All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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Jimmy Butler is officially on the trading block with rumored destinations -

Mavs -they could beat anyone
Rockets - have ton of good young players/assets to trade
Warriors - one last chance for Steph and Draymond to get a ring
 

GopherLady said:
Hi everyone! I'm so excited to introduce you to the new Timberwolves Message Board on GopherHole. This has been a long time in the making. I have been fortunate to have been getting credentialed by the Wolves for the past 4 years, and obviously, during that time, the interest has skyrocketed. Our Wolves twitter activity, along with the interest we've received from the Off-Topic Board: Pro Sports, Pop-Culture board made us realize that people want to talk about the Timberwolves even more, and there aren't a lot of local options to do that. Our GopherHole fans are passionate about all things Minnesota sports, and since we're covering these games like we would Gophers games, it made sense to not just have a few threads that information gets lost in...but a whole board where were can post breaking new, highlights from games, tid-bits, and post-game press conference interviews.

If you're a Timberwolves fan, this is the place for you to have some discussions about the team. If not, nothing changes for you - we'll have the same Gopher coverage as ever, and you don't need to reference this board. This is just another added benefit we're giving to create a Timberwolves conversation with our GopherHole community.

Welcome to the new board, please feel free to post any new information you see, and let's get into some great discussions!!!

Minnesota Timberwolves Message Board

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What’s our cut?
 

How bad would Julius have to play to not be a starter. I have never seen one player sabotage an entire team like he is doing right now. Everyone seems miserable, NAZ has no idea what he’s supposed to do. This thing is a disaster.
 


They basically had the same success last year with or without Towns. What's happening this season can't be blamed 100% on the trade. Almost everyone is playing like garbage compared to last season. They won't make the playoffs and Finch will be fired. Ant will pout more. Merry Christmas!
 


tikited said:
They basically had the same success last year with or without Towns. What's happening this season can't be blamed 100% on the trade. Almost everyone is playing like garbage compared to last season. They won't make the playoffs and Finch will be fired. Ant will pout more. Merry Christmas!
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Disagree. A lineup is a fragile ecosystem. Sometimes an addition can be a subtraction and sometimes a subtraction can create an addition. Adding Randle and DDV to the mix has hurt the team both ways. Every player's production has fallen off. When KAT was injured last year, Ant, Naz and Rudy elevated their games. Plus, the pecking order was more firmly established.
 

Time to revisit Connelly's record. He got one very good year out of Rudy out of the first three, which translated into two playoff series wins. We are tied to Rudy for three seasons after this year as he declines not so gracefully. In exchange we gave up five first round picks and two pick swaps. Bad to very bad trade.

He drafted Josh Minott which could turn out to be his best pick if Finchy would play him. Good pick.

Russell for Conley and NAW. Obviously, his best move. Excellent trade.

Signing Ant. An amoeba could have done that deal. No credit.

Naz extension. Very good move.

Jaden extension. It looked worthwhile last year because of his outstanding defense. Not so much this year. We'll call it incomplete (at best).

Dillingham/Shannon draft. For a team starved for draft picks these looks like poor choices. Dillingham, as a #8 pick, should be a rotation player. He's not even close. I don't know what to make of Shannon other than Finch doesn't think he's court worthy for a .500 team. Bad draft.

KAT trade. Connelly did for salary cap reasons, though you'd think an ownership entity with billionaire Glen or sixty billionaire Bloomberg (if he's really a part of Lore/ARod) would be willing to pay the tax to reward the fans with a special run. As a basketball move it's a disaster which could lead to Ant asking out. Terrible move.

Hiring Connelly was flashy. ARod and Lore are flashy guys. Promoting Gupta would have been boring. We'll never know how Gupta would have worked out. I would have liked to find out.
 

jamiche said:
Disagree. A lineup is a fragile ecosystem. Sometimes an addition can be a subtraction and sometimes a subtraction can create an addition. Adding Randle and DDV to the mix has hurt the team both ways. Every player's production has fallen off. When KAT was injured last year, Ant, Naz and Rudy elevated their games. Plus, the pecking order was more firmly established.
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I agree that adding those two hasn't worked, but I won't blame them for McDaniels' (for example) forgetting how to shoot.
 




