NBA Rumors: Timberwolves trade scenarios kick in after fisticuffs finale

When the Minnesota Timberwolves front office traded a significant package of future first-round draft picks and players to the Utah Jazz for the rights to acquire outstanding veteran center Rudy Gobert, some applauded the move as a well-timed move to upgrade a Timberwolves roster that was shy of veteran NBA stars and bursting at the seams of young NBA contributors.

It was a courageous effort, timed to cover the prime-time of power forward/center Karl-Anthony Town’s best basketball play while setting the stage for the future stardom of Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards and small forward Jaden McDaniels.  It seemed to be risky to the fans, but in terms of Timberwolves roster building strategy, this was a hedged gamble.

Powerful potential

The upside for the Minnesota Timberwolves fell into two categories. The first and most obvious track to advance in the NBA Playoffs fell upon the veteran on the team. That meant that point guard D’Angelo Russell, power forward Karl-Anthony Towns, and other veterans like Taurean Prince and newly acquired power forward Kyle Anderson would lead the way.

But there was a baked-in Plan B, where the team could count on the indomitable energy of the younger players on the roster. Players like Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, but joined by young teammates like the Timberwolves’ power forward Josh Minott, rookie guard Wendell Moore Jr., and even young backup center Naz Reid.

Only one hurdle could derail the Minnesota Timberwolves’ iron-clad Twin Towers two-track plan to improve in the 2022-23 NBA, which was the very scenario that befell this team. The Timberwolves could emphasize veterans, or the team could emphasize a stronger more rapid rotation, but to pull off either track, the team needed to remain relatively healthy. We all know that was not how the Timberwolves’ season fell.

Adversity, injuries, and confrontation plagued Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves played 82 games over the course of the 2022-23 NBA season. Of those games, the Timberwolves anticipated 82 games out of C Rudy Gobert, PF Karl-Anthony Towns, SF Jaden McDaniels, and SG Anthony Edwards.

But when it came to the point guard position, the team toggled from D’Angelo Russell to veteran Mike Conley Jr.  So for that position, the team looked for 58 games out of D’Angelo Russell, and 24 games out of Mike Conley Jr.  So what did the Timberwolves end up getting out of their starting five?

• Player        Posn        # Games   # Played    % Played
• Gobert           C                  82              70              85%
• Towns           PF                82              29              35%
• McDaniels   SF                 82              79              96%
• Edwards      SG                 82              79              96%
• Russell         PG                58               54              93%
• Conley          PG                24               24             100%
• Total                                  410            335              81.7%

While nearly 82 percent of the games played do not seem like a huge obstacle, keep in mind that this was more of an inconvenience for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The entire season hinged upon the fact that this team needed to get Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns compatible, cooperative, communicating, collaborating, and competitive on the basketball court simultaneously.

DLoading unloaded

Even if the injuries to the Minnesota Timberwolves bigs were the only category of challenges acting like a headwind to the Timberwolves’ season, things may have remained on course, or at least more manageable, if the team had a roster comprised of those players who were a fit for their roles on the team.

That did not happen, thanks to point guard D’Angelo Russell, a player who sat on the bench in the previous season’s postseason due to his lack of production, and who was unhappy with his role.  He wanted to be a scorer first, a player who contributed just enough to be interviewed after victories, but a player who was too impatient to get teammates involved, to defend effectively.

The Timberwolves certainly found that in new point guard Mike Conley Jr. From the moment he arrived, the Timberwolves felt ‘fiercer,’ and more determined. The team seemed to be more adept at defense, and scrappier on offense.

Timberwolves turn pugilists

There was another turning point for the Timberwolves. Once more, it became a very controversial event for the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that was still trying to find its way. Well, finding its way meant all hands on deck. Despite fighting through back spasms, center Rudy Gobert suited up for the final game, a contest against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Win, and the Minnesota Timberwolves would end up the season as the eighth-seeded team in the NBA Western Conference. Lose, and the Timberwolves would fall to the ninth-seeded team. That designation carried a distinct advantage. The eighth seed would need to win just one game in the NBA Play-In Tournament and could climb to the seventh seed with a win in Game 1 of the Play-In Tournament. The ninth seed would need to win two consecutive games in the NBA Play-In Tournament and could end the season no better than the eighth seed in the conference.

