All Things Minnesota Timberwolves 2022-2023 In-Season Thread

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BleedGopher said:
ANT and Naz doing work!

The lane is a lot less clogged without KAT and Gobert, allows ANT a lot more freedom.

Now let’s stay above .500 the rest of the season and then some!

Howl Wolves!!
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McDaniels was incredible tonight
 

Wolves won their third game in four nights and their second of a back to back. Naz is going to get paid this off season. Nowell, too.

I know Ant really wanted a triple double, but Finch has a bad habit of leaving his starters in way too long in one sided games. Ant wasn't pulled until 53 seconds were left. His future value to the franchise is immeasurable. The risk of injury, particularly when the game is sloppy, is infinitely greater than the reward of whatever extra stat a starter might gain.
 

jamiche said:
Wolves won their third game in four nights and their second of a back to back. Naz is going to get paid this off season. Nowell, too.

I know Ant really wanted a triple double, but Finch has a bad habit of leaving his starters in way too long in one sided games. Ant wasn't pulled until 53 seconds were left. His future value to the franchise is immeasurable. The risk of injury, particularly when the game is sloppy, is infinitely greater than the reward of whatever extra stat a starter might gain.
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I saw Ant "pass" the ball at Finch when he got pulled. Finch wasn't looking and it hit him pretty hard. I assume it wasn't on purpose but everyone around me was speculating...
 

tikited said:
I saw Ant "pass" the ball at Finch when he got pulled. Finch wasn't looking and it hit him pretty hard. I assume it wasn't on purpose but everyone around me was speculating...
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I wasn't at the game but it kinda, sorta, maybe looked on purpose to me. It was smart of Finch not to even look at Ant after he got hit. It reminded me a little bit of when Cousins' "playfully" smacked Mike Zimmer after a Vikings win last year.
 

tikited said:
I saw Ant "pass" the ball at Finch when he got pulled. Finch wasn't looking and it hit him pretty hard. I assume it wasn't on purpose but everyone around me was speculating...
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jamiche said:
I wasn't at the game but it kinda, sorta, maybe looked on purpose to me. It was smart of Finch not to even look at Ant after he got hit. It reminded me a little bit of when Cousins' "playfully" smacked Mike Zimmer after a Vikings win last year.
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Didn't notice that. Had the sound down the last 3-4 minutes. Looked like they were trying to get a 3 for Naz Reid could get to 30. Didn't think about the triple double until they took Edwards out and we turned the sound up.
 


The wolves are 6-4 since KAT went down and 3-0 without KAT and Rudy. I don't think they would have the same record over the same period if KAT and Rudy were on the floor and Ant was injured.

Life is about to get a lot harder for the wolves. They have a hellacious schedule over the next couple of weeks.
 

jamiche said:
The wolves are 6-4 since KAT went down and 3-0 without KAT and Rudy. I don't think they would have the same record over the same period if KAT and Rudy were on the floor and Ant was injured.

Life is about to get a lot harder for the wolves. They have a hellacious schedule over the next couple of weeks.
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Yes, we have no idea about what they would have done with KAT and Rudy both playing.

What we do know is that Luka was questionable coming into the game last night. We know that Chicago came into the game on a 3 game losing streak and had lost 6 of their previous 8 and that OKC came into the game on a 4 game losing streak.

Neither do we know how they suddenly were able to shoot so well.

But yeah their upcoming schedule looks very rough and we do know that when they lose they'll be more people posting and all of them will be talking about how they suck and should get rid of Towns, Gobert, Russell etc.
 
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tikited said:
This whole mess might be able to be fixed with a Towns trade in the off season.
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He could have been so dominant. Hes so talented offensively.

But everybody has ignored his lack of toughness, physical and mental. People see the complaining and being a baby, but the lack of toughness is the glaring weakness. Because of it, he can't be the alpha and he can't perform in the playoffs.

Butler saw it. Just because Butler acted like a punk to get traded, doesn't mean we should have ignored it.

Towns isnt a winning player. Hes Kevin love 2.0
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
He could have been so dominant. Hes so talented offensively.

