Identity crisis?

[KGdaBom]

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Thoughts? First, I find it crazy that Edwards and Randle were double more than Jokic. Second, I find it crazy that Edwards and Gobert had more picks than Jokic Murray (maybe it has something with Murray injuries) and they were pretty efficient.

Not crazy at all. Joker totally punishes teams that double him. Ant and Randle reward teams that double them.

[minimus]

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I’m rewatching the NBA Finals and one thing really caught my eye: McConnell’s ability to drive to the hoop and his willingness to push tempo in transition was just as important for IND as his passing. I always viewed him as a pass-first PG, but I seriously undervalued his insane rim pressure. That’s what allowed IND to survive minutes without Haliburton. He — not Nembhard — was the engine of the offense in non-Hali minutes.

Here are a couple of MIN takes based on that: the biggest MIN issue is not the lack of a good passer — it’s the lack of rim pressure from backcourt players. Randle has basically been converted in MIN from a low-efficiency post-up scorer to a solid second option next to Edwards, but he’s not a natural ballhandler. Conley has regressed a lot as a slasher. DDV and NAW are both mediocre finishers at the rim. And I’d say NAW is closer to Nembhard than to McConnell.

Enter: TJ Shannon, a completely different animal. While he’s nowhere near McConnell as a passer, he brings a similar level of physicality when attacking the rim, and the same willingness to push tempo every time he touches the ball.

If MIN can put TJ Shannon in the same environment/role IND gave McConnell, I think we can expect similar impact. Put Shannon in a five-out scheme (can even work without a stretch five!), with all five players moving, running the floor, and surrounding him with shooters like Reid and DDV off the bench.

We already saw the coaching staff trying this in SL:

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P.S. Also, McConnell’s hustle and effort on defense is insane. This is another skill that TJ Shannon is yet to show consistently, but I see a lot of hope here — this guy is smart, tough, and full of energy.

[Klomp]

I’m rewatching the NBA Finals and one thing really caught my eye: McConnell’s ability to drive to the hoop and his willingness to push tempo in transition was just as important for IND as his passing. I always viewed him as a pass-first PG, but I seriously undervalued his insane rim pressure. That’s what allowed IND to survive minutes without Haliburton. He — not Nembhard — was the engine of the offense in non-Hali minutes.

Tempo and rim pressure were the two things that caught my eye as well.

And I do think this is why Connelly has begun to shift the team somewhat in this direction. Dillingham, Shannon, and Beringer are clear pulls in that direction. I think even going from Towns to Randle represented part of the shift even, which is part of the basketball reasons for making the trade.

When we first traded for Conley, I think he and Gobert represented some of that rim pressure. But it's fallen off, whether due to Conley or Gobert or a combination of the two. It went away probably due to roster construction somewhat and also player decline. So we need that infusion again.

Maybe that's why Russell and Gobert never worked? Russell was such a pull-up threat (at least he thought he was), that he wasn't giving that rim pressure. At the same time, this also made Gobert less effective because I think it's easier to defend Gobert when the guard is pulling up. Even though McLaughlin had his faults, he would keep driving, which is probably part of why he was more effective.

[BlacJacMac]

Maybe that's why Russell and Gobert never worked? Russell was such a pull-up threat (at least he thought he was), that he wasn't giving that rim pressure. At the same time, this also made Gobert less effective because I think it's easier to defend Gobert when the guard is pulling up. Even though McLaughlin had his faults, he would keep driving, which is probably part of why he was more effective.

I think the biggest problem with the D'Lo/Gobert pairing was Jarrett Allen.

I think people expected Gobert to get all those easy lobs and transition buckets that Allen got playing with D'Lo.

But Allen has a tremendous catch radius and coordination. He could catch/gather anything that was near his hands. But D'Lo is not a particularly accurate or timely passer. So Rudy really struggled with that aspect of the game, whereas Allen was partially responsible for D'Lo being an All-Star.

[minimus]

I’m rewatching the NBA Finals and one thing really caught my eye: McConnell’s ability to drive to the hoop and his willingness to push tempo in transition was just as important for IND as his passing. I always viewed him as a pass-first PG, but I seriously undervalued his insane rim pressure. That’s what allowed IND to survive minutes without Haliburton. He — not Nembhard — was the engine of the offense in non-Hali minutes.

Tempo and rim pressure were the two things that caught my eye as well.

And I do think this is why Connelly has begun to shift the team somewhat in this direction. Dillingham, Shannon, and Beringer are clear pulls in that direction. I think even going from Towns to Randle represented part of the shift even, which is part of the basketball reasons for making the trade.

Yes, that’s exactly my point: tempo and rim pressure, one of the simplest solutions in our situation is to install an offensive system that generates consistent rim pressure. Because in many ways, rim pressure is the easiest form of pace.

Combine MIN’s aggressiveness in launching an avalanche of threes with constant rim pressure, and that might be a winning formula.

[Devilzsidewalk]

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I’m rewatching the NBA Finals and one thing really caught my eye: McConnell’s ability to drive to the hoop and his willingness to push tempo in transition was just as important for IND as his passing. I always viewed him as a pass-first PG, but I seriously undervalued his insane rim pressure. That’s what allowed IND to survive minutes without Haliburton. He — not Nembhard — was the engine of the offense in non-Hali minutes.

