All Things 2019-2020 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

[TruthSeeker]

Zach Lavine is much better than Wiggins. I said we should have traded Wiggins instead of Lavine. The Wolves are idiots.

 

[Iceland12]

Zach Lavine is much better than Wiggins. I said we should have traded Wiggins instead of Lavine. The Wolves are idiots.

Would have been nice but the Bulls didn't want him. Thibs didn't care either. He just wanted to get Jimmy Butler.

He did get rid of Kris Dunn a #5 pick wasted by the Wolves and drafted by Tom T himself. Thibodeau finished up the trade by getting #16 pick Justin Patton from the Bulls.

Haven't heard of him? Since he entered the NBA in 2017 he's played 9 games in the NBA. He was waived out of the league last month.

 

[Iceland12]

They may be tanking but if you've followed the Wolves for awhile now you really start to wonder about the competence of their medical staff.

Jon Krawczynski@JonKrawczynski

Saunders says Towns still being evaluated but he will not practice out of the break. Saunders said he will miss games but did not give a specific timeline on that left wrist

3:46 PM · Feb 19, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

 

[Iceland12]

"Minnesota gave fans plenty to be excited about Friday … on offense.

Defensively, the Timberwolves continue to be nowhere near good enough to win games. Such was the case again in the team’s 127-117 loss to Boston at Target Center.

Boston shot 46 percent from the field and tallied 56 points in the paint against Minnesota’s undersized front court.

Celtics’ center Daniel Theis isn’t exactly an offensive world beater, but he tallied 25 points and 16 rebounds while going up against the likes of Naz Reid and James Johnson. Minnesota figures to struggle defensively on the interior while Karl-Anthony Towns misses time with his fractured wrist.."

Timberwolves again fall apart late in loss to Boston

The Timberwolves were good for about 40 minutes on Friday night at Target Center. For now, that seems to be good enough for Wolves coach Ryan Saunders. Minnesota fell apart late in its 127-117 loss…

www.twincities.com

 

[stocker08]

KAT being out is a good thing. Keep tanking. The Warriors are pretty much guaranteed the highest probability for the #1 pick.....which is a joke. They are going to get the best player in the draft to add to their two returning all-stars?

Anyways....the T-Wolves need the second pick. Russell adds the outside scoring that the team desperately needed. Putting a guy like James Weisman next to KAT opens up a ton of possibilities for KAT to roam around the perimeter.

And I just saw a mock from a few days ago.....Weisman to the Wolves with the fourth pick. I wouldn't want to gamble on him being there at #4. Skilled centers are not easy to find.

NBA Mock Draft - NBADraft.net

Specializing in drafts with top players on the NBA horizon, player profiles, scouting reports, rankings and prospective international recruits.

www.nbadraft.net

Side note. Same mock has Oturu going 7th to the Bobcats! While I'd hate to see him leave.....I would completely understand if/when he does. This isn't a Coffey situation. He is a lottery pick. Hopefully....he stays one more year and jumps to one of the first couple of picks. I doubt it though.

 

[tikited]

"Minnesota gave fans plenty to be excited about Friday … on offense.

Defensively, the Timberwolves continue to be nowhere near good enough to win games. Such was the case again in the team’s 127-117 loss to Boston at Target Center.

Boston shot 46 percent from the field and tallied 56 points in the paint against Minnesota’s undersized front court.

Celtics’ center Daniel Theis isn’t exactly an offensive world beater, but he tallied 25 points and 16 rebounds while going up against the likes of Naz Reid and James Johnson. Minnesota figures to struggle defensively on the interior while Karl-Anthony Towns misses time with his fractured wrist.."

Timberwolves again fall apart late in loss to Boston

The Timberwolves were good for about 40 minutes on Friday night at Target Center. For now, that seems to be good enough for Wolves coach Ryan Saunders. Minnesota fell apart late in its 127-117 loss…

www.twincities.com

James Johnson is brutal out there. I miss Gorgi already.

 

[Deleted_User]

This is what I don't get about Minnesota fans, they get excited about high draft picks and cannot fathom actually trying to get better as a team and holding the team accountable for their own lack of effort. The NBA is a slow motion league in Minnesota. They will never be a good team with an owner who only wants to milk the public of their money. Taylor is happy to part Minnesotans for their money with a low quality product.