But everybody has ignored his lack of toughness, physical and mental. People see the complaining and being a baby, but the lack of toughness is the glaring weakness. Because of it, he can't be the alpha and he can't perform in the playoffs.

Butler saw it. Just because Butler acted like a punk to get traded, doesn't mean we should have ignored it.

Towns isnt a winning player. Hes Kevin love 2.0
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Love has a ring though. I know...LaBron! But he still has a ring.
 







Wolves 7-10 from free throw line

Mavs 23-27 from free throw line.

I didn’t watch a second of the game but that would be hard to overcome to win the game and also seems like an impossible disparity.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
Wolves 7-10 from free throw line

Mavs 23-27 from free throw line.

I didn’t watch a second of the game but that would be hard to overcome to win the game and also seems like an impossible disparity.
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Mavericks won 104 - 99.

- That free throw disparity meant that McDaniels, Russell and Rivers had 4 fouls and Reid got 5.
- It was a 2 pt game with 5mins left.
- Rebounds & turnovers were about the same, and the Wolves had an edge in turnovers.
- Gobert came back and had a good night,
- Problems was the 3pt shooting was godawful. Wolves were 8-30 and Mavericks were 13-39.
 

Iceland12 said:
Mavericks won 104 - 99.

- That free throw disparity meant that McDaniels, Russell and Rivers had 4 fouls and Reid got 5.
- It was a 2 pt game with 5mins left.
- Rebounds & turnovers were about the same, and the Wolves had an edge in turnovers.
- Gobert came back and had a good night,
- Problems was the 3pt shooting was godawful. Wolves were 8-30 and Mavericks were 13-39.
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Mavs 3 point shooting was awful too until they got hot at end. I think they hit 6 3s in a row
 

Overall it was a pretty even game. The final 5 minutes Dallas hit some shots when the Wolves D fell apart. Tough loss but can't say they played terrible.
 

Iceland12 said:
Mavericks won 104 - 99.

- That free throw disparity meant that McDaniels, Russell and Rivers had 4 fouls and Reid got 5.
- It was a 2 pt game with 5mins left.
- Rebounds & turnovers were about the same, and the Wolves had an edge in turnovers.
- Gobert came back and had a good night,
- Problems was the 3pt shooting was godawful. Wolves were 8-30 and Mavericks were 13-39.
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So was Ant settling for numbers last night. You can’t tell me that is he’s driving to the basket and they are contesting layups that he should not get more than 2 free throws. I see he only took 4 threes so I assume there was a decent amount of drives.

I sit and watch college and pro basketball and I bet 95% of the time the home team attempts 2 times as many free throws as the away team.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
So was Ant settling for numbers last night. You can’t tell me that is he’s driving to the basket and they are contesting layups that he should not get more than 2 free throws. I see he only took 4 threes so I assume there was a decent amount of drives.

I sit and watch college and pro basketball and I bet 95% of the time the home team attempts 2 times as many free throws as the away team.
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No Edwards did drive for the basket, but he wasn't getting any calls. Gobert and Rivers had plenty of shots near the basket too.

Same lack of calls.
 

CBS sports article on Timberwolves.

Let's get this out of the way: The Timberwolves should be trying to trade Rudy Gobert today. They won't because of the sunk-cost fallacy, but those five first-round picks they gave up are gone and not coming back. The Gobert experiment isn't working. He's going to get worse with age. If they act now, they could probably get off of the last three years of his contract and pick up an asset or two in the process. If they don't do this now, they're staring down the barrel of three more max salary years for an aging center who makes life harder for their two best players. No team has ever admitted its mistake on a trade of that magnitude so quickly. Frankly, no NBA general manager has ever been humble enough to do so, and odds are, new Timberwolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore aren't either. But the alternative here would be wasting the two All-Stars who are already in the building.

