Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Track the Pack, Saunders, and more

The Minnesota Timberwolves released another Track the Pack video, plus a post-lottery Ryan Saunders interview.

In the wake of the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ lottery victory last week, there’s been a steady stream of Wolves-related news.

It’s not all directly tied to the draft, either, although there’s certainly been plenty of new mock drafts and big boards to keep tabs on.

Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Track the Pack, Saunders, and more

First of all, head coach Ryan Saunders joined SKOR North and KSTP’s Darren Wolfson for a virtual interview on the day after the NBA Draft Lottery. He spoke to the emotion in the room surrounding the Wolves’ victory, as well as some of the workouts that are ongoing at the Wolves’ facilities in Minneapolis — that includes Karl-Anthony Towns getting on the court at 6 a.m. last week.

Also related to the draft was a long-form draft-night diary of sorts from The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski (subscription required).

Krawczynski looked at the lottery through the lens of Saunders, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, and owner Glen Taylor.

Saunders and Rosas watched the draft together at the team offices with some other members of the basketball operations team. Many other members of the Wolves’ front office, including the marketing department and ticket sales staff, joined the group via a Zoom call.

Taylor was at home in Mankato, watching with his wife, Becky. The Wolves owner was candid about his disappointment in his team’s past lottery luck and his tempered expectations heading into the 2020 edition of the proceedings.

The quotes gathered by Krawczynski are insightful, and speaks to an organization desperately seeking some good breaks and positive trends, hoping to stay relevant in the midst of a stretch of relative absence from the local consciousness.

Elsewhere, the Timberwolves released another episode of Track the Pack, a web video series that hadn’t been active in six months, just after the acquisition of D’Angelo Russell at the trade deadline.

This episode highlights the Wolves players who have recently been in Minneapolis, working out individually and spending time together away from the court as the Minnesota Timberwolves organization does their best to continue building an effective culture.

There’s a few minutes of assistant coach Pablo Prigioni piloting a plane with associate head coach David Vanterpool riding shotgun (yes, really), plus a lake run with most of the roster and a sit-down with Rosas and Saunders.

It’s a fun watch, and frankly, it’s great to just see some of these guys again. It’s been a full five-and-a-half months since we’ve seen this team on the court, and it feels like every bit of that amount of time, if not more.

We’ll be back shortly with some more post-lottery draft coverage. Stay tuned.