All Things 2023 Minnesota Timberwolves Off-Season Thread

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Per RandBall:

*Towns said he was surprised by the Gobert trade and essentially didn't know it was happening because he was on vacation.

"It was definitely something I wasn't ready for. I remember being in London and getting that call," he said. "I didn't actually have no idea that was happening. I was told by social media like everybody else, so that was something."

Assuming that's true, and there's no reason to think it wasn't true, it is odd that Towns wouldn't be in the loop on a move like that. Even if you don't think a franchise cornerstone should act as an assistant GM and be privy to roster decisions, this particular trade meant he was going to have to change positions from center to power forward.

*Of that change, Towns said he took it as a challenge and tried to draw upon previous experience at the "four" earlier in his Wolves career and in college.

"It was definitely an adjustment," Towns said. "I had to move, so it changed how my offseason was going to be approached. ... I had already started my offseason workouts as a five. I was preparing as a five, watching film as a five. Then halfway through the offseason throw all that ... out the window.

*On the season as a whole, Towns said he felt he was playing "some of the best basketball of my career" when he suffered the calf strain that knocked him out for 52 games. That's debatable, though it is interesting to note that Towns was averaging 5.4 assists in the 20 full games before his injury.

Overall, when asked if the year was a failure, Towns said yes.

"We didn't meet the expectations that were set for us," said Towns, who famously announced "championship or bust" after the Gobert trade and said on the podcast that making the second round of the playoffs was his minimum expectation for the season. "But we didn't make it. So obviously it hurts and that's something I'll live with."

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Howl Wolves!!
 

It would have taken so little for the Wolves to be where the Lakers are right now.
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
It would have taken so little for the Wolves to be where the Lakers are right now.
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The great news is that these teams are not great. GS is aging, phoenix is the same, the lakers are somewhat flukey, and Denver could have been a great series with our two guys out.

It's there if the wolves can make the right moves.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
All they needed was Naz to stay healthy and for McDaniels to not punch a wall.
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Even with that, if they don't get beat at home by Portland (or really any other the handful of awful teams they lost to), the Lakers have to come here for the play-in game.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Even with that, if they don't get beat at home by Portland (or really any other the handful of awful teams they lost to), the Lakers have to come here for the play-in game.
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Even if the Wolves would have ended up in the Lakers position, I just didn't see them winning a 7 game series against Memphis or the Warriors without Naz and McDaniels.
 

Big STrib story on ANT:

Next steps​

One reason Edwards wants to stick around Minnesota this offseason is to work out more frequently with Jaden McDaniels. The Wolves forward is one of the best defensive players in the league, and he, along with others who will be around like Josh Minott and Wendell Moore Jr., can help Edwards sharpen the next area he wants to improve on the court: contested shot-making.

"It's really about just keeping your composure while you're going up through your shot," Edwards said. "I sometimes try to rush my shot once I see it's heavily contested, but I still can get it off in time. I got to learn how to keep my composure. Kind of like how [Dallas guard] Luka Doncic never rushes his shot no matter how close the defense is. I started to learn that as we were longer into the season."

Hines said in Edwards' second season, he wanted to help Edwards hone his "superpower" of getting to the rim. Edwards wants to be known for more than that, and making contested shots at a higher clip is going to be part of his identity.

He also said he is planning on heading to France at some point to work with Gobert. From the outside, Edwards and Gobert didn't always seem to be on the same page. Edwards seemed reluctant to pass to Gobert when working with him in the screen and roll game. Edwards said that wasn't the case.

"Man, I love Rudy. Me and Rudy got a great understanding," Edwards said. "We talk all the time, and I think he can get a lot better as far as catching the ball, jump hooking. I tell him all the time, like 'Rudy, I'm [going to] throw you the ball every time. I want you to jump hook or money dunk on somebody,' and he be like, 'I got you.' This summer we're going to get together and work on it.

"... He told me to trust him, and I started trusting him and giving it to him and he's making the right play. Shout-out to him, he kept making the right play in the pocket whether he was finishing or kicking it out. I trust him."

Does Edwards already have a flight booked for France this summer? Not yet, because, "Rudy is gonna pay for everything," Edwards said. "He got all the money."

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Howl Wolves!!
 





Spaulding!No! said:
Coulda been the golden stste warriors if we would have taken the player from Davidson.
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Possibly but like everything else, you change one variable everything else changes too. He wouldn't have had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green if he played here.

Though would have liked to see him playing alongside Rubio, Love, Kirilenko and a healthy Pekovich. Maybe not a 60 win season, but mid-50's wouldn't have been a surprise.

That said Kahn would have figured out a way to screw things up.
 

Iceland12 said:
Possibly but like everything else, you change one variable everything else changes too. He wouldn't have had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green if he played here.

Though would have liked to see him playing alongside Rubio, Love, Kirilenko and a healthy Pekovich. Maybe not a 60 win season, but mid-50's wouldn't have been a surprise.

That said Kahn would have figured out a way to screw things up.
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there was lots of questions on Curry. So I dont blame Kahn for passing. Nobody thought he would be this good.

However, what do i blame him for? Saying Rubio and Flynn could play together. Rubio or Flynn combined with taking Curry to play SG would be way to go, if he wanted 2 PGs to play together.

In reality, he should have taken Derozen in unison with Rubio, because there were plenty of PGs to take in the teens to fill in before Rubio got here.

Kahn was a hot mess
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
there was lots of questions on Curry. So I dont blame Kahn for passing. Nobody thought he would be this good.
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No one thought he would be this good? Curry went with the next pick. Myself and a lot of other fans thought they for sure should draft Curry over Flynn. Sure there were concerns about him holding up and if he could play PG, but he was by far the best shooter in college basketball.

