Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Thunder, Doncic, Spurs’ Arena, Edwards

April 30th, 2024 at 10:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Youth and playoff inexperience didn’t matter in the Thunder‘s sweep of the Pelicans in the opening round. They’re the youngest team in NBA history to win a playoff series and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon notes that the Thunder got only one basket in the entire series from a player older than 25 (Twitter link).

“There’s a difference between age and maturity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, per The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry. “And we have a mature team. We have a committed team.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

Mavericks star Luka Doncic has been fighting through a knee injury since the first quarter of Game 3 of their series against the Clippers, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. Game 5 will be played on Wednesday. “It’s hurting, obviously, but it shouldn’t be an excuse, man,” Doncic said after the Game 4 loss. “We just came out a little sloppy. We’ve got to do way better than that.”
There’s a hush-hush tone to the discussions about San Antonio building a downtown arena for the Spurs, Molly Smith of the Express-News reports. City officials have not only been trying to keep their talks secret, they’ve signed legally binding contracts that would penalize them for saying anything about the discussions, or even acknowledging that they’re considering building a new arena. The project, if it advances, could cost $1 billion or more, and San Antonio taxpayers could be asked to foot at least part of the bill.
Anthony Edwards has quickly grown into a leadership role on the Timberwolves at a young age, according to Chris Hine of the Minnepolis Star Tribune. “One thing about Ant, he’s become more of a vocal leader,” assistant coach Micah Nori said. “But he’s also one of those guys that he puts in the work, so guys see him working. He’s got some self humor — you’ve seen all of his interviews — he’s the first one to congratulate and move all of his glory or whatever over to his teammates.”

Tim Connelly Among Potential Targets For Pistons’ President Opening

April 30th, 2024 at 6:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons would be interested in Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly if Connelly exercises the opt-out clause in his contract with Minnesota at the end of the season, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack post.

The dispute between current Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor and minority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore could cause Connelly to weigh his future in Minnesota. Connelly signed a five-year, $40MM contract with the organization in 2022. The Pistons announced after their season ended that they would hire a president of basketball operations.

Here’s more info on the Pistons’ search for a new president, via Stein:

Detroit’s search is expected to ramp up during the second and third rounds of the playoffs, when more potential candidates will be available for interviews. Stein confirms that Bucks general manager – and former Pistons employee – Jon Horst will be a candidate if he is willing to move on from Milwaukee.
Mavericks consultant and former Jazz executive Dennis Lindsey is another name to watch for the basketball ops position, per Stein.
J.J. Redick, a candidate for the Hornets’ coaching vacancy, could get an interview if he’s interested in a front office job, Stein says. Pistons chairman Arn Tellem represented Redick in his days as a player agent.
The new president of basketball operations will have the ability to decide whether current GM Troy Weaver will remain in his position, be reassigned to a different front office role, or get cut loose, according to Stein. The new exec will also determine whether head coach Monty Williams, who just completed the first year of a six-year contract worth nearly $80MM, will remain in his position.

Celtics’ Brad Stevens Named NBA’s Executive Of The Year

April 30th, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has been named the NBA’s Executive of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced today (via Twitter).

In his third season as the Celtics’ head of basketball operations after eight years as the team’s head coach, Stevens put together a dominant Boston roster that posted a 64-18 record, easily the best mark in the NBA, along with a +11.7 net rating, the third-best mark in league history.

The Celtics were coming off a 57-win season in 2022/23, but Stevens shook up the roster drastically last summer, trading away longtime defensive stalwart Marcus Smart in a deal for Kristaps Porzingis, then moving key role players Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams in a a blockbuster for Jrue Holiday as training camps got underway.

Stevens also signed several Celtics players to contract extensions in the past 12 months, including Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and Holiday.

Unlike the NBA’s other major awards, the Executive of the Year is voted on by 29 team executives from around the league rather than 99 media members. Stevens received 16 of 29 potential first-place votes, along with six second-place votes and three third-place votes, for a total of 101 points (Twitter link).

The runner-up, Sam Presti of the Thunder, had 47 points, including four first-place votes. Tim Connelly of the Timberwolves also earned the top spot on four ballots en route to a third-place finish (29 points).

Knicks president Leon Rose (27 points; one first-place vote) was the only other executive to earn more than 11 points, though Nico Harrison (Mavericks) and Monte McNair (Kings) also received first-place votes, while Rockets general manager Rafael Stone earned a pair of them. A total of 13 executives showed up on at least one ballot.

Wolves’ Finch To Undergo Knee Surgery; Availability For Game 1 TBD

April 30th, 2024 at 9:14am CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, who sustained a torn right patellar tendon during a sideline collision with point guard Mike Conley in Sunday’s Game 4 victory over Phoenix, will undergo surgery on Wednesday to repair the tear, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.

Barring any unexpected complications following that surgery, Finch should be able to travel to Denver with his team on Friday ahead of the start of the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday, per Wojnarowski and Shelburne. However, it remains to be seen whether the head coach will be able to join the Wolves on the bench for Game 1.

