- 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.
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.”
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.
Jarred Vanderbilt: Three years, $13.12MM. Includes incentives. Third year partially guaranteed. Re-signed as restricted free agent using Bird rights.- Jordan McLaughlin: Three years, $6.48MM. Includes incentives. Third year non-guaranteed. Re-signed as restricted free agent using Early Bird rights.
- Nathan Knight: Two-way contract.
- McKinley Wright: Two-way contract.
Trades:
- Acquired Taurean Prince, the Wizards’ 2022 second-round pick, and cash ($2.5MM) from the Cavaliers in exchange for Ricky Rubio.
- Acquired Patrick Beverley from the Grizzlies in exchange for Jarrett Culver and Juan Hernangomez.
Draft picks:
- None
Draft-and-stash signings:
- Leandro Bolmaro (No. 23 pick; 2020 draft)
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $11,805,395).
Contract extensions:
- None
Departing players:
- Jarrett Culver
- Ed Davis
- Juan Hernangomez
- Ricky Rubio
Other offseason news:
- Fired president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas; promoted Sachin Gupta to head of basketball operations.
- Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore approved as part-owners; the Wolves’ succession plan calls for them to take over as majority owners in 2023.
- Hired Elston Turner, Micah Nori, and Joe Boylan as assistant coaches; lost assistant coaches David Vanterpool, Bryan Gates, and Joseph Blair.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $135.8MM in salary.
- Full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($9,536,000) and bi-annual exception ($3,732,000) still available.
- Note: The Timberwolves wouldn’t be able to fully use both exceptions, since doing so would hard-cap the team at $143MM.
- One traded player exception ($4.75MM) available.
The Timberwolves’ offseason:
Through mid-August, few NBA teams had experienced a quieter offseason than the Timberwolves. They entered the offseason with no draft picks and no cap space, limiting their ability to make meaningful roster upgrades.
The trade market was the Wolves’ best bet for a shakeup, but two weeks into free agency, the club’s activity had been limited to one deal: sending Ricky Rubio to Cleveland in exchange for Taurean Prince, a future second-round pick, and some cash.
The benefits of the move were three-fold — while both players are on expiring deals in 2021/22, Prince makes less money than Rubio, freeing up a little extra room below the tax line for the Wolves. The team also picked up a couple extra assets in the swap (the draft pick and cash) while addressing, to some extent, its major hole at the forward position. Prince isn’t a difference-maker, but he’s capable of taking on a rotation role and playing either the three and four. Minnesota was in short supply of that type of player last season.
Still, it’s not as if Rubio was someone the Wolves necessarily wanted to salary-dump. The Spaniard had a real impact on rookie Anthony Edwards last season, and the team’s point guard depth chart looked a little thin without Rubio on it — especially since D’Angelo Russell was coming off an injury-plagued season in which he was limited to 42 games.
So, with virtually all the top free agents off the market, the Wolves once again turned to the trade market a couple weeks into the new league year, sending Juan Hernangomez and Jarrett Culver to Memphis in exchange for veteran guard Patrick Beverley.
The Wolves’ relationship with Hernangomez became strained over the summer when the organization held him back from participating in the Olympics due to a shoulder injury, so it made sense to move on from him. Trading Culver was a tougher pill to swallow. Gersson Rosas‘ first major move when he took over as the head of basketball operations in Minnesota in 2019 was to trade up from No. 11 to No. 6 in order to nab Culver. However, the former Texas Tech standout made little impact at the NBA level in his first two seasons, prompting the Wolves to admit defeat on that pick.
Beverley isn’t the passing maestro that Rubio is, but he’s a better shooter, and the Wolves hope he can play a somewhat similar role, bringing toughness and veteran leadership to a team that needs it. He’ll be Russell’s backup, but he’s capable of playing alongside him too, handling the tougher defensive assignments in order to allow D-Lo to focus more on his offensive game.
