Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Timberwolves Notes: Edwards-KAT, Wiggins Trade, Inconsistency

November 14th, 2021 at 3:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Timberwolves need to carve out offensive opportunities for both Karl-Anthony Towns and ascendant second-year wing Anthony Edwards, opines Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Towns and Edwards appear to be the current core for Minnesota going forward.

Towns has thrived as a jump shooter but has been somewhat up-and-down scoring from inside the paint this season.

“I think we’ve studied it and just not getting a lot of production out of it, and I think his finishing could be a little better,” Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said of his post scoring. “I think we can get him to go maybe a little quicker, but by the same token, he’s not getting a lot of the benefit of the doubt down there.”

There’s more out of Minnesota:

The Timberwolves took a big swing with a 2020 trade that sent swingman Andrew Wiggins and a lightly-protected 2021 first-round draft pick to the Warriors in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, a longtime friend of Towns. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic revisited the deal, executed by now-former team president Gersson Rosas, in the wake of a big night for Wiggins against Minnesota, noting that Golden State pretty definitively came out the winner. As Krawczynski writes, Wiggins has been a better fit for the Warriors than he was for the Timberwolves. In part because there is less pressure on him to be the 11-1 team’s main scorer, Wiggins can focus more on his improved perimeter defense. Russell, meanwhile, provides little help on defense and has been erratic offensively for the Timberwolves. The Warriors also used the first-rounder to select small forward Jonathan Kuminga with the seventh selection in this summer’s draft.
After a solid 107-83 victory over the Lakers on Friday night, the Timberwolves struggled to replicate their success against L.A.’s Staples Center neighbors, the Clippers, in a 129-102 loss on Saturday. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic contends that this is who Minnesota really is: an inconsistent team with issues on both sides of the ball. Krawczynski says the Timberwolves grew complacent following one impressive showing against a Western Conference foe and let their guard down against another. “I feel like that’s really been the problem with us as a team is how do we not get tired of success,” said guard Josh Okogie. “I feel like after we have good performances, we have to be able to put that game behind us and focus on the next one and try to go 1-0 every night.”
In case you missed it, Luke Adams took a look at the Timberwolves’ offseason, which was focused primarily on retaining some young talent and adding veteran role players around the periphery of its roster.

Pacific Notes: Beverley, Kaminksy, Horton-Tucker, Wiseman

November 14th, 2021 at 11:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley received a warm welcome and a video tribute from the Clippers Saturday, but the rest of the night didn’t go as he hoped, writes Tomer Azarly of Clutch Points. Beverley managed just five points as Minnesota suffered its worst loss of the season, but he was happy to be back in front of the fans who cheered him for four years.

After being acquired in 2017 in the deal that sent Chris Paul to Houston, Beverley became the emotional core of a team that was a perennial contender in the Western Conference. He was traded twice over the summer, spending a few days with Memphis before winding up with the Wolves.

“Man, I got nothing but love,” he said. “Nothing but love for the city of L.A., obviously. You come here in the beginning, some kind of semblance to Minnesota. First-year eighth seed. You take that and try to build from it and did something special here. Came up short, didn’t win a championship, but went to the Western Conference Finals, something that the team never did so, man, it was great. It was really great. Was happy to see some old friends. Unfortunate loss obviously, but it was good. Really emotional, really good though.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

With Deandre Ayton sidelined by a right leg contusion, Frank Kaminsky has played so well that Suns coach Monty Williams wants to keep him in the rotation, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Kaminsky explained why he was happy to stay with Phoenix in free agency, even without a guarantee of regular playing time (video link).
Lakers guard Talen Horton-Tucker is listed as probable to make his season debut today, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Horton-Tucker underwent surgery on his right thumb during the preseason.
When the Warriors left on their current road trip, injured center James Wiseman stayed behind to work with a few coaches and participate in scrimmages, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Wiseman hasn’t played yet this season while recovering from knee surgery.

