Welcome back, Minnesota Timberwolves basketball.
The Wolves held their annual media day on Monday with President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, Head Coach Chris Finch, and all 14 players on the roster holding mini press conferences to discuss their offseasons and where they hope this season will go on the eve of training camp.
The discussions were wide-ranging, with possibly every topic under the sun being brought up at some point. There are many takeaways that will be important for Wolves
fans, including Joe Ingles trying to find an author for his memoir.
Anthony Edwards
The Timberwolves as a franchise are going to go as far as Anthony Edwards can take them. Of course, the roster and structure they can put around him is important as well, but ultimately it will be up to Ant to carry the Wolves to the promised land.
Connelly was the first at the mic, and he spoke about what he has seen from Ant this offseason and what he believes Edwards has learned over the years.
“I think he became really addicted to the film room this offseason. His work ethic has always been great, but this summer was a whole other level. I think the combination of the playoff experience, the Olympic gold medal, and his just burning desire to win it all made for an unbelievable productive summer. So I think he’s really focused on how to be more effective late game, not just for himself, but for others. And his body’s in unbelievable shape. It’s pretty impressive to how quickly he’s matured, not just as a player, but as professional with his approach. And he’s gonna have another great year….He’s already a great player, but we think he’ll be one of the greatest players of all time.”
When last season ended in Oklahoma City in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Edwards vowed that no one was going to work harder than him over the summer, and it appears, according to Connelly, that he lived up to that. Ant and many of his teammates were here in Minnesota all summer, getting in work together in the gym while working on their games, which should allow them to hit the ground running this season.
Edwards finding a way to be a more productive player late in close games would also be a very positive development, as last season the Wolves played in the most clutch games while being one of the least efficient clutch-time teams. The Wolves’ star player finding a way to be more effective in those spots would be a huge step forward.
Edwards himself spoke about another topic that has held the Wolves back, and that is their performance against lesser teams, which has been inconsistent in recent seasons.
“Try to get a career high in points. I think that’s how I’m gonna try to do it because I usually approach it like I’m gonna let my teammates get that shit off. Instead, I’m just gonna go for a career high. I think that’s I’m gonna stay engaged.”
While hunting for points can have its downsides, the added aggression from Ant would be a positive sign. The old mindset from Edwards of trying to get his teammates involved instead of getting himself has often led to passivity against the teams that don’t have marquee players on the other side.
Ant appears to be taking more accountability for his own performance as he grows into NBA superstardom. In the wake of the Karl-Anthony Towns almost exactly a year ago, Edwards was hesitant to step into that role. Now, he seems to be trending toward the fully actualized captain both on and off the court that the Timberwolves franchise needs.
Summer of Continuity
Unlike a season ago, when Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo joined the Timberwolves just a few days before training camp, the Wolves have as close to complete continuity as an NBA team can have heading into a season. They return seven of their top eight rotation players from a year ago, along with a stable of young players ready to take over the lone departure of Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Connelly discussed the timing of the trade last year and how joining the team so late in the offseason may have negatively impacted Randle and DiVincenzo.
“I think what sometimes we don’t appreciate is beyond the basketball fit. This summer we’ve had guys in our gym for two months on their own accord. There’s also just the personal fit. You get traded late in the season, you got kids, you gotta find schools, you gotta find a house. It’s hard to be productive at your job when your off-court is unsettled. So I don’t think we probably gave enough appreciation for that, specifically with Dante and Julius last year.
Donte echoed that sentiment as he looked back on where his life and his basketball career were just 12 months ago.
“This time last year I was on a plane flying here so it feels great. We stayed here this summer. My family and I got to experience a Minnesota summertime and it was beautiful. It was, you know, it was a comfortable feeling, feeling settled. I think that’s the biggest thing. the word is just feeling settled going in, knowing everybody on the team, knowing everybody’s personalities and everything. just, you just feel settled.”
It makes sense that Randle and DiVincenzo, and the Wolves by extension, started out slow last season. NBA players are often prepared to move teams early in the offseason or at the trade deadline, but getting sent from New York to Minnesota less than a week before training camp took a toll on both players.
Even if the timing of the trade were different, it was always going to take time for a player like Randle to integrate into the Wolves’ system. He is a strong stylistic shift from his predecessor, KAT, meaning there were always going to be kinks on the court that the team was going to have to figure out.
Julius specifically remembered one play during the season when asked how his on-court relationship and synergy have grown with Ant.
“Those things just take time, man. We do a lot of things like very similar as far as our aggression and how we attack. I remember there was a play earlier in the year where we were both posted up in same spot. And it was like, bro, what are we doing right now? we just gotta, we learn how to give each other space. We learn how to play off of one another, not necessarily your turn, my turn, but picking and choosing our spots of when to be aggressive.”
By the middle of last season, Randle, Edwards, and the rest of the Wolves team had worked out any issues, both on and off the court, they may have had, allowing them to coalesce into a team that was ready to win games. After starting the season 32-29, they finished the season winning 17 of their final 21 games, just barely avoiding the dreaded Play-In Tournament by a single game.
This year, none of those growing pains will be needed. Not only do they bring back all but one of their players from last season, but with Randle and Naz Reid receiving new contracts, almost every player has a multi-year contract in place, allowing them to focus on their game instead of where they might be playing next season.
The lack of offseason drama allowed for a large part of the Timberwolves’ core to spend the summer in Minnesota, something that is relatively unheard of with past Wolves teams. Many players and coaches, throughout media day, mentioned how it was good to see how many players were around in the practice facility during the summer and the positive impact that will have on the season.
The trio of longest-tenured Timberwolves players, Naz, Ant, and Jaden McDaniels, have grown especially close as they experience the NBA journey alongside each other. While the three players each have very different personalities, they all complement each other well.
Many times during his interview, Edwards pointed toward the importance of continuity and being close and together with your teammates, pointing to that as an area that sets great teams apart from the rest. He also highlighted his bond with McDaniels and Reid while trying to grow that even further in the summer.
“The most important thing that I’ve learned, like the teams that go deep in the playoffs, they’re together. They really care about each other. And it’s easy to say we brothers and act like it, but for instance, this year we had camps. I had a camp, Naz had a camp, a couple guys had camps, and nobody knew about the camps. And I told Naz, next time you have a camp, let me know. I’m gonna come. And that’s where it I think it starts in the summertime. It’s just things, guys don’t know cause we’re not used to winning.”
So much of what went wrong in the early parts of last season can be attributed to a lack of continuity and uncertainty. Now, just a year later, with a pair of playoff series victories under their belt, the Wolves are primed for success early in the season, starting in Portland on October 22.
