Time to talk offseason.

[WildWolf2813]

Seems like people are not realizing just how much better he was this year than previous, especially on the defensive end. He was the key to slowing down Joker. I don't completely disagree with the idea of trading him if necessary, but it's a bit silly to think he can't get better when he literally just had a season in which he improved more than anyone thought he could defensively (this team is not the #1 defense if he doesn't improve significantly), while he adjusted quite well to playing the 4.

He's still reaching too much on D and needs to adjust his offensive game even more by reducing his out of control drives and instead mix in some mid range shots, especially in the 8-12 foot range. Teams know what he's going to do most times. He's gotta mix it up.

There are many on here who will agree with you that Towns improved his defense. My position is that it is debatable. Defense is not an easy thing to measure, so metrics can probably be pulled on both sides to "prove" who is right. Eye test is also debatable as we all have biases (those who think he's improving will naturally watch for "good plays" and those who don't think he improved will point out "bad plays"). Nobody is ever going to change each other's minds on this, so I will just agree to disagree on Towns being better. My own biases will never allow me to think of Towns as a good defender based on the times I've watched him. But he is an All Star and that's worth a healthy return if you are looking to bring back a haul.

We're overrating the haul Towns could fetch.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Quick Hitter Predictions:

- Tim Connelly is gone. (1) Ownership squabble. (2) More money. (3) Facing restrictions of 2nd apron vs. a probable step back. (4) lack of draft picks for the next few years.

- Towns is gone. Again, the 2nd apron is just too restrictive. And Towns is not changing who is... and that's simply not worth that contract with the context of what it means for the entire franchise with the 2nd apron. He's also approaching 30, coming off a knee injury and other ailments. It's time. I'll save my Towns soliloquy for another time...

- Glen Taylor is gone. I think he ends up ceding ownership to Lore and Rodriguez. I'm skeptical of any new ownership group. We all know about Taylor's ineptitude over the past 20 years. We also know that he kept the team here. The new ownership group would be facing a lot of tough decisions, including finding funding for a new stadium.

- The new stadium situation is the only reason Towns would start next year on the team. But we should expect a hard stadium push at that point to strike on the goodwill of a good successful team.

- We're going to feel the return is underwhelming. And then we'll try to talk ourselves into it over time... less is more type of thing.

- Micah Nori tones down his halftime gimmicks. Unfortunately. I was actually disappointed we got no hint of the character side of him in the playoffs. In fact, he looked overwhelmed at times. Basically, just a statue. I know the asst. coach doesn't want to get a technical... but SOMETHING would have been nice at times.

- Kyle Anderson is gone. We've seen both the good and bad of Anderson. He's extremely limited as a shooter, but a savvy, smart, versatile player. He was overextended in his role yesterday and we saw the results. He just can't be on the court with Gobert for very long against good teams in meaningful games.

- Edwards averages 28+ ppg next season. Maybe more.

- Towns nets a PG/creator in return. There's no way around this. Conley missed fewer games the past 1.5 seasons with the Wolves than has in over a decade. That cannot be expected as a 37-year-old starting PG next season. He should be a very good backup PG moving forward. Also... I think the Wolves slightly overreact to what just happened to them vs. Dallas. The Mavs had two guys who could create (and control the game) at all times.

- Whatever happens, the Wolves win 45 - 47 games next season... beginning a run of very Kevin Garnett-like seasons. The West is just too damn good.

- This season will be looked back on as one of lost opportunities. Everything was lined up for a Finals run. The team was built to WIN NOW. It's not built to win next season... or the next... or the next. I guess we could feel better if they realigned conferences.




[Bonus: We hear Edwards talk about a newfound focus to training another 2,097 times... and I roll my eyes 2,033 times hearing about it. We've talked about it before. In 2024, it's not really acceptable for even young players not to know that diet and training is essential for being among the very elite in the league. What? Popeye's after a 9:00 game isn't good for you? Who knew?!?! Why didn't anyone tell Edwards?!?! The lone exception is Doncic, who's just miles ahead of Edwards in skill and smarts on the court.]