Examining What's Gone Wrong For The Wolves

November 6th, 2021 at 9:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic examines the issues that have caused the Timberwolves to go into a four-game tailspin after a 3-1 start. Krawczynski notes that teams have discovered Minnesota doesn’t have enough shooters to make them pay for doubling Karl-Anthony Towns, while Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels have hit rough spots after strong rookie seasons.

Towns “Very Happy” In Minnesota, Says Twitter Account Was Hacked

November 5th, 2021 at 8:38am CST by Luke Adams

After the Timberwolves dropped a third straight game on Wednesday, falling 126-115 to the Clippers, Karl-Anthony Towns‘ Twitter account liked a tweet that included the #FreeKAT hashtag. However, Towns said on Thursday that he wasn’t responsible for that “like,” which happened when he was asleep.

“Honestly, I woke up this morning, my agent hit me up and was like, ‘Karl, what is this?'” Towns said on Thursday, per Dane Moore of Blue Wire (Twitter link). “I was like, ‘What the f— are you talking about?’ I hadn’t woke up yet for the whole day.”

Towns went on to explain that only three people – him, his agent Jessica Holtz, and his close friend Chucky Anthony – have access to his Twitter account, and he didn’t believe any of them liked the #FreeKAT tweet.

“I know Chucky didn’t do it because he was in the hospital with his father. I know he didn’t have time to do that,” Towns said. “Jess never has used it. So, got hacked, easy thing, fixed the password.

“Sorry to the Wolves fans. I ain’t want to cause no hysteria or anything like that. But just know I’m very happy. I know we’re on a skid so it came at the worst possible time, that little hacking. I’m excited to hopefully build more years here, not just this year.”

It’s hard to believe a hacker would’ve gained access to Towns’ account simply to like a single tweet. However, as Jon Krawczynski writes for The Athletic, there’s also little reason to think that Towns wants to leave Minnesota, even if the hacking story strains credulity.

Towns has repeatedly stated that he wants to win with the Timberwolves, and spoke at the end of last season about wanting to have a long career with one team, like Tim Duncan with the Spurs or Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. The Wolves also aren’t off to a terrible start this season. Despite the current three-game losing streak, Minnesota has a 3-4 overall record, putting the team in the play-in mix in the early going.

Still, as Krawczynski notes, there are plenty of teams around the league that will continue to closely monitor Towns’ situation in case anything changes. His current maximum-salary contract runs through the 2023/24 season.

Wolves Haven't Spoken To Sixers About Simmons For Weeks

November 4th, 2021 at 3:42pm CST by Luke Adams

On a recent episode of his The Scoop podcast, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North stated that it has been a little while since Timberwolves head of basketball operations Sachin Gupta talked to the Sixers about Ben Simmons. “About three-and-a-half, four weeks ago, he did plant the seed with the Philadelphia front office that, ‘Yeah, I’m interested in Ben Simmons,'” Wolfson said, per HoopsHype. “But I’m now told he hasn’t had any dialogue about Ben Simmons with Philadelphia for a couple weeks.”

Northwest Notes: Giddey, Jokic, Hyland, Vanderbilt

October 30th, 2021 at 7:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors were planning to take Josh Giddey with the seventh pick in this year’s draft if the Thunder hadn’t scooped him up at No. 6, Giddey’s father tells Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Warrick Giddey says the Warriors told his son’s agent, Daniel Moldovan, that Josh would be their target if he was still on the board.

The Thunder and the Warriors were the only teams to hold private pre-draft workouts with the Australian guard, and both came away impressed. Giddey is averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists through his first five NBA games and appears ready for the league at age 19.

