Northwest Notes: Wolves, Pokusevski, Thunder, Jokic

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gerson Rosas has struggled to build a winning culture around a weak supporting cast for star center Karl-Anthony Towns, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune argues. Hine posits that Rosas’ decision to prioritize maximum roster flexibility over more veteran leadership has hurt the development of the team’s young players.

Ricky Rubio and Ed Davis are the only true-blue veterans populating the otherwise very youthful roster, Hine notes. The team has stumbled to the league’s worst record, 7-29, thus far this year.

“There is some evidence it may work like what happened with Philadelphia, I guess,” Rubio said, referring to bottoming out for multiple years while building a roster. “I kind of don’t believe in that kind of system. We have to build good habits from Day One, and I don’t think we are in the right way to be honest.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

• The Thunder have recalled rookie forward Aleksej Pokuševski from their G League affiliate the Oklahoma City Blue, according to a team press release. In his 13 games with the Blue, Pokuševski averaged of 7.9 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 4.0 APG and 1.08 BPG across 25.2 MPG.
• Thanks to a deep roster of intriguing young players, the Thunder appear to be on an exciting future trajectory, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Tramel details how up-and-comers like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Theo Maledon, Darius Bazley, Luguentz Dort, and Isaiah Roby, all 23 or younger, were able to band together to defeat the fifth-seeded Spurs in San Antonio on Thursday.
• The play of Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic has taken another leap this season, in part thanks to his newly-improved fitness discipline, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post.