Regardless of one's personal opinion of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the bold, roster-altering trade they made just before the start of training camp, it is indisputable that the move drastically changed the trajectory of their team. The Wolves had a stable process down after making the Western Conference Finals, and all that changed after the front office hit the reset button.
The reasoning behind the move was perhaps questionable, but also understandable at some level. Minnesota was put in an impossible situation with the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement wherein the contract they signed Karl-Anthony Towns to in June 2022 was no longer sustainable. The CBA's new rules made team-building significantly harder, and now a championship-caliber roster in the Twin Cities was going to be forced to break up.
After coming to grips with that reality, Tim Connelly and the rest of the Timberwolves' front office realized they would have to deal away Towns, who was the heart and soul of Minnesota. It was a hard thing to do, but frankly it was the only choice they had other than dismantling their bench entirely.
Now, the Wolves are slowly working to get their swagger back. The growing pains of adapting to life under Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo have been significant, but strides are beginning to be made. In the meantime, there has been plenty of noise coming from outsiders. Whether from fans, critics, or anywhere in between, Minnesota has been a hot topic in NBA discussions, as well as an easy target for hot takes.
Donte DiVincenzo sounded over a lot of the "outside noise" going on with the discourse around the Timberwolves (1/2): "There’s a lot of outside noise. A lot of people want to dissect everything that’s going on over here. Like I said, we win games, everybody shuts up. ...
— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) December 1, 2024
DiVincenzo: "We win games, everybody shuts up"
Donte DiVincenzo recently spoke about this phenomena, sounding off on where the discussion currently is surrounding his team. "There’s a lot of outside noise," he said. "A lot of people want to dissect everything that’s going on over here. Like I said, we win games, everybody shuts up ... We lose, everybody keeps talking. Let you guys decide how we fit in with the numbers. That’s not for us to talk about. What’s for us to talk about is staying together. Keeping everything in our circle and win games."
Fans may not want to hear it, but Donte is absolutely taking the correct mental approach here. Firstly, after playing in media markets like New York and San Francisco, he knows that winning cures everything. The psychoanalysis of every move the players on this roster make will always tame down when the numbers in the win column start to tick up at a more regular rate. In earning two straight wins since Anthony Edwards' harsh criticism of the team, it seems they are already making progress there.
Secondly, DiVincenzo is dead-on when it comes to not sharing too much with outsiders. The guys on the roster need to learn to trust each other more, and we can see them doing that as the season goes along. The last thing they need to worry about is the opinions of those who will never step foot in their locker room, much less even in Target Center.