The Minnesota Timberwolves are at the threshold of the 2022-23 NBA season. So where do you fall on the confidence scale? If you are like many I have read comments from on social media or fan forums, you fall about midway. That is, hopeful but waiting to see the team in action. But perhaps there is more to this season, and hopefully, I can help shine the light on the shining parts.
We know that the Timberwolves can score. The team may have swapped out some parts, but the new and returning faces on this roster appear to be every bit as capable of putting up points this season. But what of the defense? What of the team chemistry?
Let’s start off by admitting that I am clearly not as optimistic as Kyle Theige is:
Between the Tim Connelly hire, ANT’s acting debut, and Pat Bev cooking people during his lunch break at ESPN, I’m becoming more and more convinced that the 2022-23 Timberwolves are going to win 100 games. pic.twitter.com/1EBzRBVfli
— Kyle Theige (@KyleTheige) June 10, 2022
But I also want to assure you that I am not pessimistic about this team. After a 46-36 season that was better than the expectations of most, the Timberwolves brass believes that they’ve built a 50-win Timberwolves roster. Winning that many games could place the Timberwolves among the eight best NBA teams this season. It’s quite doable too, as long as the team stays healthy and cleans up whatever it was that they showed in their fifth and final preseason game.
Team chemistry
I love how the Timberwolves’ chemistry has already appeared for the team. While the rhetoric before the season started was guaranteed to be nicey-nice, the expression on the players’ faces is telling. I spotted smiles on Russell, Towns, Gobert, and more players even in their preseason loss. It wasn’t that the guys were not paying attention to the score. Rather, this is a team that is having fun competing together.
Even this early, frustration shows. And it’s that frustration that will break this team. So far, no frustration has been showing. In fact, quite the opposite. Some seriously talented basketball players are about to have fun playing basketball again.
Team offense
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ offense is not limited to the same ole stuff this season. In fact, not only will the presence of Rudy Gobert on the Timberwolves roster unlock an entirely new chapter of offense for the entire team, but the Timberwolves will be able to help Gobert’s offense improve as well.
Karl-Anthony Towns will be pulling defenders out to the perimeter. Rudy Gobert will be pulling defenders to the basket. Since most NBA teams have limits to the number and quality of their bigs, the Timberwolves simply need to place the basketball where the defenders aren’t. We witnessed flashes of that as Gobert passed out of the paint to a wide-open Towns at the perimeter. Towns returned the favor with a drive to the basket, a behind-the-back pass to Gobert, and an easy jam through the hoop.
Team defense
The final area for the Minnesota Timberwolves to master is perhaps the most difficult. But once this team learns to trust the Big Wall defense, great things are bound to happen. What do I mean? The Brooklyn Nets jumped out to an early lead by shooting from the perimeter and lobbing the basketball over the head of Gobert. That would not have happened if the other players on the court were not running into each other every time a Nets player drove to the basket, whether or not they had the ball in their hands.
The Timberwolves will surely clean that up, as players were laughing about how poorly the team played after the game. But curiously enough, that was the plan. Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch knew that he would have limited time to work with the Timberwolves starting five at the same time. So he saved that for the final preseason game, let the team look sloppy, videoed the thing, and has been drilling everyone from that one-time outing on how to do better.
Ultimately, the Timberwolves should be ready to make some noise this season. And you should be ready to cheer as they do.