Zach LaVine on Rebuilding the Timberwolves

Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine spoke with Gerald Narciso of Sports Illustrated about a number of topics, including the goal of LaVine and his young teammates to rebuild the franchise.

Everyone knows that Zach LaVine is a gym rat. He wants to be the best, and that comes through in each and every interview that he gives.

He’s working the basketball camp circuit in the Northwest again this summer, and granted a lengthy interview with Sports Illustrated.

The back-to-back dunk champion touched on his summer thus far, his workout regimen, his new coach and rookie teammate, and what he thinks the Wolves will do during the upcoming season.

Here’s a couple of excerpts:

"SI: You hear from the Timberwolves training staff and coaches that you are a gym rat. What is on your mind and motivating you every day in workouts?ZL: “My ultimate goal is whenever I go on the court, I just want to be known as one of the better players. Everyone has short-term and long-term goals. And a short-term one for me is definitely getting to the All-Star game in the next couple of years, and I definitely think that’s the next step in my career. I’ve been following that pathway pretty well so far, so I’m going to continue to put in time in the gym. I’ve always been taught that hard work doesn’t fail.”…SI: Describe the relationship you, Karl and Andrew have and how often are you guys talking throughout the summer?ZL: “Yeah you know we’re very close. (The) last two years I spent with Andrew, last year with Karl. We’ve become closer as we’ve gotten to know each other. We hope to be together for a long time and we’re trying to rebuild the Timberwolves franchise. The better we get, we know the better the organization gets, so we try to set high goals. We talk all the time about our chemistry and different things we need to work on. We are making sure everybody is in the gym working hard. Every year is pressure. You need to put in on yourself to go out and perform. And we’re going out every game trying to win. Obviously we’re not going to go 82-0, but we have to compete every night and the wins and losses are going to take care of themselves.”"

Again, a couple of things that we already knew about LaVine: he loves to work out, and he loves his teammates — especially Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.

LaVine also spoke regarding the team’s hot finish to last season.

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"SI: You guys finished strong last year, winning 4 of your last 5 including a huge OT victory against the Warriors. Andrew caught a little flak by saying ‘we can win on any given night.’ Do you agree with his statement?ZL: “Yeah of course you should have that attitude. I don’t get why you should catch flak for that? When you step on the court you should automatically think that you are better than them or can compete with them. That’s at least my attitude. I feel we have a really good team and anybody in the NBA can beat anybody at any time, that’s just how it is. So I agree with Andrew.”SI: Do you feel that even with the newly reloaded Golden State team?ZL: “Man, you step on the court and they got to compete with you man. At the end of the day it’s about competing.”"

Finally, SI.com asked a couple of specific questions regarding LaVine’s new head coach, Tom Thibodeau, and the new rookie on the squad, fifth-overall draft pick Kris Dunn.

"SI: The Timberwolves made some big moves this off-season with the hiring of Coach Tom Thibodeau and drafting the highly touted guard, Kris Dunn, from Providence. What are your thoughts on the moves?ZL: “Yeah I worked out with coach a couple of times now. He is really strict and he’s ready to go, so I like that. He’s going to push you and he’s very aggressive and he tells you how it is. It’s been a long summer, so were ready to get into the season. Kris Dunn is a very athletic point guard. I met him twice I think, worked out with him once. He’s a going to be a great player, we saw what he can do in Summer League, so it’s going to be fun.”SI: Has Coach Thibodeau already talked to you about your role this season?ZL: “Man I don’t know yet, we’re probably going to talk about that in training camp and figure it out. But regardless he’s a winner and that’s what we like.”"

This lines up with LaVine’s general thinking as a player: aggressive, and loves to workout and practice. Thibodeau and LaVine should be a perfect match; plus, we all know that LaVine has the physical tools and profile to be an above-average defender, and Thibs’ scheme and coaching should help him get there in short order.

The idea that LaVine, along with Towns and Wiggins, are ready to get together and make this Timberwolves team the first to make the playoffs in 13 years and start a run of what should be perennial playoff experiences should be exciting for Wolves fans.

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It’s been too long, and there are a few players who appear to be ready to combine a winning attitude with high-level play.

Here we go.