It made perfect sense to take him after drafting a pass first guard in Rubio. I don't know anyone who thought Flynn had a higher upside than Curry, other than Kahn.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one thought he would be this good? Curry went with the next pick. Myself and a lot of other fans thought they for sure should draft Curry over Flynn. Sure there were concerns about him holding up and if he could play PG, but he was by far the best shooter in college basketball.

It made perfect sense to take him after drafting a pass first guard in Rubio. I don't know anyone who thought Flynn had a higher upside than Curry, other than Kahn.
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That one Big East semi-final game did us in. I blame Kahn's wife or friends, if he had not been home watching basketball that night, there is no way we draft Flynn.
 

San Antonio wins the Draft Lottery and the right to pick Victor Wembanyama. Detroit, who had the worst record in the league fell to the 5th pick.

The full 2023 draft lottery order:

1. San Antonio Spurs

2. Charlotte Hornets

3. Portland Trail Blazers

4. Houston Rockets

5. Detroit Pistons

6. Orlando Magic

7. Indiana Pacers

8. Washington Wizards

9. Utah Jazz

10. Dallas Mavericks

11. Orlando Magic

12. Oklahoma City Thunder

13. Toronto Raptors

14. New Orleans Pelicans
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one thought he would be this good? Curry went with the next pick. Myself and a lot of other fans thought they for sure should draft Curry over Flynn. Sure there were concerns about him holding up and if he could play PG, but he was by far the best shooter in college basketball.

It made perfect sense to take him after drafting a pass first guard in Rubio. I don't know anyone who thought Flynn had a higher upside than Curry, other than Kahn.
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Hall of fame good?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one thought he would be this good? Curry went with the next pick. Myself and a lot of other fans thought they for sure should draft Curry over Flynn. Sure there were concerns about him holding up and if he could play PG, but he was by far the best shooter in college basketball.

It made perfect sense to take him after drafting a pass first guard in Rubio. I don't know anyone who thought Flynn had a higher upside than Curry, other than Kahn.
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The Wolves then followed it up by not trading Flynn for Paul George.

It was widely reported that Indiana wanted to trade the #10 pick in the next draft for Flynn and we would have drafted Paul George at that spot. Allegedly, we turned it down last minute.

We also chose Wes Johnson over Boogie Cousins. Wes Johnson was a 1 year wonder with horrible advanced stats and was 23 by the time of the draft.

Kahn made a couple OK moves, but he never got over those horrendous decisions (these along with Flynn).
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The Wolves then followed it up by not trading Flynn for Paul George.

It was widely reported that Indiana wanted to trade the #10 pick in the next draft for Flynn and we would have drafted Paul George at that spot. Allegedly, we turned it down last minute.

We also chose Wes Johnson over Boogie Cousins. Wes Johnson was a 1 year wonder with horrible advanced stats and was 23 by the time of the draft.

Kahn made a couple OK moves, but he never got over those horrendous decisions (these along with Flynn).
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Kahn did a good job getting rid of bad contracts. Trading Miller and Foye for #6 was fantastic. But his choice was terrible. He could have overcome that my trading it for #10, but Flynns smile was too irresistible
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one thought he would be this good? Curry went with the next pick. Myself and a lot of other fans thought they for sure should draft Curry over Flynn. Sure there were concerns about him holding up and if he could play PG, but he was by far the best shooter in college basketball.

It made perfect sense to take him after drafting a pass first guard in Rubio. I don't know anyone who thought Flynn had a higher upside than Curry, other than Kahn.
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I met Kahn once at a social engagement. He was every bit as arrogant in private as he was in public. A couple of us were chatting with him about something and he started pontificating away. I glanced at his shirt while he was impressing himself and there was a big food stain on it. It somehow made sense.
 

jamiche said:
I met Kahn once at a social engagement. He was every bit as arrogant in private as he was in public. A couple of us were chatting with him about something and he started pontificating away. I glanced at his shirt while he was impressing himself and there was a big food stain on it. It somehow made sense.
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Ketchup or spaghetti sauce? Somehow it matters to me.
 

tikited said:
Ketchup or spaghetti sauce? Somehow it matters to me.
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I can appreciate that.

It was a cocktail party. Appetizer trays were being passed around. I didn't see the actual turnover. I think he was wearing a blue shirt and I'm pretty sure it was a reddish stain.

Rambis was at the same event. Seemed like a regular, good guy. Very approachable.
 

jamiche said:
I can appreciate that.

It was a cocktail party. Appetizer trays were being passed around. I didn't see the actual turnover. I think he was wearing a blue shirt and I'm pretty sure it was a reddish stain.

Rambis was at the same event. Seemed like a regular, good guy. Very approachable.
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Spaghetti sauce is excusable imo. Ketchup is not.

Probably was shrimp cocktail sauce.
 


^^^^ The number 3 pick in the draft would be the centerpiece!
 



jamiche said:
I met Kahn once at a social engagement. He was every bit as arrogant in private as he was in public. A couple of us were chatting with him about something and he started pontificating away. I glanced at his shirt while he was impressing himself and there was a big food stain on it. It somehow made sense.
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Holy cow, Jam Jam and I are agreeing on something. I couldn't agree more with this entire post. I met him once and he was an arrogant ass and the story about having food on his shirt actually makes sense to me.
 

kg21 said:
^^^^ The number 3 pick in the draft would be the centerpiece!
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Yeah, it'll be really tough to make salaries work but that would actually be pretty awesome. Either Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller would look really good on our team. It would probably require a third team probably to flip Simmons/Nukic for something else.

The bones would have to be something like Nukic _+ filler + 3 for Towns, and I would make the deal this instant.

At the end of the day, Portland is going to have to decide if they feel a team centered on Towns and Lillard can compete in the West.
 

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