All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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Randle's offense is better than I anticipated. DDV, not so much. The Ingles experiment needs to end. Minott needs 8-10 minutes a game and Conley's play is providing an opportunity for short minutes for Dillingham. Finch should give it to him.
 

jamiche said:
Randle's offense is better than I anticipated. DDV, not so much. The Ingles experiment needs to end. Minott needs 8-10 minutes a game and Conley's play is providing an opportunity for short minutes for Dillingham. Finch should give it to him.
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Team probably has a lotto going as to what player will be the next off the bench. Finch isn’t very trusting at the moment.
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
Geeze, 93 shots to the Wolves 77
Wolves had 8 more free throws
52 to 38 points in the paint favoring Dallas
20 to 10 on fast break points favoring Dallas
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Great last two (2) stats, Ray...they are very indicative our our struggles along with the horrendous amount of TOs.

We are no longer considered a "big" team nor are we playing like an uptempo team. That's going to be a problem.

On a positive note, Randle has been as good as we could've possibly hoped for and it appears that Finch can unleash parts of his game that were stifled by Thibs.

It's way early in the season but if our identity is going to be a high volume 3-point shooting team, we better figure out this turnover issue and make our free throws.

The 3-pointers will not always fall. Imagine the score if Ant had an off night. 😐
 

jamiche said:
Randle's offense is better than I anticipated. DDV, not so much. The Ingles experiment needs to end. Minott needs 8-10 minutes a game and Conley's play is providing an opportunity for short minutes for Dillingham. Finch should give it to him.
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I'd love to see Minott start for McDaniels.

McDaniels........8 points per game and 3 rebounds. Minott could do that on one leg.
 


kg21 said:
I'd love to see Minott start for McDaniels.
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I can see giving him some of those minutes; hopefully lights a fire under his backside .

It also helps build depth for the playoffs etc
kg21 said:
McDaniels........8 points per game and 3 rebounds. Minott could do that on one leg.
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He also only had one D rebound 🤦‍♂️
 



jamiche said:
Randle's offense is better than I anticipated. DDV, not so much.
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It’s early- he’ll shoot himself into a rhythm


The Ingles experiment needs to end. Minott needs 8-10 minutes a game and Conley's play is providing an opportunity for short minutes for Dillingham. Finch should give it to him.
 


I know I sound like the biggest shill for The Athletic, but gosh their reporting is good and I like what the team said regarding the L -

Some snippets (Love Ant’s leadership)


“Looks like the offense is starting to set into a rhythm a little bit, but the defense has got to be better,” coach Chris Finch said.

In this very early portion of the season, the Wolves offense has improved from 17th last season to 11th, but the defense has plummeted from first to 13th. Who knew the biggest issue the Wolves would face after trading Towns was on defense?

“It goes to show how well we still played outside of that to even be in the game with 20 turnovers is pretty good. But can’t settle there,” said Alexander-Walker, who scored 11 points and went 3 of 5 from deep. “It’s still a loss and we got to sharpen those things up before April.”

The big trade did address that shortcoming in a significant manner. One of Randle’s biggest strengths is shot creation. The Wolves have already seen that in action in Sacramento last week when he propped up a struggling offense in the first half with a barrage of tough buckets in isolation. DiVincenzo also has shown more ability to make plays off the dribble to help when the clock is winding down.

The Wolves believe they’re a little bit tougher and a lot deeper after the trade, but they are not under any illusions that they have gained some sort of edge over the Mavericks.

“We didn’t put a roster together to beat Dallas per se,” Finch said. “Right now, we’re just trying to figure out who we are on a nightly basis, what we can do at a highly repeatable level.”

Finch is still experimenting with lineup combinations to see what works and what doesn’t. That is why Joe Ingles was on the court in the second quarter without Gobert to help him on defense. The Wolves were outscored by seven points in Ingles’ four minutes. But Finch also went to a small-ball lineup in the fourth quarter with Randle at center, and that worked well to help the Wolves trim a double-digit deficit down to three points in the final four minutes.

“We do feel like we have some physicality now in Donte and Julius. It gives us a little bit more defensive versatility, too,” Finch said. “That’s not to say we have all the answers right now even in that. We’re still trying to figure out some defensive chemistry.”

“It’s on us, especially myself, I’m big as hell,” Edwards said. “I’ve got to be able to box them bigs out. But (the Mavericks) do a good job of getting those offensive rebounds. I gotta figure it out.”

“Just transition defense and rebounding and we’ll be OK,” Edwards said. “I feel like we can beat anybody. If we get back in transition and we rebound, and if I rebound, we’ll be good.”
 

It's been 4 games and overall we're a good team. If last season taught me anything it's that home court doesn't really matter in the playoffs. Just stay healthy, be a top 6 in the west, get into the playoffs, and let's party.
 



Irving with 25 points and 0 turnovers in the 2nd half
Dallas with 1 (one) turnover in the 2nd half? None in the 4th quarter. That's it?
 


Pritchard of the Celtics is 21 of 42 on 3's for the season so far. Started out 1-9
 

Towns with some nice numbers last night. 39 minutes, 44 points on 17-25 and 6-6 at the line. 13 rebounds and 2 assists. Knicks beat the Heat in Miami.
 


Shot in the dark - if anyone has season tix. Looking to take my nephew to a game. He’s a huge fan. I’d be interested in buying 3 tix.

Thanks!
 


Good game tonight

Digging that 13 of 26 from 3.

Thinking we’ll pull away in the 4, as Denver has zero bench scoring basically.
 
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McDaniels is a mess.

26 minutes thus far, 3 TO and 0 boards 🤦‍♂️

20 point turnaround with Murray out the whole 4Q. A frickin Serious team would have stepped on their neck; Timber Puppies
 


Timberwolves won.......but I can't stand what I'm seeing.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
McDaniels is a mess.

26 minutes thus far, 3 TO and 0 boards 🤦‍♂️

20 point turnaround with Murray out the whole 4Q. A frickin Serious team would have stepped on their neck; Timber Puppies
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McDaniels f-----g sucks and we paid him superstar money

NAW was +27 in 24 minutes.

Jaden was -29 in 26 minutes.
 
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Good win in a game that had Playoff intensity so early in the year:

* Ant's 3-point usage thus far is off the charts. I'd prefer to see more effort to get to the rim, but when you're making 41% on 14 attempts/game, defenders must come out to the perimeter to guard him. This will only make it that much easier for him to drive to the hoop moving forward.

* Gobert was fantastic on both ends and the new guys (Julius & DDV) have formed a great vibe with him on P-n-Rs. For such a big dude, his ability to get out on the perimeter to altar shots is remarkable.

* Randle is everything we could've hoped for. His offensive efficiency has been outstanding and he's currently shooting 61% from 3 on 4 attempts/game. 😮

* DDV and NAW are the ultimate gel guys for a roster. Even if their 3's aren't dropping, their defense, assists and rebounding justify every minute they play.

* The KAT for Randle/DDV swap seems to be the very rare "win-win" trade for each team, especially considering both are legit contenders in the league.

* Unforced turnovers. Please make it stop, Mr. Wizard...make it stop.

* It appears that Finch will not be playing the young guys any meaningful minutes until injuries affect our 8-man rotation. At least we don't have DEN's bench...oof.
 

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