[Sundog]

I’m not expecting big changes to this team… they seem to be a pretty tight group, seem to like and support each other. I don’t think Connelly is going anywhere, nor is Finch. They’ll run it back for the most part, and should. This season was a blast!

Caveats: Weirdness from ownership could jeopardize things, that’s certainly true. Also, Ant could ask for changes… the way this season ended should leave a bad taste in his mouth. But so far, he’s directing that emotion toward himself, saying he has to get better, be in better shape. So I expect Ant to want to run it back too.

[rapsuperstar31]

Quick Hitter Predictions:

- Tim Connelly is gone. (1) Ownership squabble. (2) More money. (3) Facing restrictions of 2nd apron vs. a probable step back. (4) lack of draft picks for the next few years.

- Towns is gone. Again, the 2nd apron is just too restrictive. And Towns is not changing who is... and that's simply not worth that contract with the context of what it means for the entire franchise with the 2nd apron. He's also approaching 30, coming off a knee injury and other ailments. It's time. I'll save my Towns soliloquy for another time...

- Glen Taylor is gone. I think he ends up ceding ownership to Lore and Rodriguez. I'm skeptical of any new ownership group. We all know about Taylor's ineptitude over the past 20 years. We also know that he kept the team here. The new ownership group would be facing a lot of tough decisions, including finding funding for a new stadium.

- The new stadium situation is the only reason Towns would start next year on the team. But we should expect a hard stadium push at that point to strike on the goodwill of a good successful team.

- We're going to feel the return is underwhelming. And then we'll try to talk ourselves into it over time... less is more type of thing.

- Micah Nori tones down his halftime gimmicks. Unfortunately. I was actually disappointed we got no hint of the character side of him in the playoffs. In fact, he looked overwhelmed at times. Basically, just a statue. I know the asst. coach doesn't want to get a technical... but SOMETHING would have been nice at times.

- Kyle Anderson is gone. We've seen both the good and bad of Anderson. He's extremely limited as a shooter, but a savvy, smart, versatile player. He was overextended in his role yesterday and we saw the results. He just can't be on the court with Gobert for very long against good teams in meaningful games.

- Edwards averages 28+ ppg next season. Maybe more.

- Towns nets a PG/creator in return. There's no way around this. Conley missed fewer games the past 1.5 seasons with the Wolves than has in over a decade. That cannot be expected as a 37-year-old starting PG next season. He should be a very good backup PG moving forward. Also... I think the Wolves slightly overreact to what just happened to them vs. Dallas. The Mavs had two guys who could create (and control the game) at all times.

- Whatever happens, the Wolves win 45 - 47 games next season... beginning a run of very Kevin Garnett-like seasons. The West is just too damn good.

- This season will be looked back on as one of lost opportunities. Everything was lined up for a Finals run. The team was built to WIN NOW. It's not built to win next season... or the next... or the next. I guess we could feel better if they realigned conferences.




[Bonus: We hear Edwards talk about a newfound focus to training another 2,097 times... and I roll my eyes 2,033 times hearing about it. We've talked about it before. In 2024, it's not really acceptable for even young players not to know that diet and training is essential for being among the very elite in the league. What? Popeye's after a 9:00 game isn't good for you? Who knew?!?! Why didn't anyone tell Edwards?!?! The lone exception is Doncic, who's just miles ahead of Edwards in skill and smarts on the court.]

Half the league smokes cannabis prior to the start of a game. The occasional Popeye's isn't going to hurt Ant, if he's eating it every night than yeah that would hurt him. Ant is nowhere near that Zion level or out of shape. This was Ant's first WCF, and it was an eye opener just how well you have to play to win at this level. Ant will improve the diet, and conditioning...believe that! Jordan after getting destroyed year after year by Detroit decided to hit the weight room and strengthen up to make sure that never happened again. It's unfortunate because if everything was clicking this team could have won a title. We had a few big games from Jaden and Naz but for the most part our shooting disappeared in this series from everyone. Conley not being anywhere near 100% hurt us big time, as Finch went away from having him in the game in the clutch multiple times. Conley is the one thing I worry the most about the next two seasons, as him being our only real pg will hurt us as he continues to get older and banged up.