Anthony Edwards has All-NBA potential. Karl-Anthony Towns was there a year ago. There is still time to put a coherent roster around the two of them. That gets significantly harder once Edwards signs his max extension this offseason. Keeping this current group together condemns the Edwards-Towns duo to the middle of the Western Conference for years to come. They have no cap flexibility or draft capital to improve with. Play this out too long and they might need to deal Towns just to salvage a future retooling around Edwards. If all of this sounds bleak, well, it should. That's what happens when you mess up the biggest trade in franchise history. There's not a good option here. We're choosing between a list of bad ones. At least moving Gobert now gives them time to figure something else out. They won't, though, and in all likelihood, that means things are going to get worse before they get better.
 

PhiloVance said:
CBS sports article on Timberwolves.

Let's get this out of the way: The Timberwolves should be trying to trade Rudy Gobert today. They won't because of the sunk-cost fallacy, but those five first-round picks they gave up are gone and not coming back. The Gobert experiment isn't working. He's going to get worse with age. If they act now, they could probably get off of the last three years of his contract and pick up an asset or two in the process. If they don't do this now, they're staring down the barrel of three more max salary years for an aging center who makes life harder for their two best players. No team has ever admitted its mistake on a trade of that magnitude so quickly. Frankly, no NBA general manager has ever been humble enough to do so, and odds are, new Timberwolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore aren't either. But the alternative here would be wasting the two All-Stars who are already in the building.

Anthony Edwards has All-NBA potential. Karl-Anthony Towns was there a year ago. There is still time to put a coherent roster around the two of them. That gets significantly harder once Edwards signs his max extension this offseason. Keeping this current group together condemns the Edwards-Towns duo to the middle of the Western Conference for years to come. They have no cap flexibility or draft capital to improve with. Play this out too long and they might need to deal Towns just to salvage a future retooling around Edwards. If all of this sounds bleak, well, it should. That's what happens when you mess up the biggest trade in franchise history. There's not a good option here. We're choosing between a list of bad ones. At least moving Gobert now gives them time to figure something else out. They won't, though, and in all likelihood, that means things are going to get worse before they get better.
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I cant disagree. What could we get for him?

Id trade towns first but that cant happen until summer
 


PhiloVance said:
CBS sports article on Timberwolves.

Let's get this out of the way: The Timberwolves should be trying to trade Rudy Gobert today. They won't because of the sunk-cost fallacy, but those five first-round picks they gave up are gone and not coming back. The Gobert experiment isn't working. He's going to get worse with age. If they act now, they could probably get off of the last three years of his contract and pick up an asset or two in the process. If they don't do this now, they're staring down the barrel of three more max salary years for an aging center who makes life harder for their two best players. No team has ever admitted its mistake on a trade of that magnitude so quickly. Frankly, no NBA general manager has ever been humble enough to do so, and odds are, new Timberwolves owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore aren't either. But the alternative here would be wasting the two All-Stars who are already in the building.

Anthony Edwards has All-NBA potential. Karl-Anthony Towns was there a year ago. There is still time to put a coherent roster around the two of them. That gets significantly harder once Edwards signs his max extension this offseason. Keeping this current group together condemns the Edwards-Towns duo to the middle of the Western Conference for years to come. They have no cap flexibility or draft capital to improve with. Play this out too long and they might need to deal Towns just to salvage a future retooling around Edwards. If all of this sounds bleak, well, it should. That's what happens when you mess up the biggest trade in franchise history. There's not a good option here. We're choosing between a list of bad ones. At least moving Gobert now gives them time to figure something else out. They won't, though, and in all likelihood, that means things are going to get worse before they get better.
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Reality bites!
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
I cant disagree. What could we get for him?

Id trade towns first but that cant happen until summer
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I'd much rather trade Towns.

The Knicks have 4 1st round picks next year, offer them Towns for Randle, Grimes, and 2 firsts.

They get to build around Brunson - Towns - Robinson and 2 first round picks. We get our new PF, 2 firsts and Nowell's replacement. on the wing.

Downside is that I am not sure Thibs is a huge fan of Towns.
 

(16-16) Timberwolves out in Boston facing the (22-10) Celtics. It's been a game of streaks but at the half, the Wolves lead 56-54.

The Celtics should still win but the Wolves are hanging in there.
 

Per Jon K of The Athletic: Where have you gone, Rudy Gobert?