Two punches thrown become two players gone

Problems began in the final game of the season when a pain-tormented Gobert was not playing to his full potential. That drew harsh criticism from his teammate, Kyle Anderson, who wanted to win the game. As Adrian Wojnaroskie recapped, words heated up into a physical altercation:

Fists flew.  Well, one punch from Gobert landed on Slo Mo’s chest. That was enough to send Rudy Gobert home for the rest of that game. But that was not the only punch throw. A very frustrated Jaden McDaniels stormed into the Target Center tunnel and threw a punch at the wall. Not surprisingly, when his fist contacted the concrete wall, he shattered his hand. Two punches thrown by Minnesota Timberwolves resulted in two players gone in that game.

In spite of becoming surprisingly short-handed, the Timberwolves would get hot and win the game. That victory came at a high cost, it seemed. Not only was the team forced to suspend center Rudy Gobert for a game, but the team lost defensive star Jaden McDaniels at the worst possible moment.

And the antics in front of the Timberwolves fans at Target Center paved the way for what came next:

Zany trade scenarios begin to appear out of nowhere

The stage was set. Anyone who was disappointed in the Minnesota Timberwolves 42-40 finish to the 2022-23 NBA season needed someone to blame. Through each storm, there was one player who stood at the epicenter, newly acquired center Rudy Gobert.

He was the player so many feared to come at too high of a price. Five players and four first-round draft picks are expensive in the NBA. He was the player who was involved in the controversy with veteran PG D’Angelo Russell. Still, both of those events could be discounted. But when he threw a punch at popular forward Kyle Anderson, fans and pundits had the evidence necessary to point the finger at the scapegoat. The problem with the Minnesota Timberwolves had a name, and that name was Rudy Gobert.

Trade scenarios appeared instantly

Well, it was no surprise that the Minnesota Timberwolves are already being named in various trade scenarios involving center Rudy Gobert. Whether you want to call them NBA Rumors, possible trade scenarios, or just fans venting in fictitious narratives, various Timberwolves trading Rudy Gobert articles began to surface after the team’s fisticuffs-laden season finale.

But it is a surprise at the speed with which those opportunistic and outlandish trade scenarios first began to appear. Here is a Tweet that illustrates how quickly sentiment turned over the Timberwolves:

Moments after the Minnesota Timberwolves won their third consecutive game, this imaginative trade scenario appeared on the Twitter timeline:

To be clear, the Minnesota Timberwolves would say no. Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly did not get where he is today by panicking, and selling off or trading players when their perceived value is at their lowest.  The Timberwolves may make moves this offseason, but it is most likely to involve trading players who are at their peak value right now.

More melodramatic overreactions

There is no shortage of disappointment in the Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, that only served as fertile ground to plant doubt in the Timberwolves’ strategy, to serve up a future that is more of the same, and then to shine the light of a new dawn for this team while touting the virtues of zany trade scenarios. The Timberwolves could make amends for a suspect trade in the past by willingly making another very suspect and zany trade.  How does that fix anything?

Justifying these zany trade scenarios was aided by articles that have decided that 20 games in the 2022-23 NBA season are more than a large enough sample to claim that Rudy Gobert cannot play on the same Timberwolves roster as Karl-Anthony Towns.

SB Nation penned a disappointing hit piece that had the audacity to name the Rudy Gobert trade as an All-Time disaster, less than a season after the trade was made. Talk about melodramatic overreactions . . .

Come on, that feels like it’s crossing the line, doesn’t it?

Exhaust all trade options

But it did result in even closer scrutiny. NBA analysts and pundits had sicked the dogs on the Minnesota Timberwolves now, which meant that they would not rest until all trade scenarios involving parting ways with either Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns had been completely exhausted this offseason.

The flaw in nearly all of the trades proferred so far is the premise that the Minnesota Timberwolves must do something. In truth, the wisest strategy is simply to run it back in 2023-24. Why?

The best way to add value to the Minnesota Timberwolves is to prove so many skeptics wrong. Even if another season of Towns-Gobert does not result in an NBA Championship, it’s clear that neither Gobert nor Towns are prizes in terms of value right now. But if the Timberwolves can get full seasons out of both players next season, and they perform at or better than their career averages, then we are talking about a good time to test the trade market.

It’s clear that the Timberwolves will focus on building around young shooting guard Anthony Edwards going forward. But that does not automatically mean that the Timberwolves will demolish the value of veterans who are currently on the roster along the way.