Speaker 1: What is up, Fellasikos. I'm Dan fa Valley. The twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six NBA look Ahead train continues
to roll on. We're up to the Minnesota Timberwolves, which
means I have the distinct pleasure and I'm super excited
to be joined by Kyle Tige of the Dane Moore
NBA podcast does a fantastic job covering this team from
all angles. Him and Dane and that whole crew of
there do absolutely excellent work. Follow him on the social
machines at Kyle tygie k y l E th h
E I g E. It's on screen. Links to his
stuff will be in the social media excuse me, the
YouTube and podcast description Kyle, this is year three for you.
Welcome back. I'm so happy to have you back. How
the heck are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. As I said before, this is my
third year doing this. This is my ninth year. I
think covering the Timberwolves. Used to be a blog boy,
now kind of transitioned into podcasting. I have a face
for podcasting before it became video and on YouTube, So
that's been an adjustment for me. If I had to
shower more, but no one in the game, I do
a lot of kind of you know, hop on a pod,
support your friends. No one does better outlines than this
guy next to me on the screen. So I appreciate
you because sometimes people be like, hey, hop on the pod,
and then it's just like the most awkward conversation like
speed dating. So I appreciate that you sent me a
ward doc that might have thirty five hundred words about
most of the ean Baronjay and we'll get into him
my new favorite player. But I'm excited. Man. The season
always comes up. You get really bored in early August,
and then all of a sudden, it's like you blink
and it's mid October. You have no idea where the
fall in, and like we're in it. So I'm excited
to ramp up and kind of get back into it.
Speaker 1: So am I, which is why these heads are great.
Do you ever get that like existential paranoia though, where
it's I think it's like the first maybe Thursday or
like that first fourteen games late of the season comes
and then you're kind of I'm like, I know you're
covering the Wolves, but you're keeping tabs in the entire
league every year. I'm like how did I do all this?
Like that? What that first night where there's thirteen or
fourteen games after like the two opening slates or whatever
it ends up being. I always just get overcome with
this feeling of existential dread each and every season.
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel existential dread just on a daily basis.
It has nothing to do with basketball, but I'm with you,
it's kind of like the first night. I mean, the NBA,
to their credit, has done a better job of like
slow rolling it out and having just a couple of games.
I in the past, it's felt like drinking from a
fire hose where all of a sudden you're like, no
basketball in the basketball. In the basketball, there's fourteen games
on on Tuesday. And now in the new NBA sphere,
it's like I got to make sure I have nine
different streaming platforms to make sure I can watch them all.
And is it blacked out on League Pass? I guess
we'll get into that later, but no, I am. I
got a couple of little time here to figure it out.
But I know, at least for the team that I cover,
I'm always just grateful because those first handful of years
were really lean. When it's like I can't wait to
cover a thirty and fifty two basketball team. The script
has flipped a little bit. And now this team again
for you know, going on maybe the fourth year should
be a pretty good basketball team. And dare I say
weird word? Coming a contender.
Speaker 1: Consecutive conference finals appearances, and it doesn't feel like it
gets talked about in the like the realm of when
you're looking at contenders for next season. But before we
kind of move there, what are you like? What are
after what happens last season? Just up down? There's these
metrics that paint them. Had they the top four net
rating against top ten teams, but you saw some of
their struggles at points late in games, how they closed
out the playoffs. What did you make of seeing all that,
watching all that, taking it in, and then what do
you ultimately think about how they went about their offseason
where it was just mostly talent reinvestment. Looks like some
guys are going to be promoted to bigger roles and
novel leaves just where you sort of at coming at
this through the tail end of the offseason.
Speaker 2: Well about eighteen months ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves, in thirty
five seasons had made the Western Conference Finals once. So
fast forward eighteen months today and they've made it twice
in back to back seasons. That's not worthy of a
banner in many buildings. For the Timberwolves. It might be
because again, they have been basically one of the worst
franchises in professional sports, not just the NBA, but yeah,
it's kind of been. You know, they draft Ant in
late twenty twenty, the COVID year, which was like the
weirdest draft ever because you don't have a combine, you
don't get to really know stuff. It seemed like every
player draft analysts were down on. So the Ant acquisition
as well as Jade McDaniels that year kind of was
like the New Era. A couple of years later, you
get Tim Connley, he makes the Rudy Gobert trade days
into his new job, doesn't even get the new employee
modules figured out, and then since then it's just kind
of been this upward trajectory. So in one sense, you're disappointed,
I think by how they lost to the Thunder, albeit
the Thunder then go on to win the finals, you know,
the Halbert injury and stuff, but pretty easily, but they
didn't really put up much of a fight. I don't
think against the thunder kind of gentlemen sweep five games
or the MAVs back in twenty twenty four, or again
it was like a gentleman's sweep five games. But on
the flip side, I still, even though it's kind of
a number that we just peg, like guys don't really
win titles enter their prime till twenty six, twenty seven,
it's worth noting that as of early August, Anthony Edwards
just turned twenty four, and it's kind of already elevated
this thing to again this weird word for all of
us to comprehend, contender. So you can you can go
either way with it, Dan, Like you can say, two
years in a row, you didn't put much of a fight,
But then as a Timberwolves fan or someone who covers
the team, it's like, yeah, for two years they made
the final four quote unquote, So expectations now are only
going to get higher, and I think that's going to
put more pressure on them, more pressure on Chris Finch
new ownership, which finally after four years, was settled this summer.
So you can kind of look at it in the
perfect is it glass half full glass half empty and
kind of figure it out. But when your best player's
twenty four, it's hard to have anything but a glass
half full view because he's already done so much, and
it does seem like his stock continues to rise in
the league.
Speaker 1: It feels like anyone who looks at this through a
glass half empty prism started following the Wolves in like
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, or was just born in the state
of Minnesota and knows that no men's team will ever
win a title ever as long as we live. So
that would be why your glass half empty?
Speaker 1: So how do you feel about what they've done? And
there might still be some odds and ends. They have
another roster spot they could fill out as we're recording this,
But how have you felt about their offseason overall? And
I'll say this live because I've been reminding guests just
so they know beforehand. I am time stamping. When I'm
looking down, I'm not actually texting, so I am listening
to you. I just wanted to give you a heads
up for that because I feel super rude staring down
and I did not give you a heads up about
that system.
Speaker 2: Dan was like, hey, make your answer Shorter, No, I please,
I think, how do I look at this? So I
mentioned Tim Connolly coming from Denver gets to Minnesota in
the spring of twenty twenty two, and before you could blink,
he makes one of the biggest trades in franchise history,
maybe in the league history, to get Rudy Gobert. And
for those that maybe don't follow the team as much,
that first year was really tough, was really lean didn't
work out. And then the second year so that after
one off season of having Gobert, rather than do anything,
they just leaned into the same roster. We kind of
called it in Minnesota like the run it back Tour,
and they leaned into continuity. And that team, without any
major transactions, without winning a press conference in June or July,
had the best season ever. They go on to make
the Western Conference Finals. Then last year they kind of
switch it up a little bit, right like, after two
years of Carl and Rudy, they pivot off of Carl
Dan the night before media day, right, and now they
have brought in Dante DiVincenzo and Julius Randall and I'm
sure we'll get into that, and they go away from
continuity and then it took Chris Finch and these guys
basically all season to kind of figure it out. Again.
They do buy early April, you know, they just schalac
the Lakers. I know all the Lakers were then hurt
after that ironic timing. Then they play a hurt Golden
State team that was not at full strength without Steph
and they kind of cruised by and then, as I
said earlier, kind of get waxed by the thunder. But
this year again, it's like day one and day two
back in elementary school, where some days you had gym,
some days you had music. They've gone back to the
continuity thing of no major transactions this summer. Their biggest
transactions were just keeping their guys, specifically nas Read, specifically
Julius Randall. They did lose Nikhil Alexander Walker, but they
feel pretty confident that they can fill those minutes with
a Terren strewnon junior a, Jalen Clark, more minutes for
Rob Dillingham, kind of a fill it by uh, you know,
everyone kind of pitching to fill those new Keel minutes.
And Nikil was a huge thing, one of the best
guys I think I've ever talked to cool guy, loves
to read books, great locker room presence. But yeah, they're
kind of going back to what they did two years ago,
when when I thought it was the most successful season
in franchise history, they broke all these records, they made
the Western Conference Finals. They're leaning into we just want
to marinate what we have more rather than get new ingredients.
And it's worked for them the last time they tried that,
and I think that will be their big theme as
the enter training camp of we're going to go back
to war with the same guys that got us there
last year.
Speaker 1: I found the reaction outside of Minnesota anyway to the
Nasrie contract particularly interesting. Could they have negotiated harder, I
mean five years with the player option, Yeah, maybe they
should have, but it's never going to be fifteen percent
of the salary cap. It runs through his age thirty season,
and I think one of the biggest forms of criticism
I saw is just, well, like, he can't be the
primary big. That's not going to work defensively, And i'd
probably as someone, as you know, I've been higher on
Nasriy's defense overall. I think that a lot of other people.
I think I could probably agree with that take. But
if you're paying someone if he ever needs to start
fifteen percent of the salary cap, you can go out
and figure out a way to get the primary big,
it should then. And I'm not saying this is the issue.
The bigger issue would be, Oh, we're paying Julius Randall
more than that, and he can't be the primary big
because he can't play center. And I'm not even trying
to pooh pooh Julius Randall. I just like, what did
you make of that whole reaction to the nas Reid thing?
And I think, where do you ultimately? I don't know
if I've ever asked you land on the like nas
Reed defensive discussion.
Speaker 2: I think with in terms of the naz Reid contract,
it did kind of remind me of like the Michael
Porter Junior contract when Tim Conley gave it to him
when he was in Denver, because that was another one
where like, did you have to pay him that much money?
I know you like him, and they're mean. Michael Porter
Junior and nas Reed completely different players, as the Internet
will tell you these this summer are completely different people.
But that's enough about that. So I just think whether
it be Tim Conley thinking from a basketball standpoint, new ownership,
because at that point Mark Laurie and Alex Rodriguez had
kind of this is really legal mumbo jumbo, but like
had kind of one arbitration and it was clear that
they were going to take over the team. But you
sure as hell can't buy an asset like a like
a a professional sports team and then just go get
rid of maybe the second most liked player on the
on the team. I mean, Anthony Edwards is kind of
his own sphere, but dude, they got people have nas
read tattoos on the inside of their lips in Minnesota,
like everyone has the beach tiel, Like nas Reid is
a movement of pet name out there too, right, Yeah,
it's like you know, prints and then like naz Reid
two words. So I didn't really understand. I always struggled
Dan with like the new CBA, and we're all still
trying to digest it. But also I think we all
have to turn our minds more to like percentage of
the cap rather than numbers, because we are what a
couple years away from a player making eighty five million
a year and it's gonna be like one million per game.
