What is up, fellow thermonuclear A efforts. I am Dan Valley coming at
you with another Hardwood Knox look ahead. We're onto the Minnesota Timberwolves. I
am very excited to be joined by who can now be called the frequent guest
of the podcast, Derek James. Follow him on Twitter at Derek James NBA.
That's at d E r e K James NBA. All of that spelt
exactly as it sounds. After Derek, he covers the Minnesota Timberwolves for his
own sub stack, now called by Derek James. If you follow him on
Twitter, you can click on that link and subscribe. I highly recommend his
coverage, and if you've listened to this podcast for a while, you know
that he's been on a few times already and there's no one else I'd rather
talk Minnesota Timberwolves yet with out there the important question I will ask, though,
Derek, how the heck are you doing doing well? How about yourself?
I am spectacular very excited to talk to mittor sort the Timberwolves with you.
Very excited to hear that you're you're back to writing again. I know
you came on last year and you were like, well, I don't know
if you still want me to come on, because I'm not really writing anywhere
at the moment. I was like, definitely still want you on, but
I'm excited that you get to write again because it seems like you missed it.
Yeah. No, it was definitely a great time having been back,
and I think just I think I was always kind of sort of figuring out
how I wanted to do it instead of just being you know, tied to
a website and being accountable to an editor or a staff as well. You
know, I was kind of look at it, you know, like you're
part of a team. And I mean, as it was, I was
like, I'm not really interested in doing you know, game recaps stuff like
that. Like I feel like, you know, I put in those times
like I was able to, you know, get up, you know and
do this semi professionally for a while. But I just want to write.
And so it's been a lot of fun, I think you and it launched
at a weird time, I think during August, and but it was nice
because there was a WNBA playoffs, there was international ball, so it was
good to write w NBA again and some you know, some NBA stuff that
came in. I you know, I think the last one was out September,
not September, but last Saturday. So I'm still it's kind of an
on time because I've worked in between vacations, and I just want to make
sure that I think the next one will will probably be out soon. If
anyone wants to follow, yeah, I would recommend following along. And my
feeling is this team, specifically the Numberwolves, are gonna give you quiet a
little bit to write about this year. And when I was putting together this
outline, I had really had no idea where to start because there's so many
things I want to ask you, and so to begin sort of generally like
factoring in all the moves that they've made. Are there any just theme or
thoughts from the offseason entering this year that are really sticking with you as we
head into twenty two twenty three. Yeah, So I think what really resonated
with me was after the Rudy Gobert trade, when Tim Connolly was talking about,
you know, why they made this move and why they hid the price
that they did, was you know, wanting to take kind of that next
step and maybe that they've sort of maxed out that roster. You could have
kept your picks. You could have brought Patrick Beverley back, you know for
another year, kept our guy Jared Vanderbilt. But you know, it must
you know, so Anthony Edwards and some other guys were really going to take
those big steps. It was he was probably right. And so I just
think it's incredibly cool when teams, you know, are actually going for because
they know that. You know, over the years, I think, you
know, we've had a lot of conversations about teams not trying to win,
not necessarily trying to lose, but not necessarily trying to win either. So
it's cool when these teams are going all in on that. Even if at
a lot like is Rudy Gobert going to be on the roster when that twenty
twenty nine pick conveys to Utah, you might not even be in the NBA.
But Cavilty thirty four, wrapping up his career, you know, hopefully
in Minnesota, but you know, but it could very well be elsewhere too.
But it's you know, you you want to see a team like this,
you know, get back to the playoffs, you know, steal a
couple of games. I mean, they very well could have won that Memphis
series. It wasn't for a couple of good adjustments. But just see that
and go, well, you know, we're we came this far, you
know, how do we get even further? Like I think them going on
and taking that next step is pretty cool to see for a team that you
know, really has not mattered for the bulk of their existence. You know,
for a lot of those KG or even I mean KG was the reason
they mattered. So I just think that I think the big team there is
sort of taking that next step forward and not just hoping to get lucky and
you know, repeat the success of last year, just get back to where
they were, but a team that aggressively, you know, look to take
that next step. And that was my initial reaction because I do, and
I just want your thoughts on like the actual cost they paid to get Rudy
Gobert, But when you look at what the Timberwolves gave up for Gobert,
when you look at what Atlanta gave up for Murray and then Cleveland for Dono
Mitchell, the fact that it was these three teams from you know, they're
all like good markets in their own sense, but like their non flagship markets
and the fact that they were this aggressive. As a fan of whatever team,
you should want that, because you should want more than a handful of
teams to act this aggressively, and you should want the sort of you know,
mysterity that comes with holy shit, Cleveland came out of left field and
just traded for Donovan Mitchell or Minnesota was flirting with the idea of giving up
a lot less for Miles Turner and then said, fuck it, let's give
up everything for Rudy Gobert. I want teams. There's a conversation that we
had about the opportunity cost and the fit, to be sure, but I'm
a fan of teams going for it like that's at the end of the day.
I don't think you need to be championship or bust all the time,
but the endgame is to be one of the best teams in the league,
contending for, if not winning a title, and that's what the Timberwolves were
angling for with this move. And I think, regardless of how you feel
about the fit, there's at least a pathway to that happening now that didn't
exist before this trade happened. Yeah, and I think you know, I
look at like and I think you just talk about like how much it excites
these fans that especially in Minnesota, that have not been you know, that's
excited and so long. But then you know, like you think, like,
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that Lebron James going to the
Lakers was bad for the NBA. It's probably been great for the NBA.
They also want a title like, so actually, undoubtedly good for the NBA.
But it's also great when these non traditional markets have something, you know,
fun to be excited about. I you know, I don't really know
the last time that you know, a team like the Cavaliers, you know,
we're in independent of Lebron exciting, you know, but now they are.