The Wolves filled out their depth chart in September by re-signing a pair of restricted free agents, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jordan McLaughlin, to multiyear contracts. Vanderbilt was one of the few forwards the team could rely on in 2020/21 and should continue to play a regular role going forward.
The team’s acquisition of Beverley suggests the front office wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having McLaughlin as its primary backup at the point. But he has provided steady production in limited minutes over the last two seasons and looks a lot better as the third option behind Russell and Beverley.
Minnesota also made up for its lack of a first-round pick this year by signing 2020 first-rounder Leandro Bolmaro after stashing him in Spain for a year. It’s not the most satisfying consolation prize, since Bolmaro probably isn’t ready for regular NBA minutes and the team surely would’ve rather had the No. 7 pick it had to send to Golden State as part of last year’s Russell trade. But it’s better than nothing.
Just as it seemed like the Wolves were wrapping up a fairly quiet, uneventful offseason, the team shocked the basketball world by firing Rosas and replacing him with top lieutenant Sachin Gupta.
The timing of the move – which happened just days before training camp – raised eyebrows around the league, and while team ownership insisted it was performance-related, it’s safe to assume the extramarital relationship Rosas was reportedly having with a team staffer resulted in the team expediting his dismissal. While current owner Glen Taylor announced the decision, the incoming ownership group – which won’t take full control until 2023 – certainly would’ve been involved in those discussions too.
Rosas’ fingerprints all over the current roster, which he overhauled upon taking the reins in 2019. Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Okogie are the only players from the previous regime still with the current group, and Rosas mortgaged major draft capital in the trade for Russell. He may no longer be a part of Minnesota’s front office, but the way this year’s squad performs will be a reflection on Rosas’ team-building ability, for better or worse.
The Timberwolves’ season:
The Timberwolves won 19 games in 2019/20 and 23 in 2020/21. On paper, with so few changes to this year’s roster, there’s little reason to expect much improvement on those numbers.
But some better injury luck would go a long way toward allowing Minnesota to at least compete for a play-in spot. Good friends Towns and Russell have barely played together since D-Lo was acquired at the 2020 trade deadline, and Malik Beasley missed about half the team’s games last season due to injuries and a suspension.
Availability wasn’t a problem for Edwards, the one Minnesota player who appeared in all 72 games in ’20/21, but the club can still expect more from him in his sophomore season, as he appeared to be taking the first steps toward stardom in the second half of his rookie year.
The Wolves are probably a power forward away from becoming a legit playoff team (they’re one of the few clubs that would be a great fit for Ben Simmons, and they have interest). But there’s enough talent here to avoid another bottom-three finish in the West, and if things break right, a play-in spot could be in play.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
Chauncey Billups has been emphasizing defense and ball movement since he was hired as the Trail Blazers‘ head coach in June, and that combination was on display in a win over Phoenix Saturday night, writes Jason Quick of The Athletic. Billups inherited a team that reached the playoffs eight straight years under Terry Stotts, but has lost in the first round in four of the past five seasons. He is determined to take the Blazers to a new level, and he said that starts with breaking bad habits.
“I could have taken this job and just kept everything the same and said ‘All right, let’s be a little bit better defensively.’ But they (the players) want more. I want more,” Billups said after his first career coaching victory. “You can’t keep everything the same and expect different results. So, I could have done that. ‘We are going to run everything y’all used to run.’ Great offense, boom, bam. Well, there’s a ceiling on that, in my opinion. Not only in my opinion, we’ve seen it play out.”
The players seem to welcome the new approach, even though it’s delivered with a hard edge. Damian Lillard, who has been the subject of trade speculation, has said that talking to Billups made him more open to staying with the organization. Jusuf Nurkic was so inspired after hearing Billups’ introductory press conference that he flew from Bosnia to Portland to meet his new coach.
“He’s very detailed,” Nassir Little said. “And not just Chauncey, all the coaches. They are very detailed in what they are saying. They don’t let anything slide through the cracks as they are teaching. The way they break things down, from close-outs to footwork, to who goes where on rotations, it’s all so detailed.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Trail Blazers believe Norman Powell avoided a serious injury to his left knee Saturday night, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Powell left the game in the second quarter, but the results from initial tests are encouraging, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link). Powell will undergo an MRI, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian.
