To get us through the late-Summer doldrums of the NBA, we’re reviewing teams from around the league and how their offseasons went.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Key Additions:
Rob Dillingham
Terrence Shannon Jr
Joe Ingles
Key Losses:
Kyle Anderson
Jordan McLaughlin
Monte Morris
TJ Warren
Offseason Review and 2024-25 Season Outlook:
The Minnesota Timberwolves had a hugely successful season last year, and yet still managed to have it feel like a letdown. After overcoming the Denver Nuggets, the Timberwolves were taken down by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. For a team that felt pretty all-in already, it was hard to predict how the Timberwolves would be able to improve this summer. And yet, despite limited assets and limited cap space, I think the Wolves did a pretty nice job this summer. I loved the draft-day trade to add Rob Dillingham. Rookies rarely make an immediate impact on teams with title hopes, but Dillingham should be able to at least be able to inject some offensive creation and athleticism off the bench. I also liked the Joe Ingles signing. Ingles is on the tail end of his career, but he’s a savvy veteran and still a knockdown shooter.
The Wolves are set up for another strong season, returning the bulk of their core rotation. Anthony Edwards is somehow still just 23 years old and already a star in this league. I doubt we’ve seen his ceiling yet. The big man trio of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid is a formidable combination that most teams simply don’t have an answer for. Throw in a strong supporting cast with Ingles, Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Leonard Miller, and you’ve got a very strong and deep team. I’m not sure if the Wolves are good enough to win a title this year, but they’ll be in the hunt.
Why We Hate Them:
Naz Reid stole Malik Monk’s 6th Man of the Year award. Naz was a worthy candidate but I remain pissed that he essentially won the award because Monk got hurt at the same time Naz got a major stat boost by moving into the starting lineup.
Oh, and Rudy Gobert gave the world Covid.
Thank you for the effort and expert analysis in this series.
Kings Home Opener Thursday October 24th, 7 PM @ Golden1 Center against these very same Twolves from The Land of 10.000 Lakes
We’ve seen teams hit their offense peaks before and teams hit a cold streak as well – – but in that series against Denver Game 2 they shut the Nuggets down and then defensively annihilated them in Game 6 in a performance which was the equivalent of a team hitting every shot, but the defensive version. Amazing performance against the reigning Champs and the newly announced MVP. Nuggets were lucky to score 70.
Easy to cheer AntMan, Connelly, McDaniels, Naz Reid- but I just can’t find favor for KAT nor Rudy. KAT for Kawhi? or Brandon Ingram?
Minny has had THREE #1 picks play for them on rookie deals just in the last decade (Wiggins, KAT, ANT), and they are just now making waves in the West. Say what you want about the Kings draft pick failures, but Minny has squandered better opportunities than the Kings have had.
Should the Kings do better than Minny this year, who has been more mismanaged? Keep in mind, Minny sold their future for Gobert.
All that being said, ANT is an exceptional basketball player.
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