As the start of the 2022-23 NBA season grows nearer, Iβm taking a closer look at some of the most interesting teams in the NBA (to me, if not necessarily to anyone else). After stops in Denver and New Orleans, the journey continues to the Twin Cities, home of the offseasonβs biggest swing β and, maybe, the leagueβs biggest bet.
Itβs understandable if youβre still having trouble getting past the sticker shock. The package the Timberwolves sent to Utah was mind-boggling in the moment, and itβs still breathtaking three and a half months later: three unprotected first-round picks, another top-five-protected first, and swap rights on a fifth, plus two recent first-round selections (2020 pick Leandro Bolmaro and 2022 choice Walker Kessler), and three legit rotation players (starters Patrick Beverley and Jarred Vanderbilt, plus reserve wing Malik Beasley).
There are two reasons why you fork over 5,300-plus minutes of quality NBA-level play from a team that won 46 games and more than a half-decade of the draft equity that so often determines a franchiseβs future. The first: You think the quality of the minutes youβre getting outstrips the quantity youβre losing β and, given the specific areas in which Minnesota struggled last season, and the specific player they targeted, the Wolves might be right on the money.
Minnesota ranked 13th in points allowed per possession last season, the franchiseβs best finish in eight years. But head coach Chris Finch and Co. arrived at that above-average defensive production through a shadow-game gamble β mitigating Karl-Anthony Townsβ weaknesses as a rim protector through frenetic trapping of ball screens and hair-on-fire rotations behind the play. To their credit, the Wolves did create plenty of chaos, forcing turnovers at the NBAβs second-highest rate last season. The thing about blitzing, though, is that when you donβt get home and hit the quarterback, you can give up a lot of big plays: Minnesota finished near the bottom of the league in opponent field-goal percentage at the rim, second-chance points allowed, defensive rebounding rate, and corner 3-pointers conceded.
After a disappointing first-round loss to the Grizzlies in which they blew three double-figure leads, new Wolves president Tim Connelly…