How does Minnesota Timberwolves President Tim Connelly do it?
By Bret Stuter
The Minnesota Timberwolves wanted to get one of the best NBA executives in the league after their 2021-22 NBA season and 2022 NBA Playoffs appearance. When the Timberwolves organization pried Tim Connelly away from the Denver Nuggets, the Timberwolves rightfully believed that the team had found their man.
As the new Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations, Tim Connelly did not have the luxury of sitting back and observing the entire roster for an entire season. Although the Timberwolves made the 2022 NBA Playoffs, the feeling was simple: With both Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards onboard, the Timberwolves wanted to be more than an NBA one-hit wonder.
This was an NBA franchise that had tasted success in the past during the reign of All-Star PF Kevin Garnett, and the organization wanted the taste of perennial playoff performances back. While many point to the immediate deal for All-Pro defensive center Rudy Gobert as a bad trade still to this day, keep in mind that all of the talk leading up to that trade was clearly unanimous that the Timberwolves need a rim-protecting center.
Connelly has done excellent work for Wolves so far
It may very well have been the Gobert trade that carried the Timberwolves into the 2023 NBA Playoffs in the first place. Since that first trade, just check out what Connelly has done for the Timberwolves:
A recap of Tim Connelly's 2023 so far:
— Jack Borman (@jrborman13) October 23, 2023
- Traded D'Angelo Russell for Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and SRPs
- Signed Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to five-year extensions
- Re-signed Naz Reid, NAW
- Brought in Shake Milton, Troy Brown Jr.
- Traded up with SRPs from… https://t.co/al7lF5lk3W
It’s clear that Timberwolves president Tim Connelly is rolling the dice, but not in a reckless way that so many have assigned to him in an uninformed way. This is an NBA executive who already appears to have a solid pulse on what makes an NBA team play very well.
Let. Tim. COOK. pic.twitter.com/CnAqtmc0Ho
— Wolves Lead (@TWolvesLead) October 23, 2023
Connelly has not only upgraded the Timberwolves roster. Rather, he has gone beyond the obvious and meshed together a bunch of like-minded NBA players who are tough-minded and feisty as well.
He somehow has managed to extend Naz Reid, Anthony Edwards, and Jaden McDaniels this off-season while Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns are on the Timberwolves roster.
This not only bodes well for the Minnesota Timberwolves future, but it places all other 29 teams in the NBA on alert. The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to remain quite competitive for the foreseeable future. Might as well get used to it.
Here are more Minnesota Timberwolves articles to check out as well:
- RED HOT: Can the Timberwolves ink Jaden McDaniels to an extension in the next 24 hours?
- RED HOT FOR OCT 23: Timberwolves Day of Reckoning: What happens if no Jaden McDaniels deal happens?
- The Timberwolves roster is finalized for the 2023-24 season, and it may floor you
- Timberwolves fans need to come to grips with important new NBA rule
- Minnesota Timberwolves are going to love this latest update
- RED HOT: Jaden McDaniels’ deal paints Timberwolves into a corner