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Timberwolves Notes: Connelly, Nori, Ownership, Finch

May 2nd, 2024 at 10:12pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Timberwolves team president Tim Connelly joined the organization two years ago with a deliberate, aggressive plan in place for returning Minnesota to contender status, writes Chip Scoggins of The Star Tribune.

With core pieces Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels already all in place, Connelly opted to go for size and veteran help, ultimately rounding out his starting five with former Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley.

Now, Minnesota’s defense in all facets is helping guiding the club deep into the playoffs. The Timberwolves, currently the West’s No. 3 seed with a 56-26 regular season record, have won a playoff series for the first time in 20 years. Scoggins concedes that he did not appreciate just how good Conley still was when Minnesota acquired him in a February 2023 trade, while noting that much of the league was critical of Connelly’s decision to obtain Gobert for major future draft equity.

There’s more out of Minnesota:

Connelly also recently addressed questions about how the team will handle what could be a very pricey roster in the offseason, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (via Twitter). “I think we’re a contender now,” Connelly opined. “We have to believe it. We’re entering the second round with an unblemished playoff record. This room certainly thinks we’re a contender. Relative to what the offseason looks like, it would be unfair to answer those questions prior to our conclusion and what we hope not to conclude for a long time.” Connelly also had high praise for assistant coach Micah Nori, who finished out the closing minutes of team’s Game 4 win over the Suns after head coach Chris Finch left the game with a patellar tendon injury. Micah is gonna make a great head coach when some smart team hires him,” Connelly said, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). “The whole staff is really connected and I think Finch empowers those guys, so it’s a collective.”
Mediation efforts between Timberwolves minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and majority owner Glen Taylor did not ultimately succeed in resolving the two sides’ ownership dispute, Darren Wolfson of KSTP Sports tweets. They’ll move on to arbitration, which Wolfson believes could happen several weeks from now.
Just one day removed from a surgery on his ruptured right knee patellar tendon, Chris Finch was back in action with the Timberwolves, overseeing a team practice, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Minnesota intends to have Finch available with the the team once its second round series against the Nuggets tips off in Denver on Saturday. “Finch is obviously a leader and a super tough guy,” Connelly reflected. “I have a ton of respect for him bouncing back so quickly… He’s really excited about the series and it’s great to have him back.”

Community Shootaround: Nuggets/Timberwolves Series

May 1st, 2024 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Only one second-round matchup has been set so far in these NBA playoffs, but it looks like it has the potential to be one of the very best postseason series of 2024. The defending-champion Nuggets will face the Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals beginning on Saturday.

Denver had a target on its back entering this season after winning a title in 2023, but the team responded admirably, tying for the West’s best record (57-25) and then quickly dispatching LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers in round one.

The Nuggets are led by the NBA’s probable 2024 MVP (Nikola Jokic), along with one of the league’s best clutch playoff performers (Jamal Murray). They also have a series of role players, led by Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Michael Porter Jr., who complement their stars perfectly. They’re widely considered the favorites to come out of the West, with many NBA fans and experts viewing them as a good bet to repeat as champions.

But the Timberwolves showed in their first-round sweep of Phoenix that they’re a legitimate threat to make a deep playoff run of their own this spring.

Minnesota, which had the NBA’s No. 1 defensive rating during the regular season, wasn’t quite as dominant on that end of the floor against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and the Suns, but they made up for it by raising their offensive game to new heights — the Wolves’ 123.2 offensive rating in round one easily ranks first among the 16 playoff teams.

Three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns own the most award hardware of any Minnesota players, but it’s rising star Anthony Edwards who is raising the team’s ceiling and gives the Wolves a chance to be more competitive than they were in the first round against Denver a year ago.

Just 22 years old, Edwards averaged 31.0 points per game on .512/.438/.839 shooting against Phoenix and has fully embraced the postseason stage, repeatedly directing trash talk toward Durant and the Suns. In Edwards, the Wolves have a player whom they can increasingly rely on to get them a basket in clutch moments, which is crucial in the playoffs.

And like Denver, the Wolves have no shortage of talented role players, with Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker leading the defense on the perimeter, Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid providing scoring off the bench, and veteran point guard Mike Conley serving as a stabilizing force on both ends of the floor.

It’s a fascinating intra-divisional matchup that should make for a terrific series. Sports betting site BetOnline.ag considers the Nuggets (-195) the solid favorites, but the Wolves’ resounding first-round victory over Phoenix signaled that this roster is built for real postseason success.

