ASG pace of .400 ball the rest of the way (10-14 rounded), Orlando will have to play .315 ball, slightly worse than what they are doing right now.
Click to expand...

Nice work! Whether the Wolves finish with the worst record, 2nd or 3rd worst, their odds of getting the #1 is the same. If they finish with the 4th worst record the odds don't change much.

If the Wolves finish in the bottom three of the league standings they would have roughly a 40% chance of landing in the top three, which means a 60% chance of Golden State getting the pick.

So depending how the rest of the season plays out, there's no guarantee the Wolves finish in the bottom three. But if they finish with the fourth-worst record their odds of landing in the top three only decrease to 36.6%. It would be 31.6% if they finished fifth.

news.yahoo.com

Fate of Wolves’ pick traded to Warriors to be decided June 22

NEW YORK – Timberwolves fans can mark their calendars for June 22 as the end of their anxiety concerning whether the Wolves will end up with a top-three pick or have to surrender their first-rounder to Golden State. The league announced the draft lottery will be June 22, a date that has loomed...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
Yes, I put words in your mouth. But why would you keep Towns and DHO if they didn't turn the Wolves into a juggernaut. Fighting for the 8th seed, at best, every year does nothing.

And I do believe a 4 way trade where LeBron, Giannis, and Zion AND four first round picks going to the wolves for KAT/DLO HAS A WAY better chance of happening then the wolves being a top team with KAT and DLO on it.

And I haven't posted on political board since early January. My brain is almost fully grown back.
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A better chance? Pass.

Tearing it all down, again, hoping that if you keep doing it every 3 years or so, is why the Timberwolves have been so godawful since Garnett was traded away. They found out that once you get a great player you should keep and build around him. Particularly since you won't get any Free Agents to come here. Tearing them down is what Rosas, Thibs and Khan tried. We've seen the results with Khan and Thibs. We haven't even seen Rosas's guys on the court together yet!

Khan and Thibs made the team so bad that the public in general doesn't care if they stay or not. Only Taylor's insistence is keeping them here.

Glad you got out of the Political Board. You always seemed to logical to stay there.
 
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Injury report for tonight's game down in Memphis:

Minnesota​

PLAYERPOSITIONUPDATEDINJURYINJURY STATUS
Ricky RubioPGFri, Apr 2BackGame Time Decision
D'Angelo RussellPGWed, Mar 31KneeExpected to be out until at least Apr 3
 

Embiid had 24 points and eight rebounds in his return to the lineup, and Tobias Harris scored 32 to lead the Philadelphia 76ers over the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-113 on Saturday night.

Ben Simmons added 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Philadelphia (34-15), which pulled even with idle Brooklyn for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

"We won the game, but I wasn't thrilled how we played," coach Doc Rivers said. "It was one of those sloppy, ugly games. We had so many chances to put the game away, but we refused to do that tonight."

Karl-Anthony Towns had 39 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Timberwolves, who have the worst record in the NBA at 12-38.

"He is unstoppable. Just give him the ball," said teammate Anthony Edwards, who added 27 points.

Led by Towns' 17 points and eight rebounds, Minnesota hung around in the first half and trailed just 64-60 at the break. Philadelphia used a quick 13-0 run to start the second half, over which the 76ers didn't miss a shot, to take control. The spurt was capped by Seth Curry's free throw that made it 77-60 with 9:03 left in the third quarter following a technical foul on Minnesota coach Chris Finch.

That was too much ground for the Timberwolves to make up — although they did make it a game late.

Minnesota got as close as four on several occasions in the last five minutes, the last on Edwards' dunk with 2:02 left. But Harris was too much down the stretch, coming up with an answer every time the Timberwolves got close. Harris hit the final four 76ers field goals, including a driving dunk that made it 117-111 with 1:46 to play..

www.espn.com

Timberwolves vs. 76ers - Game Recap - April 3, 2021 - ESPN

Get a recap of the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Philadelphia 76ers basketball game.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 

Yeah, Embid got away with a lot last night.

TOWNS VS. EMBIID

The two big men have an adversarial history, with both earning suspensions for a fight during an October 2019 game in Philadelphia that was followed by a postgame exchange of social media barbs.

There were some moments on Saturday that could've gotten heated, but Towns remained calm throughout and leaned on his play.

He provided a highlight in the first half when he dunked over Embiid with 8:15 left in the second quarter.

"Just a play, two points. Felt good to get two points on the board," Towns said. "I ain't worried about that squabble; I'm trying to get wins."

Towns, booed during introductions and whenever he touched the ball, followed up the dunk with an emphatic block of Matisse Thybulle's layup attempt on Philadelphia's ensuing possession.

Embiid gained some revenge late in the half when he crossed over Towns, was fouled and hit a short baseline jumper before landing on the court.

Philadelphia's big man spun Towns around with a hard foul with 7:04 left in the third, but nothing came of it. Embiid tried to keep Towns calm, although Towns walked away looking unhappy. Finch wanted the officials to review the play for a possible flagrant foul, but there was no review.

Embiid did get whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul with 7:38 left in the fourth when he slashed down at Towns' arms as he was driving to the basket.

"I'm not here to live out a narrative people want; I'm here to win the game," Towns said. "I take hard fouls every game.

www.espn.com

Timberwolves vs. 76ers - Game Recap - April 3, 2021 - ESPN

Get a recap of the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Philadelphia 76ers basketball game.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 

I think the discussion on "building blocks" in part comes down to this:

Is Towns the centerpiece of the team? can you build a championship roster around him?

Or is he a good player - but not the cornerstone of a championship team?

