Minnesota Timberwolves suffered no shortage of shameful plays last season

When it comes to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the 2022-23 NBA season, it was clear to anyone and everyone that the bar was set far too high to start the season. But the fact of the matter is that the Timberwolves were the cause of their own self-destruction.

Call it lazy basketball. Call it a lack of mental toughness. Call it being ill-prepared. But it was clear that the Timberwolves players, even their star players, had lapses of judgment on the basketball court that simply should never have happened.

It was never going to be an ideal season, and we will allow for that margin of error. After all, the Timberwolves did not assemble their starting five players onto the basketball court until the final preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets. It was clear in that contest that the players on the Timberwolves roster were not even on a first-name basis yet.

And they only had 21 games out of All-Star power forward Karl-Anthony Towns to become acquainted. The season only went downhill from there.

The Timberwolves must do better

Perhaps the team assumed that if you shove NBA stars into Timberwolves jerseys, they will instantly become Minnesota Timberwolves players. Well, that was clearly not the case as this video montage from BrickMuse shows so painfully well:

The point is not to bash the Timberwolves now for last season’s mistakes. Nor is there value in rehashing the past with no purpose. But we do have a purpose in this article, and that purpose is to illustrate that the Timberwolves players have to take the 2023-24 NBA season far more seriously than they have in the past.

Celebrating a regular season victory is short-sighted. The Timberwolves roster is abundantly loaded, so wins should not come as a surprise. And the little things, like passes, shots from the free-throw line, layups, and even slam dunks, should be automatic.

Hey, I do get it that sometimes mistakes happen.  In the world of professional basketball, the toll of competing through an 82-game schedule that spans seven months at a time is heavy. But success in the NBA is not based on tenure, seniority, or simply participation. The Minnesota Timberwolves had far too many ugly plays in the video collage of regrettable plays in the 2022-23 NBA season.

Success for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2023-24 NBA season must start by cleaning up that nonsense pretty quickly.

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