We want to know what you think. Are you picking Denver to advance or do you think Minnesota can pull off the upset? Do you expect the winner of this series to represent the West in the NBA Finals, or do you anticipate seeing the Thunder, Mavericks, or Clippers come out of the conference?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!

Wolves’ Mike Conley Named 2023/24 Teammate Of The Year

May 1st, 2024 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley has been named the NBA’s Teammate of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced today (via Twitter).

The Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award “recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and a role model to other players, and commitment and dedication to team,” per the NBA.

The award isn’t voted on by media members. A panel of league executives select the 12 finalists (six from each conference) for the award, while current players vote on the winner. Players receive 10 points for a first place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth, and one point for fifth place.

Here are this season’s full voting results, according to the NBA, with the player’s point total noted in parentheses:

Mike Conley, Timberwolves (1,172)
Mikal Bridges, Nets (1,041)
Jalen Brunson, Knicks (783)
T.J. McConnell, Pacers (759)
Georges Niang, Cavaliers (748)
Al Horford, Celtics (634)
Larry Nance Jr., Pelicans (627)
Jalen Williams, Thunder (565)
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Nuggets (560)
Dwight Powell, Mavericks (549)
Harrison Barnes, Kings (435)
Markelle Fultz, Magic (421)

It’s the second Teammate of the Year award for Conley, won also won it in 2018/19 when he was a member of the Grizzlies.

The award, which was introduced in ’12/13, had gone to Jrue Holiday in each of the past two seasons (and three of the past four), with Damian Lillard taking it home in 2021.

Nuggets Notes: Murray, Caldwell-Pope, Porter Jr.

April 30th, 2024 at 10:42am CST by Luke Adams

Earlier in the day on Monday, before he hit his second game-winning shot of the Nuggets‘ first-round series and knocked the Lakers out of the postseason, Jamal Murray wasn’t sure he would even suit up, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post.

Murray told reporters after the game that the team’s medical staff was hesitant to give him the go-ahead to play in Game 5 due to the left calf strain that had caused him to be listed as questionable. The star guard received clearance after pleading his case to head coach Michael Malone and team VP of sports medicine Steve Short in a meeting that Malone described as “emotional,” per Durando.

“I came a little earlier today just to see if I was gonna be able to go. And I felt like I could,” Murray said. “And they just didn’t want me to risk it. They told me no. They told me no. And I didn’t say no. I just didn’t want to leave my teammates out there. We’ve been battling all season. Everybody’s hurt at some point. Everybody’s going through something. And I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I wasn’t about to play this game. … I’m just glad they listened to me. They listened to me listening to my body.”

Although Murray made it through the night with no setbacks and led the Nuggets to the victory with his game-high 32 points, his health situation hasn’t been resolved, according to Durando, who notes that calf strains don’t disappear overnight. Still, Murray’s heroics ensure that he and the Nuggets will have four days off before they host the Timberwolves on Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, so there’s some time for the injury to heal.

Here’s more on the Nuggets:

Murray wasn’t at his best during the first round, making just 40% of his shots from the field, including 29.4% of his three-pointers, but his big shots in clutch situations helped cement his place among the league’s all-time postseason performers, contends Tony Jones of The Athletic. “The bigger the moment, the bigger Jamal Murray shines,” Malone said. “He’s one tough cookie.”
Murray isn’t the only Nuggets starter who will welcome the four-day layoff for injury recovery purposes. As Durando writes for The Denver Post, swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left Monday’s game due to a sprained left ankle. He returned to start the second half and finished the game, but didn’t appear to be operating at 100%.
Michael Porter Jr. enjoyed perhaps the best playoff series of his career in round one, buoying a Nuggets offense that struggled to score efficiently from beyond the arc, according to Tyler King of The Denver Gazette and Ryan McFadden of The Denver Post. The veteran forward made 20-of-41 (48.8%) three-point attempts vs. Los Angeles, while his teammates hit just 33-of-131 (25.2%). Porter’s success came during a tumultuous time for his family — his brother Jontay was recently banned from the NBA for gambling, while another brother, Coban, was sentenced to six years in prison due to a fatal drunk driving incident. “At the end of the day, this is basketball. I got way bigger stuff going on off the court,” Michael said. “To come in here with my sanctuary and be able to play well, it feels good. There’s a lot bigger stuff going on than this.”

Northwest Notes: Daigneault, Edwards, Wolves, Nuggets, Jazz

April 29th, 2024 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

A day after Mark Daigneault was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for 2023/24, Thunder center Chet Holmgren lauded his head coach for his “crazy X’s and O’s” and his ability to connect with one of the NBA’s youngest rosters, per Rylan Stiles of SI.com.