I am not a big DLo fan, but in all fairness, in order to evaluate this roster, we need to see a stretch of games where the Wolves have Towns, DLo, Beasley and Ant in the lineup at the same time. McDaniels looks like a keeper, and I like what Naz Reid has been showing. Team still needs more depth and shooters, and another big would be nice as a backup post or PF.

the harsh reality is that we may not know what this roster can accomplish until next season. The Wolves have played 50 games out of a 72-game schedule. 22 games left. So the sooner DLo gets back, the quicker that evaluation process begins. Even 15 to 18 games with a full roster would help in figuring things out before the draft.
 

At this point, I honestly think the draft pick will take care of itself; in either situation it will work out well for the Wolves, the more I think about it. If it's a top-3 pick and they keep it, they'll more than likely get a player that could really be a building block as they move forward. If it's outside the top 3, it's almost better to be done with it and not have that owed pick hanging over them.

The team is young enough as it is, they really don't need to get any younger, unless it IS a top-3 pick with an enormous ceiling.

Play out the season like they're pushing for the playoffs. Losing is a habit and a culture, if you want the Wolves to keep losing for the sake of a draft pick whose potential is far from guaranteed, that's a loser mentality. Not what they need right now
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
At this point, I honestly think the draft pick will take care of itself; in either situation it will work out well for the Wolves, the more I think about it. If it's a top-3 pick and they keep it, they'll more than likely get a player that could really be a building block as they move forward. If it's outside the top 3, it's almost better to be done with it and not have that owed pick hanging over them.

The team is young enough as it is, they really don't need to get any younger, unless it IS a top-3 pick with an enormous ceiling.

Play out the season like they're pushing for the playoffs. Losing is a habit and a culture, if you want the Wolves to keep losing for the sake of a draft pick whose potential is far from guaranteed, that's a loser mentality. Not what they need right now
Click to expand...
This.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Play out the season like they're pushing for the playoffs. Losing is a habit and a culture, if you want the Wolves to keep losing for the sake of a draft pick whose potential is far from guaranteed, that's a loser mentality. Not what they need right now
Click to expand...
Finch has been playing his starters like a Thibs coached team. Three players got over 40 minutes on Saturday. They are definitely trying to win.
 





D’Angelo Russell had a big game in his return from knee surgery to help the Minnesota Timberwolves hand the Kings their fourth consecutive loss Monday night in Minneapolis.

Russell scored 25 points and Karl-Anthony Towns posted a double-double, leading the Timberwolves to a 116-106 victory over the Kings at Target Center. Russell scored 13 points over the final 6:43 to close out the Kings.

“Unfortunately we’re going through a tough time again,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “We’ve been here before and we’ll fight our way out of it again.”..

RUSSELL RETURNS​

Russell, who came out of Ohio State as the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, suited up for the first time since Feb. 8 after missing 26 games due to knee surgery.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch elected to bring Russell off the bench, saying he would be on a “pretty limited” minutes restriction. Russell logged a total of 24 minutes, making 7 of 19 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Russell is averaging 19.3 points and 5.1 assists in his sixth NBA season. He was an All-Star with the Brooklyn Nets in 2018-19.


Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/article250451316.html#storylink=cpy
 

It will be interesting to see how the D-lo KAT pairing works if they manage an extended run of games together. D-lo's shots in the 4th quarter went in last night. Quite often they won't. He killed ball movement and Edwards hardly touched the basketball. Edwards is much more critical to the future of the franchise than D-lo and anything D-lo does to impede or retard Edwards' or McDaniels' development is detrimental to the future success of the team.
 

jamiche said:
It will be interesting to see how the D-lo KAT pairing works if they manage an extended run of games together. D-lo's shots in the 4th quarter went in last night. Quite often they won't. He killed ball movement and Edwards hardly touched the basketball. Edwards is much more critical to the future of the franchise than D-lo and anything D-lo does to impede or retard Edwards' or McDaniels' development is detrimental to the future success of the team.
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Jon K with a good piece on the game last night, including the fact that the crowd of about 1,400 gave D-Lo a standing ovation when he entered the game in the 1st? Obviously after a win, everyone is feeling good about themselves but maybe they get things going a little bit? Jon's article was good, talked about the D-Lo/KAT chemistry on the court, D-Lo getting hot down the stretch to close things out in the 4th, etc.

I would really love a reason to want to watch this team more in the near future. Long overdue. I see Culver got 7 minutes. It sure doesn't look good for how that pick turns out
 

jamiche said:
It will be interesting to see how the D-lo KAT pairing works if they manage an extended run of games together. D-lo's shots in the 4th quarter went in last night. Quite often they won't. He killed ball movement and Edwards hardly touched the basketball. Edwards is much more critical to the future of the franchise than D-lo and anything D-lo does to impede or retard Edwards' or McDaniels' development is detrimental to the future success of the team.
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If Finch can't get things rolling with his full complement of players, this ain't never going to get going! I was never a Russell fan but I'm still trying to be optimistic that there really IS something there with him and Towns.

I agree, this development could be a small negative part of Edwards' improvement but if anything this will show us what kind of player he can be if he finds his way and finds his role in a roster with Russell and Towns.

21 games left. Buckle up!
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
If Finch can't get things rolling with his full complement of players, this ain't never going to get going! I was never a Russell fan but I'm still trying to be optimistic that there really IS something there with him and Towns.

I agree, this development could be a small negative part of Edwards' improvement but if anything this will show us what kind of player he can be if he finds his way and finds his role in a roster with Russell and Towns.

21 games left. Buckle up!
Click to expand...

True, but with Beasley out for 4 weeks they'll have to wait until next year to get his full line-up.
 

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