[BloopOracle]

Ant was clearly embarrassed over the media discovering that he needed oxygen after getting torched by Kyrie. I don't doubt for a second that it won't be in the back of his mind while he trains this summer.

[Wolvesfan21]

Seems like people are not realizing just how much better he was this year than previous, especially on the defensive end. He was the key to slowing down Joker. I don't completely disagree with the idea of trading him if necessary, but it's a bit silly to think he can't get better when he literally just had a season in which he improved more than anyone thought he could defensively (this team is not the #1 defense if he doesn't improve significantly), while he adjusted quite well to playing the 4.

He's still reaching too much on D and needs to adjust his offensive game even more by reducing his out of control drives and instead mix in some mid range shots, especially in the 8-12 foot range. Teams know what he's going to do most times. He's gotta mix it up.

There are many on here who will agree with you that Towns improved his defense. My position is that it is debatable. Defense is not an easy thing to measure, so metrics can probably be pulled on both sides to "prove" who is right. Eye test is also debatable as we all have biases (those who think he's improving will naturally watch for "good plays" and those who don't think he improved will point out "bad plays"). Nobody is ever going to change each other's minds on this, so I will just agree to disagree on Towns being better. My own biases will never allow me to think of Towns as a good defender based on the times I've watched him. But he is an All Star and that's worth a healthy return if you are looking to bring back a haul.

I've ripped KAT for being bad on defense for years, just check my posts. I've lead the charge and wanted him traded many many times because of it (along with him disappearing in the playoffs too). He did take a step forward on that end without a doubt during the regular season. He played great overall on both ends in rounds 1 and 2. He was the best defender we had on Jokic. It took a lot to change my mind that he was a good defender. He proved it this season.

Saying that he was awful overall in this series. His defense looked OK at times but he reverted to fouling too much again. His offense fell off a cliff in all 4 losses. A good series from KAT and I think we win. He didn't play to his own standard. Not even close. But he did take a step forward this season. Overall he did a great job on both ends.

Saying that I would consider a trade. But you better be damn sure you can still beat the Nuggets (losing KAT's defense), let alone take on up and comers like OKC who are on the way up and the Mavs who just beat you down.

Can you get a starting PG for KAT plus a third big who can defend reasonably well AND shoot (these guys don't grow on trees)? Naz is a dropoff from KAT and Luka on D is no where close to getting bigger minutes. I love his growth but he looks no where close to me to playing large backup minutes. He can and probably will continue to get better but would you bet on it?

[TheGrey08]

Seems like people are not realizing just how much better he was this year than previous, especially on the defensive end. He was the key to slowing down Joker. I don't completely disagree with the idea of trading him if necessary, but it's a bit silly to think he can't get better when he literally just had a season in which he improved more than anyone thought he could defensively (this team is not the #1 defense if he doesn't improve significantly), while he adjusted quite well to playing the 4.

He's still reaching too much on D and needs to adjust his offensive game even more by reducing his out of control drives and instead mix in some mid range shots, especially in the 8-12 foot range. Teams know what he's going to do most times. He's gotta mix it up.

There are many on here who will agree with you that Towns improved his defense. My position is that it is debatable. Defense is not an easy thing to measure, so metrics can probably be pulled on both sides to "prove" who is right. Eye test is also debatable as we all have biases (those who think he's improving will naturally watch for "good plays" and those who don't think he improved will point out "bad plays"). Nobody is ever going to change each other's minds on this, so I will just agree to disagree on Towns being better. My own biases will never allow me to think of Towns as a good defender based on the times I've watched him. But he is an All Star and that's worth a healthy return if you are looking to bring back a haul.

Not everyone has that type of biased view though where they only look for things supporting their claim. I can say he got substantially better while also noting he's still committing stupid fouls, reaching too much, etc.
IE: we could see the difference this year, it was commented on by quite a few people including Jim Pete (someone who has also criticized him plenty), etc. We also saw first hand that he was the biggest key to slowing down Joker in that series.