Speaker 1: I actually think someone laid this out. I think was
Brian Taporak. I actually work with him. A pleach report
that Anthony Edwards is currently on a trajectory to be
the first one hundred million dollars a year NBA player
in the NBA.
Speaker 2: If you that's gonna blow my mind. So with the
Nas stuff, the number kind of made sense. You worded
this really well. Could they have negotiated a little tighter?
And that's what brings me back to the Michael Porter
junior thing. Tim Conley typically just kind of if we're
if we're close, I'll just give in, kind of give
you a little more. He is a very pro player.
I mean, he's really one of his strengths is just
obviously networking, but also just player relations. So I also
think nas Reid a couple of years ago when he
decided to stay in Minnesota because this will now be
you know, he was undrafted free agent, had those few
years of making essentially nothing. Then he signed an extension
a couple summers ago. But he did take and he
said this at media Day, a little bit of a
hometown discount. He's like, I love being here. So it
almost was like they kind of paid him back for that.
But I don't know, Like outside, I know people had
weird thoughts and they tried to compet to like what
Miles Turner maybe got in Milwaukee or whatever. But Nas
reed is a huge part of what they do. I
don't like big threes, but in this market, three of
like the best friends are Nas Read, Jane McDaniels, and
Anthony Edwards, and they're all like twenty four to twenty five,
twenty six. So the Wolves never had an opportunity, if
you remember the Jimmy Butler stuff, to build around their
other kind of core big three of Conte Towns, Andrew
Wiggins and Zach Lavine. So this is kind of like
the second chance at building around those guys, and I
think that's why Nas was able to kind of get
the number he wanted. As for NAS's defense, it has
to just get better, and I think he knows that
more than anyone. He just needs to become a better defender.
They're always going to have They're literally always going to
have a seven foot two French guy next to Nas,
whether it be Rudy Gobert now or as I like
to call him, you know, baby Bagette, Johan Baron Jay
down the road. But they're going to have someone to
help Nas. But why would you doubt Nas read I
guess is kind of the inverse of that, because that man,
he'll joke that when he came into the league from LSU,
he couldn't jump over the free throw line, not from it,
like over it, and that's painted on the ground like
he was not a good athlete. And he has shifted
his body. He's one of the hardest working guys. He's
like a guy that just lives in the gym in
downtown Minneapolis. So he got paid. He doesn't have to
worry about anymore kind of generational wealth. But I would
imagine that his biggest improvement needs to be defense because
this team's identity no matter who's on it. Rudy Gobert,
Baron Jay whatever Ant and Jayden are like especially Jade
mcdonnal's like they're good defenders and they have more defenders
on this team. It's a defensive minded team, and Nas
is gonna have to kind of buy into that more
and be a better rebounder and be able to kind
of defend multiple positions.
Speaker 1: And that's fair too, because one of the bigger misconceptions
about Rudy Gobert has always been if he gets played
off the floor, they pull him off the floor. It's like, oh,
the defensive matchup is bad, and it's like, no, it's
been the offense. It's been the offense since Utah. If
you get yourself into that situation in the playoffs, you
want to be able to have NOAs Reid slide into
the five and feel good about what you're still doing defensively.
Speaker 2: There, Yeah, exactly, and like there's you're gonna see it.
I think this year they obviously kept Julius Randall and
we can talk about him, and Rudy Gobert signed actually
a kind of a team friendly discount or offer extension
last October. So he's making less night, he's making like
thirty million. Still a pretty good player. Playoff stuff, you know,
is hit or miss. I'm sure people have a bad
image of Rudy Gobert in the playoffs. Also, his best
game as a professional, at least in the NBA was
Game five against the Lakers when he just completely dominated
them with like twenty four and twenty two. Yeah, yeah,
and he got his revenge against Luca after Luca, you know,
absolutely just crushed him on that step back three in
Minnesota last year in the Western Conference Finals, which still
haunts me. So yeah, nas is just going to have
to play, you know, either big five sometimes alongside of
Jade McDaniels, who is working out with Kawhi looks like
he's grown. Makes me so happy because that's like the
perfect comp for Jaden is can you be Kawhi Leonard?
But he's going to have to play in situations against
certain teams where he is the center and can you
hold up, can you defend? Can you rebound? I think
that's the one I keep coming back to, is like,
if you're the big guy out there and you grab
rebounds on a team that has notoriously been kind of
below average on rebounding, it's why they lost to the
Grizzlies a handful of years ago. So he's got a
lot of things to work on. For sure. You can
point out all his flaws, but no player has had
a better developmental story in the thirty six years this
franchise has existed than Nasri.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm going to ask you this question
each and every year until the end of time. But
so about one year later, because we recorded before the
Karl Anthony Towns trade last year. Where are you at
with that deal? Which I think is like in five years,
I still think we're going to look back on that
as like one of the most fascinating trades in recent memory.
Speaker 2: I think that's there's no better way to put it, right,
Like it is one of the most fascinating trades. At
the time it happened. I remember it was like it
was a late Friday night. I had had a third
espresso martini because as as you said, like it was
that weekend before mediating, like all right, everyone's cool. No
one makes trades at this point, and then they make
this trade, and I was on an.
Speaker 1: Edible trying to do like salary cap implication stuff, and
that was it. It was.
Speaker 2: So in Carl. It's not just the trade, right, but
it's also Conthee Towns was one of the most well respected.
He was drafted here, he liked being here. He wore
the retro merch and if you're a team that struggled
to be successful, you kind of do like the guys
that liked to stay here rather than demand to go
to the coast or the big markets whatever. So it
completely in my mind just put toxicity into the whole season,
Like it was just hard for the fans to kind
of get around to it, and I totally acknowledged that.
Plus they started slow and kind of stumbled. But then
Julius Randall had this injury kind of to start the year,
like twenty twenty five. It was in early January, and
he was always so vocal about that. Injury allowed him
to kind of step back and just watch and he
learned a lot. Some guys became more comfortable. Jane McDaniels
had his best two months of his career in January
and February, and then when Julius came back, they started
humming again. And to answer your question, a year removed,
it really helped that both teams made the conference finals, right,
because if the Wolves would have made the Western Conference
Finals and then Knicks would have gotten bounced in around one,
I think Knicks fans would have been like, we missed
Julius Wes, we missed Dante. So it worked out well
so far. How is it gonna work in year two?
I don't know. But the one thing that Wolves fans
are kind of coming around to is that Dante Devencenzo
has been really fun. He's played a lot of different
positions for this team, like with Mike Conley's age, sometimes
Donte had to play backup point guard. I don't love that.
I don't think he loves that, but he's still a flamethrower.
Juwis Randall really came into his own was great, was
borderline terrible against the thunder. Everyone else on the team
was also kind of terrible, except for Aunt. But they
did get the sixteenth pick or the seventeenth pick, and
at the time it was the Pistons, and you're like, well,
I don't know about the Pistons. I became a diehard
Pistons fan. I watched probably all eighty two and then
when they made the playoffs, they end up getting this pick.
Now that at the time there was concerns of like,
is it ever gonna show up or is it gonna
be like that whole it converts to two seconds.
Speaker 1: The Washington pick that's about to turn into two seconds exactly.
Speaker 2: And so then fast forward to this late June and
you go out and you get what I think is
I don't know if he's going to be Derek Lively
for Aunt, like Derek G. Lively was for Luca, but
you go out and kind of get the center of
the future. This Baron Jay kid, who only started playing
basketball three or four years ago. I want to talk
about him more. But he does tie into the Carl
for Julius and Dante trade because he was the other
big asset on a team that I guess nationally, Dan,
a lot of people always say, well, they traded all
their picks for Gobert and they're all in. Well, then,
since then, they've been able to add young players like
Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Junior and now Joan Baron
Jay through the draft just by being I don't know,
smarter than other teams. So I think both sides. I'm
sure the Knicks love having Carl and he's a great dude.
I do think the Wolves and the fan base have
warmed to the idea of how this all works now.
They're more flexible, perfect way to organize the outline, Dan,
because they probably don't keep nas Reid and pay him
five one twenty five if Carl's still on the roster.
It did give them some flexibility and under this new
second apron CBA stuff like you do kind of have
to find ways to cut costs, even though fans hate it,
because you cannot consistently be in the second apron without
literally just damaging your ability to add any sort of
talent around your team.
Speaker 1: I've tried to look at the trade and I've kind
of warmed up to it. I killed them when they
made the trade at the time, like I was perfect
example prisoner of the moment. I just went absolutely in
on them. It's like, you just made the Conference finals.
This is a disaster. Obviously what they did as throughout
the course last year helped, but the idea that they
wouldn't have had both nas Reed and Rudy on this
roster as they kept Towns. But that also now you
have Baron Jay, you have Julius Randall, you have Dante DiVincenzo.
So it's not the perfect analog of oh, Karl Anthony,
Towns became like three or four guys for them, But
in some ways he did because they wouldn't have kept
everybody because his salary was just so massive. And that's
the because he was there for so long. Because they
just made the Commerce finals, it's still tough and the
Wolves haven't won anything either, And like Julius Randall, you
know had some bad moments in the playoffs last year.
That was his best postseason performance, just like why or
wire of his career. So I've definitely warmed up to
it for them. And I'm not typically a person that's like, oh,
like when you're at a certain level, I'm just pay
to keep the team together. That's where I thought the
Wolves are at. But a year removed, you understand the
vision and now when you kind of understand the weight
of like how different the roster could have looked, because
even if they kept let's say they kept Conthie Towns,
Rualdy Gobert, Like what is the depth? Like you're not
dealing with Okay, Conothy Town's replaces Randall and de Vincenzo,
Like Barnjay's there right now? Is Nikil Alexander Walker? Evens
is he gone too? So there's there's just so many
layers to it, and I think we're gonna continue to
revisit it over the years to come as well.
Speaker 2: That's probably the smartest way to answer the question is
that if one of the teams, the Knicks of the Wolves,
have a really good season in year two of the
trade and the other one doesn't, will then go back
to saying that that team won the trade, but for Minnesota,
and I think this is like the only time I
feel smart about like covering the league at large. It
does seem we were talking off Mike. I'm now in
my new house. I've had this house for about a year,
and the first thing we bought Dan was a sectional.
