Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Timberwolves Notes: Reid, Garza, Gobert

December 8th, 2022 at 9:22pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Timberwolves center Naz Reid is adjusting to life backing up Minnesota’s All-NBA frontcourt of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. That has meant playing power forward in addition to center.

“Guarding different players and position,” Reid said of the change. “It’s very different actually.”

With Towns sidelined indefinitely due to a right calf injury, the 6’9″ Reid will get additional rotation minutes as a reserve. He should see more time at the five rather than the four until Towns is back.

“I wouldn’t say I can’t play the four… it’s a big role I’m going to be in within the next couple weeks,” Reid said. “I’m excited to be in that role and excited to help our team.”

The fourth-year big man out of LSU is averaging 7.8 PPG on 52.8% shooting from the floor, along with 3.7 RPG and 0.9 BPG, across just 14.3 MPG.

There’s more out of Minnesota:

Two-way Timberwolves big man Luka Garza has recently shown out in his play for the team’s NBAGL affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Hines wonders in another piece if the 6’11” center/forward can become a part of Minnesota’s future. Garza’s 29.8 PPG, on 62.8% shooting, leads the entire NBA G League, and he has also put up 9.2 RPG and 3.2 APG. “I love this system that we play with here,” Garza said of the coordinated approach of both the Iowa and Minnesota franchises. “We play a lot through the bigs, Karl and Rudy. It’s very evident and it’s kind of the same thing with me down there. We’re not only put in positions to score but make decisions and get guys involved.” Hine notes that Garza could get additional time at the NBA level with Towns unavailable.
Rudy Gobert‘s new teammates continue to learn about how best to fit in with his game, Hines writes in another Star Tribune story. That extends to how Gobert feels about help coverage around the basket — he is not a fan. “When someone drives on me, unless I fall down, which doesn’t happen, just let me make a play,” Gobert said. “Then if they score, I’ll take the blame.”
Following a largely successful nine-season run with the Jazz, Gobert was flipped to Minnesota in the offseason. Now, he’s gearing up for his first game in Utah as an opposing player on Friday, Hine writes. “I just want to enjoy the moment,” Gobert said. “There’s a lot of people that I have a lot of love for over there. There’s a lot of great memories. … I just want to enjoy the moment and, of course, get a win.” Gobert won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and made three All-Star teams during his time with the Jazz, though his teams failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs.

Timberwolves Sign Matt Ryan To Two-Way Deal, Waive Lawson

December 8th, 2022 at 12:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 8: The Timberwolves have put out a press release officially announcing that they’ve signed Ryan to a two-way contract and waived Lawson.

DECEMBER 6: The Timberwolves are signing forward Matt Ryan to a two-way contract, Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweet. Minnesota will waive A.J. Lawson to make room for Ryan, Krawczynski adds in another tweet.

Ryan was waived by the Lakers last week.

Minnesota ranks 28th in 3-point shooting at 32.6% and hopes that Ryan can help in that area. He joined the Lakers on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract in September and earned a spot on the regular season roster.

Ryan made 13-of-35 attempts 3-point attempts (37.1%) for L.A. this season but only converted 2-of-14 two-pointers. In total, he averaged 3.9 PPG in 12 appearances (10.8 MPG).

Ryan went undrafted out of Chattanooga in 2020 and eventually landed with the Grand Rapids Gold in the G League in 2021/22. He made his NBA debut with the Celtics this past spring.

Lawson appeared in just one game for the Timberwolves after signing a two-way contract in mid-November. He was playing for the Hawks’ G League affiliate prior to inking that contract.

It’s the second time Minnesota has waived Lawson. He was previously signed on a two-way deal in July. The Wolves initially waived him to add Luka Garza in mid-October.

Tim Connelly: Wolves Expected “Growing Pains” With Rudy Gobert Trade

December 7th, 2022 at 5:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

President of basketball operations Tim Connelly admits the Rudy Gobert trade hasn’t been an immediate success for the Timberwolves, but he never expected it to be, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Connelly explains that Minnesota made the deal with Utah with the understanding that it would take time to adjust to a unique player like Gobert.