I've been critical of KAT plenty in the past, like all the whining (which he's also gotten better at). I also would not say he's necessarily a "good defender". He used to be just objectively bad on defense and now he's into "solid" territory. (bad > avg > solid > good > great/elite) I would argue that if he wasn't better defensively this year than last year, they don't beat DEN and there's no chance they end up being #1 in defense.

[Lipoli390]

KAT had already improved markedly on the defensive end two seasons ago when he was by far the best player on a 46-win Wolves team. It would be a gross understatement to say that KAT’s defense was simply not bad this season. He was consistently very good on the defensive end all season and throughout the playoffs, although like the rest of the team, not as good against the Mavs. His offense was also consistently good throughout the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. His offense was terrible in 3 of the Wolves 5 games against Dallas. I’ll note that last night’s loss was NOT one of those games. He had 28 points on 45% FG shooting and went 9 for 10 from the free throw line. KAT almost entirely eliminated his whining this season and he remedied his turnover tendency in the playoffs. He still has three main negatives: (1) A below average basketball IQ, which results in way too many dumb fouls and causes him to pass up easier shots for more difficult shots diving to the basket that too often result in offensive fouls; and (2) lack of focus, which in my view is what happened to him in the first two games of the series when he was missing wide open shots. If he had simply kept his focus and taken the easier shots when available, the Wolves would have won their first two games against the Mavs.

Alas, KAT is a mixed bag but he was a huge positive for the Wolves this season getting us to the Conference Finals. Lest we forget, without his play down the stretch last season after returning from his injury we probably would not have made the playoffs back then. Would I consider shopping him this off season? Yes. I’d also consider shopping Rudy. But I’d be reluctant to trade either one. We won 56 games and made the Western Conference finals. We probably would have won a few more games if KAT hadn’t gotten hurt down the stretch and two of our losses to the Mavs were by a total of 4 points. It just doesn’t seem sensible to do anything other than bring this same team back. The good news is that one of the few things you can do transactionally when over the 2nd apron is use your Bird rights to bring back all your players. We only have one player on our roster who’s at an age when you might expect his play to decline. And we have three core players in their early 20s (Ant, Jaden, Naz) who are at points in their careers when you would expect them to improve.

I’ve consistently said it wasn’t realistic to expect us to win an NBA championship when our best player is only 22 years old. That would be unprecedented. There’s always a progression to an NBA championship. Isiah Thomas’s Pistons, MJ’s Bulls, Steph Curry’s Warriors, Dwayne Wade’s Miami Heat all took their playoff lumps multiple years before making the NBA finals and winning a championship. Isiah’s Pistons were knocked out of the playoffs four straight seasons before finally making it to the NBA finals on their 5th try when Thomas was 27. They lost that year and came back to win their first championship in their sixth try when Thomas was 28. MJ’s Bulls were also knocked out of the playoffs five straight seasons before making the finals and winning their first championship when MJ was 28. Dwayne Wade’s Heat were knocked out in the conference semis when Wade was 22. The next season, when Wade was 23, they were knocked out in the conference finals. The next season, when Wade was 24, the Heat made the finals and won on what was their third attempt. Steph Curry’s Warriors didn’t make the NBA finals until their third attempt when Steph was 27.

So I think we all need to take a step back and get some perspective. I’m as down as anyone about last night’s pounding. Heck, I was in the arena. It was miserable. But looking past the emotional cloud from last night’s loss, we should see that this is a very good team that didn’t get to the Western Conference finals by happenstance. And we should also recognize that no NBA team led by a 22 year old star gets to the end of the championship road without getting shoved into the ditch several times along the way. We happen to have THREE young players, including our star, who will likely get significantly better based on where they’re at in their careers. Meanwhile, the team as a whole should play even better together as a unit. If Ant and the rest of the players on this team dedicate themselves to improving this offseason the way MJ and the Bulls did after losing to the Pistons in the Conference Finals, this Wolves team (if healthy) will be tough to beat next season.