As ESPN’s reporters explain, Finch’s right leg will have to be immobilized in a brace during the early stages of his rehabilitation. If it’s not practical for him to sit on the bench at the start of the series vs. Denver, he’ll have to communicate to the bench from Minnesota’s locker room, with assistant Micah Nori acting as head coach.

While the Wolves are fortunate not to be missing any key players due to injuries, they’ll need every edge they can get heading into a huge second-round series against the defending-champion Nuggets. Finch’s situation isn’t ideal, especially with Minnesota up against one of the NBA’s top tacticians in Michael Malone, so hopefully he’s able to safely and comfortably return to his spot on the bench as soon as possible.

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.

Wolves Notes: Finch, Conley, Edwards, Reid

April 29th, 2024 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves‘ only major injury concern after their first-round series involves head coach Chris Finch, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Finch suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right leg during a collision with Mike Conley late in Sunday’s game (video link). Conley was dribbling along the sidelines when Devin Booker bumped him into Finch, who fell to the court in pain.

“I didn’t see him at first, I was just trying to push the ball up the floor and Book hip checked me out of bounds,” Conley said.

The injury capped a memorable day for Finch, who finished third in the Coach of the Year balloting, then won his first playoff series as a head coach. He was able to celebrate with the team in the locker room, sitting on a chair as players gathered around him. Finch had to use crutches as he left the arena, and no announcement has been made about treatment plans. The series sweep gives him a few days to rest before the start of the second round.

“Prayers up for him,” Conley said. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. We’ll do it for him and we’ll keep it moving.”

There’s more on the Wolves:

Anthony Edwards has been considered a future star, but his performance against Phoenix shows he’s in that category already, observes James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Edwards scored 40 points on Sunday to finish off the Suns, and he served as the team’s emotional leader throughout the series with a mixture of highlight plays and trash talking. “He’s the face of the league,” Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters after the game. “He hates when I say it, but it’s true. Like I said, ‘Future so bright, got to put the sunglasses on.’”
It took time for Edwards to earn Finch’s trust, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Although he was the top pick in the 2020 draft, Edwards’ game was unrefined when he entered the league, which caused friction with his coach. “Imma be honest. At first it was like, up and down,” Edwards said. “He don’t want me doing this. He want me to do this. We fighting. Which is like a regular coach-player relationship. … But probably the end of my second year, going into those playoffs, we gained each other’s trust. We took off ever since then.”
Naz Reid was honored to be selected as Sixth Man of the Year earlier this week, Krawczynski tweets. It’s a significant accomplishment for a player who never averaged more than 20 minutes per game before this season. “To get this award is a monumental moment for myself,” Reid said, “just to see how far I’ve come since I started this journey.”

Wolves Notes: Edwards, Phoenix Series, NAW, Defense

April 27th, 2024 at 8:06am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Timberwolves blew out the Suns for a third straight game in the first round of the playoffs on Friday. Anthony Edwards impressed with his shot-making in Game 1; his play-making stood out in Game 2; and in Game 3, he put it all together, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes. Edwards had 36 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the 126-109 win to bring the Wolves within one win of their first playoff series win 20 years.

“He’s a smart player he just has had a lot to learn and he’s learned it a lot,” head coach Chris Finch said. “He’s benefiting and we’re really benefiting.”

Edwards has outplayed Phoenix star Devin Booker through three games, averaging 28.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists to Booker’s 20.3 PPG and 6.0 APG. No team has ever come back from the 3-0 deficit which Phoenix finds itself in.

“We don’t think we broke their spirit until we win Game 4,” Edwards said. “We gotta win Game 4 and then we can say we broke their spirit. You never know man, a lot of crazy things happen.”

For his part, Edwards said he isn’t planning on relenting any time soon.

“I just want to kill everything in front of me,” Edwards said, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). “That’s the main thing, pretty much. That’s all there is to it.”

We have more notes on the Wolves:

The Wolves have fully arrived, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic writes. After years without one, Minnesota has an identity, characterized by elite defense and stars. “I don’t care what happened beforehand,” Finch said. “The reality is that we have a bunch of guys who love playing together, play hard and play the right way. They’re young. They let me coach them hard. It’s been fun. That’s been the foundation of being able to grow this little by little. A long way to go for us, but we don’t really care what happened before because that doesn’t relate to any of us.“
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who was widely viewed as a throw-in in the Mike Conley trade at the 2023 deadline, has come up huge in the playoffs. Alexander-Walker, making $4.3MM next season, hit four big three-pointers in the third quarter and the Wolves outscored Phoenix 32-16 in his minutes. Through three games, he’s averaging 14.7 PPG and 4.0 APG and is shooting 39.1% from deep on 7.7 attempts per contest. Finch complimented the fifth-year guard’s defense and shot-making after the game, according to James Edwards (Twitter link). Alexander-Walker said the credit goes to his teammates, Hine writes. “[Anthony Edwards] trusts me,” Alexander-Walker said. “I think the cool thing about it is none of those shots really go in tonight without the trust of my teammates. To have that feeling, it’s a really good one.“
While they allowed 109 points in Game 3, the Wolves held Phoenix under 100 points in each of the first two games of the series. Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune analyzes seven plays that highlight Minnesota’s dominance on defense. In the regular season, the Wolves led the league in defensive rating and opposing points per game.