- Veteran guard Patrick Beverley has been impressed by the willingness to accept instruction he sees from his new Timberwolves teammate Anthony Edwards, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “A lot of young guys, especially No. 1 picks — that’s no discredit of course to anybody — guys think they’ve got it figured out already …” Beverley said. “He’s always wide-eyed, bushy tailed and eager to learn. He’s like a sponge. He soaks up everything.”
- Injuries limited Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to 35 games last season and he’s still adjusting to being back on a full-time schedule, notes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. “I think it only makes it harder the longer you go without playing,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “With that being said, it’s no excuse. Guys in the NBA do it all the time. I just gotta figure it out.”
- Patrick Beverley will make his Timberwolves debut on Saturday after serving a one-game league suspension. He’s says his impact on the young Minnesota roster will go beyond the stat sheet, Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. “Born leader, came natural for me since I was a kid, very outspoken,” Beverley said. “Even some of my ex-Clippers guards, teammates [Thursday] night after their loss to Golden State, they called me and we chopped it up a little bit. I always have a good positive spirit, positive energy. That just kind of rubs off on people every night.”
The NBA’s rookie scale, which determines the salaries first-round picks earn during their first four seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players when they reach restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”
Here’s how the starter criteria works in a typical year:
- A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency.
- A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games one year and 32 the next, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons is 41.
The first method of meeting the starter criteria will remain unchanged this season, but that second method will look a little different due to the truncated nature of the 2020/21 season.
For starter criteria purposes, the number of starts and minutes a player logged last season will be prorated upward by 82/72 to account for the 72-game schedule, Hoops Rumors has learned.
For example, Suns center Deandre Ayton started 69 games last season. Typically, Ayton would require 13 more starts this season to meet the starter criteria, since 82 total starts would get him to the required average of 41 over the last two seasons.
However, Ayton’s 69 starts last season came in just 72 regular season games. Prorated across a typical 82-game schedule, he would’ve made 78 starts. That means he’ll only need four starts this season to meet the starter criteria. In other words, he should get there next Wednesday, barring an injury.
Hornets forward Miles Bridges, meanwhile, only started 19 games last season, but he played 1,932 total minutes in Charlotte’s 72 games. That works out to 2,200 minutes when prorated across an 82-game schedule, meaning he’d require just 1,800 more this season in order to meet the starter criteria. Since he’s part of the Hornets’ starting five now, Bridges could also meet the criteria by simply getting to 41 starts in 2021/22.
A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:
- A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
- For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.
In most cases, a qualifying offer is a mere placeholder that allows a team to retain its right of first refusal on a restricted free agent — very few players actually accept the one-year offer. Still, a player who fails to meet the starter criteria could have his free agency reshaped by an adjusted qualifying offer.
For instance, Kings big man Marvin Bagley III would be in line for a qualifying offer worth $14,762,309 if he meets the starter criteria or just $7,228,448 if he doesn’t.
Bagley would need to start 35 games this season in order to meet the starter criteria, which might be a long shot, given that he’s out of the rotation for now. Still, a $7.2MM qualifying offer could be more palatable to the Kings – or whichever team has him on its roster by the end of the 2021/22 season – than a $14.8MM one would be. Somewhat paradoxically, Bagley may have a better chance of actually receiving his QO if he starts fewer games this season.
Collin Sexton (Cavaliers), Lonnie Walker (Spurs), Donte DiVincenzo (Bucks), and Josh Okogie (Timberwolves) are some of the other top candidates to meet the starter criteria this season. We’ll be keeping an eye on them and the rest of 2022’s RFAs-to-be over the next several months.
With the NBA regular season underway, most teams are taking full advantage of their ability to carry up to 17 players, including 15 on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals. As our roster counts page shows, 23 of the league’s 30 teams have full 17-man squads.