[Lipoli390]

Quick Hitter Predictions:

- Tim Connelly is gone. (1) Ownership squabble. (2) More money. (3) Facing restrictions of 2nd apron vs. a probable step back. (4) lack of draft picks for the next few years.

- Towns is gone. Again, the 2nd apron is just too restrictive. And Towns is not changing who is... and that's simply not worth that contract with the context of what it means for the entire franchise with the 2nd apron. He's also approaching 30, coming off a knee injury and other ailments. It's time. I'll save my Towns soliloquy for another time...

- Glen Taylor is gone. I think he ends up ceding ownership to Lore and Rodriguez. I'm skeptical of any new ownership group. We all know about Taylor's ineptitude over the past 20 years. We also know that he kept the team here. The new ownership group would be facing a lot of tough decisions, including finding funding for a new stadium.

- The new stadium situation is the only reason Towns would start next year on the team. But we should expect a hard stadium push at that point to strike on the goodwill of a good successful team.

- We're going to feel the return is underwhelming. And then we'll try to talk ourselves into it over time... less is more type of thing.

- Micah Nori tones down his halftime gimmicks. Unfortunately. I was actually disappointed we got no hint of the character side of him in the playoffs. In fact, he looked overwhelmed at times. Basically, just a statue. I know the asst. coach doesn't want to get a technical... but SOMETHING would have been nice at times.

- Kyle Anderson is gone. We've seen both the good and bad of Anderson. He's extremely limited as a shooter, but a savvy, smart, versatile player. He was overextended in his role yesterday and we saw the results. He just can't be on the court with Gobert for very long against good teams in meaningful games.

- Edwards averages 28+ ppg next season. Maybe more.

- Towns nets a PG/creator in return. There's no way around this. Conley missed fewer games the past 1.5 seasons with the Wolves than has in over a decade. That cannot be expected as a 37-year-old starting PG next season. He should be a very good backup PG moving forward. Also... I think the Wolves slightly overreact to what just happened to them vs. Dallas. The Mavs had two guys who could create (and control the game) at all times.

- Whatever happens, the Wolves win 45 - 47 games next season... beginning a run of very Kevin Garnett-like seasons. The West is just too damn good.

- This season will be looked back on as one of lost opportunities. Everything was lined up for a Finals run. The team was built to WIN NOW. It's not built to win next season... or the next... or the next. I guess we could feel better if they realigned conferences.




[Bonus: We hear Edwards talk about a newfound focus to training another 2,097 times... and I roll my eyes 2,033 times hearing about it. We've talked about it before. In 2024, it's not really acceptable for even young players not to know that diet and training is essential for being among the very elite in the league. What? Popeye's after a 9:00 game isn't good for you? Who knew?!?! Why didn't anyone tell Edwards?!?! The lone exception is Doncic, who's just miles ahead of Edwards in skill and smarts on the court.]

Half the league smokes cannabis prior to the start of a game. The occasional Popeye's isn't going to hurt Ant, if he's eating it every night than yeah that would hurt him. Ant is nowhere near that Zion level or out of shape. This was Ant's first WCF, and it was an eye opener just how well you have to play to win at this level. Ant will improve the diet, and conditioning...believe that! Jordan after getting destroyed year after year by Detroit decided to hit the weight room and strengthen up to make sure that never happened again. It's unfortunate because if everything was clicking this team could have won a title. We had a few big games from Jaden and Naz but for the most part our shooting disappeared in this series from everyone. Conley not being anywhere near 100% hurt us big time, as Finch went away from having him in the game in the clutch multiple times. Conley is the one thing I worry the most about the next two seasons, as him being our only real pg will hurt us as he continues to get older and banged up.

Totally agree, Rap. I share your concern about Mike Conley. He was really important to the Wolves this season but he’s at an age when you can’t count on him. That’s something this team needs to figure out. I was hoping Monte Morris would be the guy we could count on as a nice backstop for Conley. But he looked pretty bad. We’ll see.

[Wolvesfan21]

Quick Hitter Predictions:

- Tim Connelly is gone. (1) Ownership squabble. (2) More money. (3) Facing restrictions of 2nd apron vs. a probable step back. (4) lack of draft picks for the next few years.