I don't know. Yeah, I think Mark Price was probably still on
the team like it wasn't when you know, overweight Sean Kemp was on the
roster. Still No, but yeah, I think you're right. In general,
it's cool when all these you know, different fan bases from these teams
that were not as familiar with are given something to be excited about, and
you know, it just adds intrigue to the rest of the lead. And
so ultimately, like what did you just make of what they actually gave up
to get Rudy g Golbert? Did that take you back? Like were you
taken aback at all when you first saw the report? And even now we're
two plus months later or whatever it is that you had time to digest it,
is it still like you what are just your impressions of how much they
the opportunity cost of making this happen. Yeah, so I mean this is
definitely just about all the pieces they can give for now. So I know
my initial reaction to the Timberwolves are acquiring you know, Rudy Gobert, It's
like, shit, what's like this team doesn't do that. The Jimmy Butler
trade might have been the previous biggest trade, and you know before that,
I don't know, like this is not a team that does this sort of
thing. So that was interesting. And then I know, I was talking
to some people on Twitter like before, waiting for you know, the field
to come out, more detail about the deal to come out, and it's
like, Okay, the players like Malie Beasley kind of useful but frustrating,
and I'm not upset that I don't have to watch him and aunt on a
two on one look up Aunts treaking to the basket to pull up for a
jumper, Like I don't, I don't, I don't need to see that
again. But you know, he's just fo rotation player. Jared Vanderbilt.
We like Jared Vanderbilt, but do I trade him? I traded him for
Rudy Gobert every single time, Like that's that's really a question to me,
you know, So there's really you know, and I know they can walk
Kessler, but these are not guys that stopped me from requiring Rudy Gobert,
no question, But the pick the picks suddenly took me back. That was
a hard one to deal with at first, and I looked at it,
you know, I think, like I said earlier, like you know,
is Rudy Gobert going to be in the league in twenty twenty nine, Like
that's you know, he's in good health, you know, knock on wood,
but there's no guarantees in the league in twenty twenty nine. Cat will
be, you know, at the end of his prime. You know,
by the time that picks picking bays and you know, how are you going
to be able to supplements the talent on this roster. But then I kind
of look at it and I think, you know what we talked about earlier,
like how awesome is that you know they went all in to get to
get better, to raise the ceiling on this team. You know, even
if you know they probably don't win a championship, it's very unlikely, but
you know, winning the playoff series that is a notable deal for this franchise.
Winning two would be huge. Like you know, it's it's okay to
be very good to great sometimes and you know what, you stay good,
you keep yourself competitive and a little luck the right matchup you could find yourself,
you know, maybe stealing a series that you shouldn't have. I'm not
saying, you know, they could eventually win the championship with this site.
Generally, I don't expect the Minneptember Rules to be a championship team, but
you never know how far they can go with this sort of thing. I
mean. And what a ringing endorsement of the rest of the locker room too,
where you know, as you have a guy like Anthony Edwards, you
know who you know that some people might you know, could look at and
be like, oh man, if he was in La or New Yorker,
Miami or we know wherever. You know he could be, you know,
he'd be the biggest star in the league. And then but then for them
to be like, yeah, we think, we think you're gonna be so
good right now, we are willing to trade all this to get this guy
to help make this team even better because we know that you're going to be
just as they go apart to take that to the next level. And there's
definitely a lot of faith too, and some of the guys down the roster
I think to get better. I mean I was thinking about it before I
came on. This is probably one of the first iterations of the Wolves that
have actually drafted and developed players, Guys like nas Read and you know,
Geordan mcgwe Offlin and Jaylen Nowell, Like these are all guys that have been
here four or five years at this point. There have been stretches of time
I've been covering this team alone where four to five years have passed and there
would be one guy from the start of that period of time that was still
on the roster. I mean, there's been so much turnover in this franchise
that, you know, I think that if they were ever going to make
a deal like this. It makes sense for them to do it now because
they have developed and drafted so well for the first time in their franchise.
At some point, you know, I guess you got to you gotta take
your shot. And I think there's definitely some upsides of this. It's not
all championship or bust, I think, but there's definitely a chance to just
really paid off for them. I think it was also sort of indicative of
just like that's the cost it is to bring in stars. Now we saw
it with Ana Mita Free Agencies. There's not the same type of movement and
I, as you mentioned, I would just echo you didn't give up any
core players, and so that's why the draft pick equity is so up scene
if you want to call it that, Like you didn't have to give up
Iffy Edwards or Karl Anthony Towns liken't even to give Jenny McDaniels. Like you
paid the premium to keep these guys and get Rudy Gobert, which I respect.
The actual fit though, let's start on the offensive side. I think
it's dynamite. What do you make of the fit between not just Rudy Gobert,
Karl Anthony Towns, which everyone will be most fascinated by, but Rudy
Gobert and the rest of this team in general. Yeah, I mean,
I think the cat one is kind of easy to see. I think one
other lingering thought that I had right after what with Kat was this pretty much
seems to be the team, you know, saying, look, we're not
going to ask you to play center anymore, like we know now after how
long has you been in this now? I mean was the seventh year,
Like we know that you're not going to be able to play you know,
center on the defensive end in this league. And I mean it seems like
that's not necessarily an indictment. But I think maybe the team just you know,
sort of coming to terms with that and no longer trying to you know,
fit a square peg into the round hole. But the rest of the
team, I think that, you know, I think one of the interesting
things that I first thought of was, oh, well, D'angela Russell.