 

[jamiche]

This is what I don't get about Minnesota fans, they get excited about high draft picks and cannot fathom actually trying to get better as a team and holding the team accountable for their own lack of effort. The NBA is a slow motion league in Minnesota. They will never be a good team with an owner who only wants to milk the public of their money. Taylor is happy to part Minnesotans for their money with a low quality product.

Most of your post didn't make sense. Every market in every league gets excited about high draft picks. That's a combination of hope, hype and marketing. Nobody does it better than the NFL. The fans in this market hold the team accountable in the best way possible: we don't show up. What are we supposed to do? Picket in front of Taylor's houses? I don't know what "slow motion league in Minnesota" means. Does it mean the team is lousy? We, um, know that. What owner doesn't want to milk the public out of its money? Has Taylor mismanaged the franchise? Of course he has. He's done it by consistently hiring the wrong people in key positions over a 25 year period. Not by sitting in a backroom figuring out ways to screw the public.

Maybe Rosas can figure this thing out. So far, I think he's a little too cute and clever. Hope very much to be wrong.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Dean is correct. The common denominator for all the years of losing is the owner.

 

[Deleted_User]

Most of your post didn't make sense. Every market in every league gets excited about high draft picks. That's a combination of hope, hype and marketing. Nobody does it better than the NFL. The fans in this market hold the team accountable in the best way possible: we don't show up. What are we supposed to do? Picket in front of Taylor's houses? I don't know what "slow motion league in Minnesota" means. Does it mean the team is lousy? We, um, know that. What owner doesn't want to milk the public out of its money? Has Taylor mismanaged the franchise? Of course he has. He's done it by consistently hiring the wrong people in key positions over a 25 year period. Not by sitting in a backroom figuring out ways to screw the public.

Maybe Rosas can figure this thing out. So far, I think he's a little too cute and clever. Hope very much to be wrong.

Yes, fans get excited about the mystery that is the future with new players. Yes, the team is lousy. No, Taylor hasn't mismanaged the team. He is making money. Yes, he cares less about his customers. He has very few years where the team was competitive at the playoff level. Any thinking otherwise is beyond me. As for his managers, nice to blame them when they have to have his approval on every trade and contract. He does may not contemplate screwing the fans, but he does look more at the bottom line then looking at the potential of the public if they were winning consistently. As for Rosas, I wish him luck running into the brick wall of Taylor.

 

[jamiche]

Dean is correct. The common denominator for all the years of losing is the owner.

I agree that Taylor is the common denominator. He has consistently put the wrong people in place and he's bounced back and forth between running the asset like a family business (looking Andrew Wiggins in the eye) and a real business (starting the year saving salary to compensate for the Thibs/Layden contracts).

 

[jamiche]

Yes, fans get excited about the mystery that is the future with new players. Yes, the team is lousy. No, Taylor hasn't mismanaged the team. He is making money. Yes, he cares less about his customers. He has very few years where the team was competitive at the playoff level. Any thinking otherwise is beyond me. As for his managers, nice to blame them when they have to have his approval on every trade and contract. He does may not contemplate screwing the fans, but he does look more at the bottom line then looking at the potential of the public if they were winning consistently. As for Rosas, I wish him luck running into the brick wall of Taylor.

Taylor has mismanaged the team. He may have also partially mismanaged the asset even though it's probably worth 12-15 times what he paid for it. With a better product it might be worth even more. I'm not blaming the managers. I'm blaming Taylor for hiring the wrong people. Flip was probably the only exception.

 

[Iceland12]

After only playing 1 game after the 8-9 day All Star Break.

Yeah, they're tanking.

Jon Krawczynski @JonKrawczynski

D’Angelo Russell out tomorrow vs Denver with “planned rest.” Wolves playing a lot of games in a tight schedule and Russell has been bothered with quad and knee stuff during the season. It’s the way of the world in the NBA these days.

 

[BleedGopher]

After only playing 1 game after the 8-9 day All Star Break.

