Minnesota Timberwolves: Dissecting Their Strategic Decisions

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00:00This year, a sixth seed who climbed up thanks to an incredible second-half run

00:09because the initial parts of the season were nightmarish

00:13and it felt like they had handedly lost the Randall-Catt trade,

00:18all of a sudden eliminates the Lakers in five,

00:22roll Golden State with home court advantage in this series,

00:27which, with the Steph injury, didn't garner a ton of credit, really, nor should it have,

00:35but left us heading into the conference finals with Minnesota going,

00:39they made it back. They have no chance.

00:42Yet, despite year number one losing as the favorite

00:47and year two losing as a monstrous underdog,

00:51it is the year two performance that feels significantly more disappointing

00:55and leaves a lot more questions around the Minnesota Timberwolves and what's next.

01:02So, J.Y., what's next?

01:05I think it's interesting because when you look at them,

01:10you have to find where you're going to have, with a team with Anthony Edwards,

01:16more scoring punch.

01:17They made a decision to trade Cat over Rudy.

01:24One, because was it that they value Rudy's rim protection over Cat's shooting

01:28or the fact that they were going to get more for Cat than they would for Rudy?

01:32I don't know.

01:32Probably some combination of both.

01:34So, when you look at Minnesota, you know, you pull up the stats

01:39and you get in the playoffs from Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley

01:45a combined 13.9 points per game.

01:49That is not going to cut it.

01:51There are times, offensively, when the Minnesota Timberwolves are playing three on five

01:58and it could be two on five if McDaniels isn't rolling.

02:03So, there is the issue of Mike, so where do you go to improve?

02:06At $35 million a year, next three years, I don't, and you just gave him the money,

02:11I don't see how you move him unless we send him to L.A. for Kevin Walsh

02:15who's at Los Angeles Lakers, which I'm sure he'll make very, very happy.

02:18Yes, I brought the Lakers in this show before K-Dop did.

02:22So, then it's Conley.

02:24And then I start looking at the roster and I say, when Kevin and I did the draft

02:30with Ben last year, they took two guards that Kevin and I were really high on

02:36coming out of college.

02:37And that's Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr.

02:40For different reasons.

02:41K-Dop probably more of a Dillingham guy.

02:43I'm probably more of a Terrence Shannon Jr. guy.

02:47But you, when Alexander Walker being a free agent,

02:50you have to get one of these guys to take a big step.

02:56Now, Shannon Jr. had the one opportunity in game three, I think it is,

03:01had 15 points, was really great, could score the ball, can defend,

03:05but he's not a point, right?

03:07So, maybe he's your backup.

03:09The guy's Dillingham.

03:11You've got to see if you can develop him because you have to admit,

03:14coming out of Kentucky, offensively gifted through the roof.

03:19Can he play the point and get you in the offense?

03:25I think he can be taught that.

03:27So, to me, you've got to get scoring points in the backcourt,

03:31which, at the point guard, which means either you've got to go get someone, Tom,

03:35or you've got to take someone like Dillingham, develop him to be a starter

03:39to play with Ant, which I think he can be,

03:41and then hope that Shannon Jr. becomes your guy off the bench.

03:44So, we were here last week, and I said to you, and I said on the show,

03:48that Rudy and Conley are just non-threats on offense.

03:52They're just legitimately non-threats on offense.

03:54One more threat on offense.

03:56Scoring six, seven points a game is just a non-threat on offense.

04:02I think the question becomes is, you know, will Dillingham step up?

04:08Can they be that offensive option?

04:10I think the answer is yes, but it's not going to be as if they flip a switch.

04:14There's going to be some significant growing pains throughout the beginning portion of the season.

04:18And, like, does that put them behind the eight ball?

04:20So, they want to develop him, and it certainly could happen,

04:24but it's not going to be a quick fix.

04:26The question becomes is, you know, as we're looking at some upcoming free agents,

04:29like, where would they go?

04:30Like, who is the answer out there?

04:33Ideally, they move off of the Rudy Gobert contract because it's atrocious.

04:36The question becomes, as you were alluding to the beginning, you know, do they trade a cat or, you know, Rudy?

04:41I don't think anyone wants to take Rudy.

04:44The contract is so bad that he only fits with certain teams to play a very, very specific role.

04:51So, they want to get rid of him, but the other side of that is, like,

04:55there's not many attractive guard options to bring in.

04:59There aren't many good upcoming guards that can fill that role.

05:03So, it's like, do they give a bad contract to an average player,

05:06or do they go through the growing pains of having young players to play alongside Ant?

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