I mean, it kind of seems like, you know, he's gonna be
odd man. Now, he might be kind of expensive, you know,
he's kind of an inconsistent player. I think I was talking to Brit Robinson
on Twitter about this and he was like, oh, man, the lobs
that he's gonna have for Gobert, And I think, you know, and
I think probably on the other end, having someone behind him to clean up
those defensive mistakes is going to be extremely valuable too. Was actually chewing my
puppy, was chewing a pen, and I did not want him to get
to all of that. So I hope you were. I hope you were
able to stop him. I think though, on defense, do you think
the like, how do you feel about the defensive fit? Do you think
that the Wolves are still going to play ultra aggressive like they did a lot
of times last year? They're gonna be a little bit more conservative because of
having Rudy Gobert. They're just what do you sort of make about what this
team should look like and be like defensively with him? Yeah, I'm definitely
expecting them to be a little less aggressive because I mean I was even rewatching
some of the Memphis series and just how you know, how high they were
playing, you know, how they were getting to the ball like it was.
It was really incredible just to revisit them. Wow, like that that's
pretty aggressive. Like John Morant from thirty Ze. I mean, don't let
him get ahead of seam, but if he wants to pull up, by
all means, and you know, so I imagine that having that extra safety
net back there. And I think that was also you know, one thing
we saw in that Memphis series with how guys like Brandon Clark were able to
just get and you know, get inside easily. John Morant is a great
player, but you know, there really wasn't anyone to deter him from doing
that. And given that this is such a wing driven league, I think
that just you know, even having and Gobert back there is going to make
such a difference. I mean, I know that guys like Gobert are necessarily
deterrence and sometimes I think we saw like with Andrew Wigan. You know,
he would seem like he would target Rudy Gilbert is young, he would have
been dunk on the seven foot three guy or how Verdally is. But I
think having someone else there, maybe me makes them think twice or even alter
the shot at the rim. I think there's definitely some value in that.
So yeah, I would definitely anticipate them probably being a little less aggressive on
that end and just playing a little safer interest in you know, your multi
time defensive player of the year. And we'll say, given how good I
think Ammy Edwards already, is it just like general on ball defense, the
idea of him maybe being able to like his gambles, like not hurting the
Wolves off the ball as much if he wants to, because Rudy Gobert is
just there to clean up things around the basket. It kind of makes me
just super excited. And I think you look at this team and given how
good Anthony Edwards already is on defense, and having Jade McDaniels there, having
a good high IQ guy like Yil Anderson there as well, I think this
team could wind up being special defensively in a way that even a lot of
people who are considering the best case outcomes haven't talked about just yet. And
maybe because it's hard, I'm not sure people understand. And maybe I don't
understand because I don't consider myself like this super good X's an NOS guy like
Anthony Edwards to me is already just a good defender, and like now you
have Gobert and him another year into like Edwards is now another year into his
career, and I really like Kyle Anderson evenough to fit on this team's a
little bit wonky offensively, and Jane McDaniels is still here. I just think
they could be really special on the that end of the floor. Yeah,
I think there's a lot of potential. I don't think we know yet how
good Anthony Edwards can be on that end, because you know, he was
so young when he came into the league. It was clear that you know,
before Tim Creaney probably had n't been coached a time. I haven't remembered
times in his rookie season when like Jared Vanderbilt would be you know, directing
him to his spots on the defensive end, like he had just had no
idea aware to be. And so the fact that you know he's really get
to this point, you know where you're able to say those things about him
now where he's no longer that liability is you know, super encouraging. I
think given his size, like he should be a good defender. I think
just you know, just showing up on the court, you know, he
should be physically has all the tools to be a good defender. And I
think, you know, learning more and getting more experience. I think it's
really going to help him. I think, you know, of course,
on both ends. And Jada McDaniels, I mean, it looked like I
thought a picture of him that he posted, and it looks like he's put
on weight. And the scary thing was even when he was a rookie and
you know, he really had that slender frame. He held his own against
some big guys. So if he's adding extra strength, I think it's only
going to make him more formidable down low. Do you have any concerns about
this? I call it a dual big setup, but just like the roster
now in general, and I think a lot of people have pointed to playoff
basketball because of how targeted offense has become and how they then might try and
pick apart and exploit the dual big set up in Minnesota. Is that your
actual concern or do you have another overarching concern about how all this pans out?
It's certainly a possibility. I also don't think that Golbert has had anyone
like cat next to him. I mean, Derek s favors Is, you
know, was a fine player in his day. He was an NBA starter
for years he has no Carl Anthony Towns. There was no Carl Anthony town
So, I you know, I think having a player that where his skill
sets kind of sort of compliment supplement Gobert's in a way could help their case
there. But yeah, I mean, of course there is I mean cats,
you know, I had to struggles on that end. Gobert has also
been sort of played off the floor. I know people hate when they say
that, but there's there have been issues with teams attacking Gilbert for one reason
or the other, you know, in the playoffs. So yeah, I
think there's definitely possibilities of all that there. It's definitely not a certainty.
But I think my thing is going just get to the playoffs, you know,
Like I think that's the big thing. He's like, well what about
this or that. It's like, I think, get there, Like that's
that's the big thing. I think they will figure it out. I think
that early on Chris Finch showed a lot of attitude of working these these things
in. I know, like I felt very different about watching D'Angel Russell under
Chris Finch than I did watching him under Ryan Sunder and just the way that
he sort of just seemed to sort of rain in some of his plow tendencies.
So I think that there are ways for you know, I think this
will be, you know, just another tool for him to work with.
I think, you know, I'm both ends too, you know, Rudy
Gobert, I think, you know, he's not a player. I think
that people tune in to watch I think, you know, it's not He's
not a guy like, oh yeah, Rudy's Rudy's on the court, like
we gotta watch this until he goes the bench. No one's doing that.
But the things that Rudy Gobert is good at, he's very good at.
I mean I was even watching him with France, you know, this summer,
and you know, he's so strong when he catches it inside and he's
so big that it, you know, and it's an incredibly efficient shot.
