At first glance, it appears that the Minnesota Timberwolves have some heavy lifting to do when they begin training camp next week. With the additions of LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga, the Wolves could be a legitimate championship contender. But they have to integrate both players into their offense while also keeping the chemistry that has been established between Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert. But if you ask head coach Chris Finch, that process should be easier than it has been in years past.
During an interview with Timberwolves podcaster Dane Moore, Finch revealed that the challenge of adding Ball and Kuminga is easier than it has been in years past, and the real challenge could be getting more out of some of the younger players and bench players on the roster as they get ready for the upcoming season.
“It’s always a challenge just because you have to try and predict what the trouble spots might be,” Finch said during his appearance on The Dane Moore NBA Podcast. “...But this one doesn’t feel as daunting just because of the need and the fit and the way that LaMelo is able to make the game so much easier for people.
“I think it fits well with our overall theme, where less is more this year. Kind of getting back to a bit more of a basic structure and keeping things simple and not having to kind of worry about creating shots for so many people at different times. …We’re hoping that through speed and kind of loosening up the game a bit, playing a little smaller, creating some natural space that may have not been there previously with playing big, that things will get easier.
“[That] doesn’t mean there’s not gonna be things to work through, but I don’t think of it [as] this massive challenge in the way that it was to integrate two bigs, two seven-footers, or how to best employ Julius through what we’ve given, what we already had in our lineup at that time. So the challenges, I think, now are more about bringing everybody else up to [that] level of consistency.”
LaMelo Ball may have made the Timberwolves’ biggest challenge must simpler
The Wolves made splashy moves throughout the offseason, but the biggest question is how they will fit. Ball, Edwards and Kuminga are all best when they operate with the ball in their hands. They also need to find touches for McDaniels in his increased role and for Gobert, who should have a bigger offensive presence in the paint.
But compared to Timberwolves teams during Finch’s tenure, it should be much easier to figure out.
Finch arrived in Minnesota in the middle of the 2020-21 season, and after leading the Wolves to the playoffs during the 2021-22 campaign, Rudy Gobert was acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Utah Jazz. For the next two seasons, Finch had to figure out how to fit Gobert and fellow seven-footer Karl-Anthony Towns into the Wolves' offense, and the task got more difficult when Towns was traded for Julius Randle as part of another deal with the New York Knicks.
While three All-Star-level players were in the equation, it wasn’t always a clean fit, and things reached a breaking point toward the end of last season. It resulted in Randle being traded to the Brooklyn Nets and Naz Reid being traded to the Charlotte Hornets. But it also brought Ball to Minnesota, who should be the trigger man for what Finch wants to do.
LaMelo Ball could make the new Timberwolves offense much easier to improve
Finch knows that Ball can be a facilitator, and he knows that Edwards should be the focal point of the offense. Kuminga and Gobert are also known commodities during their time in the league, and this season could be more about figuring out how to get more from the incumbents on the roster.
At the top of the list is McDaniels. The 25-year-old is already an established veteran entering his seventh season in the NBA, but he’s expected to handle a bigger offensive role, with Finch noting the goal is for him to shoot in the “upper 30s” on 3-point attempts.
Gobert is another player who will need to be maximized. By replacing Randle with a more athletic (and cheaper) alternative in Kuminga, it should create better spacing that could lead to lobs and high-percentage chances around the basket, giving defenses another thing to consider on the offensive end.
But the most intriguing part of this situation may be the Timberwolves’ bench. Ayo Dosunmu was successful in that role after being acquired from the Chicago Bulls at last year’s trade deadline. But there are plenty of other players who could do more, including Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and Joan Beringer.
The idea here is that if Ball succeeds as a facilitator, it should raise the tide for everyone around him. If that happens, everyone’s ceiling could go up and it’s a much simpler theory than trying to reinvent the wheel with new lineup combinations.
If anything, that should inspire some optimism about how the Wolves could look on offense this season and perhaps lighten the load of any seismic changes people believed Finch would have to make coming into the year.
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