But it's a multi piece sectional, which makes it easier
to move up and down the stairs, kind of connect it.
I think that's like an analogy for how you build
rosters in the NBA. Now. You don't get a one
piece sectional that is an absolute b word to move
up and down the stairs. You break it into pieces.
And I think for Tim Conley, he's like, let's take
all that money we pay Carl and break it into pieces,
and let's have thirty million for Julius and twelve million
for Dante, which is a really good value contract, and
let's go get possibly a starting center a year from
now that makes like four and a half million dollars
for three to four years, and we have them on
team control for almost nine. So I think that was
the logic going in. It was a hell of a
risk for a team that's never won anything. Finally had
a good year and then they traded their second best player,
probably third best player of all time. That's what Tim
Conley does. He is kind of a fearless GM and
it's worked most of the time. Sometimes it hasn't paid off,
but they find themselves now in a window where they're
as good as they were with Carl and probably with
more flexibility and maybe a little higher ceiling.
Speaker 1: How important do you think it is as kind of
like a two layer question that now we get to
see assuming Devincenzo's healthy, but we know Randal gets to
go through an actual training camp with the Wolves, like
without having his life interrupted, but also after watching him
last year, is there anything you're sort of like want
to see differently for them using him on offense or
just that you're tracking headed into his year two tenure
in Minnesota.
Speaker 2: I would throw Dante into this because Dante was more vocal.
Two Knicks guys that essentially showed up the morning of
training camp in media day, but the timing of the
trade hurt the Wolves a lot, and Carl just did
a good job of acclimating quicker. But Dante was talking about,
like in January that it took him a while to
just feel comfortable, and I think Julius was the same way.
I mean, Julius Randall, I'm not sure he was one
hundred percent healthy when he was acquired last September. He'd
come off that shoulder surgery. I don't think he played
for the Knicks in that past playoff run, so both
of them were at weird stages. And again with Dante,
it was just more time with his teammates, getting to
know his guys and also playing multiple positions. For Julius,
it was what I said earlier that when he finally
couldn't play, and you hear this a lot from veteran players,
like when they're sidelined with an injury, that's when they
pick up the most. He said he learned the most
about his guys when he just had to watch him play,
and then when he came back he kind of shifted
more into that not by any means comparing him to
Lebron James, but kind of that point forward thing where
he was on a lot of situations their best playmaker
like throw it into Julius cut moves at a back
pick and then like get open and he'll find you.
And the best games for this team, and I think
the best games for Julius when he had like eighteen
eight and seven, Like they didn't need him to have
thirty points, they needed him to kind of facilitate get
some rebounds. So everyone on this team now, as we
just kind of highlight it, has gotten paid. And that
was another theme last year. When you're in the locker room,
it's like Nas is thinking about his next bag, Nikhil's
thinking about his bag, like Rudy just got paid. But
Julius is thinking the same thing. Everyone on this team
now is financially secure or a really young guy who
just wants to get minutes. And I think again, continuity,
whatever you want to call it, I think Julius now
is comfortable in his own skin. He loves playing for
Chris Finch. They had their time in New Orleans together.
But I think he's gonna continue to do whatever Finch
says or asks because they kind of need him to
be like a Swiss army knife. Some of the best
basketball under Chris Finch in Minnesota was when they had
Kyle Anderson. Kyle Anderson and Julius Randall are completely different players,
but they're also very similar. And I think what Finch
would love from Julius is to just be that playmaking
big you know, hit some tough shots, space a little more,
be more confident taking threes. But just his bully mentality
has really kind of worn on Ant or like grown
on ant, and I think he's also kind of a
Conthey Towns and Julius Randall are mentally two different people,
two wonderful guys, but they are completely look at life differently.
And I think Julius's mentality has been really good for
Aunt as he continues to grow from a really good
young player into like, you know, the quote unquote face
of the league stuff.
Speaker 1: I will say, if they played the Lakers like forty
times a year, I think Julius Randall might make all defense.
I'm pretty sure. I don't know he's got something out
for that franchise he have.
Speaker 2: You you were a basketball junkie, Like, do you remember
ever seeing someone want to go at Lebron and again
shout out to Lebron. He's in his forties. The stuff
he's doing is crazy. But Julius Randall had a look
in his eye. I was at all of those games
in La Minnesota, and he had a look in his
eye when he would either defend Lebron or go out
Lebron and it was, like you said, it didn't end
well in Oklahoma City, but it was Julius is Randall's
best scratch of playoff basketball he's ever had. So that's
another thing to put a pinion of, Like can we
take that and grow it a little bit with just
more continuity and an off season to kind of season it?
Speaker 1: So can we talk about why Auntie Edwards wants to
leave Minnesota because he made less than Bradley Beal at
one point? Is that is it about that time?
Speaker 2: Let me let me call it Dane quick, because I
think Dane went at Kendrick Perkins.
Speaker 1: I'm actually referable that.
Speaker 2: He was so mad.
Speaker 1: I was so in my silo I didn't even know
that was said. So I think I sometimes too disconnected
from where I see people are just like saying, like
who says that? And then it's apparently it's not ESPN.
But so Edwards last year the three point volume inefficiency
was insane and it got the most coverage. Was there
anything else though that you thought watching him about a
season that you thought flew under the radar aside from
everyone zeroing in on that outside stuff.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could do an hour on the three
point shooting thing, because again I'm biased, but also the
only draft I've ever covered is during that COVID year
when we had nothing else to do, so I knew
every prospect in their strengths and weaknesses. Nanthony Edwards wasn't
a good shooter. He could make shots, but he wasn't
a good shooter. Also, his mechanics from when he was
in Georgia Tores now have completely changed. His body's changed
all that stuff. So I don't know, man Like just
kind of waking up one day and Anthony Edwards is
the best three point shooter in the league was a
crazy thing to kind of wrap your head around. Obviously,
it's still Steph and like his his crown, but for
aunt to do what he did in that one year
and just be like, that's a part of my game
that I need to improve, and he did improved it
to that level is crazy. I think it also hurt
some things. He didn't finish around the basket as well.
He never truly developed what I like to call like
a spot. He would just still take really tough threes.
Sikos that listen to this can remember he had like
a side step three in Houston to win the game.
That was one of those no no no oh it
went in shots. But I think the biggest thing going
back to the trade with Julius and Carl is that
just fit Carl's flaws or whatever people thought of him nationally.
He was still a big voice in that locker room
and he was, you know, the older brother to Aunt
on the team. And when Ant lost him, Ant was
forced again like he was kind of in his childhood
quick plug for the Ant book written by our friend Krityne,
who did an amazing job of getting to know the
story of Anthony Edwards from when he was a baby
to kind of how he got to the league. But
Ant was kind of thrust in again at twenty three
of like, hey, this three point six three point seven
billion dollar asset. Now this franchise is pro sports team.
It all rests on your shoulders. And he had to
do a lot of leadership stuff, and I think for
me being around him, being in the locker room, it
was more of what he would say behind closed doors.
There was a lot of times where he just said
what needed to be said, even if it was uncomfortable
and his teammates really listened to that, and I think
that's really cheesy, and people listening to this could scoff.
But I also have learned by doing this you know
this too. It's actually some of the most important shit,
Like you have to be able to and kind of
back up your words, and he did that. He hates
taking time off. He'd never miss his games, you know,
knock on wood, but he's put a lot of time
into his body so that when he tells you to
you know, show up early, stay late, he's one of
the guys doing it. So three point shooting was incredible.
I would imagine this summer. It's a lot of mid
range stuff, which might drive Chris Finch crazy a little bit,
but he still needs to develop late in game. When
he watched Shade do it, it's like, okay, the thunderneath
bucket here, what's Shay gonna do? You could almost pick
in your brain. He's either gonna go to that corner
or he's gonna go to that elbow. Ant needs to
develop that of like, okay, tie game. I play for
a team that historically was so bad in clutch time
and late game execution. If you give me the ball.
Where are my two spots? I want to get to that.
I know I'm gonna make a bucket, and I think
that'll be something he has to work on this summer.
Speaker 1: He's one of those players where they're two different caliber
of players. But I just recently saw this where you
have Anthiaward saying he's gonna work on something. You just
assume that it's gonna work out where it's if it's
someone else that's you approach it with that, like Mitchell
Robinson working on his free throws right now, and that
just makes me terrified because it it means, oh, are
they gonna play him more where he's valuable? But is
that the right call? You and Dane had a fascinating
discussion about the mid rain shot though, where even I'm
I'm sure I'm guilty of this as well as you
look at the percentages or like having it as a counter.
But what you two really talked about that I found
fascinating was it's not just about him being able to
make those shots as a higher clip. It's about reading
the room. And I think the word he used was
delineating between well, when does it make sense to take
those shots? How do I make sure this doesn't come
at the expense of good three point shots or even
more importantly, for him looks at the rim. Is that
like his next front tier then as a player that
like in your.
Speaker 2: Review, I think so, And you know me well enough.
I just really dumb stuff down because that's how my
smooth brain works. But I think that when Ant, when
you think of Anthony Edwards at a national level, or
if you're a fan of another team and he's coming
to town, it's like he led the league in threes,
and he also can dunk really well. So if I can,
if I can get him to pump fake from the
line from three point line, I know that he's going
to go directly to the rim. So it kind of
makes that whatever twenty five feet an easier proposition is
I go if he's not gonna shoot the three, he's
going to go straight to the rim. So I think
we always talk about three level scorers, but for Ant
to just even have the threat of Okay, if if
I pump at the three point line, I get you
up in the air. I might not just go to
the rim. I might just go to sixteen feet. He
has no floater whatsoever. And again, if I could jump
like him, why would you ever take a floater when
you could just go yam on someone. But I think
just having more tools in his arsenal or will just
make it so hard to defend him, right, because I
don't want to give him that sixteen foot if I
know he spent all summer working on it. I don't
want to get too close to the rim because he's
gonna absolutely posterize me like he's done to so many guys.
But also I can't give him space, you know, at
the top, because he in twenty four to twenty five
led the league in three pointers, So I think that
ability is going to be offensively. That'll probably be the
thing he works on the most. I think his finishing
was just maybe they asked him to do too much.
Maybe it was a fatigue thing. He has continued, like
everyone gotten in better shape in the offseason. But you
look at the Wolves photos they tweet out like he
is a different looking specimen than he was coming out
of Georgia's. So I'm not worried about the rim stuff.