When the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for Rudy Gobert in July, the belief internally was that they were getting a dominant big man capable of turning the team’s two biggest weaknesses — defensive rebounding and rim protection — into strengths all by himself. He was a generational defensive monster, a long-armed prowler who could turn the Wolves into an unconventionally huge team that would be difficult for the small-ball NBA to handle.


There were always questions about the fit with Karl-Anthony Towns, about how Chris Finch would be able to make such an oversized lineup hum offensively and cover up for some of the heavy-footedness on defense. But the overall collection of talent in a starting lineup that basically swapped out Jarred Vanderbilt for a three-time Defensive Player of the Year was, in their eyes, too good to pass up.

Thirty-four games into their first season with Gobert, the Timberwolves are faced with a much more concerning possibility that goes far deeper than questions about his fit with the current roster. After watching Gobert get outplayed by a rookie center on a two-way contract in a loss to the severely short-handed Miami Heat on Monday night, the Timberwolves have to ask themselves if the Gobert they got in the trade with the Jazz is a shadow of the player who was such a force in Utah for so many years, or just one that needs a little more time to find his way.

Last season Gobert averaged 15.6 points, a league-leading 14.7 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and shot a league-leading 71.3 percent from the field to make his third straight All-Star game. His numbers so far this season are down sharply across the board — 14.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, 66.2 field goal percentage and, most troubling of all, just 1.2 blocks per game, his lowest number since he played sparingly as a rookie in 2013-14. It just isn’t the same guy yet.

The drop-off was startling against the Heat in Miami, where stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo did not play because of injuries. Backup center Dewayne Dedmon was out as well, leaving Erik Spoelstra to start 6-foot-10 rookie Nikola Jovic at center. Max Strus and Caleb Martin, a pair of 6-5 forwards, flanked Jovic in the starting lineup, a trio so small that Gobert should have eaten them alive.

Instead, Gobert managed just 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting with eight rebounds and zero blocked shots in 31 minutes. The only reason he did not play more was that Finch went with Naz Reid for the bulk of the final five minutes, reminiscent of D’Angelo Russell being benched down the stretch of Game 6 against Memphis last season.

When it was all over and the Wolves lost their third straight game, 113-110, Gobert’s numbers were dwarfed by Orlando Robinson, a generously listed 7-footer who came off the bench to score 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting, grab nine rebounds and get a steal and a block in 27 minutes.

The lackluster performance from Gobert led Finch to go with Reid down the stretch. Reid’s defense is not on Gobert’s level, but the Wolves run cleaner offense with him on the floor. Reid finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds in just under 30 minutes.

“He’s been playing great, you know?” Finch said after the game. “At the heart of the zone, he was aggressive, made a lot of really good decisions, played quickly.”

The Wolves were plus-13 in Reid’s minutes and outscored by 14 with Gobert on the floor.

There was a possession in the first quarter when Gobert’s impact was in full effect. He thwarted two different drive attempts by Tyler Herro and still got out to the corner to contest a corner 3. It was the kind of ground-covering performance that doesn’t show up in the box score and prompts Gobert’s biggest supporters to use as an example of the little things he does to help a team win.

But at this point of a season in which the Wolves just can’t seem to gain any traction, they need a player they gave up five draft picks, a pick swap and three quality role players for to land to start doing the big things as well.

theathletic.com

Krawczynski: Where have you gone, Rudy Gobert?

The Wolves find themselves faced with tough questions to answer about their prized offseason acquisition. Most importantly, where is he?
theathletic.com theathletic.com

Howl Wolves!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Per Jon K of The Athletic: Where have you gone, Rudy Gobert?

When the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for Rudy Gobert in July, the belief internally was that they were getting a dominant big man capable of turning the team’s two biggest weaknesses — defensive rebounding and rim protection — into strengths all by himself. He was a generational defensive monster, a long-armed prowler who could turn the Wolves into an unconventionally huge team that would be difficult for the small-ball NBA to handle.


