The Minnesota Timberwolves had high expectations for the 2022-23 NBA season. But by the end of October 2022, at a record of 4-3, it was clear that those high expectations were not about to be met on the basketball court. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ new roster, featuring All-Pro center Rudy Gobert, was handicapped by the off-season illness of power forward Karl-Anthony Towns and the ankle injury to Gobert from his Team France competition in the 2022 FIBA WC tournament.
The Timberwolves did not have one new player, Rudy Gobert. The team essentially had the equivalent of an entirely new frontcourt, as Towns had to learn how to compete at the 4 spot, and small forward Jaden McDaniels had to learn how to play as a starter at the 3 spot. But the team simply did not have any time together before the season started.
Timberwolves tested early
And so, the Timberwolves roster was forced to learn on the fly, or as U.S. military veterans have come to learn the strategy On the Job Training (OJT). While it can prove to be effective, it does not come without a tradeoff. The Timberwolves roster, great on paper, was hampered by the fact that Towns and Gobert instinctively gravitated to the same spots on the court.
That was entirely predictable, and exactly why the lack of preparation before the 2022-23 NBA season was so damaging to the Minnesota Timberwolves. This was not a Timberwolves roster that was built on rookies who were still learning their roles on a basketball court. On the contrary, the initial 15-man roster was loaded heavily with established NBA veterans who knew their roles from experience.
But the problem was, that experience had to be unlearned, and new roles, strategies, and patterns had to be learned. The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the 2022-23 NBA season by being tested without learning the material. It was the NBA’s version of an open-book test, and the Timberwolves discovered just how much of a struggle that would be:
Wolves sans KAT played well enough
By the time Karl-Anthony Towns fell to the basketball court, clutching at his calf muscle, the Timberwolves entered the game against the lowly Washington Wizards (35-47) with a record of 10-10. The Timberwolves would emerge from that contest with a record of 10-11.
The final record for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2022-23 NBA season was 42-30. From that 10-11 mark, the Timberwolves would play 32-19 basketball, and would only have the benefit of Karl-Anthony Towns for eight more games over that entire stretch.
Let’s say that again. The Minnesota Timberwolves lost Karl-Anthony Towns to injury while the team was at a record of 10-11. The Timberwolves finished with a record of 42-40, so the team played to a record of 32-29 the rest of the way.
After KAT returned, the Wolves played even better
Since Towns did return for the final eight games of the season, how well did the team play after his return? The Timberwolves finished out the season, with a rusty Karl-Anthony Towns, by playing to a 5-3 record.
So breaking this all down. The Timberwolves competed at a pace of 15-14 with KAT last season. So without KAT, the Minnesota Timberwolves played to a 27-26 record. So all we have proven so far is that the Timberwolves were only a little better than a .500-record basketball team, right? Let’s revisit that once more.
In the first chapter (10-11), the Timberwolves entire roster was awkward. In the second chapter, while Karl-Anthony Towns was injured (27-26), the Timberwolves were severely handicapped by competing without the second-best player on the Timberwolves roster. For the third and final chapter (5-3), the Timberwolves managed to find a bit more success despite the fact that Towns was rusty from his 53-game absence.
The Timberwolves need Gobert, Towns, and Edwards combined
In each case, the Minnesota Timberwolves were not getting the best out of Towns, and while Anthony Edwards is a true NBA superstar in the making, even he needs help from his teammates to win games.
So why the rush to more uncertainty? By all accounts, trading Karl-Anthony Towns without clear indications that he cannot help the Minnesota Timberwolves is much akin to leaping out of the frying pan and directly into the fire. Has there been conclusive evidence that Towns and Gobert truly cannot co-exist?
No.
The truth of the matter is that there has not been enough evidence to determine one way or the other. If you had to go with what evidence there is, you would actually have to conclude that the 5-3 run for the Timberwolves at season’s end is the most representative chapter to a Timberwolves roster with a healthy Karl-Anthony Towns, and that translates into a 51+ win season for the Timberwolves.
Let’s do this, Timberwolves
It’s better to sit back and see what a healthy and familiar Karl-Anthony Towns and Ruby Gobert can do this season. After all, their job is not finished yet. I don’t believe that Karl-Anthony Towns is going anywhere. Not just yet, anyway. When he is fully healthy, Towns can dominate on the offensive half of the basketball court. As we’ve seen, Towns was not fully healthy last season.
A fully healthy trio of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Anthony Edwards is a combination that the Minnesota Timberwolves have not really experienced just yet. Layer in the audacity and cohesion of point guard Mike Conley Jr. and the overwhelmingly effective defense of small forward Jaden McDaniels and you can see that the Timberwolves starting five may be one of the best in the NBA this season.
But if the Timberwolves front office follows the armchair GMs on social media, it may never happen. Instead, the Timberwolves will have a couple of extra picks to use. That hardly seems worth the effort right now.
Here are the latest Timberwolves to check out after this:
- Timberwolves fans need to come to grips with important new NBA rule
- Timberwolves tack on a 2nd Exhibit-10 contract
- How does this team compare to the 2003-04 Minnesota Timberwolves?
- Offseason Report Card: Timberwolves get 3 As, 2 Bs and 1 C for offseason moves
- How many open roster spots are on the Timberwolves roster today?
- Darren Wolfson’s latest NBA Rumors point to exciting Wolves PG options