Minnesota Sports Forum

And now we have signed 29-year old Stephen Thompson. Veteran experience? He has not made an NBA roster in his career. I guess we are adding veteran leadership for Iowa...

Several good pictures and videos of the team practicing together on the Wolves Twitter and youtube page. The team is looking really sharp for this early in the process, and really locked in building that chemistry.

Evans getting cooked by everyone, but it's great that he gets to go out there and learn to play defense against Ant, Ball, and the others while learning from Jaden, and Clark on defense. This will be a great learning experience for him.

Shannon's three point shot is looking a lot smoother...but he still finishing with his left hand on every layup attempt. It would be nice if the team would make him run killers every time he finishes with that left hand from the right side to force him to work on it.

ANT prepping for his next Dillon Brooks matchup...

https://x.com/Timberwolves/status/2101326854506377667

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2026 10:42 am ANT prepping for his next Dillon Brooks matchup...

https://x.com/Timberwolves/status/2101326854506377667

I know we're in the unrestrained giddiness phase of the offseason, but Ant seems to be in really good shape. Look at those guns! He's basically an Outside Linebacker that happens to play basketball for a living.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2026 10:23 am And now we have signed 29-year old Stephen Thompson. Veteran experience? He has not made an NBA roster in his career. I guess we are adding veteran leadership for Iowa...

Jules already got waived and Thompson will be next. Looking at Thompson's stats I was like hey he is kinda like Nate Santos. I didn't even realize he also has Porto Rico as part of his heritage too. Look out G-league!!!!

It really does feel like we might not be looking to fill that 15th spot but we will see.

Starting 5 seems set. Ayo and Shannon should be the key duo off the bench. And we know Joan will soak up the non-Rudy minutes. That's 8 players. We know Finch prefers his 9-man rotation, especially when he has a top 7 worthy of heavy minutes. Say hello to the logical 9th man -- someone who gets the meager minutes left over after the top 8 players, but can also contribute when our 20-year old struggles or is in foul trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbKCB_hc-Sk

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2026 9:53 pm Starting 5 seems set. Ayo and Shannon should be the key duo off the bench. And we know Joan will soak up the non-Rudy minutes. That's 8 players. We know Finch prefers his 9-man rotation, especially when he has a top 7 worthy of heavy minutes. Say hello to the logical 9th man -- someone who gets the meager minutes left over after the top 8 players, but can also contribute when our 20-year old struggles or is in foul trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbKCB_hc-Sk

Lyles while not an absolute guarantee to shoot the 3 well is the guy among the bigs that easily has the best track record there and he has size to play small ball C. His competition is McDaniels sliding down and playing as a big. I think it was pretty clear Lyles signed here for a legit role even though his deal is not fully guaranteed so he is probably locked into some sort of regular role unless he plays himself out of it. I tend to think Lyles is gonna be a guy Finch will have no problem deploying here and there. He is a vet and knows who he is and isn't.

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2026 9:27 am

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2026 9:53 pm Starting 5 seems set. Ayo and Shannon should be the key duo off the bench. And we know Joan will soak up the non-Rudy minutes. That's 8 players. We know Finch prefers his 9-man rotation, especially when he has a top 7 worthy of heavy minutes. Say hello to the logical 9th man -- someone who gets the meager minutes left over after the top 8 players, but can also contribute when our 20-year old struggles or is in foul trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbKCB_hc-Sk

Lyles while not an absolute guarantee to shoot the 3 well is the guy among the bigs that easily has the best track record there and he has size to play small ball C. His competition is McDaniels sliding down and playing as a big. I think it was pretty clear Lyles signed here for a legit role even though his deal is not fully guaranteed so he is probably locked into some sort of regular role unless he plays himself out of it. I tend to think Lyles is gonna be a guy Finch will have no problem deploying here and there. He is a vet and knows who he is and isn't.

I know it's easy to get fooled by highlights, but two things stood out for me...his smooth stroke on his shot, and his athleticism in running the court. Both are going to fit in well with the offensive style I think we will see with Ball. I agree with Tim that he has a good chance to be part of our 9-man rotation.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2026 11:51 am

Monster wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2026 9:27 am

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2026 9:53 pm Starting 5 seems set. Ayo and Shannon should be the key duo off the bench. And we know Joan will soak up the non-Rudy minutes. That's 8 players. We know Finch prefers his 9-man rotation, especially when he has a top 7 worthy of heavy minutes. Say hello to the logical 9th man -- someone who gets the meager minutes left over after the top 8 players, but can also contribute when our 20-year old struggles or is in foul trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbKCB_hc-Sk

Lyles while not an absolute guarantee to shoot the 3 well is the guy among the bigs that easily has the best track record there and he has size to play small ball C. His competition is McDaniels sliding down and playing as a big. I think it was pretty clear Lyles signed here for a legit role even though his deal is not fully guaranteed so he is probably locked into some sort of regular role unless he plays himself out of it. I tend to think Lyles is gonna be a guy Finch will have no problem deploying here and there. He is a vet and knows who he is and isn't.

I know it's easy to get fooled by highlights, but two things stood out for me...his smooth stroke on his shot, and his athleticism in running the court. Both are going to fit in well with the offensive style I think we will see with Ball. I agree with Tim that he has a good chance to be part of our 9-man rotation.

I think Finch will toggle between Lyles and Clark depending on the matchups, sometimes both. But I agree on the core 8....at least to start the season.

Lyles shot the ball really well from 3 last year, 68/148, which is like, 45%, well above his career average of 35%.

If he shoots anywhere near 45% this year, he should honestly play a lot. We need that floor spacing.

If his shooting is more like 35%, he'll definitely play less, but we need both size and 3 point shooting this year, so that could still get his number called a decent amount, even if he's not hitting the 3 like he was in Spain.

Personally, I'm sorry that Clark and Bones probably won't play as much this year. Bones was a ton of fun in transition, and Clark's defense is so good. If Clark is hitting 3s at a halfway decent clip, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some of those minutes that would otherwise go to Shannon and/or Kuminga if they're not playing well.