The three point shot is kind of money, but yeah,
if he can find that fourteen sixteen footer to just
make it that no matter where you are defending me,
you have to be fearful that I'm going to pull up.
I think that'd be big for him and for this team.
Speaker 1: How much of the room stuff do you think could
be attributed to there was just rough, like especially to
start the year, like the offense looks rough, and then
you're dealing with a different spacing ecosystem when you go
from Karnthy Towns to Julius Randall and some of your corene.
Speaker 2: Well, and you know when we were talking about Nas
playing center, sometimes the most fearless Anthony Edwards is when
it's like a Jaden Nas and a couple of shooters
out there, and you know, how does that team defend?
How do they rebound? A lot of question marks? But
it's spaced out five guys and there's no one in
the paint and has to worry about. He has done
in my mind, and I'm very pro ant, but a
very good job of somehow navigating still getting to the
rim with Gobert, who's oftentimes in the dunker spot. But yeah,
this year, more than any year that he's been here,
it's like I got Julius camped out ten feet away,
calling for the ball, Rudy's right under the rim, He's
got his hands up and I'm trying to dunk. I'm
shooting into yeah, and Jaden's in a corner shooting twelve
percent from three like this is a nightmare. So I
think his ability again to kind of hit those mid
ranges should maybe ironically free up some more space for
him to get to the rim. But if you listen
to Chris Finch speak about Aunt at all since the
season ended, and Finch's borderline sometimes like a father figure
to him, and how he is critical and Aunt takes
it well. He said, he's like Anthony's finishing at the
rim was not good enough and it's something that he
has to improve on. And again, when you're built like
that and you're that athletic, you know the mid range
stuff needs to come Dan. But also, why isn't Anthony
Edwards in that group of guys that get ten to
twelve free throws a game? Right like some of its
Ant's faults because he just yells oh all the time
and thinks everything's a foul. But he's also physical enough
that's like if shaken gets you twelve free throws a game,
Like why can't ant get ten, and a lot of
that will come from just putting more pressure on the rim,
putting more pressure on the officials to call to call
the foul. But getting back to the rim and not
just being so three point happy is something I definitely
think Chris Finch is in his ear about.
Speaker 1: I also think this would be a conspiracy theory of mine,
but I think there's more favorable whistles at this point.
I don't even want to say more favorable, but I
think there's more like value assigned to contact when it's
coming from someone who's playing with a change of cadence
or more herky jerkiness than someone who's using like this
raw explosive ability. It feels like we expect, oh yeah,
guys are supposed to bounce off him, like were he
supposed to bounce off guys like that. I feel like
a lot of the time we write it off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm full into football mode. I'm just gonna be
honest with you. I'm literally doing a fantasy draft right
here as we speak. I feel like Dereck Henry just
doesn't get a lot of calls because he's one of
the biggest, baddest, you know, mfors on the field, and
I think with Aunt too, he's just when you rank
the shooting guards, he's built different than a lot of
the other shooting guards. He's not He's not And this
might be something they talked about in kind of exit
interviews after the season. Maybe he does need to kind
of get back into that gaming the system thing. I
don't think he wants to do that, but the league,
at least this last season, has shown that they'll give
you that if you master the ability to kind of
outsmart the refs. So there's a fine line there. I
don't want Aunt to be hunting. I don't want to
be a foul merchant, right, I don't want to be
hunting free throws. But I do think it's a part
of his game that he could lean into a little
more because he just is so fearless and physical that
I think sometimes he doesn't get the benefit of the
doubt that other physical players, but other guys that are
a little smarter have a little more experienced Git.
Speaker 1: When Matt Carlthy trade first goes down, and as I
told you, I hated it when I tried to rationalize
you looked at it from the perspective of Julius Randall
as a secondary creator in ball handler Mike Commy's getting older.
I found Rob Dillingham to be last year one of
the most fascinating plays in the NBA because of what
they gave up to get him. I'm even more maybe
it's morbidly intrigued by him now because of I know
he dealt with I think it was ankle stuff last
year or whatever. But I'm even more intrigued by him
now because of what his role was not last year.
Because I do still look at this team and think
Anthey Edwards overall, I do believe is improved as a
decision maker when he's getting blitzed facing all those doubles
like whatever, But like it still feels like there's a
lack of throw the ball to someone else to make
it's him and it's Julius ran Like I don't trust
Jane McDaniels necessarily in that role. I don't trust Jallen Clark.
Maybe Terren Shannon Junior can do some of that stuff,
but Rob Dillingham is supposed to be that guy, right,
like the guy who could play off of Fante Edwards
can do stuff with the ball, get off the ball,
super quickly. What are the This is such a dump.
It's a simplified question, like what are the stakes with
him this year? Given how last year went?
Speaker 2: Like everything like in a weird way. I've always joked
that this roster has a ton of talent and there's
no define denying that they still don't have a lot
of guys that can dribble, which is like a pretty
big thing to do in the league. So everything you
said from like thirty thousand foot view is actually spot on,
Like you're not expecting offensive shock creation from Jane McDaniels.
Dons Reed has a really good handle for a big guy,
but he's not necessarily initiating sets getting the ball moving.
He's kind of more of a finisher. Rudy Gobert no
no game other than that fadeaway jumper he hit in
Game seven against Yoki's just no no game. And then yeah,
so if it's no Aunt and Julius and you can
kind of signal in on those guys, who else. Mike
Conley is thirty eight now, he's still a big part.
He's a safety blanket for Chris Finch. It's kind of
a lightning rod in this community because people do love
Rob and you you used future draft capital to move
up last summer to get him. So there is if
if you're a Vikings fan listening to this or a
Minnesota sports fan, there is like a tie between what
the Vikings and all the pieces they have, but they
need their quarterback JJ McCarthy to kind of hit in
year two. It's kind of the same thing with Rob
Dillingham of the Timberwolves are still going to be really good.
I mean, they made the Western Conference Finals last year
pretty much without Rob Dillingham ever doing anything. Yeah, but
they need as you saw against the Thunder when the
Thunder could just throw triples at Ant and be like,
we're not worried about Julius, We'll make everyone go to
you and and had no one to just get off
the ball, kind of like Shaye would do in times
with jadab right, like let me just throw it to him,
get the pressure off me, maybe I'll get it back.
So there's a ton of pressure. Rob Dillingham is only twenty,
I believe still, but he's gonna have to kind of
be thrown into the deep end more this season, even
if Mike Conley still starts, which is my expectation, I
don't imagine he's gonna play. I think Mike Conley somehow
at thirty seven played like seventy north of seventy games
last year. That can't be the formula this year. It
should be closer to sixty. And when he's not out
there again, who's going to start alongside Ant? I prefer
Dante to kind of stick more to I call it
them leak Beasley roll. I don't know legally Dan, if
we can even mention that name on this pod right now,
but I want your rent, okay, okay. So they're gonna
they're gonna need a lot from him. And last year
I kept calling for a gap year of like, let's
just let the young kids swim and see what happens.
Chris Finch is here to win games, and that's kind of,
I guess what your goal should be. So they might
have lost some developmental opportunities. But then when you saw
Rob in summer League, or Jalen Clark or terrenstowin junior,
he did look like a guy who was a little bigger,
a little more seasoned, a little more patient and calm.
I think the game was really fast for Rob Delingham
in year one as it is for many rookie point guards.
But yeah, man, there's a lot to like about this team,
and they're you know, they're gonna have a high wind,
total projection and all that stuff. But I mean you
could really say that, like for them to get over
to the next hump, it is specifically about what you're
gonna get from Rob Dillingham, because if he's good, this
thing could be great. And if he's not good, it's
harder for me to see how they break through the
ceiling that they've had of being a Final four team
that can maybe win one game in the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 1: What type of stomach do you think they have this
year to maybe let him go through some of the emotions.
Though I'm not saying he doesn't need to earn playing time,
but like you're still talking about, you said, he's twenty,
someone who's gonna be up against this steep learning curve.
But there are these tempt they're not even just temptations
to where it's we need to take this veteran club
out of the coach's bag. No, like Dante DiVincenzo is
just better right now, or you might prefer Jalen Clark's
defensive intensity, throw Tarren Shannon Junior out there. Because they
have so many either better or more proven alternatives. How
hard does it make it for them to stomach where
you have to assume they'll be a fairly good amount
of not so great moments at the But you know
you're doing this in service of well, I'm a big
believer in getting the real game reps. Like, Okay, Summer
League is cool. G League is fine. I get they're
also operating on an immediate window. But you looked at
this kid, you said he was worth control of your
twenty thirty and twenty thirty one draft picks. Like, at
some point it seems like you need to like take
off the kid gloves, so to speak, and like give him,
whether it's a fifteen or twenty game stretch to start
the season, to show you that he either is ready,
isn't ready, is on track to be ready, or something,
because he to me, he's still such a mystery box.
Like I like a lot of the aesthetics of his game,
but like I still don't necessarily understand how well they're
going to translate to the way the Wolves want to
play to even the NBA at large.
Speaker 2: Last year in hindsight, he didn't have to play because
he was nineteen. Yes, he was a lottery pick. That
a lottery pick on a good team doesn't always matter
as much, like you can maybe season them for a year.
I kind of call it the Jordan love thing, like
you can sit behind him for a year if Rob
Doingham doesn't play this year all of a sudden summer
of twenty twenty six. I mean he's like in that,
you know, Trey Burke, Dante Exum, like his career now
is like over and can he be a seligible like
bench player. So I think there's a ton of pressure
on Chris Finch and it's probably one of the biggest
things he's facing. You know, he's well liked by by
Tim Conley and and the new ownership group, so I
don't think I don't think he's on a hot seat,
but he's going to have to find a way. I mean,
Chris Finch doesn't like when you make mistakes, nor do
many coaches, right, and this is the team that wins
a lot of games and ant gets to make, you know,
more mistakes than others. But that's kind of he's the
best player and he fills a lot of other gaps
with Rob. I think Chris Finch, who I am maybe
one of the biggest fans of, is going to kind
of have to let his guard down a little bit
and give Rob the ability to make mistakes while still
playing in a system that has proven to be very successful. Again,
I could we could talk about anyone, but the Rob
Dillingham thing is for me, going into training camp coming up,
it'll be the number one question of how much more
prepared to see this training camp than he was last
training camp. Has he just figured out life in the NBA,
you know, all these different things. He's had a great
mentor his locker is next to Mike Conley's in the
locker room, which I don't think is not planned out.
But he's going to be a huge deal. And if
he if he can even just give them him like
average point guard stuff, I think they're gonna be really
good because they don't need him to be a primary scorer.