And I was, you know, writing about Sylvia Fowls is the retirement from
the w NBA, and I was, you know, thinking about the time
that Sheryl Real was talking about how, you know, her team was settling
for too many jumpers and she was talking about sat down there, that's seventy
percent. Sylvia Fowls is a seventy percent shooter. She get everything at the
rim out there that's not seventy percent, you know, And so to that
point, and it's kind of the same thing with Gilbert. You getting him
down there sixty seventy percent, and that's valuable. He'll get those shots at
the rim, you know, almost any time. And I think, you
know, when you have a guy like Cat who can help spread the floor
and you know you're are you going to help off a cat to double Gilbert
in the post? I wouldn't think so, because you know, you give
him open shots on the outside and he'll still gladly take those. He doesn't
have to do that dirty work anymore. So I think that's really going to
benefit him too. And I think the other thing with the playoff concerns specifically,
well, I guess it's two things is Gobears just never had this level
of defensive athleticism in front of him, and you taught like between Anthony Edwards
Jade McDaniels, and then I'm not calling Kyle Anderson athletic, but like to
have that bigger body who's really smart using with his positioning they can right and
that there's it's a like a prime Joe Ingles esque thing of the way he
defends, and to have that on top of just the raw explosion athleticism of
Anthony Edwards and Jade McDaniels being there, I think helps. And also there
are probably very few teams like there has to be an extremism to the way
they play for it to be a true problem for the Wolves. And I
look at the West. You can go into the East and with Boston maybe
they're on there. But I look at New Orleans and then the Clippers as
teams that are like, if they really wanted to try and cause matchup problems,
they could for Minnesota defensively, and then maybe Golden State just because the
Cavan Looney, Draymond Green like both of those guys, and if you go
Draymond at the five. So I actually don't think I do think it could
go belly up. Don't get me wrong. I just think it's less likely
when you look at like the teams that they're trying to go through. Yeah,
I mean I think even like you look at the Clippers. I mean
the thing about you know the NBA is you know you have to defend to
defend the other guys too, And I think you've run into the Clippers.
I mean beyond a visa Zubas unless they add someone else like that is there
that is the real center. I mean, PG and Choir obviously problems on
the outside, and you know they got Robert Coving team can play up front,
but that's not that's not a ton of size relative to what the Timberwolves
have, and I mean that's a that's a matchup onto itself and the Wolves.
I think you know these you know before they had always even when they
weren't supposed to, they had always seen to stick with the Warriors pretty well.
And maybe because there wasn't as much of a I don't want to say
not a system, but that's Curry is kind of a system. I knew
himself with those sort of things where it was also free flowing, and it
seemed like the Wolves can sort of sort of grasp that a little. But
yeah, that's just so much experience anyways, were even if you look at
those guys and you're like, oh, yeah, well they're they're older now,
it's like, well, they've also had all the time together and they've
had a lot of success doing it, where I would anyway just not be
upset about losing to the Warriors. I think even though it's a healthy Clippers
team, I would not be upset about the So karl Anthy Towns gets a
four year, two hundred and twenty four million dollar extension, then they also
trade for someone who makes a ton of money, give up a ton to
get him, and he plays what was karl Anthony Town's position beforehand. Is
there like extra pressure on him to make this work given that in the same
offseason, it feels like the Wolves paid him because he's a superstar, but
also sought to cover up for stuff that he has just inherently not been good
at. Yeah, I think that's, you know, like I was saying
earlier, the Gobert trade ultimately seems to be like that sort of acknowledgement of
what Cat is and what Cat isn't. I think the biggest pain points with
him we're as him, you know, as a center. I think a
big part of watching him last year was, oh, kar Anthony Towns,
you know, early in the second quarter as three fouls, you know,
is Chris Bench gonna pull him, you know, like this again and again.
So I mean, if this even helps him stay on the floor more
so that he can do more at any position on the court. I think
that's gonna make a big difference the So forgive me for boiling it down to
this, but we have to talk about Anton Edwards and by the end of
next season, Anton Edwards, if you could complete the blank in this sentence,
will be a top what player in the NBA? Man ESPN has I
was gonna say he's about twenty three right now? Yeah, I'll say fifteen,
only with the hope that it's it's gonna be Oh no, he's actually
top ten. Now I think it's it's it's a it's a range of possibilities.
I mean, like I was saying, he came in so raw and
he has just improved so much, and you wonder, like how much better
is this guy gonna get? I mean, is he or rapidly? I
don't think he's peaked by any means, but you know, is he gonna
get a bit better? A tom better? I mean, are we talking,
you know, a top five guy, one of the three best perimeter
guys in the league. I mean, it still feels like so much as
in play for him, but also there you know, there being no guarantees
ten to fifteen kind of feels like the right range he I would say,
I don't know if I'd predicted, but all NBA is his ceiling this year,
like and that's his a third year, which is wild. The actual
the actual question I have from not the actual, but what are you looking
to see him improve upon most this year? Is it the playmaking? Is
it? Do you want to see him sustain like he shot I think it
was after the All Star Breaker was like thirty four point four percent and off
the dribble threes? Is that something you've you were sustainable? Is that something
you're looking for more of him, especially looking at sort of the packing order
of how the ball handling is going to pan out with this roster. I
think I think all of that because I think that the you know, what
he was good at when he first came into the league was being athletic and
trying to score on guys, and there was there wasn't really we didn't see
a ton of early on, you know, that sort of playmaking. Even
the defense. I think the defense is a big part of that, especially
you know if I think that would also really help play next to Dandel Russell
if he was you know, if he also had a you know, even
better perimeter defender there. If I think, really, you know, all
those things I think would be good to see continual improvements on. I know
it's kind of probably sounds like a cop out answer sorts, but I think
given you know, his where he came into the league and the path that
he's on, I think those are all things he's going to need to do
more of. But I definitely think you know, the ball handling them,
like the scoring, you know that that's all there, that's a problem.
