Jazz point guard Mike Conley isn’t concerned about a rift between teammates Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. Gobert and Mitchell are trying to repair their relationship after Mitchell felt Gobert’s careless actions led to his positive test for COVID-19. “They’re fine,” Conley said. “They’re competitors. They want to win.” Conley feels confident that there won’t be any locker room issues when the hiatus ends. “Our team chemistry has been as solid as ever and I am excited to hopefully get out there soon once this thing gets under control,” he said.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- Paul Millsap‘s contributions to the Nuggets go beyond his raw statistics, Mike Singer of the Denver Post writes. Millsap provides a solid defensive presence and his leadership is unquestioned. He kept up the spirits of Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. when they endured rough times this season and he’s been a mentor for Jamal Murray and former Nugget Malik Beasley, Singer adds. Millsap will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
- The fortunes of the Timberwolves probably wouldn’t have changed even if they passed on trading with the Bulls for Jimmy Butler, Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. Tom Thibodeau wouldn’t have had the patience to nurture a young core into a playoff team, Hine continues. Meanwhile, Chicago hasn’t been able to win with the players it received in the deal and is undergoing front-office changes, Hine adds.
- The Timberwolves’ biggest priority this offseason is likely to be re-signing their restricted free agents, particularly Beasley, Hine writes in a mailbag piece. They’d also like to retain Juan Hernangomez, though that would leave them very little wiggle room for a splashy free-agent acquisition, Hine adds.
Splashy free agent addition? Timberwolves? Lol
lmao
In Minnesota, “splashy” is a term used to described what happens when someone falls out of their boat. It does not refer to free agents signed by the Timberwolves.
Tom Thibs wouldn’t have the patience for develop young talent but isn’t good enough for a team trying to compete….
Everybody and his dog knows if Thibs is your coach your starters are playing minutes and being really really pushed.
Thibs defiantly thinks to much of himself, he did well with the Bulls over a decade ago when he had prime MVP DRose, Jimmy Butler was a dog, Gibson, Lou Deng, Noah those guys were all hard working old school players that wanted to play hard physical and win.
Can’t even think of one team in the league that plays this way now or one team what would suit Thibs
Everyone also knows that those Bulls fell apart in the playoffs due to the extreme amount of minutes those players played.
Every time I saw the Bulls of that time I was SMH. It looked like Jimmy Butler absorbed the worst of the hyper-competitiveness and I wished he would get out of there but other fans said no, he was really in a good place personally.
Even when games return we won’t see that again– it will be the 3pt, spaced-out attack that has taken over the NBA.
Chicago’s home-court advantage was maybe the best in an intimidating sense.
But yes they wore themselves out by playoff time. If Thibs could change a few things… But he didn’t.
No matter what the Timberpuppies do, they fail. The franchise is cursed and should call in an Exorcist.
Minny has two #1 picks. Plus mid level exception contract (8mill). Don’t know if they have trade exception. But they could make splashy move with a trade. Also top 5 pick is a splashy player. Minny could probably get Love back cheap. He’s a gd mix with KAT. That 2nd pick probably #16 plus contracts would get it done. Johnson is an expiring contract. This FA class is not Star heavy. But it has solid rotation players. And Minny has Crabbe (17.6 mill), Turner(18.6 mill) coming off books. Love coming back is a great Story line. 3 yrs left on contract.