“Shoutout to Mark man. Helluva coach,” Holmgren said. “… (He) puts us all in position to be successful. … He’s not that much older than us. He’s one of the bros.”

As John Hollinger of The Athletic, the world of NBA coaching is a “thankless” one, so now that he has shown the sort of success he can have in the regular season, Daigneault will be judged going forward on how and the Thunder perform in the postseason. Daigneault is off to a promising start on that front, notes Hollinger, pointing to an instance in Saturday’s win in which the Thunder extended their lead by using Gordon Hayward as a small-ball center.

As Hollinger writes, it would have been easy for Oklahoma City to take a conservative approach on Saturday with a 2-0 lead in the series, but Daigneault has shown repeatedly that he “doesn’t do safe and predictable.” His unorthodox strategies – which lean heavily on data and analytics, Hollinger points out – have the Thunder one win away from their first second-round series since 2016.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

Fourteen-time All-Star Kevin Durant, who was on the receiving end of plenty of trash talk from Anthony Edwards during the Timberwolves‘ four-game sweep of Phoenix, had nothing but praise for the young star after Game 4, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “I’m so impressed with Ant. So impressed with Ant,” Durant said of Edwards, who averaged 31.0 PPG during the series. “My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league.”
The Timberwolves‘ dominant first-round victory over the Suns serves as a reminder that many NBA analysts were wrong about the Rudy Gobert trade, according to Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune. There was skepticism about the ability of Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to be effective alongside one another, but they’ve proven over the course of this season that’s not a problem, Souhan adds.
While both Nuggets point guards are banged up, neither Jamal Murray (left calf strain) nor Reggie Jackson (left ankle sprain) has missed a game yet during the team’s first-round series vs. the Lakers. That streak is up in the air with Murray still considered questionable for Monday’s Game 5, but Jackson seems good to go — he’s listed as probable to play, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette.
In a report for The Salt Lake Tribune, Andy Larsen, Blake Apgar, Kevin Reynolds, and Robert Gehrke take a look at how the Delta Center – the Jazz‘s home arena – might be affected by team owner Ryan Smith‘s plan to bring the NHL to Utah.

Nuggets Notes: Paint Issues, Footwear, Murray, Gordon

April 28th, 2024 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nuggets failed to complete a sweep of the Lakers on Saturday night, losing Game 4 by a score of 119-108. Head coach Michael Malone fumed over the way his team played in the lane, The Athletic’s Tony Jones writes.

“The paint was a joke,” Malone said. “In every huddle, we were like a broken record (Saturday). Everything was paint, paint, paint. We have to be better at defending the paint. We gave up 72 points in the paint overall. We gave up 42 points by halftime, which is an unbelievable number. They shot 64 percent in the paint.

“It starts with our defense in transition. There were too many blow-bys off the dribble. I didn’t think we played with the physicality we needed. I didn’t think we played with enough urgency. This did not seem like a closeout game.”

We have more on the Nuggets:

It wasn’t the shoes that caused the Nuggets to lose but some of them didn’t have their usual footwear during the pregame warmups on Saturday. There was a mix-up in getting several players’ insoles onto the early bus to the arena, so some took some pregame shots without them, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “Is it ideal? No,” Malone said. “But hopefully we can figure that out and make sure it never happens again. If you want to dig into stuff and say, well, we lost because for some strange reason our players didn’t have their shoes when they got here for their normal warmups, that we had guys out there shooting around with flip-flops, is it ideal? No. But I’m not an excuse guy.”
Is a leg injury bothering Jamal Murray? The Denver Post’s Matt Schubert poses that question, noting that Murray was seen clutching the back of his leg on Saturday. Murray is averaging 21.5 points per game for the series but he’s struggled with his efficiency, making 38% of his overall field goal attempts and 20.8% of his 3-point tries. Indeed, Murray has been listed as questionable to play on Monday due to a left calf strain, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets.
Aaron Gordon had a quiet night, posting seven points and three rebounds in 42 minutes. However, Gordon’s 29-point, 15-rebound eruption in Game 3 is another example of what a steal the Nuggets made when they acquired the power forward from Orlando in 2021, Jones opines. Gordon’s value on and off the court is undeniable because of his ability to play off of Nikola Jokic and Murray. The Nuggets gave up Gary Harris, R.J. Hampton and a protected 2025 first-round pick in that deal three years ago.