Yeah, they're tanking.

Jon Krawczynski @JonKrawczynski

D’Angelo Russell out tomorrow vs Denver with “planned rest.” Wolves playing a lot of games in a tight schedule and Russell has been bothered with quad and knee stuff during the season. It’s the way of the world in the NBA these days.

Seriously?! That's ridiculous.

Howl Wolves!!

 

[BleedGopher]

per Sid:

• The Wolves were 25-29 through 54 games last season. This season they are 16-38.

Vikings owners invest more than $1 billion into state of Minnesota

The Wilf family, which owns the Vikings, continues to believe it is doing the right thing by putting its own money into the community, both at U.S. Bank Stadium and in Eagan at the TCO Performance Center.

www.startribune.com

Howl Wolves!!

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Is Luc Longley or Wes Johnson available in this year's draft?

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Taylor has mismanaged the team. He may have also partially mismanaged the asset even though it's probably worth 12-15 times what he paid for it. With a better product it might be worth even more. I'm not blaming the managers. I'm blaming Taylor for hiring the wrong people. Flip was probably the only exception.

Correct. They don't lose because Taylor is cheap. They lose because Taylor hired the wrong people and they lose because their player scouting and development is not up to par. When you aren't an attractive free agent destination, you need to get the draft right way more often than not. How many 2nd round picks in franchise history have worked out? Doug West is about the best, and that's not saying much.

 

[Iceland12]

Seriously?! That's ridiculous.

Howl Wolves!!

It certainly is.

The NBA has a huge problem on it's hands. Nobody is watching the games on TV. Perfectly understandable with over half the teams in the league under .500. And with the seemingly prevalent attitude out there of "Please keep losing so we can get a high draft pick!" a whole lot of teams are having trouble getting people into the arena too.

Hard core and "Basketball Bros" aside, who the hell wants to go watch your team get beat again and again?

Either in person or on TV.

 

[Iceland12]

Those wacky underdogs played the Nuggets fairly close for 3 Quarters. Then it was over. The Wolves play again tonight in Dallas. No telling who Rosas will bench next.

Nuggets beat T-Wolves, spoil returns of Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez

Gary Harris hounded Malik Beasley, now Minnesota’s starting shooting guard, and the Nuggets drilled the Timberwolves 128-116 on Sunday at the Pepsi Center to improve to 39-18. Beasley finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds, but Harris’ tenacious defense minimized his impact.

Denver was led by a season-high 25 points from Paul Millsap, along with 24 points from all-star Nikola Jokic. Both feasted on Minnesota’s underwhelming interior presence, dominating inside as the Nuggets poured in 76 points in the paint.

“I watched a lot of film over the past two days, trying to figure it out, seeing how I can get better, trying to read (Jokic) a little bit more,” Millsap said. “I’ve been out of the lineup for a while, trying to get back in rhythm.”

Jamal Murray added 19 points as part of the Nuggets’ 58 percent shooting effort, and Harris’ 13-points total included two 3-pointers..

Nuggets beat T-Wolves, spoil returns of Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez

Gary Harris hounded Malik Beasley, now Minnesota’s starting shooting guard, and the Nuggets drilled the Timberwolves 128-116 on Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Center to improve to 39-18 on the season.

www.denverpost.com

 

[Iceland12]

Timberwolves PR @Twolves_PR
·
45m

Timberwolves Status Report for Feb. 24 at Dallas: Probable Jake Layman - Left Toe Sprain

Out :

Allen Crabbe - Personal Reasons
Omari Spellman - G League Assignment
Karl-Anthony Towns - Left Wrist Fracture
Evan Turner - Not With Team

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Correct. They don't lose because Taylor is cheap. They lose because Taylor hired the wrong people and they lose because their player scouting and development is not up to par. When you aren't an attractive free agent destination, you need to get the draft right way more often than not. How many 2nd round picks in franchise history have worked out? Doug West is about the best, and that's not saying much.

Agree with you and jamiche. If Taylor didn't care about anything other than money, he would have sold the team to someone who was going to move them out of MN. Like Pohlad almost did with the Twins. That's the one ownership group in MN who truly only cares about money.