“We didn’t have expectations it was initially going to hit the ground running. We kind of expected a lot of growing pains there,” Connelly said. “So I think, individually, Rudy’s been fantastic. When we’re fully healthy, we’ve got to figure out how to most effectively employ all those guys. It’s a win-loss league. If we had three or four more wins right now, it would be an emphatic positive.”

Instead, the Wolves are in 11th place in the West at 11-12 and have rarely looked like the energetic team that raised expectations in last season’s playoffs. Gobert is averaging 11.2 PPG, his lowest scoring numbers in seven years, and his rebounding is down to 11.4 per game after he led the league last season at 14.7. Most alarming is that he’s averaging just 1.3 blocks per night, about half of what he did in his best seasons in Utah, after being brought to Minnesota as a rim protector.

Connelly believes the statistical decline has a lot to do with getting used to a new set of teammates, and he expressed confidence that Gobert will eventually bounce back. He also stressed that the team’s perimeter players have to do a better job of clogging the lane and not relying so much on Gobert.

“There’s not a rim protector in the world who can just face live-ball dribbles all game,” Connelly said. “It’s not going to work. We have had moments of that where, ‘Hey Rudy’s back there so I can play olé defense.’”

Connelly paid a high price to acquire Gobert, so he understands why fans are impatient. The Wolves parted with three players who were instrumental to last season’s success — Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Patrick Beverley — along with a collection of draft picks that stretch all the way to 2029.

One of the issues raised by those who questioned the trade was how Gobert would fit alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and whether having two big men on the court at the same time could be effective in today’s NBA. Krawczynski notes that Towns was adapting to Gobert as well as anyone before being sidelined with a calf strain. Towns has more assists to Gobert than anybody else on the team does, and his enthusiasm for making the pairing work is one reason that Connelly remains optimistic.

“We’re not going to bury our head in the sand and pretend it’s been flawless,” Connelly said. “We never expected that. When we made the trade, it wasn’t done without a lot of conversation, a lot of watching of tape.”

Garza Recalled From G League

December 6th, 2022 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Second-year big man Luka Garza has been recalled from the Iowa Wolves by the Timberwolves, the team’s PR department tweets. Garza, who is on a two-way contract, leads the G League at 29.8 points per game. He racked up 44 points and 15 rebounds against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Monday.

Finch: Timberwolves Lacking Leadership

December 6th, 2022 at 2:59pm CST by Luke Adams

Patrick Beverley is having a down year on the court in Los Angeles this season, but the Timberwolves have missed his locker room leadership, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Head coach Chris Finch said on Monday that the team is still seeking its identity and looking for leaders. “Everything about winning requires leadership. It’s something that we’ve not been great at,” Finch said. “We’re trying to find a voice collectively, trying to find a personality as a team. Those are things that we’ve got to keep working on, trying to cultivate as a team. That’s my job.”

Russell Fined For Inappropriate Language

December 5th, 2022 at 8:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was also ejected on Saturday, in that instance for tripping Thunder forward Kenrich Williams. “It was just frustration,” Gobert told Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter link). “Guys are going to talk. It’s a part of the game. Sometimes you can feel it’s disrespectful, but I got to be smarter than that. Penalizing my team, penalizing myself. So, just seems like for me, I got to be smarter.”

Wendell Moore Earns Surprise Start In Towns' Absence

December 3rd, 2022 at 11:02am CST by Luke Adams

In their first game without Karl-Anthony Towns available on Wednesday, the Timberwolves turned to rookie Wendell Moore to fill out their starting lineup. As Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes, Moore – who had played just 11 total minutes in four NBA appearances prior to Wednesday – was as surprised as anyone by the decision. “I came here and it was just another day,” this year’s No. 26 overall pick said after playing 20 minutes in a win over Memphis. “Came to get my work in. I was going to cheer my teammates on and just get this win. Once I got the news, I knew I had to shift my mind-set into gear and be ready to go.”