Injury Notes: Leonard, Gafford, Lillard, G. Allen, Jackson

April 26th, 2024 at 7:38pm CST by Rory Maher

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard was listed as questionable heading into Friday’s Game 3 against Dallas due to right knee inflammation, but he was later upgraded to available, notes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (via Twitter).

Leonard returned to action on Tuesday after being sidelined for three-plus week with the knee injury. He played 35 minutes in Game 2 and it’s unclear if two-time Finals MVP will be ready for more than that tonight.

“Not sure yet,” head coach Tyronn Lue said on Thursday, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. “That’s something we got to talk about with medical. I’m not sure if the minutes will go up but he feels good.”

Leonard was understandable rusty in his first game back and needs to find his timing, Lue added, according to Janis Carr of The Orange County Register.

“I think mentally he felt OK (thinking) ‘I got over that hurdle. I feel good. I can do this,’” Lue said of Leonard. “I’m hoping he continues that at the start of (Game 3).

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

After previously being listed as questionable, Mavericks center Daniel Gafford (back spasms) went through his pregame routine unscathed and will be active on Friday, the team announced (via Twitter). Gafford made a big impact for Dallas in the second half of the season after being acquired from Washington at the trade deadline.
Bucks guard Damian Lillard appeared to suffer a left knee injury in the first quarter of Friday’s Game 3 vs. Indiana after his heel area was accidentally landed on by Pascal Siakam (Twitter video link via ESPN). Lillard was in significant pain and went back to the locker room to get checked out, tweets Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. However, the eight-time All-Star returned to action at the start of the second quarter and remained in through the conclusion of the overtime loss, so evidently the injury isn’t a serious one.
Suns wing Grayson Allen, who sustained a right ankle sprain in Game 1 in Minnesota and then re-injured the ankle in Game 2, said he felt “better than expected” on Thursday, per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). Allen was a partial practice participant on Thursday and is questionable for Friday’s Game 3 in Phoenix. However, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 expressed doubt about his status tonight, tweeting that Sunday’s Game 4 looks like a more “realistic” return date.
Nuggets reserve guard Reggie Jackson was in a walking boot and using crutches on Friday, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. Head coach Michael Malone said Jackson has a sprained ankle and he’ll be questionable for Saturday’s Game 4 vs. the Lakers, with the boot a “preventative” measure, according to Brendan Vogt of DNVR Sports (Twitter links).

Lakers Notes: Game 3 Loss, LeBron, Davis, Russell, Ham

April 26th, 2024 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers lost their 11th consecutive game to Denver on Thursday night and are now one game away from being swept out of the postseason by the Nuggets for a second straight season. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, it’s hard to blame Los Angeles’ two stars for the Game 3 loss — LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 59 points on 26-of-43 (60.5%) shooting to go along with 21 rebounds and 12 assists.

“We’ve been — me and this guy [Davis] have been playing together for six years,” James said. “We’ve been to the mountaintop. We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn near perfect you got to be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain.”

While James expressed that he and Davis are confident in their ability to deliver big games when it matters most, he didn’t say the same about the rest of the Lakers, McMenamin observes. Austin Reaves had a solid night (22 points on 8-of-17 shooting), but the rest of the Lakers besides LeBron and AD combined for just 24 points and shot 10-of-30 (33.3%) from the floor, including 2-of-16 (12.5%) on three-pointers.

Asked if the Lakers’ were overwhelmed by the Nuggets’ execution, James replied, “You’d have to ask the individuals that question and see how they feel. It’s hard for me just to be like, ‘This is what I think that guy feels.’ … I can’t do that. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

A disastrous performance against the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals last spring hurt D’Angelo Russell‘s stock a little as he prepared to enter free agency. The same thing may be happening this year. Russell went scoreless on 0-of-7 shooting on Thursday and declined to speak to reporters after the game, according to McMenamin. Russell, who is now averaging 12.0 PPG on 32.6% in the first round, holds a player option worth $18.7MM for the 2024/25 season.
Davis told reporters after Game 2’s loss earlier this week that the Lakers “have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.” Those comments were interpreted as a shot at the coaching staff and didn’t sit well with some people in the organization, according to Jared Greenberg of TNT Sports. “I can tell you from speaking to people within the Lakers’ organization, they were upset – and disappointed, quite frankly – by AD’s comments,” Greenberg said during an NBA TV appearance on Thursday (Twitter video link). As Sam Amick of The Athletic notes, when asked about Davis’ comments on Wednesday, head coach Darvin Ham told reporters he chalked them up to frustration and that he would “agree to disagree.”
With the Lakers on the brink of elimination, Ham is on the hot seat in Los Angeles, according to Bill Plaschke of The L.A. Times, who notes that some home fans began a “fire Darvin” chant during the fourth quarter on Thursday. Plaschke adds that Ham has been out-coached by Michael Malone during the first round so far, which has been evident by the way the teams have adjusted at halftimes. The Nuggets have outscored the Lakers by a total of 31 points in the third quarters of games, per McMenamin; L.A. has outscored Denver by 11 in the other nine quarters.

