When the NBA All-Star break ends on Thursday, the Minnesota Timberwolves will be heading into the home stretch of their season. The race in the Western Conference remains as close as it has been all year long, and every game will be of massive importance to the Timberwolves’ postseason positioning.
This group of players has been putting the pieces together slowly but surely since the calendar turned to 2023. Their chemistry has improved, and they have been able to form some semblance of consistency as the year has worn on. Their struggles have not disappeared entirely, but they certainly look much more like the contender they were touted as all offseason.
The Timberwolves currently sit at eighth place in the West, but they are just two games back of the fourth seed and home court advantage in the playoffs. Their remaining schedule is nothing short of a gauntlet, but Minnesota is still in solid position to finish the season strong. Here are the three biggest questions the Wolves must answer in their final 21 regular season games.
How far can Anthony Edwards’ talent take this group?
Everyone who has watched Anthony Edwards in his three professional seasons thus far can attest to his incredible talent. Coming into the NBA, his gifts of raw athletic talent and natural shot-making ability were clear to see.
But this season, it is clear that Edwards is taking his game to a whole new level. He is averaging career highs in nearly every statistical category, while taking on the role of the Timberwolves’ top offensive option. Ant is drawing more defensive attention from opponents than ever before while still scoring at will.
His All-Star nomination and subsequent first overall selection by LeBron James in the 2023 All-Star game have made his accomplishments that much more relevant. A player like Anthony Edwards can significantly raise the ceiling of any team. So the question is, how much further can he push this Timberwolves team?
Of course, the contributions of his teammates will matter as well, but how much Ant continues to elevate his game will play a big part in determining how far the Wolves go this year.
Can the Conley/Gobert pairing be what the team hoped for?
The Timberwolves were very strategic in their moves at the trade deadline this year. Shipping out D’Angelo Russell was planned meticulously by Minnesota’s front office, and they did not intend to send Russell off without getting back a return that made sense for this team as they look to stay alive in the Western Conference.
Sure, in a vacuum, D’Lo is a better player than Mike Conley. He is quicker, a better long-range shooter, and has all the advantages of being nearly a decade younger than Conley. But when Timberwolves management looked at their roster at the deadline, they saw a need for a different set of skills for their starting point guard.
When Russell joined the Timberwolves organization in February 2020, he was the most lethal scorer in the backcourt by a longshot. With Anthony Edwards’ ascension this season, the need for a scoring point guard had diminished significantly. Wanting to maximize Edwards’ shot attempts, Minnesota opted for a pass-first point guard.
At the same time, they sought out a player that could be more methodical with a rim-running, defensive-minded big man like Rudy Gobert. Mike Conley fit the bill on both accounts.
Now the question becomes: Can Conley unlock Gobert’s offensive game in the same way he did with the Utah Jazz over the last several seasons? Time will tell, but with the Timberwolves’ obvious commitment to Gobert, picking up a player with known chemistry and a track record of success with him bodes well for the future.
Will Karl-Anthony Towns be the final missing piece?
Through the wins and losses, things have simply not felt the same for the Timberwolves since one of their most important players went down in late November. Karl-Anthony Towns’ absence has been noticeable at every turn, and fans are still holding their breath to see if he will be able to make his return before the end of the regular season.
With his unique skillset, Towns is a player whose on-court presence is usually hard to ignore. Every time D’Angelo Russell failed to connect with Rudy Gobert on a post entry pass since November, Timberwolves fans could not help but think how different things would look if KAT were out on the floor.
As talented as Gobert is, his injured frontcourt teammate is simply far more versatile on the offensive side of the basketball. Without Towns, teams have found more success crowding the paint and forcing Gobert into mistakes on offense. It has led to scoring droughts and frustrating stretches for the Timberwolves.
Towns’ elite shooting allows him to operate all over the floor, and Minnesota has only begun to scratch the surface of what actions they can run with their two uniquely talented bigs on the floor together.
How healthy Karl-Anthony Towns is upon his return to the floor will be paramount, but it is certainly possible that adding his All-Star level talent back into the Timberwolves’ lineup could be what pushes them over the hump as they head into the postseason.