They don't. They do need him to be a primary
ballhander at points, but you know Ant can bring the
ball up Dante like they still have other guys. But yeah,
it's like, to me, it's something I think about at
an unhealthy level of If this kid's not good, that's
gonna be a massive red flag because of what you
invested in him. And if he is really good, that
kind of gives you more hope that they can they're
a contender, but there may be a Tier two contender,
that they can be a Tier one level contender and
actually compete with the Thunder rather than just show up
to Oklahoma City for two or three games and then
get bounced.
Speaker 1: Jade McDaniels has another fascinating season last year. My question
about him to boil it down is twofold. What was
the primary catalyst for him sort of flipping the switch.
You talk about the two month stretch, but the efficiency
holds up for a good amount almost through the end
of the season. What was the primary catalyst between him
kind of flipping that switch and when you look at
his offensive ceiling in general, how much of it is
tied to carving out an adequate number of minutes for
him at the four spot moving forward.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm not trying to slurp, but like that you
are really good at this And I don't know how
you know so much about all thirty teams because my
big thing is I've told this before like Jane McDaniel's
is my favorite player. He was the stock I was
most right about coming out of twenty and twenty. I've
lost a lot of money on a lot of stocks,
but Jane McDaniels stock has paid me pretty well. And
everyone thinks he's a three and d wing. I've come
around to more that he's like a he's a four,
Like he's a big guy. I reference that he's been
working out with Kawhi Leonard a little bit. He's like
three full inches taller than Kawhi Leonard and for us
in Minnesota early.
Speaker 1: On right right, I got how big he is.
Speaker 2: We kind of thought like, oh, if he could be Kawhi,
that'd be great, because he did have a lot of
offensive game. I watched him when he was in Washington
out here like he he was an offensive player, and
then he quickly pivoted to be a really good defensive player.
He should be in consideration for an All defensive team
every year. But I think going back to like this
log jam at the four and five with Rudy and
Julius and now a freshly minted paid nas Reid, I
think his best minutes were at the four in January
and February when Julius Randall was out with that injury,
So that's when he kind of discovered other parts of
the court that weren't the corner. He he's a competitive dude.
He punched that wall that one time and broke his hand.
But I think he should be as scared of the
corner sometimes as he was about that wall, because he's just,
for whatever reason, not a good three point shooter from
the corners, but he does so many other things well.
He's really hard to guard in transition. He's so herky
jerky it. I mean, he is like the size of
Kevin Durant, right, he does not have Kevin Durant's game,
but he can. He's not gonna get a shot blocked
no matter where he takes it off. So if he
has a twelve footer kind of rocking chair leans back,
it's always going to go in. So I think that's
another thing Chris Finch has to find a way of
They just gave like two hundred They gave like a
quarter of a billion dollars to Julius Randall and nas
Reed and they have Rudy go but maybe their second
most important player on the team kind of the running mate.
You know that we joke like the Scottie Pippen to
Ant's MJ is Jade McDaniels. And are you continuing to
pigeonhole him into a three or can you find more
ways to have him play at the four where maybe
he's just in this new modern NBA that continues to
change in front of our eyes, that might be more
of his comfortable natural position.
Speaker 1: Do you have, like who is the big you want
him on the floor with most when he's playing the four?
I think last year, if I'm remembering correctly, it was
nas Reed was probably on the floor for most minutes.
Is that the end? Like the minutes with him at
the four are all over the place, but they have
a lot of lineup noise in there. I'm just curious
what big would you like to see him.
Speaker 2: On the floor with if he's there for I think
Nas they are like legitimately the best of friends, not
just like teammates, like those guys are like elementary school type.
I've known that guy for thirty years. They haven't like
they are best of friends, so I think they have
a good chemistry with each other. I would like to
see Jaden Moore with Julius because I think Julius, as
he gets to know his team for another year, like
could get Jayden in better spot to produce and score.
I've never loved like Jayden at the four quote unquote,
and then Rudy because I just think they are two
very not spacing players, even though obviously Jayden can hit threes.
But so yeah, I think Nas would be one. I mean, hell,
let's just move the chess pieces around and now Jaden's
playing the center. I just want to see him in
more of a up tempo and I think maybe we'll
get into this because there's a guy on this team
that is all up tempo, but more of an up
tempo team that plays smaller spaces the floor more and
then gives Jaden more opportunities to either be in the
dunker spot or to get those kind of ten foot
me He really is comfortable in the mid range. So yeah,
Nas and Jayden would be great. A little more Julius
and Jade would be great. But overall, what Jayden did
last year, even if it was, you know, with an asterisk,
because Julius was on the bench, they needed that growth
because they had just paid him last October and they
needed to kind of see like, hey, you know, are
you are you eligible to kind of level up and
match An's trajectory. And I think last year he showed
some really strong improvements. It's like, Okay, we can continue,
as Finch always says, to kind of build blocks on
top of that. So, uh, he's another one. Not that
everyone on this team has a major season coming up,
but behind Rob Dillingham, it's like, okay, is Jade McDaniels
the January February Jayden or is it like the November
December Jayden that was frustrating a lot of fans.
Speaker 1: Can I ask you about some of the other quote
unquote kids on this team?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the young Cubs.
Speaker 1: I was recording a Hidden Gems podcast, guys who we
think deserve more attention. It could have bigger roles with
basketball poetries Mike Sheer. A couple of weeks ago, he
pointed out to me because we both picked Timberwolves. He
picked Jalen Clark. I picked Tarren Shannon Junior, and I
did not realize this. It's there. I should have known
this that Jalen Clark had logged more minutes than Tarren
Shannon Junior. But I come in thinking, well, part of
the reason they were okay with New York he Alexander
Walker leaving is they just have Arren Shannon Junior right there.
I want to know what your overall thoughts on him,
but I still view him as like immediately to this team.
I think he'll have a bigger role than Jaell and
Clark this year. Is that an accurate read of the
situation though, Yes.
Speaker 2: I think Terrence Shannon Junior could Nasried will still probably
come off the bench, but I think Terren Shannon Junior
could will be like the seventh most played guy. I
think Terrence Shennon Junior will get more minutes than Rob Dillingham.
I know, I just spewed a bunch of words about
how important Rob is, but Terren Shannon Junior was drafted
as like already, Terren Shannon Junior is older than Anthony Edwards,
like tern Shennon Junior is ready to play right now.
You saw it in Summer League when he gets in transition,
he's as good as it gets. And that's high praise,
not for me, but like from front office members from
the team that are like, he just gets the ball
and starts running like no one can stop him, and
you saw flashes of that later in last season. But yeah,
Jalen Clark originally won over Chris Finch, the Timberwolves head coach,
because he played US Pacific role. They needed a guy
to kind of three and D it. Although Jalen Clark's
shot is still a work in progress, but he just
kind of translates out to be an ideal three and
D guy. He was the best defender in college before
he tore his achilles. So yeah, I think I think
Jalen Clark will play. I think he'll be more of
the natural fit for Nikiel even though Nikila Alexander Walker.
I'm gonna miss him so much and I will be
curious to listen to the pod you do with someone
from Atlanta. He's gonna be a huge factor for them
because he's found a swagger. He's great defensively, he can playmake,
he can shoot. They're gonna miss a lot of that
and they're gonna get some defense from Jalen, But offensively,
they're gonna lean a lot into Terrence and I would
see I could imagine seeing you know, lineups where it's
like Aunt and TJ and Dante and Jade Nanas and
that team is just their whole identity is going to
be run and run and run, and I think that's
something This team was terrible last year, as you know,
in transition, like bottom five, bottom seven. Terren Sheennon Junior,
I think alone will fix that. But also so Rob
Dealingham needs to play because a year from now, if
he doesn't, he's gonna be labeled to bust. Terrence Sheinon
Junior needs to play because a couple of years from
now he's gonna be retired like he's an older guy,
even though he's only in year two and he's built
to play now. He's got the body to play now.
And if he can space the floor, it's the only
question mark of every time he gets the ball. He
loves to go to the rim. He was fourth in
college his final year. I think free throw rate. He
needs to shoot more because again, as we just talked about,
the lane is pretty clogged with Jayden and Julius and Rudy.
If he can show and he did in Vegas a
little bit, if he can show that he can catch
and shoot so when Ant gets doubled he can trust.
TJ is one of his best friends. I think that'll
be big for him. But yeah, man, if I was
buying stock in anyone, maybe even in the league, Like
I'm gonna sniff around most improved player odds for Terrence
Shinon Junior once it comes to the season, because if
those things are like thirty to one, I might try
to pay the mortgage with that.
Speaker 1: The problem with it, yeah, I mean to take a
flyer on it. The problem with those ones are it
does seem to just go to the big name that
improved the most, and there's no consistency to it. It's
just so tough. But you mentioned the transition stuff with him.
I actually think more so sometimes than the secondary creation
or ball handling, whatever, the thing that might frustr frustrate
me both about specifically the past two years of Wolves basketball.
I just want them to play in transition, not even
a little bit more, but like a healthy amount more.
He seems like someone who could help with that. They
have guys, I know some of it is okay. Rudy
Gobert grabs a rebound like your offense is probably just
gonna be more set than him grabbing a rebound, throwing
like these outlet passes are getting off the ball quickly,
but don't they have the person, especially Julius Randall's like
a grab and go guy, Anthey Edwards gonna do it,
Dante Divincenz that they traded for two of those guys.
What am I missing here?
Speaker 2: I'm winn it. This is gonna be another really dumb answer.
But I think Anthey Edwards is one of the most
impressionable people ever and if you got to know his
childhood and everything you went through, you kind of would
get it. I just don't think anyone has gotten through
to him the value of it and like, and I
know that sounds so dumb, but I think when Anthonyowards
shows up to training camp or in the summer workouts
and he sees TJ get the ball and just hit
the X button, like hold it down, just sprint to
the other side, and it's gonna be like that, Shit's
really cool. I want to do that too. And again, ANTHONYO.
Wwards is kind of the older brother to Terrence on
the roster, but Terrence has had more birthdays. So I
think if if Ant's like, Yo, that guy's just doing that,
I'm gonna do it too. But I'm so with you
and a lot of the transition stuff that you just
highlighted does come back to ANT has just not wanted
to do it, or ANT hasn't learned the value of
just getting into you know, essentially an NHL like power
play off and if you get the ball and you
go three on two, it's just going to be so
much easier for you than those thunder grinds where it
was like everyone is looking at you. So in terms
of like offensive philosophy or what is the low hanging
fruit for this team from last year this year, the
number one thing on the whiteboard, toure just be can
we get in transition? More like maybe you won't be
a top five, top seven team in transition, but can
we be like top fifteen Because for the last couple
of years it's been a slog and they play slow.
