Like it or not, the Timberwolves are forging a 2023-24 competitor
By Bret Stuter
Time for the Minnesota Timberwolves to take notes
The Denver Nuggets roster is solid from the top to the bottom of their playoff rotation. Not just in the way the Nuggets’ players have complemented one another, but in the way the team has remained relatively intact all season. Yes, sometimes luck plays a part in the success or failure of teams.
But this was no chance accident. Just ask Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations, Tim Connelly, as he was the architect who built the Denver Nuggets roster before the 2022-23 NBA season. He signed C Nikola Jokic, PG Jamal Murray, PF Aaron Gordon, and SF Michael Porter Jr. to the Nuggets more than three years ago. SF Bruce Brown and SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope appear to be the finishing touches, and they were signed to the Nuggets roster one year ago.
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Time to give the Timberwolves some time to gel
The Timberwolves’ first season with these players has not had such luck. The team only had their starter at power forward, Karl-Anthony Towns, back for the final eight games of the season before he had to help the team navigate the NBA Play-In Tournament. While he showed up huge in the two play-in games, his long absence finally caught up to him against the Nuggets, as he has struggled to find the basket.
While that has had a domino effect on the entire Timberwolves roster in terms of establishing clear-cut roles and responsibilities for the team’s key contributors, it was not the only distraction for the Timberwolves roster this season. The Timberwolves’ entire roster did not even meet on the basketball court until the final preseason game.
And the Timberwolves did not add their final players until the NBA Trade Deadline when the team acquired veteran PG Mike Conley Jr. and SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The Timberwolves’ roster has been in flux at the beginning of the season, in the middle of the season, and even at the end of the season. And it has been those fluctuations that have hampered the team from building the necessary chemistry to excel in postseason play.
In fact, the only better-than-season-average players on the Minnesota Timberwolves roster in the 2023 NBA Playoffs have been shooting guard Anthony Edwards and another shooting guard/small forward Nickeil Alexander-Walker. It seems that the Minnesota Timberwolves backcourt has led the team in this best-of-seven series.