Uh. You know, it's even you know, looking at a shot and
you know how much he's improved as a shooter and just how how good it
clean it looks too, And that's how far he's come with that already.
And you know, you can tell me that a reigne of outcomes for Anthony
Edwards and you know, short of any regression, pretty much any improvement is
believable. It probably except for you know, top five or whatever you know
beyond that. But yeah, I think you know, the Yeah, his
feeling is, you know, we don't know what his feeling is, and
it's kind of exciting. Yeah, And I think the thing I'll be watching
for most mostly because of how this roster is built, where there's like him
and duo and then I don't want to say there's a ball handling void because
there's a bunch of tertiary guys, but Auntie Edwards very much needs to be
like the engine of this offense. And so I just look at the playmaking
where he's so he's already good at capitalizing on this attention that he's commanding once
he attacks. But is he able to do stuff at like a slower processing
speed? Is he throwing something that looks two passes away? Is he passing
guys open? Is he being proactive more than reactive? Might be the best
way to phrase it, because they almost need him, maybe not immediately,
but like they need him. The way this roster's built right now, to
me makes me think that they believe he can be and will be that type
of guy. Yeah, those those are the best. I mean, you
think what the best wings do in this league, and they do all those
things that you just mentioned. And I think even that this is now such
a premier driver driven league that I think if this I think this team reaches
its feeling, you know it's going to be because Anthony Edwards emerges as the
queer cut number one guy on the roster, which isn't easy to do when
you have Karlatony Town's on the roster. He's great. I mean, I
might have told the story before, but I was, you know, I
tweeted out I think for Anthony Edwards was even drafted that, you know,
this team really needs to find a player that's better than Karlinony Towns. But
someone was like, well, how do they go do that? I like,
I don't know. Man's tough, Like that's the hard part. But
the reality is if you get a wing like Anthony Edwards who can ascend to
be even greater than Carmphony town and among the ranks in the league, I
think that that really opens up you know what this team can be, not
just this year but in the future. And yeah, again we have that
excitement of not knowing exactly you know, what Anthony Edwards is going to be
as a player, and yeah, it's incredibly exciting and what that could mean
not just for him, but for the team as a whole. There's this
idea that the Wolves elected to keep Jade McDaniels rather than save more than one
first round pick, is the way that I'll frame it because I don't want
to say two first round picks out right. Is he good enough for them
to view him that way? And what does he need to be offensively for
this team? Is it just hey you need to take more than three catch
and shoot threes per game, and hey you need to knock them down at
better than a thirty one point five percent clip. Yeah, absolutely has to
be more efficients than that. I think there's lots of like with him.
I mean again, you gotta I think when you're we're talking about how much
they're gonna be paying these guys and how much have you paying Anthony Edwards,
eventually you need to be able to keep these your homegrown guys. I think
that's that's absolutely huge. Watching that Memphis series, I think you know you
saw, you know how Jaren Jackson was used for Memphis and how you know?
I think it was Game two when he just was bombing threes, like
it was absolutely ridiculous. And I don't think he has I'm not a shot
doctor in it, but like it's a push shot, Like it doesn't look
as good as you know, someone like Jada McDaniels and Jackson shot has been
very inconsistent from the outside. I mean, I think you had one year,
third seven percent. That's just been kind of it. But yeah,
I think there's a lot that Jada McDaniels could do, even if it is,
you know, just be a tough defender inside and probably want to see
him take more shots from the outside, certainly have you certainly want to see
him I think become you know, thirty seven or more three point twoter really
justify that there's that's not a lot of pressure on him to improve. As
well. D'Angel Russell is still here too, which I think might surprise a
lot of people. What is one do you think they still view him as
part of the long term core of this team if only maybe because well they're
out of trade assets and they can't sign anyone better because they punted on cap
space, which is that's a totally fine decision to make. And then specifically
for this season, like what if they need for him to do to fit
to coalace with this new setup that they have. So yeah, D'Angel Russell,
he's still here. I was, like I said earlier, art surprised
at you know, but maybe he would not be moved or who would be
moved, but I do think that there's you know, a lot more that
you want to see from him. I think then we probably haven't a past
or a different player, you know. I think, you know, Chris
Fincher's on a lot of good things for him, But I don't think that
you want him to be so over coached that he's not even the same player,
or you know, production even suffers because he's just being so over coached.
So you still I think there's still that even having to be the ball
handler, he can definitely shoot. I think his shot flush at times is
a is a little questionable. But I think that having you know, hopefully
having you know, Evanthony Edwards improved, and then having krom Anthony Towns and
you know, having Rudy Gobert at the rim hopefully that you know, reduces
the need for him to feel like he has to you know, win every
game, you know, on every on every shot, you know, and
there's probably going to be a better option available than you know, a contested
step back three. I mean, even when they go in and you're like,
yeah, fine, but you know you're not going to take more Yeah,
yeah, exactly, you're not really happy with it. Even though it
went in. Yeah, you know hopefully that you know he's able to sort
of expand his play making abilities for others, even though I do think like
Jim he can move the ball, he can set up others. But you
think, you know, you want to see the just see a little more
of that now, especially with Rudy Gobert on the roster. And I mean
he's not an expiring contract. I mean I do expect that he's gonna come
out, you know, looking to have a really strong season. I think
I may, of course, I would say that anyway, but I think
there's extra incentive given the contract situation. I honestly have no idea what his
next deal is going to look like. Yeah, that's gonna be intriguing.