“We’re not overly surprised by what we’ve seen,” coach Mark Daigneault said, “but obviously there’s a lot of work to do and we’re excited to continue to work with him. He’s gotta get a lot better as well.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic didn’t consider sitting out Friday’s game after suffering a bruised knee earlier in the week, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Jokic underwent an MRI that showed no structural damage and said he plans to keep going as long as the knee doesn’t feel weak. “They’ve been making him go through the protocols, the testing, different drills and they felt that he was more than capable of getting out there and playing,” coach Michael Malone said.
The Nuggets have one of the lowest-scoring benches in the league and may turn to rookie guard Bones Hyland for a spark, Singer adds in a separate story. Hyland saw his first game action this week and scored seven points in 10 minutes. “I keep on saying it, but Bones Hyland,” Malone said. “That second unit’s struggling to score, make shots. Well Bones has shown he can do that.”
His Timberwolves teammates love playing alongside Jarred Vanderbilt, who got his first start of the season this week so he could guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, per Megan Ryan of The Star Tribune. The fourth-year power forward is known for an aggressive, unselfish approach to the game. “He’s a contagious person,” Anthony Edwards said. “Anytime he’s on the floor, we’re playing better, we’re playing harder. We’re making the extra pass, making the extra closeout. We’re one step faster.”

Offense Remains Work In Progress

October 28th, 2021 at 8:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Timberwolves are off to a 3-1 start despite shooting 42.6% from the field and averaging 16.3 turnovers per game. They’re still trying to strike the perfect balance, led by their Big Three of Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “That is the balance when you give everybody as much freedom as we do,” coach Chris Finch said. “Kat, Ant, D-Lo, they have the license to break the offense, if you will, or be aggressive within it is probably a better way to put it. They can’t just always live off doing it with the first pass or first action and I think that’s where we’re living right now.”

Northwest Notes: McLaughlin, Wolves, Whiteside, Favors

October 26th, 2021 at 7:21pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After riding the pine for the first three quarters of an eventual 96-89 Timberwolves victory over the Pelicans on Sunday, reserve point guard Jordan McLaughlin made sure to maximize his minutes when his number was called during the game’s fourth quarter, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.

“We all have our job to do and mine is to be ready at all times,” McLaughlin said. “So, I’m just going in there, trying to change the game, pick up full court, be a pest on defense and push the pace on offense and make plays.”

A 5’11” point guard out of USC, the 25-year-old McLaughlin re-signed with Minnesota over the summer on a three-year, $6.5MM deal, with a team option for the final season. Hine notes that head coach Chris Finch had stuck with a 10-man rotation before ultimately turning to McLaughlin in a successful strategic maneuver to close out New Orleans. McLaughin’s solid offensive contributions in a win for the 2-1 Timberwolves could certainly earn him future rotation time.

In 12 minutes on Sunday, McLaughlin netted a +5 plus-minus rating, to go along with six points on two-of-three shooting, two steals, two boards and an assist. During the Timberwolves’ Monday rematch against the Pelicans on Monday, however, McLaughlin was less successful. In 11 minutes during the 107-98 loss, McLaughlin scored no points and registered a -10 rating, though he did chip in three assists and a rebound.

“We have literally 15 guys on the roster that can play at a high level, night in and night out,” McLaughlin said. “We have a really deep team, and every night we’ve got to bring it, withstand the punches and just keep rolling with them and try to overcome it at the end.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

Following their aforementioned 107-98 Monday defeat to the Pelicans, the Timberwolves held an intense practice, focused on emphasizing passing and looking for open teammates, writes Chris Hine of the Star Tribune. “The person that’s open gets the ball,” shooting guard Josh Okogie commented. “Obviously, we have (D’Angelo Russell) and (Karl-Anthony Towns), and those guys are the stars on our team, and those guys get, obviously, more leniency on the shots they do take because they’ve proved that they can make those shots. But in the normal flow of the offense, I feel like whether it’s me, Malik (Beasley), Taurean (Prince), Jaden (McDaniels), whoever it is … If the person is open, I feel like they should get the ball.” Minnesota head coach Chris Finch confirmed the intensity of the practice following the loss. “It was a little testy,” Finch said. “A lot of the guys talking about what could have been done better or different. … I’d rather have that than guys in there who don’t care and not say anything, they’re not bothered. Then winning doesn’t mean enough to you.”
New Jazz reserve center Hassan Whiteside seems to be taking to his new fit on a playoff-caliber roster behind All-Star center Rudy Gobert quite well, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. Jones notes that the Jazz have outscored opponents by 20 points during the time Whiteside has logged on the floor in Gobert’s stead during the young season. “This is why they brought me here,” the 32-year-old said. “I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed here, so I had to prepare myself for how the Jazz liked to play. They like to have a rolling big. They want to have the shot-blocking. They’ve been really successful at it in the past, so I know how they like to play. I just have to put myself in a position to be successful.” Through two games as of this writing, Whiteside is averaging 7.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in just 17.0 MPG.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault intends to rest veteran center Derrick Favors during one game of their back-to-back sets, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). Daigneault noted that this strategy was agreed upon by both Oklahoma City and Favors. The 6’9″ 30-year-old out of Georgia Tech has started two of his three contests with the Thunder thus far, averaging 4.0 PPG and 6.3 RPG across 16.3 MPG.