Taylor has been completely incompetent in running a NBA franchise from top to bottom. Time will tell with Rosas, but I believe he could be the best hire Taylor has made. This roster was an absolute disaster coming into this season, and in a short amount of time, Rosas was able to turn it into a workable roster going forward. Make the right pick in this draft, and they could have 3 young stars for the future.

 

[Iceland12]

Not THAT Hardaway. Curry got 19. Not THAT Curry either.

And so it goes..

Hardaway scores 23 to lead Mavs past Timberwolves 139-123

DALLAS — Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 23 points and Luka Doncic had 20 as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 139-123 Monday night.

The Mavericks never trailed and were able to rest most of their starters in the fourth quarter after scoring 81 points before halftime, their biggest half of the season. Hardaway, Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis did not play in the final period..

The reeling Timberwolves, playing without star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, lost their fifth in a row and 18th in 19 games.

Dallas shot 56% in the first half and went 12 of 23 from 3-point range en route to an 81-65 halftime lead..

Timberwolves: Of the 11 Minnesota players who took the court in the teams’ last meeting on Dec. 4, only two – Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver – dressed for the Wolves on Monday night. Towns is injured and the other eight are no longer with the team. “We have in a sense nine new players in the last little bit here,” coach Ryan Saunders said. “We’re trying to speed up the process with these guys, learn each other.” … Jake Layman played his first game since Nov. 18, having missed the last 40 with a left toe sprain.

Hardaway scores 23 to lead Mavs past Timberwolves 139-123

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 23 points and Luka Doncic had 20 as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 139-123 Monday night.

www.twincities.com

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

Not THAT Hardaway. Curry got 19. Not THAT Curry either.

And so it goes..

Hardaway scores 23 to lead Mavs past Timberwolves 139-123

DALLAS — Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 23 points and Luka Doncic had 20 as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 139-123 Monday night.

The Mavericks never trailed and were able to rest most of their starters in the fourth quarter after scoring 81 points before halftime, their biggest half of the season. Hardaway, Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis did not play in the final period..

The reeling Timberwolves, playing without star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, lost their fifth in a row and 18th in 19 games.

Dallas shot 56% in the first half and went 12 of 23 from 3-point range en route to an 81-65 halftime lead..

Timberwolves: Of the 11 Minnesota players who took the court in the teams’ last meeting on Dec. 4, only two – Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver – dressed for the Wolves on Monday night. Towns is injured and the other eight are no longer with the team. “We have in a sense nine new players in the last little bit here,” coach Ryan Saunders said. “We’re trying to speed up the process with these guys, learn each other.” … Jake Layman played his first game since Nov. 18, having missed the last 40 with a left toe sprain.

Hardaway scores 23 to lead Mavs past Timberwolves 139-123

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 23 points and Luka Doncic had 20 as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 139-123 Monday night.

www.twincities.com

Rosas wants to be the Junior Rockets. Rockets are a regular season team. Watch them fall out rather quickly.

Rosas/Saunders dont care about defense. If they did, there is no way they trade for Russell. And there is no way they dont get D help for Towns. They should be targeting a shot blocking big to go next to Towns, not an offensive player.

 

[BleedGopher]

D'Angelo Russell says Wolves' workload management plan for him is 'smart'

D’Angelo Russell was back in uniform for the Timberwolves on Monday night in their 139-123 loss to the Mavericks.

Russell had a good night from a statistical standpoint and scored 29 points to go with five assists. This comes after Russell said sat out Sunday’s loss to Denver as part of what the Wolves called “planned rest.”

Russell has had a variety of injuries this season and the Wolves’ performance staff in the front office doesn’t want to put Russell at risk of further injury. To do so, they want to manage his workload going forward and not overtax him, especially as the Wolves enter the busiest part of their schedule.

How does Russell feel about it? After the game, it sounded as if he was on board.

“Going into the summer healthy is a major advantage,” Russell said. “For players in our league not having to do rehab, you can gain the edge and work on things you knew you need to work on during the season but you didn’t get the time to. I agree with it. I think it’s smart and something I’m going to take advantage of.”

