Minnesota Timberwolves: How will the Wolves handle nine months off?

The Minnesota Timberwolves will not be part of the NBA’s re-start in Orlando. How will they handle such a long layoff on an organizational level?

The NBA has finally reached an agreement on a return to play this summer, with 22 of the league’s 30 teams convening in Orlando for series of regular-season games prior to a full slate of playoff games.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of eight teams — and one of only two Western Conference teams — who will not be included in the re-start.

Based on the current NBA calendar, that means that the Wolves would go from March 10, the date of the Wolves’ loss in Houston two days prior to the coronavirus-induced hiatus, until at least mid-November without taking the court as a team. If the league began the 2020-21 campaign in December, that’s a full nine months between games.

Gersson Rosas issued a statement this week supporting the league’s decision, referencing the Wolves’ desire to “be a good teammate” to the 29 other teams in supporting the effort to complete the current season.

Minnesota Timberwolves: How will the Wolves handle nine months off?

We’ve already discussed both sides of the coin here at Dunking With Wolves. There are a few reasons why the Wolves’ exclusion from the re-start is good, and plenty of reasons why it’s a bad thing.

But now that’s it a reality, what will the Timberwolves actual plans look like to keep their players and staff engaged with the program over such a long time away from organized activities.

For one, the Wolves have apparently been extremely active with their players virtually over the past few months, including the weekly team calls with a variety of guest speakers and shooting lessons via Zoom for rookie Jarrett Culver. Rosas referenced the team’s plan to be “creative, aggressive, and proactive” in the above-linked statement, and you can bet the Wolves will be innovative and forward-thinking in their response to the ongoing layoff.

On a league level, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski detailed some of the options being discussed among the eight non-restart teams and being presented to the league office.

The ideas range from team workouts — think NFL offseason organized team activities, or OTAs — to regional mini-camps that could allow for joint practices or even televised scrimmages between teams. One other idea passed along by Wojnarowski is the possibility of teams reporting seven to 10 days earlier for training camp prior to the 2020-21 season.

The league is planning for playoffs in September, so they surely wouldn’t want any televised scrimmages during that time. August might make sense, giving the eight teams several weeks after that period of time to prepare for October’s draft and free agency. Depending on when the 2020-21 season kicks off, training camps likely wouldn’t convene until sometime in November.

It will be fascinating to see what the league comes up with for the eight teams that unceremoniously had their seasons cut short. Regardless of where they land, you can bet that Timberwolves brass will be as creative as possible with the time and resources they have.