- Towns is gone. Again, the 2nd apron is just too restrictive. And Towns is not changing who is... and that's simply not worth that contract with the context of what it means for the entire franchise with the 2nd apron. He's also approaching 30, coming off a knee injury and other ailments. It's time. I'll save my Towns soliloquy for another time...

- Glen Taylor is gone. I think he ends up ceding ownership to Lore and Rodriguez. I'm skeptical of any new ownership group. We all know about Taylor's ineptitude over the past 20 years. We also know that he kept the team here. The new ownership group would be facing a lot of tough decisions, including finding funding for a new stadium.

- The new stadium situation is the only reason Towns would start next year on the team. But we should expect a hard stadium push at that point to strike on the goodwill of a good successful team.

- We're going to feel the return is underwhelming. And then we'll try to talk ourselves into it over time... less is more type of thing.

- Micah Nori tones down his halftime gimmicks. Unfortunately. I was actually disappointed we got no hint of the character side of him in the playoffs. In fact, he looked overwhelmed at times. Basically, just a statue. I know the asst. coach doesn't want to get a technical... but SOMETHING would have been nice at times.

- Kyle Anderson is gone. We've seen both the good and bad of Anderson. He's extremely limited as a shooter, but a savvy, smart, versatile player. He was overextended in his role yesterday and we saw the results. He just can't be on the court with Gobert for very long against good teams in meaningful games.

- Edwards averages 28+ ppg next season. Maybe more.

- Towns nets a PG/creator in return. There's no way around this. Conley missed fewer games the past 1.5 seasons with the Wolves than has in over a decade. That cannot be expected as a 37-year-old starting PG next season. He should be a very good backup PG moving forward. Also... I think the Wolves slightly overreact to what just happened to them vs. Dallas. The Mavs had two guys who could create (and control the game) at all times.

- Whatever happens, the Wolves win 45 - 47 games next season... beginning a run of very Kevin Garnett-like seasons. The West is just too damn good.

- This season will be looked back on as one of lost opportunities. Everything was lined up for a Finals run. The team was built to WIN NOW. It's not built to win next season... or the next... or the next. I guess we could feel better if they realigned conferences.




[Bonus: We hear Edwards talk about a newfound focus to training another 2,097 times... and I roll my eyes 2,033 times hearing about it. We've talked about it before. In 2024, it's not really acceptable for even young players not to know that diet and training is essential for being among the very elite in the league. What? Popeye's after a 9:00 game isn't good for you? Who knew?!?! Why didn't anyone tell Edwards?!?! The lone exception is Doncic, who's just miles ahead of Edwards in skill and smarts on the court.]

Half the league smokes cannabis prior to the start of a game. The occasional Popeye's isn't going to hurt Ant, if he's eating it every night than yeah that would hurt him. Ant is nowhere near that Zion level or out of shape. This was Ant's first WCF, and it was an eye opener just how well you have to play to win at this level. Ant will improve the diet, and conditioning...believe that! Jordan after getting destroyed year after year by Detroit decided to hit the weight room and strengthen up to make sure that never happened again. It's unfortunate because if everything was clicking this team could have won a title. We had a few big games from Jaden and Naz but for the most part our shooting disappeared in this series from everyone. Conley not being anywhere near 100% hurt us big time, as Finch went away from having him in the game in the clutch multiple times. Conley is the one thing I worry the most about the next two seasons, as him being our only real pg will hurt us as he continues to get older and banged up.

Totally agree, Rap. I share your concern about Mike Conley. He was really important to the Wolves this season but he’s at an age when you can’t count on him. That’s something this team needs to figure out. I was hoping Monte Morris would be the guy we could count on as a nice backstop for Conley. But he looked pretty bad. We’ll see.

I think given more time to get completely right health wise, an offseason, training camp and preseason Monte can contribute positively next year. I think given our position you got to resign him or if for some reason some team offers him way too much then baby Mac. But I think I'd prefer to roll the dice on MM, if not both on cheap deals which seems likely. We for sure need depth just in case for Conley.