All Things 2023 Minnesota Timberwolves Off-Season Thread

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JimmyJamesMD said:
Hes about to take over the league
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His strides last year on defense were nothing short of remarkable. If he can shoot 38% or better from 3, that will only open up his drives to the basket. He could easily average 5-7 more points per game if he gets the same foul calls that other stars do. Should be a fun season!
 






Spaulding!No! said:
Does that usually mean KAT then pulls back and the team suffers?
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No. Because most of the time, when Gobert is healthy, Towns is playing more of a Power Forward position. The ball wouldn't go through him as much as it would when he was playing Center. Edwards has also shown his willingness to dish the ball when he finds someone open. The games after both Reid and McDonald went down were kind of an illusion. Towns felt the pressure to compensate for them and other teams made sure he didn't get the ball anyway. That's why the ball and pressure went to Edwards, IMO.

If Edwards does finally get those calls at the rim that means they'll be winning more games too. Doubt that would bother Towns in the least.

Now if they keep losing? All bets are off.
 











Iceland12 said:
Which one(s) won't happen?
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I don’t follow the in-depth; my comment was from the perspective of when multiple things to fall into place to achieve the desired result- it’s more likely that it won’t occur than it will vs. If you only need to have one happen.

As an optimist I applaud your hope!
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I don’t follow the in-depth; my comment was from the perspective of when multiple things to fall into place to achieve the desired result- it’s more likely that it won’t occur than it will vs. If you only need to have one happen.

As an optimist I applaud your hope!
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Understood. I would think that Towns staying healthy enough to be available for 75-82 games is the most unlikely. The played in all 82 games from '15 to '17. Played in 77 in '18-19. Played 32-37minutes a game too. Only got 70+ again in '21-22.

To me, Finch keeping his minutes down and keeping him healthy is the biggest "if".
 
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Before Team USA gathered in Las Vegas for training camp, we asked who on the roster is best suited to take the last shot. Four players received votes, but Edwards was the only one to receive multiple votes.

It's not a huge surprise. While the roster the United States has put together for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup lacks the top-tier talent we're used to, Edwards is coming off of a season in which he earned his first All-Star selection with a career-best average of 24.6 points per game and has proven himself to be a dynamic scorer. He has a strong case as the best player on the team.

www.sportingnews.com

Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards shows why he should be Team USA's World Cup closer without actually scoring | Sporting News

Anthony Edwards saved his best for last in Team USA's win over Spain, scoring five of his nine points in the closing minutes to secure the victory.
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com
 

BleedGopher said:
I agree with Taylor, per Shama:

Glen Taylor Reserved about NBA In-Season Tournament

This fall the NBA In-Season Tournament debuts involving all 30 league teams. The tournament starts November 3 and ends with the semifinals on December 7 and championship game December 9 in Las Vegas. All games, except for the championship, count as part of the regular season results and standings. Teams will continue to have 82-game regular season schedules, with the playoffs to follow as in the past.

There is more detail than that involved, and fans may find it all confusing. “Well, it’s something they want to try,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners. “I am not as enthused about it as the league is. I think it’s going to be kind of complicated.”

Taylor said the league has been talking about the tournament for six years. It’s a potential revenue generator for the NBA, and something that will bring more attention to the league during football season.


Howl Wolves!!
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The reason in-season tournaments work for MLS is that the tournaments aren't just MLS teams. For example, the current soccer tournament is MLS teams vs the Mexican league. In Europe, you have soccer tournaments that pit the best teams from multiple leagues. With the NBA, it's just NBA teams - doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless it's something where the winner(s) gets an advantage in the actual playoffs.
 

Not trying to be an alarmist - but it sounds as if the NBA teams carried on Bally Sports - including the Wolves - may be facing a similar situation to what happened with MLB this season.

Diamond Sports, which runs Bally Sports, is still in bankruptcy proceedings. found this on a site called "Cord Cutters News" -

Now it looks like Bally Sports could lose more NBA and NHL teams, according to a new filing from some of Diamond’s creditors.

At issue here is Diamond Sports Group, the parent company behind Bally Sports, requested an extension of the exclusivity period of 120 days to create a go-forward plan. Now the creditors want that time limited and want Bally Sports to finalize its talks with the NBA and NHL teams as part of its business plan in its Chapter 11 proceedings. If the creditors get their way Bally Sports would need to finish talks with the NBA and NHL before the season starts.

Bally Sports needs to decide if it will pay NBA and NHL teams their full contracts or try to renegotiate unprofitable contracts. This is very similar to what we just went through with MLB teams, which resulted in two teams losing their TV deals with Bally Sports.

Bally Sports will likely pay to keep most, if not all, of the teams. However, Bally Sports is likely hoping to reach a deal to reduce their payments to unprofitable teams or drop them altogether.

The 2023 NBA season will start on October 24th, 2023. This is likely the date the NBA would like a deal done by for all of its teams.

The 2023 NHL season will start on October 10th, 2023, a date that it would likely hope to reach a deal with Bally Sports.

in the end, it worked out for the Twins to stay on BSN for the entire season. It may work out for the Wolves and Wild.
 









Finally had time to watch my recording of the Germany game. Ant was great. He did make a few questionable decisions very late that could have been costly if Germany hit a desparation shot or two. The contested top of the key 3 and the left baseline turnaround that basically iced it were the type of shots you hope to see go down in a crtical playoff game sooner rather than later.
 


kg21 said:
The key is the bench.

I believe the bench will be better. Hopefully, much better.

This is where the wolves can make some serious hay.
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But the bench was good enough last year. Lots of hustle.
 

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