Better ball movement today compared to other games I’ve seen this year; looking for the extra pass. This equals better shot selection and higher % being made😃 - HOPE

Minot with excellent activity

DD is so much better when he’s not a primary ball handler and just spots up for three.
 
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Gosh, if we blew that lead, it would’ve been devastating.

Glad Anta Claus could deliver😀.

Great to start this brutal 5 game stretch with a W, need a split out of the next four to keep pace, 3 out of 4 and we’re on our way back baby🥳
 



Went to see the Dylan flick at the start of the 4th qtr. Thought there was no way they could choke that. Almost...
 
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My take on this squad is that they are waiting for the playoffs. Has success last year and caught that itch. When you play for championships its hard to excited about at Tuesday in Detroit. They are waiting for the playoffs and will ball out.

BTW - still looking for tix to take my nephew to a game. Good guy discount would be great!
 


Wow. Maybe we figured something out tonight. Nicely done!
 

golf said:
Wow. Maybe we figured something out tonight. Nicely done!
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DD was 6 of 10 from 3🥳.

Randle quieting his critics/my trading thread by another stellar all around game: 27/8/8.

Beatthe Spurs next @ home and then win one big two vs. OKC/Boston (both on national TV) being competitive in both games and I will change the title of my thread, 🍊 Julius😃
 
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
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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They played 6 mins in the second quarter with Ant, Conley, McDaniels, and Gobert off the court.
Randle was the primary ball distributor surrounded by 4 shooters: DDV, Naz, NAW, Minott. We outscored the Rockets during those 6 mins.
Finch starting to experiment.
 

golf said:
They played 6 mins in the second quarter with Ant, Conley, McDaniels, and Gobert off the court.
Randle was the primary ball distributor surrounded by 4 shooters: DDV, Naz, NAW, Minott. We outscored the Rockets during those 6 mins.
Finch starting to experiment.
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He definitely needs to. With the way Conley and McDaniels are shooting, you can't have 3 black holes offensively in your lineup for long stretches of time.
 


Horrible effort in the third quarter after MN Mike made three consecutive 3s in about a minute to give us a 12 point lead - we go on a turnover binge when they turn up the defensive intensity and end up being down by 14 at the end of three🤦‍♂️
 


Finch saving his timeouts in the OKC’s 34-8 run was something. Lots of shine off this team compared to last year. That includes ANT, Tim Connelly, Mike Connelly, Finch, Naz Reid, McDaniels. Just a lot of bad play on this team right now.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
Finch saving his timeouts in the OKC’s 34-8 run was something. Lots of shine off this team compared to last year. That includes ANT, Tim Connelly, Mike Connelly, Finch, Naz Reid, McDaniels. Just a lot of bad play on this team right now.
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Thanks for confirming that I wasn’t hallucinating about the timeout usage and was correct in yelling at the TV.

Ant needs to pass the ball much more and stop dribbling around the perimeter.
 
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
Yet he's closed out several games himself just this season.
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No he hasn't haha

He hit one big shot with 20 seconds left(so still time) and he's had a couple games where he's made some late free throws. He's been notriously(again by his OWN admission) poor 4th Qtr closer and often shoots us out of games. Was brutal the next game even but the rest of the team closed it out

I love Ant, but he is not a closer yet. And you even trying to argue tells me you don't watch the games. Or both looking at stats. Or really do anything to contribute intellectual takes.
 

Made 20+ 3s, shot more than 50% from 3, had a massive disparity in their favor in going to the foul line and still lost (despite Boston being down 2 starters). They need someone that can orchestrate offense while not turning the ball over, and Edwards needs to grow the hell up in a hurry. His whining/complaining about no-calls has easily surpassed KAT's, and to boot, he whines to the ref while the ball is still in play and the other team breezes in for a 5-4 easy hoop.
 

MUgopher32 said:
No he hasn't haha

He hit one big shot with 20 seconds left(so still time) and he's had a couple games where he's made some late free throws. He's been notriously(again by his OWN admission) poor 4th Qtr closer and often shoots us out of games. Was brutal the next game even but the rest of the team closed it out

I love Ant, but he is not a closer yet. And you even trying to argue tells me you don't watch the games. Or both looking at stats. Or really do anything to contribute intellectual takes.
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Then who closes out close games on this team both this year and last year?
 

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