All Things 2019-2020 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

STrib: Wolves like how Malik Beasley has played for them so far

Upon coming to Minnesota after a February trade, Malik Beasley joked that the Timberwolves “messed up” by connecting the hotel where he was temporarily living to the practice facility.

Beasley will spend all of his free time working out in a gym if given the choice, so to go over a month without access to facilities has been a bit of an adjustment for him.

“I’ve had my parents try to lock me down from the gym,” Beasley said. “This is their time right now.”

Beasley, the first player the Wolves have made available via teleconference since the NBA postponed it season March 11, has been with his girlfriend and son in Denver while teams have not been allowed to hold workouts or practices amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Like his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mother Jacqueline died from COVID-19 last week, Beasley recently had a family member die of the illness. He didn’t specify, but said it was a relative on his mother’s side of the family.

“She started off with a cough … then she got worse and got sent to the hospital,” Beasley said. “They put her in a coma and things like that and [she] just didn’t make it, man.

“It’s been tough for all of us as a family, but like I said, the best thing we can do is [try to] prevent that and communicate with each other.”

That’s been easier said than done for the Wolves amid the pandemic, even as they try to stay in touch with each other virtually. But there’s only so much that can be done.

“It’s been terribly difficult,” President Gersson Rosas said. “… We’ve tried really hard, anything and everything that we can to connect with Karl and his family and other players and other staff members that are going through it.

“But it’s not the same. You can’t hug somebody, you can’t spend one-on-one time with them. You can’t help them through this pain in a physical, personal way.”


Howl Wolves!!
 

STrib: A year into his presidency, Gersson Rosas has transformed the Timberwolves

Looking forward, Rosas said he was excited about the draft capital the Wolves will have — whenever a draft does take place.

They have their own first-round pick and are likely to pick up Brooklyn’s first-round pick, so long as the Nets make the playoffs (though it’s unclear what would happen with that pick if the NBA cancels the remainder of this season). The Wolves would also have a pick high in the second round, and Rosas didn’t rule out converting that capital into trade chips.

“[It’s an] opportunity to continue to build out the roster, whether it’s young players you continue to add to our talent base, or using those picks in trades to acquire players that may be more ready to help us now,” he said. “It puts us in a very strong position.”

Beyond the roster changes, Rosas wanted to establish a familial culture around the Wolves, one that would stick with players even after they have moved on from the organization. After Rosas made the series of trades, he told the newcomers that the team pictures from earlier in the season would stay up in the facility.

“Recognizing that some fits just weren’t going to work and we needed to move forward and they needed to move forward, but that didn’t change how we treated our current or former players,” Rosas said. “Even to now, it’s why you talk about being a family, but it’s how you do it.”


Howl Wolves!!
 

Can anyone else compare the situation we have with KAT and not putting very good pieces around him, to the years with Garnett and the same situation? At least during Garnett's reign his salary was a factor. Does anyone think Taylor can ever right this ship?
 

Can anyone else compare the situation we have with KAT and not putting very good pieces around him, to the years with Garnett and the same situation? At least during Garnett's reign his salary was a factor. Does anyone think Taylor can ever right this ship?

Kat is nowhere near the player KG was but Kat is going to have better players with him starting next season.

KG had two seasons where he had really good teammates. I'm hoping Kat will have many more.

I have faith in the newish leaders of the Wolves to surround Kat with quality players. Getting rid of Wiggins was the first major step in making that happen. Not blowing this draft will be step #2. The only blemish so far was the Culver pick but even he could become a solid player.
 

Kat is nowhere near the player KG was but Kat is going to have better players with him starting next season.

KG had two seasons where he had really good teammates. I'm hoping Kat will have many more.

I have faith in the newish leaders of the Wolves to surround Kat with quality players. Getting rid of Wiggins was the first major step in making that happen. Not blowing this draft will be step #2. The only blemish so far was the Culver pick but even he could become a solid player.

I went down the basketball refernce rabbit hole the other day. I first started looking at Pippens salaries, then I ended up looking at T-Wolves history.

And my goodness, they had some bad teams. Kudos to KG for getting those teams in the playoffs every season.
 


I went down the basketball refernce rabbit hole the other day. I first started looking at Pippens salaries, then I ended up looking at T-Wolves history.

And my goodness, they had some bad teams. Kudos to KG for getting those teams in the playoffs every season.
A guy like Rosas who seems to be able to manuever players on a roster pretty well would have done wonders with KG. It's really sad.
 


Sid: Wolves might prefer to not have NBA season resume

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will hold an important call with the league Thursday to talk about returning to action and what that might look like.

The big topic of discussion of late is that teams would all play at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, but there is still some discussion about whether lottery-bound teams like the Timberwolves would participate or if the league would jump straight to the playoffs.

It’s easy to see why the Wolves might not want to play, if given the option — they have the third-worst record in the league, which would give them a share of the best odds to get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

More importantly, they have been dealing with the tragic death of Karl-Anthony Towns’ mother, Jacqueline Cruz, to COVID-19 in April.

The Wolves have talked about Towns’ amazing strength during this time, but you can also imagine they wouldn’t want to rush him back to play if he’s not ready.

At the same time, there are arguments for why the Wolves would want to play their final 18 games.

The team added a ton of new players late in the season, and every game and practice they get will only make them that much better for next season.

D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez and James Johnson were just starting to get some significant minutes together when the season shut down.

And if Towns did want to play and was healthy enough to do so, it would be hard for the league to say he wasn’t deserving of that chance, especially since injuries took away so much of his season.


Howl Wolves!!
 




Top Bottom