I do think that this team is built to streamline the way that he plays
on offense to where now that you have Rudy Gobert, then with the threats
on the outside of Anthony Edwards, who's fine shooting off the catch, Carlothy
Towns is one of the best shooting big men in league history. It makes
his mid range game a lot more dangerous. Like you said, it should
weed out the way the structure is here, that he doesn't need to take
those step backs. And then also I know he had a down year when
you look, as efficiency put it historphy, like he is shot well himself
unassisted three pointers, and so he should technically get more of those with Anti
Edwards making the leap and then like the gravity that Town's commands outside and then
that Gobet commands when he's on his rolls to the basket, and so I
almost wonder if like this is sort of a simplification by force and that it
ends up panning out really well for him. Yeah, I think there's certainly
value in having, you know, guy who can you know get to the
mid range? No, they create there because it's not you're not always like
watching those playoff seriod Again, it's like, wow, all these shots are
tough at the rim outside you have to be able to score at all three
levels. And I think that if you have a guy if Russell ken hit
those mid range shots, I think that's a huge advantage for them. What's
interesting to me and maybe not others, but who's like the most important guard
behind Anthy Edwards and D'Angel Russell for this team when they have they signed Brent
Forbes and Austin Rivers. They have Jaalen and Well and Jordan McLoughlin. They've
said some pretty rosy things about Jordan McLaughlin over the past like year or so,
and so is it immediately him and do you trust him to sort of
fill that role is like let's call it the third guard or third most important
guard on this team. Yeah, definitely, because that's you know, you
think, like it's a long season. I mean, guys are gonna get
hurt, They're going to be in and out of the lineup. You really
need someone that you can trust back there. And it's you know, Jordan
McLoughlin. I think he did really well in the playoffs. I think you
know, like him and fail in a well like I don't know, I've
always associated them together, I think in their entire time. I think probably
because they came up together in the team at the same time. Like,
but you know, having that backup point guard is huge. I think having
someone I mean, Jordan McLoughlin doesn't have a ton of sides, but we
saw effectively he can run an offense. Uh. She had one post that
touch what we're rock team today. I'm like, oh yeah, I mean
I knew we could shoot a little bit from the outside, but his footwork
inside you on, on a mismatch, you know, look good too.
I mean, you know, he's a very skilled player, I think getting
you know, Jalen Nowell didn't play much in that series, but I know
that, you know, he's us a little bit differently typically, but he
also brings a little more side. So I mean, I think any one
of those two guys, but I think there's also you know, the potential
for Austin Rivers to be so that's stabilizing the veteran in there as well.
But you know, I might not really answer your question too much, but
I've had to say it would probably be George McLaughlin or Jalen Nowell, one
of those two guys. Uh, Kyle Anderson siding. I loved it from
a value perspective. His fit on offense here, depending on who's on the
floor, feels pretty complicated. And so how do you feel about that And
is it going to be sort of a matter of well, when they stagger
Gobet and cat like, we're just gonna tie Anderson and Karl Anthia his minutes
together. Yeah, that's that's definitely idea. I think even just watching him,
I think the nice thing is he doesn't really need the ball, I
think to be effective. I mean, I just don't can't watch him dribble
and I'm like, oh, man, Like if I don't know that it's
bad. But I mean, he really does live up to his nickname.
But I think that he can be fine just sort of helping facilitate the offense
and letting it come to him. You know, it's not like someone like
I've talked bad about Mollague Beasley and granted to play different positions, but you
know, Kyle Anderson doesn't need the ball to be effective. Beasley didn't have
a ball, you know. I don't think you were getting a ton from
him otherwise. But Kyle Anderson can help facilitate the offense, and I think
that's probably fine. They also probably don't need him to do a ton,
so I think that's probably a little bit easier to work out there. But
yeah, I think to your point that real time him to downs, if
I make sense, there's probably gonna be some pretty like substantial stagger between Gobert
and karl anthy towns. Do you see any when they're going with those one
center lineups where they solo Gobert or solo cat lineups. Do you see any
like specific structure that they need disorder cater too with those two where it's like
I mentioned, oh, play karl anthy Towns and Kyle Anderson together when Gobert's
off the floor. Is there any way that specifically you would flesh out like
those type of units. Man, I really want to see it because then
I feel like the ideas would just see even clearer. But I do think
that, yeah, there's a lot of potential for this team to you maybe
go even you know, maybe a little smaller, you maybe try some ant
at the four get really weird with it, you know, given that they
have all these guards too. Yeah, you know there's and you know they
have these you know, some of these younger guys too, you know,
like the Nathan Knights that around the rocks through it's really just good at you
know, he really just seemed like he came in it was just a hammer
and he's about the similar size to Kyle Anderson too. Yeah. I kind
of want to see it, honestly to have a better idea. But yeah,
I think there's definitely a lot of options that they can go and feel
like there's probably a lot of different ways that they can match. Okay,
so, but yeah, I would imagine that they would do quite a bit
of staggering. I don't know why you want to sit both gobert in towns
for extended period of time that if that happens, I don't know. Maybe
I don't even like voul troubles. They're both in vul trouble to the same.
I don't know why you would ever do. Yeah, when you zoom
out, take a step back and look at this roster before they've even played
a game together, what is the single biggest weakness or concern that you have
about them? I mean, so I think that they're so like they've obviously
taking a step to get better. I don't know. I think there's just
a lot of unknown and uncertainty of you know, they go bear piece as
a big piece. I think people have always said about how you know,
to like offensively, when he was in Utah, he was the system.
He wasn't a system unto himself. But I also don't really believe that you
can just take players from one team moved into another and you know, have
the exact same repeatable results, and I think this team has built widely different
than those jazz teams were too the talent that's available. So I think there's
just a lot of uncertainty and unknown about how some of these pieces have fit.