.

The midrange stuff really stood out too. Even when they shut down the rim, he was keeping the dribble alive and happy to take a 12 footer over a defender.

[minimus]

The midrange stuff really stood out too. Even when they shut down the rim, he was keeping the dribble alive and happy to take a 12 footer over a defender.

Exactly. This is improvement area for Edwards and other guys.

[minimus]

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I read it this way: all our three main guys over 6'9": Reid, Randle and McDaniels must improve as passers if MIN want to build an elite offense.

[Klomp]

MP: The last thing: You had talked toward the end of the year about it not being the most pleasant year for you. Was that just because of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade?

Finch: No.

MP: Or because it is much harder and often less fun to sustain than it is to climb?

Finch: No doubt about that. And again this year will be another challenge for that.

I think what made last year so hard was that it just felt like at times we were dragging our way through it all and we had to keep pulling. And some of that was basketball related in trying to figure out the new pieces, and some of that was mindset related. We were back to losing games we shouldn’t have lost, playing poorly against teams we shouldn’t have played poorly against.

There wasn’t enough internal drive. And of course they were related: We didn’t know who we were as a team and we were up against the expectations of the year before. Which we knew was unfair, because we all of a sudden had a whole other dynamic.

At times maybe we thought it would be easier internally. I think we could have done a better job of defining what success looked like, you know? Internally and externally. And that left us in the loop: “Well, if you look at the numbers, with KAT out and Julius in and with Donte…” You can look at all the numbers you want, but there are still humans that we have to put together. And it has to click, has to work, and everyone has got to feel good about what we’re doing.

We had a lot of things going on. We had a lot of contract situations. We had guys who had started at other points who wanted to start. It was probably just too much of that, really. And that kept us from finding a consistent rhythm until we were able to park all that.

I was hellbent on trying to make the eight (man rotation) work, because that was one way to manage all the personality and all the dynamics that were going on. And yeah, it came at the expense of the young depth at times, but ultimately we got where we needed to go, and our young depth helped us stay afloat through some of that.

Looking back we can take all the lessons. But it was hard. Finished well. Enjoyed the run. And I actually enjoyed every single player on the team, as I do still. But we just had a moodiness about us, which was not always a pleasant place to come to work everyday. Moodiness is a hard one, because if you are real moody, then you are worried more about the inside than the outside.

We’ve got to get beyond that.

MP: Well, now ownership is settled, Tim Connelly is here for at least the next two seasons, you’re here; Randle, Rudy, everyone is getting paid. There is no excuse for moodiness now.

Finch: The moodiness is just being too worried about yourself, right? I mean, the ownership stuff, both Glen (Taylor) and Alex (Rodriguez)/Marc (Lore), both parties, none of that affected us, so all credit to everybody there. Tim has always been great to work with, and still is. We’re on the same page and we see the same things.

It is just continuing to grow up. You think somebody has been in the league, four, five, six, seven years, whatever, of course they are maturing as a player, but the person is still at a young age. They are still going through the cycle of challenges that life presents itself, whether it be professional or personal life. You feel this pressure to get the big contract, then when you get it you feel pressure to justify it. It is just another level of the same pressure. You have a young family, you have all this stuff that is going on. That is largely why young teams don’t win at the highest level. But we have to be beyond that this year.

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2025/09/qa-timberwolves-coach-chris-finch-on-teams-young-depth-know-your-role-keep-it-simple/

[minimus]

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Quick preseason overreaction: I prefer TJ as offensive engine over Conley/Dilly/DDV. Overall I am pretty excited to have Reid/TJ/Clark as bench core, with Bones/Rob and Beringer as 9th and 10th players in rotation.

[KGdaBom]

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Quick preseason overreaction: I prefer TJ as offensive engine over Conley/Dilly/DDV. Overall I am pretty excited to have Reid/TJ/Clark as bench core, with Bones/Rob and Beringer as 9th and 10th players in rotation.

How can we keep Le Berricade out of the rotation. If we do he might be the best player ever to not get a rotation spot.

[Klomp]

How can we keep Le Berricade out of the rotation. If we do he might be the best player ever to not get a rotation spot.

A little strong on the hyperbole there...

[KGdaBom]

How can we keep Le Berricade out of the rotation. If we do he might be the best player ever to not get a rotation spot.

A little strong on the hyperbole there...

I don't know if it is.

[minimus]

My MIN wish list for 2025-26 season:

1) top-5 in 3PA (last season 5th with 48.2 3PA), top-5 in 3PT% (last season 5th with 37.7%)

2) top-20 in PTS in transition (last season 29th with 19.2. For reference, DAL were 10th 24.3 PHI were 20th with 22.0, it means to go in top-20 MIN need TJ/Beringer/Rob/Clark to score consistently in fastbreak one time per game. To go in top-10 they need to score two times per game).

3) cant find stats about rim frequency (how often and how well MIN attacked the rim), but with Randle, Ant, Reid, McDaniels, Gobert and TJ I want MIN to be top-10 in both attempts and accuracy

P.S. Bonus: I want MIN to be top-5 in and(t)-1.