BleedGopher
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Per Jace:
Q: What have you thought of the team’s offseason largely taking the continuity route?
A: Yeah, I’m big on continuity. When you are knocking on the door and you’re close, people always think you’ve got to add, add, add to something. But sometimes, in-house is how you get through it. And, for us, we’re developing guys that we’re going to be using this year that maybe didn’t play last year. We’ve got the young talents that we drafted that, I thought, have played very well and looked very good. I like the approach. Sometimes, you get a little bit too fancy and you’re no longer in the Western Conference Finals situation and you end up kind of taking steps back. We’ll see how it works, but I think everybody is excited still.
Q: It worked two years ago …
A: Yeah, it did. And we’ve got a team with guys who still have a lot of growth to them. We saw Ant get better every year — Jaden (McDaniels), Naz (Reid) and his development. You’re going to see TJ (Terrence Shannon Jr) next year, Rob (Dillingham), you can go down the list and guys have just gotten better and better. And if they can reach higher levels, there’s no point in trying to get somebody (to do) what we believe these guys can do.
Q: But it will take getting better, right? Because we’ve seen what other teams in the West have done; Houston looks more formidable, Denver looks more formidable …
A: Yeah, we will have to take a step in that direction as far as the individual growth. You’ve got to be able to grow, you’ve got to be able to learn from failures in the past, and that takes individuals going into the gym and trying to be better at reading things or shooting or defense, whatever it is in particular for our team. I think that guys have taken that this summer very seriously, and that’s what we have to do to be able to compete against these teams that have added so much power.
Q: What’s in been like for you to have a healthy summer where you can actually put your work in?
A: It’s great. Last year, I had a summer of no work because of injury, and this summer has been all work. (Two days) after we lost, I went in to go lift, get my routine going. The first person I see — it was like 7 in the morning — and I see Ant in there. And me and Ant looked at each other like, “You need to be taking some time off,” and I’m like, “I’m not taking time off.” It was funny. It was like the next morning we were in there lifting together. I said, “I love to see this.” He’s in there running, doing conditioning.
Q: We heard him working out on draft night, as well.
A: Yeah, well that’s it. He’s not joking. I think that’s the mindset for all of us. We’re all just taking this summer serious. And having the ability to work, for me, is awesome. Because I haven’t stopped since the season ended.”
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Howl Wolves!!
Q: What have you thought of the team’s offseason largely taking the continuity route?
A: Yeah, I’m big on continuity. When you are knocking on the door and you’re close, people always think you’ve got to add, add, add to something. But sometimes, in-house is how you get through it. And, for us, we’re developing guys that we’re going to be using this year that maybe didn’t play last year. We’ve got the young talents that we drafted that, I thought, have played very well and looked very good. I like the approach. Sometimes, you get a little bit too fancy and you’re no longer in the Western Conference Finals situation and you end up kind of taking steps back. We’ll see how it works, but I think everybody is excited still.
Q: It worked two years ago …
A: Yeah, it did. And we’ve got a team with guys who still have a lot of growth to them. We saw Ant get better every year — Jaden (McDaniels), Naz (Reid) and his development. You’re going to see TJ (Terrence Shannon Jr) next year, Rob (Dillingham), you can go down the list and guys have just gotten better and better. And if they can reach higher levels, there’s no point in trying to get somebody (to do) what we believe these guys can do.
Q: But it will take getting better, right? Because we’ve seen what other teams in the West have done; Houston looks more formidable, Denver looks more formidable …
A: Yeah, we will have to take a step in that direction as far as the individual growth. You’ve got to be able to grow, you’ve got to be able to learn from failures in the past, and that takes individuals going into the gym and trying to be better at reading things or shooting or defense, whatever it is in particular for our team. I think that guys have taken that this summer very seriously, and that’s what we have to do to be able to compete against these teams that have added so much power.
Q: What’s in been like for you to have a healthy summer where you can actually put your work in?
A: It’s great. Last year, I had a summer of no work because of injury, and this summer has been all work. (Two days) after we lost, I went in to go lift, get my routine going. The first person I see — it was like 7 in the morning — and I see Ant in there. And me and Ant looked at each other like, “You need to be taking some time off,” and I’m like, “I’m not taking time off.” It was funny. It was like the next morning we were in there lifting together. I said, “I love to see this.” He’s in there running, doing conditioning.
Q: We heard him working out on draft night, as well.
A: Yeah, well that’s it. He’s not joking. I think that’s the mindset for all of us. We’re all just taking this summer serious. And having the ability to work, for me, is awesome. Because I haven’t stopped since the season ended.”
Timberwolves guard Mike Conley talks Wolves, his health and golf
The veteran guard is healthy this summer and able to attack his offseason.
www.twincities.com
Howl Wolves!!