I think that, you know, like even your concerns about Kyle Anderson
totally warranted, have no idea how that's actually going to look in practice,
even though it seems like, yeah, this guy's probably a nice probably a
nice veteran. But they also just have so many guards on the roster at
this point, so many, and some of them are you know, I
think you know, Brent Forbes and Jordan McLaughlin, they're all pretty much,
you know, kind of smaller guards too. So I mean, how many
of those guys can you have and play, you know, consistently, you
know, how is that going to shake out? And you know, Wendel
Moore, there's there's a draft picks fit into this at all, you know,
another guy like that. So there's a lot of pieces. I think
that they have to sort of figure out what fits and what doesn't fit.
It could be a combination of guys who maybe you know, who have been
here for a while that you know, like hey, maybe they don't fit
with this roster anymore, or you know, the guy that they brought in
that you know, they thought, you know, would be an upgrade really
doesn't actually make sense in practice. So I think there's a lot of interesting
fits there to watch out for the uncertainties, but I think there's also you
know, it's the potential for it to go really well. I think that
also at the same time makes it exciting. One of my favorite things to
do leading into the season is look at teams and try and identify, like,
not that they have to have a ten man rotation, but who are
their ten most used players going to be consistently. And with the Wolves,
I think it's kind of easy for like the first eight spots because you have
your starting five with Delo Aunt, Jaden Kat and then Towns, then Golbert.
Excuse me, I wrote Anthony Edwards twice in the outline I sent you,
which is how high I am on Anthy Edwards. And then I think
Anderson mcgloughlin, Torrian Prince and maybe even Oz Reid feel like and so like
you're up to nine, and Prince might be kind of important because you're sort
of mentioning just like they have a bunch of these like smaller guards or swingman.
You want like actual wings on the roster, and that's what Tori and
Prince very much is. But so it almost feels like they have nine just
like rotation locks, and then that final spot will be duked out between Austin
Rivers, Bryn Forbes, and Jellen Noel. I can't imagine. I know
Wendel Moore has some like wing size to him, but will he even play
as a rookie. So I'm just curious your thoughts on that ten man set
up in my off on anybody or how do you view that shaken out?
No, I really don't think that you're off there, and I think that
ten spot is It's really a good question. Like I was looking at,
you know, the team send out the training camp roster. I was like,
this team is actually pretty deep. You know, there are a lot
of years that some of these training camp invites or you know, maybe like
a two way guy like PJ Dozer too, right, two guys he's on
a training camp contract. I think he might have been a roster Yeah,
he might have been a roster guy, you know, three or four years
ago out right and now that because at such a point where it's like,
I think PJ. Dozer is an NBA player. He's not a perfect player,
but he's a player that I liked watching when he was in Denver.
You know, there's just so many guys on this roster that you know,
it's like he's probably he might not even get a job on this team.
Like that's that's just how deep they are. And you know that that ten
spot is going to be really fascinating because I think there's a lot of different
ways that you can go, you know, because I mean you bring in
Austin Rivers, you know, you fig You're like, yeah, I mean
that's you know, if you want to go to the better and experience route,
that they can find a way to get Jail into while going more than
they did in the playoffs. I think that was kind of not quite alarming,
but you know it was something to take notice of for sure. Yeah.
I mean if look, if jail and Will is going to shoot like
thirty nine point four percent from three, I'd probably just pendel him in there
for everybody. So and he brings more of that size too, right,
Uh So this what should this team go to? Crunch time? Unit be.
Do you predict it's going to be just the starting lineup or could you
see I know a lot of people have talked like, oh, they'll fus
and fiddle with matchups when it comes to Towns and Gobert and my stances you
did not pay both of these players to go into Crunch something like that.
I would argue, if you're going to fuds and fiddle, it probably happens
like with the del spot of the starting five members more than anyone. Yeah,
and even that, I feel like you're probably going to do some selling
Todlow to get him to do that, because he fully believed that he should
be out there, and there have been, you know, there have been
fourth quarters where he's actually you know, one games for the team. I
know that he's not you know, everyone wants every player, and I agree
he can definitely be frustrating, but you know, there, I think there's
probably gonna be some selling out there if they're even going to go that route.
But yeah, I'm kind to stay just to starting lineup. Is there
a weirdo, bonkers, quirky lineup you want to see crunch Chris finched Fry
with this team, I'm kind of curious about some of these. Anthony Edwards
at the four Lamp, I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm not
sure who the center would be in that one. I think you can go
either way with that. But I think the Gobert one's especially intriguing because we've
probably seen even less of it than we have with Edwards and Towns. I
want to see them go like full point guardless, which I imagine they might
do quite often, where it's yeah, give me the two bigs, Gobert
and Karl, Anthony Towns, Jane McDaniels, Torrian Prince, and then Anthony
Edwards, and then maybe you have Austin Rivers Insteadatorian Prince. But even Austin
Rivers might be two point guard for me for that lineup. He's not a
point guard, but I want to steer clear of anyone who resembles a point
guard and just see what it looks like when Anne, which he's gonna be
the day facto engine anyway, but like, let's just let's cut out the
ceremony and just make it known that Anthy Edwards is the point guard of this
lineup. And those are the combinations I'm most intrigued by. Yeah, oh
yeah, I love that idea. I think if Austin had the idea of
just not a point guard, but this is our lead ball handler. Yeah,
I mean I think you really forced a team to match up with a
guy who's built like a winebacker. He's listed at only six to five,
and I'm not sure I believe that. Oh every time I watch him,
I'm like, he's he you know what he plays like he's sixty seven sixty
eight? Then so yeah, So their current wind total as we record this
over under is forty eight point five. Are you smashing the over or the
under on that? And where as of now there are still things that could
change. We haven't played a game yet. Where do you see them finishing
in relative to the Western Conference? Okay, I should have done this up
far. I think I would go over on the forty and a half,
but not by a ton, you know, Jamal Murray being back, the
Clippers being you know, full strength. I mean they're getting a little older
now, but the talent on paper is absolutely right there. The Warriors aren't
going anywhere. Man's so's gonna be rough. I will say what I think
helps them. It's just like there's gonna be maintenance in LA with the Clippers,
Yeah, there's gonna be. I would assume for Jamal Murray there's gonna
be. Maybe not Michael Porter Jr. But I would at the two of
them like there's gonna be maintenance in Denver. They're not just gonna be if
they go full bore. And those guys who are playing back to backs,
I'll be floored that helps them. The Warriors don't give a fuck about the
regular season anymore. Like they're four titles in, they don't, they don't
care. So I think that I think that where I'm not saying you have
to say, oh, the Wolves are a better title contender than these teams,
But regular season wise, I think I have them in the top four
because I'm not they should absolutely have a home home court advantage in the first
round. I think that's that's that's a fair expectation I think. And you
know, like I love Phoenix, you know, are the last couple of
seasons, but the vibes in Phoenix right now are so bad. I said,
I said they were gonna have the best regular season record again because I
was just like, look, they might not be the title contender. We
thought they were but their regular season machine. Then a eon is like giving
hasn't spoken Monty Williams like eight years or whatever it is. Jake Crowder didn't
rove the training camp and he requested a trade. Uh that, Like,
you're right that Robert Sarver stuff. The vibes emanating from that team are disastrous.