Some of that's on Rudy, but like, I think Rudy's
gonna play a little less. I think they're gonna play smaller.
Maybe give Baron Jay a little time. So they should
get on transition as much as possible because they have
two guys in Ant and TJ and Rob too right
and Rob dealing is probably one of the fastest guys
in the league. Of can we get a stop? Our
identity is to get stops. But as soon as we
get that stop, can we just go rather than kind
of look around and really try to figure out what
the offer or of the defense is doing. Just go.
If they can see the value in that, it's gonna
be a massive thing for their offense.
Speaker 1: Bittersweet development of Anthy Edwards focuses on getting out in
transition more. But that's where some of his mid range
volumes come from, is pulling up at the free line. Right, So,
uh Jaalen Clark just maniagaal on defense? What is he
on offense?
Speaker 2: Though he's not much, but he he's a really smart
player who there's multiple times in Vegas where he just
went cold from three and then he would hit one
do the prayer hands emoji. I think that's he's not
gonna be asked to ever initiate offense. I mean Nikile
Alexander Walker. Spot started for Mike Conley when Mike was out.
They don't have that anymore. Obviously, they hope that Rob
will fill those those shoes. But for Jayalen Clark, I
think it's literally just can you be a three and
D guy? He kind of signed an interesting contract. He's
a really smart kid, by the way, But so he's
a restricted free agent next summer already, so he's got
like a payday coming up. And I think for him,
if he can just be I mean, I'm sure you
can think of guys off the top of your head,
but if he can just do what maybe Jayden can't,
can you just hit corner threes? Because defensively, he I
think is already like at a Nikile Alexander Walker level.
I mean, he is such a dog defensively, but you know,
like the Wolves had Josha Kogie back in the day,
who was a dog defensively. But if you can't score,
it's hard for a coach to play you more than
you know, four minute segments. So if he can continue
to refine his shot, he to me more than anyone
and has completely changed this jumper. If he can just
be even like a league average three point shooter mixed
with that defense and maybe playing more shooters around him,
I think that'll be big for him. But yeah, I
think his ability to space the floor will determine if
he plays a lot or if he's kind of just
you know, a nickel cornerback that you play on third
down type stuff, and so.
Speaker 1: Johann Brenjay I saw a lot of him during Summer League.
I came away very impressed. I think everyone will harp
on what was at the game against the Suns he
had all those blocks, whatever game that was. Yep, there's
a lot of fouls. There's a lot of rawness there
I was impressed with. And there's a lot of rawness
on offense. But he can like really dunk and even
like at one point busted out a push shot. I
am officially I try not to read too much into
Summer League, but I watched entirely too much of it
this year for something I was working on. I am
hashtag intrigued by Johann Barjetsha. What are your and also
his last name kind of sounds like a brand of wine, right, yeah,
for sure to see if it comes out or if
it's all out. What are just your early impressions of him?
Speaker 2: He has no idea what he's doing, and it's the
biggest compliment you could give him. His story, as maybe
people heard during draftnet, was he only got into basketball
because he stopped fitting into soccer shoes. He's from France,
He's only been playing the game of basketball. I think
he's eighteen for four years. So when he came out
for that first game in Summer League, I think he
at the time before a weird stack correction, which why
are we doing stack corrections? In summer League, he tied
the record for most blocks in a game, and after
the game, talking to a member of the front office,
I was like, that was cool, and it was cool
because he didn't know what he was doing. It wasn't
like understanding defensive schemes or you don't scout your opponent
in summer league. You're more focused on just being in Vegas.
But like, once he just understands, and I think that
would be cool to be tutored by Rudy Gobert, who is,
you know, one of the most famous French centers that
the country's ever produced. So that'll be good for him.
But once he actually just learns the game, I think
it's gonna be fascinating because they love him because he
is a ball of clay. I mean, he's super athletic.
I kind of made the Derek Lively comp. I don't
like comps, but it's how my brain works. It's like, Okay,
can he just be this rim protecting rebounder. That's all
this team needs with all the offensive options they have.
But yeah, if he can just be molded into Rudy Gobert,
no one ever got in his ear about like could
you give us a push shot? And you know, ten
twelve years ago whenever, when Rudy got here, centers weren't
expected to maybe produce as much. But Rudy's just never
developed any sort of offensive game. Right, Maybe he can
catch on the roll and then kick it out to
a corner, but there's no offensive game, there's no post ups.
I think with Baron Jay, they're like, we can tell
this guy to do whatever, and he'll do it and
he'll learn it. And I don't expect I personally would
like red shirt him, Like I don't want to see
him play this year because again I go back to
like Jaden should get some more of those minutes. I
just think he's going to spend a lot of time
in the G League. He's gonna be developed a lot.
But I also don't think it's a hot take to
think that maybe next year, if you have me back
on this thing, that he's going to be projected as
the starting center. They are so high on the kid.
They had flirted with maybe trying to move up in
the draft to get him. They were related when he
fell to them at seventeen, and he is, you know,
Rob is still the guy as I've said now one
hundred times like that they're really banking on. But Baron
Jay is the in their minds, the lively to ants Luca,
and they need him to be the center of the
future because not only he's on a cheap contract, he
has more offensive ceiling than Rudy Gobert's ever had. Defensively,
he has so long to go to win four defensive
players a year. But Dan, I don't think they drafted
Anthony Edwards. They drafted Conzai, town's first overall picks. But
he's about as exciting to me as like Zach Lavine
was in this market, where like I don't know what
he is. He's just super athletic and he seems like
a modern day player. So if they coach him upright
and they season it right, I think they got a
pretty good one in Baron Jay.
Speaker 1: People laugh because he was just the number seventeen pick
that you said you could see him starting. I'm sure
people would have laughed. If they would have said the
number twenty seven pick and Rudy Gobert would win four
defensive players and Tim Connley drafted him right and then
moved him. What was that? How did he end up
in Utah's That was the Rudy thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he drafted I think he drafted Gobert and then
traded him to Utah. Yeah, he does have a keen
eye for centers. So they're all different, right, Like Baron
Jay and Jokic and Gobert are kind of vastly different players,
but he does. They were so happy to be able
to get him. New ownership was in the room making
a call. I think Alex Rodriguez was on the phone
trying to say Baron Jay's name. So they're very excited
about him. But I also if you're a Timberwolves fan
listening to this, or just a casual NBA fan, I
would hope that unlike Rob Dillingham, who kind of needed
to play last year they needed some of his stuff,
they don't really need Baron Jay right now. They just
need him to learn the game and learn all the
different little intricacies that go into being a good defender,
because I think the offensive stuff will just naturally come
for him as he gets older.
Speaker 1: Did not include this in the outline I sent you.
But where are we at with Leonard Miller?
Speaker 2: Watch next question? I mean, you know they had another
slew of young guys. Josh Mine was kind of a
developmental second round guy that didn't get to play much
at Memphis. Good kid just never had a chance here,
and then he ended up in Boston alongside Luca Garza. Uh,
I don't I don't really know what's Leonard Miller. I
don't love this is like a Scoot Henderson take that
I have living out in Portland. I don't love the
G League guys sometimes because they just don't know if
they go through the system in the right way. Leonard
Miller was a G League guy. He's got a lot
of tools. He showed those he could just grab ten
rebounds with his eyes closed in Vegas. But offensively, what
is he He can shoot, but he doesn't make a
lot of them. So is he like a you know,
I was guilty of a couple years ago being like,
is that the next lamar odom? Know? But like, I
just don't know what he is. He'll probably be their
emergency big at times. But again going back to Finch,
the reason Jalen Clark got off the bench this year
was because Finch could say do that, and he trusted
him to do that. I don't know if Finch knows
what to tell Leonard Miller to do, and I certainly
don't know if Finch trusts Leonard Miller to do it.
So to me, he's like the bottom of the barrel.
Maybe he has a chance. He's still young, maybe he
needs a new team that doesn't have high expectations a
lot of tools though he's really matured, he's long. But
if you're trying to kind of carve out a rotation
for this team, I don't think Leonard Miller is going
to be in it.
Speaker 1: I think you just spent more time on him than
any other podcast there was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sucks that you should cut for you.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter slash righting
round portion?
Speaker 2: Yes? Absolutely, this's my favorite part.
Speaker 1: So we've talked about a few of them. But when
you look at this roster, what do you think is
kind of their single biggest need right now?
Speaker 2: What I said earlier, guys that can dribble, Because if
Mike Conley's third eight way up here and Rob Dillingham
is twenty and down here, and one of them is
really experienced but slow and maybe injury prone. The other
one has no experience. If neither of those guys can work,
I think the fallback plan would be Dante to play
alongside Ant a lot in the backcourt. And I just
hate that, not because Dante can't do it, but I
just think Dante DiVincenzo is more comfortable flying around screens,
you know, taking thirty footers. The one thing I've really
learned from talking to like Mike and Nori is that
playing point guard, I mean you are doing the quarterback stuff,
even though people hate the analogic. You have to focus
on so many other things to just get guys involved,
make sure they're space, make sure you're running the right
play call from the bench. I don't think Dante wants
to do that, like I think he just wants to
kind of play free basketball. I mean he didn't have
to do a lot of that in New York. I
think that was Jalen Brunson's responsibility, or you know, even
Josh Hard or something. So yeah, the point guard position
in general will be the thing that opponents highlight any
night they play the chimberw of You know, is it
gonna be the old guy who we can get around
and can't really defend or the young guy who has
some juice but also can't really defend. So point guard,
point guard, point guard for this team, if they have
enough to get by, they'll be a really good team.
If they don't, they're gonna ask even more of Anthony Edwards,
and I think they already asked a lot from him,
even though he is projecting up to be a superstar.
There's only so much you want to ask of one player,
and I think that would be kind of the fine
line this season.
Speaker 1: Is there anything about this team, probably on a national level,
whether it's good, bad, a storyline, whatever, that is flying
under the radar right now.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good one. I just think I think
the fact that they didn't do anything in the summer
other than kind of maintain their guys. I mean, you
saw what Houston did with a splash to get Kevin Durant.
The Wolves were in on that. I don't think the
Wolves were in on that at what the price was
being reported, but they were interested to bring him in
and then obviously Okay, so he's just going to get better.