D'Angelo Russell says Wolves' workload management plan for him is 'smart'

The guard is on board if the team wants to rest him in a certain game.

www.startribune.com

Howl Wolves!!

 

[Iceland12]

Timberwolves get their 2nd win since 1/9/2020 by beating the Heat and General Soreness 129-126 in Miami. 3 guys blocked Butler's attempt to win the games with about a second left on the clock.

 

[Deleted_User]

Hey, a one game winning streak. Shall we go for a second by the end of March!!!

 

[Iceland12]

Timberwolves get their 2nd win since 1/9/2020 by beating the Heat and General Soreness 129-126 in Miami. 3 guys blocked Butler's attempt to win the games with about a second left on the clock.

Sounds like General Soreness has arrived in Miami too.

4. But the Heat’s All-Star duo of Adebayo and Butler was available against the Timberwolves. Not even that was enough.

Adebayo was listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game because of a sprained right ankle, but he played through the pain to finish with 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 33 minutes.

Adebayo has now played in 144 consecutive regular-season games, which is the fourth-longest streak in franchise history behind only Norris Cole (160 games), Grant Long (161 games) and Glen Rice (174 games). The last game Adebayo missed came in a home win over the Hawks on April 3, 2018.

As for Butler, he returned to the court after missing the previous two games because of personal reasons. Butler finished Wednesday’s loss with 18 points on 4-of-10 shooting, four rebounds and nine assists in 35 minutes.

5. The Heat suffered a rare home loss and couldn’t take advantage of a Philadelphia 76ers loss.

With Wednesday’s defeat, Miami fell to 23-4 at AmericanAirlines Arena this season. But this was the Heat’s first bad home loss of the season, as the first three came against quality opponents — the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics..


Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article240637947.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Iceland12]

Hey, a one game winning streak. Shall we go for a second by the end of March!!!

You're thinking like Gersson Rosas now. Sure they're 3-18 in their last 21 games but what the hell!

Gersson Rosas @GerssonRosas

Tank that!

 

[Iceland12]

One last shot at General Soreness. Who after missing those two games for personal reasons chose to come back to beat the Wolves.

Instead he gave the game to them. Here's an excerpt from Jonny K's article in The Athletic:

"The Heat led 119-107 with 3:59 to play, and it was looking like another game effort from the Karl-Anthony Towns-less Timberwolves was going to result in another defeat. But Butler turned the ball over on three straight possessions, the last one leading to two free throws from Malik Beasley to cut the deficit to 123-122. So when the Heat needed a bucket in the closing seconds, everyone in the arena, and back home in Minnesota, knew that Butler was going to be the one to take the shot.

He is one of the best clutch players in the league, and Wolves fans know how crafty he is at creating his own shot or drawing contact to get to the free-throw line. So Butler went to the rim with a full head of steam, but was met by a trio of Wolves defenders. Beasley and Jake Layman were there as well, but it was Russell’s hand that was deemed to have been the biggest factor in the block. And in a gme where the Wolves were called for 35 personal fouls, there was no whistle.."

 

[tikited]

One last shot at General Soreness. Who after missing those two games for personal reasons chose to come back to beat the Wolves.

Instead he gave the game to them. Here's an excerpt from Jonny K's article in The Athletic:

"The Heat led 119-107 with 3:59 to play, and it was looking like another game effort from the Karl-Anthony Towns-less Timberwolves was going to result in another defeat. But Butler turned the ball over on three straight possessions, the last one leading to two free throws from Malik Beasley to cut the deficit to 123-122. So when the Heat needed a bucket in the closing seconds, everyone in the arena, and back home in Minnesota, knew that Butler was going to be the one to take the shot.

He is one of the best clutch players in the league, and Wolves fans know how crafty he is at creating his own shot or drawing contact to get to the free-throw line. So Butler went to the rim with a full head of steam, but was met by a trio of Wolves defenders. Beasley and Jake Layman were there as well, but it was Russell’s hand that was deemed to have been the biggest factor in the block. And in a gme where the Wolves were called for 35 personal fouls, there was no whistle.."

That was a great end to the game. Butler will probably blame a teammate for the miscues at the end.