Finch "Clearly The Right Coach" For The Wolves, Says Reusse

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

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.

Wolves’ Naz Reid Named Sixth Man Of The Year

April 24th, 2024 at 5:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Timberwolves big man Naz Reid has been named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced on Wednesday evening (via Twitter).

A former undrafted free agent, Reid averaged 13.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 0.9 BPG on .477/.414/.736 shooting in 81 games this season (24.2 MPG).

Reid is the first player in Timberwolves franchise history to win the Sixth Man award, per a team press release.

The 24-year-old was a major reason why Minnesota didn’t skip a beat when Karl-Anthony Towns was sidelined with a knee injury late in the season. The Wolves went 14-6 without Towns and 56-26 overall, good for the No. 3 seed in the West.

The voting was remarkably close (Twitter link via the NBA). In fact, it was the smallest margin between first- and second-place finishers since the current voting format was implemented 21 years ago, according to the league (via Twitter).

Reid finished with 45 first-place votes, 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes for a total of 352 points. Runner-up Malik Monk had the exact same number of second- and third-place votes, but finished with two fewer first-place votes for 342 total points.

Kings guard Monk appeared in 72 games this season for Sacramento, all off the bench. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 5.1 APG on .443/.350/.829 shooting in 26.0 MPG.

Bucks big man Bobby Portis, who finished third in Sixth Man voting last season, finished a distant third again in ’23/24, receiving 81 total points. He averaged 13.8 PPG and 7.4 RPG on .508/.407/.790 shooting without missing a game this season for Milwaukee (24.5 MPG).

Clippers wing Norman Powell (65 points) and Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (40 points) finished fourth and fifth in voting, respectively. No other player received more than three points.

Powell actually received the most third-place votes of any player, but fewer first- and second-place votes than Portis, which is why he finished behind Milwaukee’s forward/center.

Jose Alvarado, Russell Westbrook, T.J. McConnell, Jonathan Isaac, Jaime Jaquez, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Bojan Bogdanovic all received at least one vote.

Wolves Notes: McDaniels, Gobert, Edwards, Towns

April 24th, 2024 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels had arguably the best game of his four-year NBA career on Tuesday vs. Phoenix, posting 25 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. The Wolves outscored the Suns by 24 points in the 41 minutes he played and were outscored by 12 points during the seven minutes he was on the bench.

As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes, McDaniels has waited all year to shine on this sort of stage after feeling as if he let down his teammates last spring by punching a wall after the regular season finale, breaking his hand and ending his season. The young forward didn’t realize when he went to hit a canvas awning out of frustration that there was a concrete wall behind it, but still felt embarrassed about the injury — and distraught that he wasn’t available to help his club in the playoffs.

“I was sick just watching them play (vs. Denver in last year’s first round),” McDaniels said. “I just felt like it would have been different if I got hurt playing, trying to battle. Just hurting myself, I felt selfish.”

The incident didn’t dissuade the Timberwolves from investing long-term in McDaniels, who signed a five-year, $131MM rookie scale extension in the fall. But he has still been waiting all year for the opportunity to redeem himself in the postseason — through the first two games against Phoenix, he’s well on his way to delivering on that goal.

“His activity’s been on another level so far in two games,” head coach Chris Finch said of McDaniels.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

McDaniels’ strong play in the series vs. Phoenix certainly hasn’t escaped the notice of Suns head coach Frank Vogel, who suggested before Game 2 that his team needs to prepare a plan of attack for the defensive standout. “He’s outstanding,” Vogel said, per Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. “His length, his athleticism, his quickness, his speed. He’s a great defensive player. We have to make sure we attack him the right away.”
Despite appearing likely to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award this spring, Rudy Gobert was voted in The Athletic’s player poll as the NBA’s most overrated player. No one within the Wolves’ organization feels that way though, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who suggests that Gobert’s intensity and attention to detail are key reasons why the club didn’t lose three straight games all season. “There’s a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don’t lose,” Finch said. “And Rudy is the reason we don’t lose. He doesn’t let us lose these games. He’s been this way all season. He’s an incredible floor raiser and he just brings it and he knows when the team needs him to do this the most. That’s one of the many reasons he’s so valuable for us.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon published a similar feature on Gobert this week, exploring why the French center seems to rub so many of his fellow NBA players the wrong way — and why that no longer bothers Gobert.
Speaking to Taylor Rooks of TNT Sports (Twitter video link), Anthony Edwards expressed a belief that he and Karl-Anthony Towns are the NBA’s top duo. If the Wolves advance to the second round, they’d likely be on track to square off against another duo that believes it’s the league’s best: Nuggets stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.