All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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Obviously a lot of intrigue for early practice and the start of the season than we thought we'd have 48 hours ago.

I'm fired up for the season!!!

Howl Wolves!!
 












Saw these stats on a tweet this morning. Good news imo.

KAT stats on drives 2023-2024:
9.5 drives per game
19.5 Pass%
6.3 Assist%
10.7 TOV%

Randle stats on drives:
13.9 drives per game
38.8 Pass%
9.8 Assist%
6.9 TOV%
 







jamiche said:
Once Rudy arrived there wasn't going to be room for all of the big contracts, so somebody had to go.
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Rudy can opt out of his contract after this season if he chooses, at most he has 2 years left. His contract was not the issue.
 

Wolves/Lakers tomorrow night at 9:30 central on NBAtv
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Rudy can opt out of his contract after this season if he chooses, at most he has 2 years left. His contract was not the issue.
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Highly unlikely 33 year old Rudy is going to opt out of a $46M pay day. Almost equally unlikely another contending team has the space to sign him to a long term deal. The wolves couldn't plan for Rudy to walk from $46M. Paying KAT, Rudy, Ant max contracts and Jaden close to max puts the wolves in the second apron. That impacts their ability to sign Reid and construct a roster. Somebody had to go.
 

jamiche said:
Highly unlikely 33 year old Rudy is going to opt out of a $46M pay day. Almost equally unlikely another contending team has the space to sign him to a long term deal. The wolves couldn't plan for Rudy to walk from $46M. Paying KAT, Rudy, Ant max contracts and Jaden close to max puts the wolves in the second apron. That impacts their ability to sign Reid and construct a roster. Somebody had to go.
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If Rudy plans to retire in two (2) years, he obviously won't opt out of that final year. He would then become a likely trade candidate on that Expiring deal.

However, he's in excellent shape and if he wants to play another 3-4 more years, I can absolutely see him opting out to sign a 3/$100M deal (or something close) for the extra $50M+ in guaranteed money.

Without KAT, we are terrifyingly thin at C/PF if either Rudy or Naz go down.
 


Slim Tubby said:
If Rudy plans to retire in two (2) years, he obviously won't opt out of that final year. He would then become a likely trade candidate on that Expiring deal.

However, he's in excellent shape and if he wants to play another 3-4 more years, I can absolutely see him opting out to sign a 3/$100M deal (or something close) for the extra $50M+ in guaranteed money.

Without KAT, we are terrifyingly thin at C/PF if either Rudy or Naz go down.
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I agree with you on your first two points, but how are they any more thin at PF/C than last year with Randle replacing KAT?
 

jamiche said:
Highly unlikely 33 year old Rudy is going to opt out of a $46M pay day. Almost equally unlikely another contending team has the space to sign him to a long term deal. The wolves couldn't plan for Rudy to walk from $46M. Paying KAT, Rudy, Ant max contracts and Jaden close to max puts the wolves in the second apron. That impacts their ability to sign Reid and construct a roster. Somebody had to go.
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He probably won't opt out, which is fine. Either way Rudy is the cheaper, shorter term contract, which makes far more sense to keep.

Especially when the Wolves had a better record without KAT than with him last season, and now they have DiVencenzo and Randle to replace him.

Connelly is slowly building a smaller, faster, younger team around Ant while still being able to compete for a NBA title.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
He probably won't opt out, which is fine. Either way Rudy is the cheaper, shorter term contract, which makes far more sense to keep.

Especially when the Wolves had a better record without KAT than with him last season, and now they have DiVencenzo and Randle to replace him.

Connelly is slowly building a smaller, faster, younger team around Ant while still being able to compete for a NBA title.
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Gobert's cheaper contract didn't change the fact that somebody had to go.

The issue for me was who they got in return. Randle and Ant kill ball movement and Randle will be playing for his next contract. The offense (17th last year) could look worse. DD is a very nice addition, if somebody passes him the ball.

This will be Finch's most challenging coaching job.
 



jamiche said:
Gobert's cheaper contract didn't change the fact that somebody had to go.

The issue for me was who they got in return. Randle and Ant kill ball movement and Randle will be playing for his next contract. The offense (17th last year) could look worse. DD is a very nice addition, if somebody passes him the ball.

This will be Finch's most challenging coaching job.
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What they got in return was the best they were going to do for someone to take on Towns contract, and I was surprised when that included DD. Thats a big win.

And you keep saying Ant kills ball movement which is nonsense. Towns didn't kill ball movement? How many times did he have wild drives and get called for a charge? Or wildly flop around and lose the ball? How many times did shoot a 3 as soon as he touched the ball?

Is Ant ball dominant? Yes, but he creates and passes regularly which is why his assist totals keep getting better and better, and will continue to climb. Both Randle and Ant averaged 5+ assists per game last season. Towns averaged 3.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree with you on your first two points, but how are they any more thin at PF/C than last year with Randle replacing KAT?
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There is zero chance that Randle can play C effectively in the WC, especially on defense. KAT gave us the flexibility to play both positions at a high level.

On top of that, Naz lost a bunch of weight to be able to defend at the 4 and even played a little on the Wing.

Besides, the question really becomes who will we trade Randle for. We didn't trade KAT and his Max salary just to sign a lesser player to one.
 

Slim Tubby said:
There is zero chance that Randle can play C effectively in the WC, especially on defense. KAT gave us the flexibility to play both positions at a high level.

On top of that, Naz lost a bunch of weight to be able to defend at the 4 and even played a little on the Wing.

Besides, the question really becomes who will we trade Randle for. We didn't trade KAT and his Max salary just to sign a lesser player to one.
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KAT didn't play 1/4th of the games last season and the Wolves had a better record. How did they manage that then? The days of needing a true center are long gone, and I've never considered KAT a true center because he's not.

Ant plays better with a more free flowing offense anyways. If Rudy went down, they could play with Naz and Randle, or Jaden and Naz, or Jaden and Randle and get by just fine.

I also don't think anyone will give him a max extension just because he's eligible. He turns 30 at the end of next month, and big guys age poorly. No one is giving him close to the 50-60 million per year that KAT will be earning the next 3 years after this one.
 

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