They are catastrophic, horrible. It's not it's not what you want to
see. And I mean it's unfortunate because I mean, like Devin Booker is,
you know, just you know, getting better and better and just becoming
this incredible player right before our eyes, and like when he should be,
you know, getting back to the finals again and again, there's just all
this turmoil and uncertainty. And you know, I mean some of that too,
Like you have Chris Paul, who is you know, in the later
stages of his career, and I mean you never know, you know,
what could go wrong with him at this point, whether you know it's the
shoulder or hamstring or what like. Those things just happened to guys when they
get older and they have this many miles on them. So I think there's
potential for some regression there. I don't know, like Memphis, like I
mean some I've heard some people say like, oh, Memphis could take a
step back, but I think they don't lose. They could. I mean,
they fully good, but they didn't lose any games with John Morant out
last year or so. I mean, this will be the fourth consecutive season
I'm wrong on Memphis, So take that with a metric ton of salt.
I just they're banking too much on internal development for me, and then you
have the Jared Jackson junior injury sort of floating around day in Dallas are like
my and Utah obviously now, but like are my Big Western Conference regression Candida.
It's this season. Yeah, Dallas is a good but then like you
know, New Orleans probably sides up. They're a bit too. You know,
I'm so high on New Orleans. It's filthy, it's not it I
am. I would smash the over on this team too, though, at
forty eight point five. And I'm also uncomfortable about how much I believe in
them during the regular season because this is such a big I don't want to
call it experiment because the way Jared Vanderbilt was used last year, but like
it's a big roll of the dice there's that inherent combustibility, even if we
can't see it. I'm just so shure it's gonna work out. I have
them as a title contender. They wouldn't be my title pick, but I
think they're in that tier of title contenders where it's like you have Milwaukee Golden
States there if you want to include the Clippers. But like in that when
we're talking about the mash of teams that are going to be in the second
tier, I'm just so sure that Minnesota belongs there. Yeah, I mean,
the talent is definitely there, and I think you know, there's I
think, you know to that, like you know, if Anthony Edwards,
you know, gets leaps and bounds better, Jada McDaniels takes another step.
I mean, I think that there's really the potential for a force here.
And you know, I mean that I think we've seen even with how far
you know, Luca was able to drag Dallas last year. I mean,
that's that's not not sing in the West is tough. But I think that,
you know, when teams look at you know, I think some of
the discords around the team this summer was oh what about this team and this
team and it's like, well, with this sort of move, like the
Timberwolves become sort of one of those teams that other teams now have to worry
about too. So I mean, that's that's kind of another boat that's been
risen here, and I will say I'd be shocked if they're not one of
like the guaranteed playoff teams Like this is just the West could be brutal if
everyone stays healthy, they would still even if the Clippers and the Nuggets and
the Suns are fine, I still think that they're very clearly in the top
five, top six, which just without question to me, Yeah, yeah,
I feel like that's one of the few times in this team's history that
you can point to and say that, yeah, that should be an expectation.
Is there anything I didn't ask about this team that you think needs to
be discussed, something that's under talked about relative to them before I let you
go? No, man, I think we've I think we've covered us about
all of it. I think this is probably, you know, one of
the most exciting Timberal seasons that you know, we've we've had to look forward
to. I don't even think twenty eighteen when Jimmy Butler, you know,
join the team. Was you know this exciting, but it definitely seems like
this team is positioned with you know a lot of depth up and down the
roster and a lot of star power at the top and just to see where
it all where it all goes, is going to be a lot of fun.
Derek, this was great as usual. Thank you so much for giving
me a bunch of your time in case anyone skipped the intro. Are you
able to tell our listeners where they can find you and the work that you
put out. Yeah, So in August I launched my own sub stack newsletter
called by Derek James, where I just you know, write about the NBA,
w NBI. I think I call it just professional basketball in general,
whatever strikes me. And so yeah, I've pretty much been doing about once
a week so far. As think as the season goes and we get more
and more, I want to increase that a little bit and you know,
as maybe it grows into you know, podcast or too or whatever else to
sit in there. But yeah, it's it should be a fun time.
And yeah, I cannot recommend following him enough on Twitter as well at Derek
James NBA spelled exactly as it sounds. Thank you so much, and as
I'm sure you know by now, I will be pasturing you again in the
future. Sounds good then,