There were always questions about the fit with Karl-Anthony Towns, about how Chris Finch would be able to make such an oversized lineup hum offensively and cover up for some of the heavy-footedness on defense. But the overall collection of talent in a starting lineup that basically swapped out Jarred Vanderbilt for a three-time Defensive Player of the Year was, in their eyes, too good to pass up.

Thirty-four games into their first season with Gobert, the Timberwolves are faced with a much more concerning possibility that goes far deeper than questions about his fit with the current roster. After watching Gobert get outplayed by a rookie center on a two-way contract in a loss to the severely short-handed Miami Heat on Monday night, the Timberwolves have to ask themselves if the Gobert they got in the trade with the Jazz is a shadow of the player who was such a force in Utah for so many years, or just one that needs a little more time to find his way.

Last season Gobert averaged 15.6 points, a league-leading 14.7 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and shot a league-leading 71.3 percent from the field to make his third straight All-Star game. His numbers so far this season are down sharply across the board — 14.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, 66.2 field goal percentage and, most troubling of all, just 1.2 blocks per game, his lowest number since he played sparingly as a rookie in 2013-14. It just isn’t the same guy yet.

The drop-off was startling against the Heat in Miami, where stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo did not play because of injuries. Backup center Dewayne Dedmon was out as well, leaving Erik Spoelstra to start 6-foot-10 rookie Nikola Jovic at center. Max Strus and Caleb Martin, a pair of 6-5 forwards, flanked Jovic in the starting lineup, a trio so small that Gobert should have eaten them alive.

Instead, Gobert managed just 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting with eight rebounds and zero blocked shots in 31 minutes. The only reason he did not play more was that Finch went with Naz Reid for the bulk of the final five minutes, reminiscent of D’Angelo Russell being benched down the stretch of Game 6 against Memphis last season.

When it was all over and the Wolves lost their third straight game, 113-110, Gobert’s numbers were dwarfed by Orlando Robinson, a generously listed 7-footer who came off the bench to score 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting, grab nine rebounds and get a steal and a block in 27 minutes.

The lackluster performance from Gobert led Finch to go with Reid down the stretch. Reid’s defense is not on Gobert’s level, but the Wolves run cleaner offense with him on the floor. Reid finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds in just under 30 minutes.

“He’s been playing great, you know?” Finch said after the game. “At the heart of the zone, he was aggressive, made a lot of really good decisions, played quickly.”

The Wolves were plus-13 in Reid’s minutes and outscored by 14 with Gobert on the floor.

There was a possession in the first quarter when Gobert’s impact was in full effect. He thwarted two different drive attempts by Tyler Herro and still got out to the corner to contest a corner 3. It was the kind of ground-covering performance that doesn’t show up in the box score and prompts Gobert’s biggest supporters to use as an example of the little things he does to help a team win.

But at this point of a season in which the Wolves just can’t seem to gain any traction, they need a player they gave up five draft picks, a pick swap and three quality role players for to land to start doing the big things as well.

theathletic.com

Krawczynski: Where have you gone, Rudy Gobert?

The Wolves find themselves faced with tough questions to answer about their prized offseason acquisition. Most importantly, where is he?
theathletic.com theathletic.com

Howl Wolves!!
Click to expand...
I said it when the trade happened... Gobert is a good player but far from a difference maker. Completely one dimensional on offense and overrated on defense. He was worth a couple of picks (protected) and a good player plus fillers. We gave up the future for him. Brainless move that will continue to haunt for years to come.
 

tikited said:
I said it when the trade happened... Gobert is a good player but far from a difference maker. Completely one dimensional on offense and overrated on defense. He was worth a couple of picks (protected) and a good player plus fillers. We gave up the future for him. Brainless move that will continue to haunt for years to come.
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Yep. Vast majority of people were screaming "Wolves need "defense and rebounding, rebounding rebounding!"

Gobert usually gets the later done, not so much the former.

What they really needed then and REALLY need now is shooting, shooting, shooting! That and much better ball handlers. When they have a good shooting night and limit turnovers they've won. Kinda explains the record.

Only question really is how they'll do when Towns, Gobert, Russell, Anderson,Prince and McLaughlin are all able to play together.

Though not sure if that'll ever happen.
 

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