4 peeved Minnesota Timberwolves back with something to prove

So what can the Minnesota Timberwolves do after barely making it to the NBA Playoffs for the second consecutive season, only to be bounced out rather quickly in Round 1? Get pissed off and come back stronger than ever, that’s what.

While the Minnesota Timberwolves players did not exactly do much to earn the attention, respect, or even accolades from the NBA pundits, analysts, and general NBA fans over the course of the 2022-23 NBA season, there is always hope for next season. Not only were the Timberwolves sent home for the second consecutive season in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs, but the team failed to generate the type of buzz necessary to make NBA writers sit up and take notice.

Of course, sitting up and getting noticed happens frequently to the players on NBA teams who meet or exceed lofty expectations each year. The Philadelphia 76ers, while not advancing in the NBA Playoffs, did end the season with a record of 54-28, good enough to enter the NBA Playoffs as the third seed in the NBA Eastern Conference.

Will Timberwolves be recognized for their efforts someday?

That also allowed the NBA to award their star center, Joel Embiid, the honor of NBA MVP.

That is not something that every NBA Player will get to experience.

But if you are playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and your team is getting booted from the NBA Playoffs in Round 1, it is something that will never happen. The only way to change the reputation and respect for individual players on the Timberwolves roster is to change the way the NBA views the team overall.

That will take determination. You can expect that to be a theme for the Minnesota Timberwolves roster in the 2023-24 NBA season

IV: Karl-Anthony Towns

Imagine being one of the leaders of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a guy who has competed at the highest level, and in the year when the front office makes the moves to load up the roster with what is NBA Playoffs level talent, you get deathly ill before the season ever arrives.

Making matters worse, when the NBA season finally arrives, you can only muster 21 games before your season nearly ends with a right calf strain. From hero to zero, in 21 games. For Karl-Anthony Towns, it seemed that if it weren’t for bad luck, he would have had no luck at all. In the end, his regular season production, with the exception of assists, fell far below his career average.

And now, trade scenarios to deal with Karl-Anthony Towns to another team are popping up everywhere. Imagine how strange he must feel, having been the lone wolf to compete at an elite level on this team, to be the topic of NBA rumors that have less to do with if he will be traded, and more to do with when and to which NBA team he will be traded.

If that does not motivate Karl-Anthony Towns to return to this team with a huge chip on his shoulder, then nothing will.  While Towns may not have had much control over the fact that he missed 53 games in the 2022-23 NBA season, he does control how he addresses the fact that he did not play well when he did play and that he was a non-factor in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.

Being paid elite money in the NBA is not about the stuff you can buy with it as much as it singles that player out to perform at elite status, particularly when the level of competition rises in the postseason. Towns simply did not deliver.

So now, a true competitor has only one course of action. Come back the following season to show not just doubters, but everyone, why you are considered one of the best players in the NBA in the first place.

III: Rudy Gobert

The truth of the controversy of All-Star center Rudy Gobert’s role with the Minnesota Timberwolves is not that he is not fit for the team, but whether or not he is a fit for this team. After all, this Timberwolves roster was in a  state of flux all season long. There was simply too small of a sample size to know the answer to that critical question.

And yet, that does not even give pause to the Timberwolves critics, who have offered nothing positive since Rudy Gobert had a physical altercation with teammate F Kyle Anderson. The criticism has taken every form imaginable – from overreacting to a trade that is not even a year on the books as ‘one of the worst trades in NBA history,’ to trade scenarios that offer key players at a value of pennies on the dollar, it’s gotten way out of hand.

From the moment that the Minnesota Timberwolves traded so much for Rudy Gobeter, the reaction of even casual fans was predictable: “Is he worth that much?”  Even worse, it gave anyone and every one the catalyst to prove that he isn’t. But what was the goal of trading for Gobert in the first place?

The Timberwolves wanted to be more competitive in the NBA Playoffs, and the fight that the Timberwolves put up against the Denver Nuggets is aging very well so far. Keep in mind that the Timberwolves faced the Nuggets without SF Jaden McDaniels or backup C Naz Reid, and still won a game against the Nuggets.

II: Jaden McDaniels

The Minnesota Timberwolves believed heavily in the future potential of forward Jaden McDaniels. So much so that the Timberwolves’ front office opted to add another future first-round draft pick to the treasure chest for Rudy Gobert, rather than send McDaniels to them.

And yet, when the Timberwolves needed him the most, he was not available. In an emotionally charged moment in the last game of the 2022-23 NBA season, he punched a concrete wall, shattering his hand, and eliminating any potential participation in any postseason play.

And yet, that inability to compete with the team in the NBA Play-In Tournament and the NBA Playoffs was just the tip of the iceberg for McDaniels. After putting up an incredible regular season, one in which he noticeably shunted the ability of NBA elite players to put up points, he was snubbed for consideration for the NBA All-Defense team.

Perhaps snubbed is the wrong word to use here. Disrespected feels more appropriate. And disrespect in the NBA can only be answered one way. Dominance.

Can McDaniels put up career-high numbers in the 2023-24 NBA season? He just played his heart out last year, but one foolish act overshadowed all of the incredible development he has shown. The only way to overshadow his ill-timed broken hand is to play even better this year.

That is exactly what Jaden McDaniels will do

I: Anthony Edwards

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. That phrase, although quite common, nails the extraordinary performance of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ young shooting guard Anthony Edwards in the 2022-23 NBA season.

There were many question marks hanging over the head of Edwards as he entered his third NBA season. Would he, could he, continue the impressive trek to join the NBA elite? Could he, would he, figure out a way to deliver to his fullest NBA potential? Not only did he deliver across the board for his team, but he did so while competing with a starting 5 that was constantly changing due to injuries. The only constant for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2022-23 regular season and the 2023 NBA Playoffs is the fact that Anthony Edwards played lights out.

It’s clear that the 2022-23 NBA season pivoted the direction of this team from Karl-Anthony Towns to Anthony Edwards. And based on comments by Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly, the team will do everything in its power to surround Edwards with complementary talent.

NBA voters missed it

But the NBA voters failed to notice. Edwards was not considered heavily in the voting for any awards and only made the NBA All-Star team after original players were unable to participate:

Just like McDaniels, Anthony Edwards outplayed some of the ones who were given the honors of the All-NBA team.

What can Edwards do better? For now, it’s up to Edwards to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to Round 2 or better in the NBA Playoffs. Will he do that because it could mean personal honors bestowed by NBA voters? No.  He will do so because he believes that Minnesota Timberwolves fans who buy tickets and support the team through thick and thin deserve it.

And that is what makes him a born leader of the Minnesota Timberwolves going forward.