Most of the teams not carrying a 15th player on a standard contract are either over the luxury tax line or are bumping up against it, and have opted for financial savings for now. Those clubs are all decent bets to add a 15th man by season’s end, but likely won’t be in any rush to do so unless they face depth issues.
Here are the teams that are currently carrying just 14 players on their standard rosters:
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Utah Jazz
Of these six teams, three – the Bucks, Blazers, and Jazz – project to be taxpayers, while the Heat and Wolves would go over the tax line if they were to add a 15th man. The Suns are the only team in this group with no pressing tax concerns.
Meanwhile, there are two teams with an open two-way contract slot:
- Orlando Magic
- Phoenix Suns
The Magic’s inclusion here is a little surprising. They’re a rebuilding team with their own G League affiliate — it seems as if they’d benefit from taking a shot on a young prospect with that spot, and perhaps they will soon.
It’s less surprising that Phoenix is on this list. The Suns sold their G League affiliate last year, so they don’t have their own NBAGL team where they could send two-way players. Phoenix’s lone two-way player, Chandler Hutchison, will essentially serve as the team’s de facto 15th man for the time being.
The Timberwolves have picked up their third-year options on Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Both options are for the 2022/23 season.
The moves were a mere formality as Minnesota guaranteed the contracts of two of the team’s key players from last year’s draft.
Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick, averaged 19.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 2.9 APG in his stellar rookie season. He pumped in 23.8 PPG after the All-Star break.
McDaniels, the No. 28 pick, averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.7 RPG. He also ramped up his production after the All-Star break and is expected to start at power forward this season.
Edwards’ salary for 2022/23 will be $10.73MM, while McDaniels will get $2.16MM.
No rookie scale extension is expected for Anfernee Simons before today’s deadline, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the Trail Blazers want to see more from the fourth-year guard before committing to him beyond the 2021/22 season. The club believes Simons can be more consistent and productive under new head coach Chauncey Billups, Quick adds.
Simons hit 42.6% of his three-pointers last season for the Trail Blazers, but played a fairly modest role off the bench, with 7.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 64 games (17.3 MPG). He’ll be eligible for restricted free agency in 2022.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Chris Hine of The Star Tribune takes an in-depth look at the philosophy new Timberwolves head of basketball operations Sachin Gupta is bringing to the role. Despite not having any assurances that he’ll keep the job long-term, Gupta insists he doesn’t feel pressure to impress ownership by making a major move. “I couldn’t ask for anything better,” he said. “I don’t view it as like, ‘Oh I’ve got this for a time. I’ve got to try and prove myself and I’ve got to make a splash quickly and try to save the job.'”
- Speaking to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns compared staying in Minnesota to sticking with the Dominican Republic national team rather than reclassifying to play for Team USA. “I like taking the hard route. I like going the more rewarding route,” Towns said. “I love being with the Dominican Republic national team. There’s a lot of things they haven’t done, and I’m able to possibly change that. The challenge is what I’ve always strived for.”
- Thunder guard Vit Krejci, who had been dealing with visa issues, has been cleared to practice and play with the team, head coach Mark Daigneault said this weekend (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Krejci is expected to spend a good chunk of time this season with the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League.
OCTOBER 16: The Wolves have waived Edwards, according to an announcement from the team. Minnesota’s roster should now be set for the regular season, with 16 players under contract, including 14 on standard deals.
OCTOBER 15: The Timberwolves have signed forward Vince Edwards, per a team press release.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it’s almost certainly an Exhibit 10 contract. Edwards will likely be waived before the season starts and will be in line for a bonus of up to $50K if he sticks with the Iowa Wolves for at least 60 days.
Edwards was the 52nd overall pick of the 2018 draft after a very respectable four-year college career at Purdue. He played in two games for the Rockets in 2018-19, but only saw action for 16 total minutes. He’s spent the majority of the past three seasons in the G League, most recently with the OKC Blue.