Wolves Trying To Establish New Identity

October 24th, 2021 at 8:51pm CST by JD Shaw

The Timberwolves are trying to establish a new identity this season, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes. “When you’re building an identity, obviously we don’t have one, to be very fairly honest in the NBA,” Karl-Anthony Towns said, “but if you want to build one, it’s going to take some time where you’re going to have to play your game even when people don’t understand how we’re playing. You try to be physical defensively, especially, so if we’re going to get a little foul here and there over physicality and building our identity and our culture, then that has to be what it is.” Minnesota struggled last season largely due to injuries, but the team is 2-0 to start the season.

Chris Finch Talks Gupta, Wolves Offense, Vanderbilt, Defense

October 24th, 2021 at 4:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch recently sat down for an extensive interview with Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Finch and Hine engaged in some nitty-gritty conversations pertaining to the team’s plans for development on both sides of the ball, Finch’s relationship with new team president Sachin Gupta, and how power forward Jarred Vanderbilt is an under-appreciated contributor.

Under Finch, Minnesota sports a competent record of 18-25. They are currently 2-0 this year. Team stars Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and D’Angelo Russell have exhibited encouraging chemistry together during this early portion of the 2021/22 NBA season.

The Timberwolves boast a 93.1 defensive rating thus far, good for the second-best in the league. Their 104.8 offensive pace ranks fifth in the NBA.

The full conversation is well worth a read, but here are some highlights from the chat:

On his time developing a relationship with Gupta with the Rockets, where Finch was an assistant coach and Gupta was a front office advisor:

“I remember the first project that (Sachin) and I ever did together. We were studying corner threes and I was looking for places on the floor where the passes came to generate the best corner threes. Some of it made sense just looking at the game, but he mapped it out. He gridified the half court and had all different color zones about the best way to create open corner threes from where you were passing on the floor.”

On how he hopes to re-tool the Timberwolves’ offensive possessions:

“I think probably develop a little bit more of a complete package for Anthony. So he’s kind of not like going through the game looking for opportunities. Maybe direct the ball more to him. Opportunities to post D’Angelo for his playmaking down there. Then continue to experiment with (Towns). Just move him around and continue to play him more like a guard as well as a big. When you have a guy like that, it’s a lot of fun.”

On how the recently re-signed Vanderbilt helps the team win, per analytics research:

“Multiple possessions guy (with offensive rebounding). So anyone who gets you multiple possessions is worth it. If you think about the average possession in the NBA, it’s worth like 1.1 points or whatever, let’s say. If you get three more possessions than your opponent, that’s about 3.5 points more. So it’s just basketball mathematics in that way. That’s one. Two is his defense, versatility on defense. So when he’s on the floor with multitude of defensive lineups, they are generally plus defensive ratings. Then, his rebounding too. He’s not only getting you extra rebounds offensively, but he’s helping a place where you’re already weak defensively. With that, it’s probably not as strong as the other two for sure. And a lot of the defensive stuff is his ability to be successful in pick and roll as a switch defender.”

On how he intends to improve the club’s defense:

“Transition, eliminate our fouling or reduce it, and rebounding. If you look at those three play types, from an offensive point of view, they’re the three most efficient play type starts. Teams that score in transition score at a higher rate. Free throws are big and then offensive rebounds. So even if we got back and we’re not a great half-court defense, but we make them play in the half court more, we’re going to win that small battle, even if they’re making shots against us. They’re not going to make shots at the rate they do in transition.”