Northwest Notes: Murray, Jordan, Thunder, Finch

April 24th, 2024 at 8:47pm CST by Rory Maher

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray struggled mightily through three quarters on Monday, going just 3-of-16 from the floor as the defending champions trailed the Lakers by as many as 20 points. As Tony Jones of The Athletic writes, when Murray told his teammates he wanted to affect the game in other ways by becoming more of a play-maker, they emphatically disagreed and told him to stay aggressive.

“The thing about Jamal is that we know what he’s capable of,” reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic said. “We obviously would like him to make every shot, but we know that everyone goes through a bad stretch. We know what he’s capable of, and we want him to shoot the ball because we know he can make all kinds of shots.”

Murray responded by catching fire in the fourth quarter, going 6-of-8 from the field and scoring 14 of his 20 points, Jones notes, including a game-winning buzzer-beater over Anthony Davis (YouTube link).

“There really is a playoff Jamal,” head coach Michael Malone said. “All of those commercials you see, the persona is real. He will never shy away from the moment, and all he needs is to see one go in.”

Here’s more from the Northwest:

He only appeared in 36 regular season games this season for the Nuggets, but DeAndre Jordan played nine minutes off the bench in Game 1 when other players were in foul trouble, notes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “I told D.J. as we approach these playoffs, last year every time we called upon him — foul trouble, whatever’s going on in the game — he delivered,” Malone said as part of a larger quote. “He stays ready. … And I felt that he had a real positive impact (in Game 1). His size, his presence.”
Tyler Parker of The Ringer compares and contrasts the current Thunder squad to the era featuring Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Oklahoma City finished with the West’s No. 1 seed in 2023/24 and is currently up 1-0 in its first-round series with New Orleans after a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander game-winner in Game 1.
Coach of the Year finalist Chris Finch is “clearly the right coach” for the Timberwolves, argues Patrick Reusse of The Star Tribune. As Reusse writes, many media members picked the Suns to defeat the Wolves in their first-round matchup after Phoenix went 3-0 against Minnesota during the regular season. But Finch has pushed all the right buttons thus far as the Wolves hold a 2-0 lead behind a suffocating defense and perhaps the best game of Jaden McDaniels‘ career.

Lakers Notes: Davis, Reaves, Russell, Vanderbilt, Jokic

April 22nd, 2024 at 7:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Anthony Davis could have some extra motivation for the remainder of the Lakers‘ first-round series against the Nuggets. Davis feels slighted that he wasn’t one of the three finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award, he told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“I’ll never get it,” Davis said. “They’re not giving it to me. The league doesn’t like me. I’m the best defensive player in the league. I can switch 1 through 5. I can guard the pick-and-roll the best in the league, from a big standpoint. I block shots. I rebound. I don’t know what else to do. I’m over it. I’m just going to do what I got to do to help the team win and try to play for a championship. Accolades and individual awards, I’m done with those.”

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Austin Reaves is hopeful that D’Angelo Russell remains with the team beyond this season, and his reasons go beyond the court, he told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “I want him to be around. That’s probably my best friend on the team,” Reaves said. “We hang out off the court and golf a lot together. We’re constantly in communication and play Call of Duty together. He’s been one of my closest friends since I’ve been in the NBA. Obviously, his basketball play speaks for itself with how talented he is and what he can do for our group. We need him to be at our best. When he’s playing at his best is when we’re playing at our best. Anything we can do or I can do to help him stay around, I’m definitely going to try to do that.” Russell holds an $18.7MM option on his contract for next season.
Jarred Vanderbilt is no longer wearing a walking boot, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. Vanderbilt hasn’t played since Feb. 1 due to a right midfoot sprain. He went through some drills during the team’s shootaround on Tuesday but won’t play in Game 2.
Coach Darvin Ham admits it’s virtually impossible to keep Nikola Jokic in check, Buha adds in another tweet. “It’s like (bleep), I don’t know what to do. You just gotta go out there and try to be as disciplined as possible, aggressive and consistent. And have a next-play mentality, man. … Kid is a generational-type player,” Ham said.