Karl-Anthony Towns Sidelined 4-To-6 Weeks With Strained Calf

November 29th, 2022 at 12:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

A right calf strain that Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns suffered Monday night will force him to miss approximately four-to-six weeks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He’s expected to make a full recovery and return to the court sometime in January, Wojnarowski adds.

Towns underwent an MRI on Tuesday morning that showed no structural damage to his Achilles, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Towns left Monday’s game in the third quarter after being injured on a non-contact play. He grabbed the back of his leg and needed help walking to the locker room.

Although there were fears that it could have been worse, the injury is still a major loss for the Wolves, who are off to a 10-11 start after losing Monday. Towns, a three-time All-Star, is averaging 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists through 21 games and is a major component in the team’s offense.

Towns has been adjusting to a new position after Minnesota traded for center Rudy Gobert during the summer. Their on-court partnership has gotten off to a rocky start, and Towns’ absence will provide another setback.

Karl-Anthony Towns Diagnosed With Calf Strain, Will Undergo MRI

November 28th, 2022 at 9:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves star forward Karl-Anthony Towns will be further evaluated on Tuesday after an initial diagnosis of a right calf strain, Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets.

Towns suffered a non-contact injury during the third quarter of Minnesota’s contest against Washington on Monday night. He grabbed at the back of his leg as tried to head down the court. Towns needed assistance to be helped back to the locker room.

“Obviously super-concerned about that. Big blow for us,” coach Chris Finch said (Twitter link via David Aldridge of The Athletic).

Towns will get an MRI but there’s some early optimism that he may have avoided a substantial injury, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

It has been a disappointing season so far for the Timberwolves, whose record dropped to 10-11 with a loss to the Wizards. They were expected to be serious contenders in the Western Conference after the blockbuster trade with Utah that brought center Rudy Gobert to Minnesota.

An extended absence for Towns would make it much more difficult for a turnaround. He’s averaging 21.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

The Timberwolves frontcourt is already dealing with the absence of Taurean Prince, who expected to be out a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury. Jaden McDaniels missed Monday’s game due to an illness.

Northwest Notes: Gobert, Prince, Brown, Wiggins

November 26th, 2022 at 9:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rudy Gobert understood that the Timberwolves‘ adjustment wouldn’t be easy after shaking up their roster to acquire him from Utah, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Not only did Minnesota give up five players in the deal, the team committed to an entirely different style of play with Gobert clogging the middle and forming a modern-day Twin Towers alongside Karl-Anthony Towns.

Nineteen games into the season, Gobert’s concerns have been proven correct. The Wolves are a game above .500, but they’ve had some ugly losses along the way, including Friday’s at Charlotte, where it’s seemed like the pieces don’t really fit together.

“Each bad game, they’re going to be ready to talk. That’s great. We love it,” Gobert said before the season began. “That’s part of the process. Nothing great comes easy. If it was going to happen in one game, that wouldn’t be worth having. We gotta work hard and work every night to get better.”

After a 5-8 start, Minnesota had strung together five straight wins before Friday. But perimeter defenders have been relying too much on Gobert to bail them out after their man drives by, Krawczynski observes, and the chemistry between Gobert and D’Angelo Russell on the pick-and-roll remains a work in progress.

“Sometimes, you know, passes are tough. Sometimes I fumble it,” Gobert said. “Most of the time, I get it and something good happens. As long as we can keep that trust and I can try to put myself in the right spots for him to find me and whether it’s that pocket pass or that lob, any pass actually, just trusting me.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince suffered a right shoulder subluxation during Wednesday’s game and could miss a week or two, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Coach Chris Finch said Jordan McLaughlin is “more in the day-to-day category” with a left calf injury.
Bruce Brown continues to look like a major free agency bargain for the Nuggets, Mike Singer of The Denver Post notes. Brown posted his first career triple-double Wednesday to help Denver pull out a win despite the absence of four rotation players. “Some guys are in the foxhole with you, some guys, like they’ve got one foot in, one foot out,” Malone said. “Bruce is, he’s all the way in.”
Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins has the unusual distinction of five starts and five DNP-CDs already this season, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Coach Mark Daigneault explained that it’s a result of having so many young players to develop.