Timberwolves Summer League Recap: What an Ending!

Every year when summer league rolls around, I get excited to watch the young Timberwolves and whatever new draft pick(s) they’ve brought in, and this year was no different.

And then, every summer, I actually watch the games. Or should I say the first quarter and a half.

I simply cannot watch an entire Summer League game and have no idea how so many folks are able to muster up the fortitude to do it.

All of the missed layups, bricked jump shots, 3-on-1 fast breaks that turn into passes off someone’s ankles, and blown defensive assignments make it all too much to actually enjoy watching, at least for me. Even the uniforms the teams play in reveal the quality of basketball you’re watching: a glorified scrimmage.

It could be argued that the most interesting part of watching a summer league game is seeing what active NBA players actually show up to the games and sit courtside to watch their (mostly temporary) teammates. What’s even more interesting is observing what these guys actually wear during the summer when the NBA can’t impose their dress code. For example, Karl-Anthony Towns was posted-up next to Andrew Wiggins wearing this.

For some reason, KAT felt it was necessary to dress as if he were Andre Agassi at the 1989 French Open. (You do you, KAT!) Also in this photo: Andrew Wiggins rocking dreads. Please no. Unless he’s going to unlock those dreads for a glorious afro once the season starts. In which case, please yes!

But back to the actual games.

When the Wolves’ first game rolled around, I got suckered in again and was legitimately excited to watch Kris Dunn‘s first professional game. He even had an enticing match-up, going up against second-year point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and the recent seventh-overall pick Jamaal Murray. But once again, I couldn’t make it through the first half. It’s just hard to watch that level of basketball in the middle of July when there’s nothing at stake.

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Kris put up decent numbers in the game (27 points, five rebounds, three steals) albeit with seven(!!) fouls and only two assists. All in all, a great start for him.

Sure, you’d expect a physically mature, four-year college player drafted fifth-overall to do well in Summer League, but for him to look that good, that quickly is a great sign. That’s really all you can hope for from a rookie in Summer League, right? Flashes of NBA ready skills and/or athleticism.

From there, Dunn had another solid game but unfortunately suffered a concussion and was ruled out for the remaining games. Hopefully, missing all those games was just precautionary (because, you know, they don’t actually matter) and he can continue his training this summer.

The Wolves lost their first three games but then went on a Cinderella run as the last seed in the knockout round and reached the championship. More coverage on these individual games was provided throughout the week here on Dunking With Wolves, so be sure to check all of those out if you have not already.

After mostly not watching the Wolves run to the championship game, I finally sat down to catch their final game. And, I have to say, it was more of the same! More poor shooting (the Wolves shot 40.3 percent for the game), more blown fast breaks, and more turnovers (33 combined) did not make for entertaining basketball through three quarters.

But, admittedly, the fourth quarter and overtime were amazing. The highlights had to start with five seconds left in the game because so much nuttiness occurred after that. Check them out here:

After Tyus Jones made that circus three-pointer I may or may not have sent a Snap video of the shot to all of my Badger fan friends. Why? In case you forgot, he did something similar against Bucky in the NCAA championship game a couple years ago. What are friends for if not to taunt their friends’ most haunted sports memories?

After the game was over, I didn’t care that the Wolves had lost. After watching those highlights, how could you? What a crazy awesome finish to something so meaningless.

Denzel Valentine literally hadn’t made a field goal before he drilled that game-tying three-pointer, and then he made the game winning turnaround jumper at the overtime buzzer, too. Something called Xavier Silas banked in a three to tie it before Denzel made the winner. So nutty. I love it. And on top of it all, Tyus Jones was named Summer League MVP this year as well.