The Minnesota Timberwolves have been on a journey of self-discovery through the early portion of this season. The newness of it all has coach Chris Finch and his players searching for an identity, trust and the kind of edge that typified their run to the Western Conference finals last season.
The tenuousness that has rippled through the team in these first seven games has led to Finch shortening his rotation. He has been maximizing the minutes for his top eight players to establish a rhythm on both ends of the floor that has not been there. Without rhythm, there hasn’t been much feel for the game, especially among the starting five.
“Early part of the season as a coach, you’re not sure what to trust about your team yet,” Finch said after a 114-93 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. “You know what’s in them, but you have to see it all the time to really trust it.”
The biggest thing he has been looking for is the ferociousness with which the Timberwolves played defense last season. There just has not been the same sustained edge on most nights. They have had stretches — most notably in the fourth quarter at Sacramento in the second game of the season and the final six minutes against Denver on Friday — but not a consistent level of the energy and disruption that keyed last season’s playoff run.
“It just feels like that desire to win our one-on-one battle is not where it needs to be, and it hasn’t consistently been,” Finch said before the game.
One of the reasons players cite for the energy not feeling the same is the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick. The Wolves also added Joe Ingles, Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to the bench, which brings a completely different vibe than veterans Kyle Anderson, Jordan McLaughlin and Monte Morris last season.
It’s taking time for all these new Wolves and all these old(er) Wolves to mesh, which is surprising no one in the organization. The jagged start was expected and there are hopes that a soft portion of the schedule over the next two weeks will help restore some of the mojo. That was the case against Charlotte.
Naz Reid scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Anthony Edwards had 21 points and DiVincenzo added 14 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks for the Wolves. But more importantly, the go-for-the-jugular attitude the Wolves have been missing on defense was there to be seen against the young Hornets.
Charlotte (2-5) was missing 7-footers Mark Williams and Nick Richards, forcing first-year coach Charles Lee to play a front line that was 6-9 or shorter. The Wolves (4-3) held the Hornets to 39.8 percent shooting, blocked eight shots and led by as many as 30 points in their first blowout of the season.
“I think this is more in line with who we want to be. It’s just the consistency aspect of it is what we’ve been missing,” said point guard Mike Conley, who had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. “I think we do it in spurts. The team last year, we were doing it every night, every quarter, every second, no excuse.”
For all of the valid discussion about the new guys, holdovers Conley and Jaden McDaniels have been two of the biggest reasons the Wolves have been slow to click this season. Conley has battled a sore left wrist and entered Monday’s game shooting 26 percent from 3. But even more than the health issue, Conley said he has had to adjust his role to fit the needs of this team.
Last season, Conley was the Timberwolves’ safety blanket. Finch trusted him to run the offense as much as any player on the team, and the coach routinely called his point guard’s number when the Wolves were in a tough spot.
With a deeper team this season, Conley hasn’t been as front and center in the action. He is playing more off the ball with DiVincenzo and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and he is not needed to do all of the heavy lifting that was required of him last season.
“It’s kind of weird right now. I’m in a weird space,” Conley said. “I’m used to having to do more and play more and be involved in actions a lot more. We’ve got guys like Nickeil, Donte, Julius and all these guys that you’ve got to get going. I don’t have to do much.”
Sharing the floor with DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker and/or Edwards gives the Wolves so many options for initiation. Randle can do it as well. That means Conley is focusing more on being a spot-up shooter rather than being the straw that stirs the drink. He went 3 of 5 from 3 against the Hornets and is 8 of 17 from there in his last four games.
“These guys are taking a lot of pressure off of me and just letting me feel my way through games and I’m trying to adjust to that as best I can,” Conley said. “It’s early and I’m looking forward to that the rest of the way.”
McDaniels has been one of the Wolves’ most important tone-setters over the last few seasons. He has played with an orneriness that reverberated through the rest of the squad. Wolves officials said McDaniels had one of the best summers on the team, and the anticipation was high for a leap in his fifth season. It’s one thing for him to have trouble with his shot — he is shooting 24 percent from 3 and grabbing just 2.3 rebounds per game. That will happen over a long season. But he has not been the same defender that earned him NBA All-Defense consideration last season.
“It’s not been good. It’s gotta be way better,” Finch said. “Just looking at some of the numbers today defensively, all the way around, we don’t have that competitiveness to the level that we have shown or normally had.
“It’s not just Jaden, but he’s gotta go back to the level of All-Defensive team that he can play. That’s important for us and our success.”
He picked up two early fouls and the frustration has seemed to cloud his offense as well. McDaniels missed his first seven shots, including a couple of point-blank layups. The shots finally started falling in the third quarter, and it was no coincidence that the Timberwolves started to pull away.
At one point in the first half, McDaniels came to the bench after picking up another foul, yanked off an armband and stormed out of the arena bowl to the back alleys of Target Center to blow off some steam. Conley made sure to stay in his ear, offering support and encouragement. McDaniels signed a five-year, $136 million extension last year that kicked in this season, and it is possible that has been weighing on him during the tough start.
“You could tell that when he gets into a mood or he’s letting the game affect him a little bit,” Conley said. “We all encourage him to keep going because he’s one of our best two-way players we have. Not just defensively, but offensively we need him a lot.”
With Conley and McDaniels struggling to make shots early this season, the starting five has sputtered. Edwards, Randle and Gobert are all working to get on the same page, but a quick burst from McDaniels in the third quarter exemplified how much he can help the team when he is rolling.
He hit his first jumper with 7 minutes, 28 seconds to play in the third quarter, then added a free throw, a 3-pointer, a layup, a blocked shot and two rebounds to help the lead swell to 18 in a matter of two minutes. The offensive outburst seemed to unlock that defensive demon that was lying dormant through the first six games.
GET THAT OUTTA HERE 🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/WtQ5fYg302
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 5, 2024
McDaniels and Edwards hounded Charlotte star LaMelo Ball all night long. Ball came into the game averaging 30.2 points and hitting 40.5 percent of his 3s. But he went just 6 of 15 for 19 points with five turnovers on Monday night. Fellow young star Brandon Miller didn’t fare any better, finishing with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
“Finally locked in,” Reid said of the Wolves defense. “I think now it’s time to carry that over. It’s something coach has been harping on the last couple of weeks now. I think we’re going into game seven now and it’s kind of time to have some urgency with that.”
The Wolves play at Chicago on Wednesday, return home for games against Portland on Friday and Miami on Sunday before two more against the Trail Blazers in Portland next week. That should offer them a good stretch against bad or mediocre opponents to continue figuring themselves out.
The Wolves were not interested in taking a victory lap after a win over the short-handed Hornets. But they knew they needed to take a giant step forward after a demoralizing loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, so this qualifies as a step in the right direction.
“That was our most sustained effort,” Finch said, “so that’s a good start.”
(Photo of Jaden McDaniels: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)