And then Denver had maybe the best offseason, so the
top of the West probably got better while the Wolves
just leaned into continuity. But I don't know. They have
all the same players and then some of a team
that made the Western Conference finals last year, so I
think continuity is boring. I don't I don't know. Greeney
doesn't bring up continuity on first take a lot, but
it sometimes is the thing that leads you to being
a successful organization. And I think the Wolves probably prefer
to be a little under the radar and doubted because
they haven't shown a propensity to accept being, you know,
the favorites in a lot of situations. So they do
have more nationally televised games than they've ever had. I
think they're like top five, but I think they'll be
cool as we get into September and we start to
get to training camps in October. If people aren't talking
about them, I think they'll be a good like chip
on our shoulder team. And that's that's kind of how
Chris Finch likes it.
Speaker 1: This will date it because it all events, but like
they're just sitting on there. Any mid level and they
have the space beneath the second apron to use it.
I'm curious if just like I don't think they would
throw it at a Malcolm Brogden, at least not the
entire thing, but like if there's just like a surprise buyout,
because we're seeing more buyouts over the offseason now since
so many of these teams that guys who get bought
out want to play for legally cannot sign them in
the middle of the year. So it's just like, I
don't like if Chris Middleton broke her to buy out
with Washing just as an example, I don't think he'd
picked just the minutes of ailbum Minnesota probably wouldn't be there.
I'm just watching it just to see, like, well they
do something with it, Like they're clearly not trying to
spend like through the teeth, but there's still an expensive team,
and so far this ownership group is showing a willingness
for the most part to invest in the roster. So
I've just like put a little pin in that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they this is kind of reported, but they had
good conversations with Damian Lillard before he ultimately signed where
he was supposed to sign, Like it's such a cool
story out here in the Portland market for Damian Lord
to come back and rehab for a year and maybe
try to bring the Blazers back. But that was an
option they tried to maybe sniff around of, like that
would solve all your point guard stuff down the road,
not in October, but yeah. One thing Tim Conley did
say Dan after the season was just as a as
someone who's building a roster, right or if you're shopping
for groceries, you do kind of want an unlimited budget
because then you can go get the best of the best.
Tim Conley was like, we understand this CBA enough now
that it is actually like a death nilled if you
are in the second April multiple seasons because of the
repeater at tacks and all that stuff. So I think
maybe if the right opportunity presents itself, I know Malcolm
Brogden's still out there. I was telling my Timberwolves fans like,
maybe he's out there for a reason, Like if he was,
you know, a needle mover, maybe he would have been
signed by now. But I think they're going to try
to keep financial flexibility for this season as best as possible,
so they don't have you know, player incentives and random
stuff happened that they go into the tax the second
apron again. So that next summer when I know, as
you saw Tim bond Tamps and those guys at ESPN
kind of put the Wolves in like this all in
window right now, we could be looking at next summer,
lose Mike Conley, losing Rudy Gobert, maybe you pivot off
a Julish Randall and all of a sudden, the Wolves
are one of the youngest average age teams in the
league with financial flexibilities, so I'd be shocked if they
did anything. I think Bones Highland eventually becomes a Timberwolf again.
Tim Conley loves to take care of his guys, but
I would be shocked if by the time they tip
off in October, if they if they made any more splashes.
And I say that as a guy, and like you
said a year ago, Tim Conley just said let's rip
the band aid off and make one of the biggest
trades in NBA history on a Friday, September twenty ninth.
So anything could happen with Tim Conley. But I think
this is going to be the roster in the rotation
in mid August that you're going to see in October.
Speaker 1: This is one of my favorite exercise to go through
for me in evans of this season. Try to pin
down who will be the most ten played players if
it was fairly easy for me when I came to
the Wolves. So who do you see is like being
the top ten most used players here? Well, every year
covering a team, just like one team, you have a
specific theme or trend. Years ago, Dane Moore called it
like the weirdest team ever. Last year we all said
eight starters forever and it was like Mike Conley, Aunt,
Jaden Julius, Rudy, Nikhiel, Dante and nas its eight starters.
Eight starters and then fansy get pissed that the young
guys didn't play this year. You subtract Nikiel Alexander Walker,
which again I think all fall we will understate.
Speaker 2: How big of a loss that is. He was a
great guy. But you fill that Sonari, You're down to
seven starters, the same seven just listed plus Terrence Shannon Jr.
Plus Jalen Clark plus Rob Dillingham. I think, like in
a fantasy draft, there was a steep cliff at ten,
where I would be shocked if anyone else plays, Like
I said about Baron Jay, super exciting prospect, seventeenth overall pick,
I don't see any minutes for him right now. Joe
Ingles is just here and people laugh and occasionally inbound
the ball. He is their best inbounder, which again you're like,
how's this team of contender if they can't dribble and
throw the ball in. It's a great question, Dan Leonard Miller,
like Bones Island or whoever they get, they'll have those guys.
Chris Finch said after the season and the exit of
interviews that he's like, I need to expand the rotation.
He mentioned nine or ten. I don't know. I mean,
you you cover the league way better than I do.
It's hard to have a ten man rotation and keep
guys happy. Like, guys don't really want to play six
minutes a night, you know, they kind of sometimes want
to either DNP or get like twelve like two six
minutes stints first half, second half. So Chris Finch said,
it not me, but I'd be shocked if they get
to ten. But I also think they'll be pitchforks if
it's anything less than nine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if you're gonna go that deep, it's
like the team has to be conditioned for it at
the top to where. I don't know how many like
minutes to Tyree's have like the Pacers to me or
the example or the Cavs are just so good it's
a bad one, but like the Pacers just and I
do think functional depth is more important than ever where
It's not just this party trick in the regular season.
It's yeah, no, you want to be able to tap
into it in the postseason. But yeah, I don't know who.
I had a question like, who do you think could
rise or fall in the rotation? The answers probab just
Rob dealing him to both is that I could see
him being squeezed out of it. I could see him Also,
is he starting by the end of the year. If
he told me that, it wouldn't shock me either.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he. I don't know if I'm just
so on this Terrencen Junior HiPE train. I think Rob
has a clear path to just minutes because again, like
you got to dial the minutes back from Mike. If
you think Mike Conley is still a playoff guy and
you're gonna rely on him, and you have to stop
playing him so much in the regular season, Like you
got to give Rob an opportunity, So Rob has a
clear chance to start, Terrence doesn't. But I think Terrence
also has a clear chance to be like possibly a
six man if things break out well. So yeah, those
two guys and again Jayleen Clark, plus like I said,
Dante after bench, they're gonna have nine or ten guys
that any night probably expect to play. And I don't
envy Chris Finch at all because I think that would
be one thing Chris Finch is really good at is
like explaining to guys. You talk to NBA players like
I like knowing even if I'm not gonna play, I
like knowing I'm not gonna play. They don't want to
be kind of tossed around, and Finchy does a good
job that. But for a guy that loved playing eight
guys to try to go to ten, I think it's
going to be a fascinating kind of story that we
follow in Minnesota all summer or all season, because for
better or worse than I don't believe him, Like I
don't think he's gonna be able to pull it off.
But we'll see because he does have he does have
the ingredients to kind of cook something up.
Speaker 1: We look, why don't they just win games by a
bunch of points that takes out like that's the easy
solution would be.
Speaker 2: That would be fun because that I would also eliminate
them from having two I think they were like one
of the three worst clutch time teams last year, and
the other two were like, I don't know, maybe the
Wizards and the Hornets. So it's like, how are you
a contender when you're in that group of games or
that group of teams. But yeah, if they could just
maybe blow teams out, it'd be a lot easier for
me to play my bench, I think.
Speaker 1: For this team especially, this question is some is to
some extent matchup dependent, But what do you view as
their go to closing unit. Do you think it's just
going to be the starters or are they really fuzing
and fiddling with one of those two spots there?
Speaker 2: Wow, I hadn't thought of that yet. I haven't gotten
my brain to that point. But I think the beauty
of it would be what you saw again to kind
of glaze over, like give the coach them props five
different guys at any night, Like I don't think I
don't think Rudy Gobert is at a level now in
his career where he has to close. And I think
when they acquired him in twenty twenty two, he was like,
you got to close with Rudy. I don't think you
have to close with Rudy anymore. Obviously, Ann will be
out there. I think even Jayden, despite maybe some of
the spacing issues that you could have with him, he
has to close because he is by far your best
defensive player. Finch trust Julius with a bullet, so he
would be out there. But yeah, some combo of Aunt,
Jayden and Julius and then matchup depending right, Like I
think you'll see Terrence Shannon Junior close more games. I
think he's Finch has shown an ability to close with
nas instead of Rudy. Can you rebound enough right? Like
one thing Finch has told me and others is like
the defense isn't about just like getting them to miss
a shot, it's can you get the rebound right? Because
if they are defensive, rebound the ball like they just
have another opportunity. Like defense actually is about getting the
ball and then going up your side of the court.
So without Rudy, this team has always struggled to rebound.
So I'll say, as I just filibuster, I would say
they probably close most nights the way they start, and
that would be with Finch's two most trusted players Julius Randall,
Mike Conley, his best player Anthony Edwards, and then his
two best defensive players, go Bert and Jane McDaniels.
Speaker 1: Is there a weirder lineup you want to see Chris
Finch try this season?
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, Leonard Miller brings the ball up. He's spaced
by Joan Baron and Rudy Gobert and Jade McDaniels and
like nas reed like that, just like five basically yeah,
five centers. No, I actually think to go the other
way because we're starting to do like the two timelines conversation,
which I know if you're a Warriors strand you're like,
oh my god, don't go don't do that. But I
would say some combination of like I would, Okay, this
is my sickle lineup. I do really like Rob Dillingham.
I just trust Terren Shannon Junior more. But some five
man lineup of Terrence Shannon Junior, Anthony Edwards, Dante DiVincenzo,
nas Reed, and Jane McDaniels. That has a ton of spacing,
a ton of physicality, a ton of just lunatics, like
guys that are just like crazy people. They might fight you,
and that would be the most fun and probably the
best chance of them kind of getting out in transition.
So give me that five man lineup on like a cold,
dreary December night, and I'll text him be like, hey,
League pass right now, all.
Speaker 1: Me that alert. It's too close to what mine was.
I want Baron Jay surrounded by four shooters. So give
me Yes, Edwards, Devincenzo, and then I don't know who
should be the fourth guy Like Jane McDaniels are just
not I don't know if I trust him ennother like
maybe Arren Shannon Jr. I mean, Dillingham could be in there,
But then you're really small and on that quick.
Speaker 2: Just because I probably did a bad job of setting
this up, Baron Jay could play like he could if
he was drafted by the Hornets, right, he might be
their starting center.
Speaker 1: I always would be there, he would be there starting.
Speaker 2: I feel bad because one of my best buddies, Like
I shoot on the Hornets a lot, but they're just
a I think of them because what they've done with
LaMelo ball and not focusing on winning is like with
the like that when they got Ant in Minnesota, Like
we need to put him in winning positions every single
day to mature him quicker. And it's worked. But yeah,
Baron Jay could play. It's just they have the strength
of this team, and of this roster is still big guys.
They have four guys six ten or bigger who can
play and play real minutes. But yeah, man, like a
Baron Jay lineup with Nas at the four and an
Ant and hell you want more shooting like Dante and
TJ or Rob. I'm so with you. Like that team
could sprint up and down the floor.
Speaker 1: Ah, you're getting away to Stillingham would be a I
think because then you have your plus defender his Aunt
and sometimes Stevencenzo. Then you're hoping Baron Jay just doesn't
know what he's doing but block. His block percentage is
like twelve percent or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're listening to this and you're not a
timberlves fan, you've got to be wondering. So the team
can't dribble. And also, I don't know if I've ever
watched a team that doesn't know how to throw lobs
more than this team, Like, no one knows how to
throw a lob to Rudy. So Rob Dillingham, in my opinion,
is probably the best lob thrower. So I think, like
a Rob in baron Ja little two man game could
be really fun. But again, you're right, like I think
part of the reason they drafted another seven footer from
France is that they still do believe in Rob. And like,
if Rob Dillingham is the point guard of the future,
we need to have as many offensive options out there
to make his game easier, but also defensively because Rob's
never gonna get bigger. But you see young guys or
I should say small guys in the league that have
made it work, but they've only made it work because
they have other good defensive players around them.
Speaker 1: Before we wrap up with a couple of predictions, is
there anything that we haven't discussed? Do you think is
warrants a conversation?
Speaker 2: No, it's just if you are aware of the Minnesota Timberwls,
you follow them or whatever, Like it's been four years
of trying to get new ownership, and you've seen multiple
teams just like oh hey, I woke up on a
Tuesday and the Lakers were for sale, or like the
Celtics sold overnight. The Wolves did this layaway plan that
then got legal and all this stuff, and that's finally
behind them. Mark Laurie and Alex Rodriguez have become the
majority governors of the Timberwolves and the Lynx, So that's
been like a chapter that's closed and now they're kind
of getting their own people in there, but that some
of their own people are already in there, Tim Conley,
Matt Lloyd, kind of Chris Finch was before them. But
I think just that going away and there being even
less distractions. I talked about how pretty much everyone on
this team that we think is going to play has
been paid. This team has things to work on and
improve because they weren't close to the finals last year,
like it was a gap between them and the thunder
But they also have maybe the least amount of distractions
in the league like even the Thunder, Right, their distraction
will be that now they're defending champs and everyone's coming
from I think the Timberwolves have no distractions. A group
that wants to spend is willing to spend talking about
new arenas in this city now. So I think the
ownership thing is just worth mentioning because so far, so good.
I mean, new ownership syndrome is a thing. But when
it takes you four years to get the keys to
the house, Dan, sometimes you lose that desire to repaint
the walls. And I think Mark and Alex had done
a good job of being patient and not trying to
do what you know, like Matt Ishbia did. That's kind
of they're not new owners even though they've only technically
owned the team for I think like sixty five days.
Well yeah, And I wonder if it helped, like because
they were involved with like Tim Connelly stuff, maybe they
got it out of their system gradually, like that's they
basically rode. They had training wheels on the bike. You
mentioned that earlier. They couldn't just go two wheels, they
had to have four. And I think it allowed them
to learn the intricacies of owning a team and prevented
them from making, you know, like we're just going to
trade nine more picks for I don't know, another Rudy Gobert, So.
Speaker 1: I will say Bulls fans have to be hoping that
their flagship market team is the next one to say,
like the Lakers and Celtics just selled so close together,
or at least it came to terms on. If you're
a Bulls fan, you definitely want to get the Ryans
the worst out of there. I don't out there too.
Speaker 2: I think whoever you have on to cover the Bulls
might be the first. Like I'm more excited for that
season preview do than any other team because you don't know,
we both grew up like Michael Jordan have a lot
of Bulls gear as like a young kid. And I
can't think of a franchise that is in a weirder
direction right now than the Chicago Bowls.
Speaker 1: They're still coasting off of Jordan's titles, is basically what
they're doing. Yeah yeah, So how many games do you
see this team winning and where do you see them
stacking up in the regular season as a Western Conference seed.
Speaker 2: I I can't remember if I saw the over was
like fifty and a half, but I'm going to just
say like fifty two and thirty. It's just spend like
a number in my head, So I think they go
I think they go fifty two and thirty. Where does
that put them in the West. I think they're a
clear yeah, maybe in the play in I do think
they're going to be I think they're going to be
more of a regular season team because again of that
continuity so many like Houston is going to be awesome
to watch. But it's going to take them, I think
sometime to figure out adding a guy like Kevin Durant.
How does that, how does the hierarchy of that work?
So maybe they get out of the gates in November
December little slower. I think the Wolves are kind of
built to eat up innings and to win a lot
of regular season games. I mean, we just talked about
ten guys that we think all should and could play.
I don't know if that's the case for a lot
of other teams if they have ten NBA rotation players.
So I think they're gonna win a lot of regular
season games. Maybe it's like fifty five and whatever the
math is twenty seven, but playoff wise, it's going to
be really interesting because I was just probably super pro
Timberls for eighty minutes. I do think if this thing
doesn't work out in the postseason, you could look at
a team that faces some massive changes next summer. Again,
like you're aging out of one timeline and maybe you're
getting smaller, faster, more shooting in the next iteration of
Anthony Edwards career. But we're about one birthday away from
ant being you know, twenty five or whatever, in like
the prime of his career, right, So I think it'll
be an interesting season. But now there are real expectations.
And there was expectations last year, but there was no
like downside. I think this year there'll be expectations that
if they don't meet them, there will be some significant changes.
Because they always talk about in Minnesota like having bites
at the Apple. They know, I know you joked about
this roar with Kendrick Perkins, but Antheowards loves it here
and he just is totally happy. He doesn't demand a
bigger market, but he'll never be the type of mentality
that wants to be on a rebuilding team. So you
need to continue to have rosters and flexibility able to
take bites at the Apple, because if you can't, that's
when you start to get worried about the other teams.
Kind of circling coming for your best player.
Speaker 1: Non Thunder division. What do you find when you're looking
at a potential playoff matchup? As of right now, they
were so far away. What team in the West either
concerns you the most or you find particularly intriguing.
Speaker 2: The Wolves and Rockets pre Durant had just kind of
some fun, spicy games because I think em gets those
guys to play tough and it's a fun rivalry. I
also think the Wolves were pretty close. I mean, I
think they really wanted Durant and him just pretty vocally
been like I don't want to go there. Would make
for an awesome playoff series. Wolves Nuts is just the
history of some of this stuff. Tim Connley coming from there,
coming here, what happened in Game seven a couple of
years ago. I think that'd be a fun series. I'd
be frightened because I think that Denver team is like
my favorite to win the to win it all, or
just you know, can you can you play the Thunder
like can you do it right? Like can you put
your best against their best and beat them? Other teams
in the league, I don't, I don't know what you
think about like the Lakers, but I don't know. DeAndre
Ayton's not going to like scare me in a playoff series.
So those three teams Houston, Okay, see Denver would be
really fun and there I think above the Wolves, But
any team below them, I don't know. Man, Like I
should probably like a Homer, but I'm not scared of
any team below the Wolves. If you think even like
the Clippers, I'm not scared of any of those teams
because they don't think they have the size, the speed,
and the athleticism to kind of keep up with what
Minnesota has.
Speaker 1: I do think, if this is a compliment up to
me anyway, is that their floor just feels like six
in the West. Like I would be flabbergasted if that
team is in the plane. Finally, mister Kyle Tige of
the Day More NBA podcast, can I get another prediction
from you? You can take it in whatever direction you want,
but related to this Wolves team next season?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Oh man, I I like the Terrence Gentleman. You
kind of talked me off the ledge. I won't go
on the DraftKings and do a Terrence Enter Junior Most
Improved bet because he can't win it. I would say
that there's a there's a chance that they don't have
the same loaded front court at the trade deadline that
they have now. Like I think, Tim Conley just constantly
is trying to think one step ahead. And again it
was boring for a lot of fans because you like
to go out and make those big moves. But they
kept a lot of their guys, but they kept them
on what I think, and you know better than I do,
good reasonable contracts, Nasri, Julius Rendall, Rudy Gobert all make
solid amount of money that is very easily tradable. It's
not forty fifty million. And if this thing does stutter
a little bit and you're trying to continue to bite
at this proverbial apple and you have this kid in
Anthey Edwards, you're not going to sit around and wait
for it to fail multiple times. You might try to
get out in front of it before it fails. So
I could see them if it's you know, they're like
you said, their floor is six. If they are the
sixth seed come early February, maybe they make a big splash,
which would shock a lot of people. But Tim Conley
has shown you in like three years, he's made two
of the biggest trades in NBA history. I think he's
got another one coming.
Speaker 1: Wow, Kyle, this was great as always. Thank you for
giving me so much of your time or shiny minutes
of it. Are you just able to tell our audience
where they could find you and all the fantastic work
that you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm on Twitter, slash x at Kyle' taigee, I'm
on LinkedIn. I'm not really on any other social platforms.
But and then over at the Danemore NBA podcast. Danemore
has a really cool story as like an independent journalist
who has built a pretty cool pod and has all
the Beat reporters on everyone week and we're kind of
growing that thing. So five days a week we're doing pods.
It's on YouTube, Apple, Spotify. It's just it's been fun, man.
It's a lot of fun to get to not only
cover a team that you grew up cheering for and watching,
but also stuff like this getting to know you and
all you do. So I'm online probably more than I
should be, but we're gonna be pumping out a lot
of content this year because again, for only the third
time in like my life, my favorite basketball team is
actually kind of respectable.
Speaker 1: So you guys are a behemoth over at the day
More nbaha one of my favorite podcasts. Like I said before,
the links to it will be in the podcast and
YouTube description. As you know by now, I'll be pestering
you again down the line, Kyle, and until next time.
We end, as always with the shout out to the one,
the only, mister frank I Lakina.