Rank by importance to Minny 24': Towns Gobert Edwards McDaniels Conley

[durantbird]

Towns vs Gobert, Edwards vs Towns, Gobert vs McDaniels, Conley vs McDaniels.

How would you rank those 5 players (Karl Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley) in terms of importance to Minnesota Timberwolves in the 23/24 season?

[Colbinii]

At the end of the day, if Edwards doesn't become a Top 10-ish player or McDaniels doesn't make a massive jump to stardom, the team has a limited ceiling below Championship Caliber.

Lucky for the Wolves, ANT was amazing last post-season [Even though nobody talked about it?] and has made the connection to Gobert this post-season we all had hoped for [He went to France for a week to work 1-on-1 with Gobert this summer].

In a vacuum, Edwards > Towns > McDaniels > Gobert > Conley, but you could view this from a different perspective and get a different order. Against Denver, ANT, McDaniels and Gobert are the 3 most important pieces. Against the Lakers, Towns is a massive X-Factor.

[penbeast0]

1. Gobert -- this is the big experiment. Can he dominate the way he did in Utah before the postseason failures? Can it carry over to the playoffs? If so, the Wolves have a shot at going all the way.
2. Towns -- can he guard modern 4's, most of whom would have been 3's 10 years ago? His offense will be fine, even if doing much more catch and shoot than he used to, but it's all about the Gobert/Towns defensive sets for Minnesota to do much.
3. Edwards -- will be the primary offensive engine. Can he work out a way to make Gobert effective offensively? Can he integrate his talents into a team offense while still maintaining the breakout scoring when needed?
4. Conley -- is he washed or can he play at a strong NBA starter level?
5. McDaniel -- they aren't counting on him to be more than a 4th/5th option on offense but he needs to stay focused on defense and play his role. And, when one of the offensive stars is out due to injury or just staggering lineups, can he step up?

[Special_Puppy]

The order is
1.Gobert
2.KAT
3.Edwards
4.Conley
5.Anderson
6.McDaniels

[rk2023]

Edwards
Gobert
Towns
McDaniels
Conley

[trex_8063]

Some stream of consciousness (not necessarily answering the question)......

Rudy Gobert
Rudy was my favourite player in the league in Utah; I became a Jazz fan for a number of years because of him (though I came to really like guys like Joe Ingles, Donovan, Royce, and later Mike Conley, too). When I heard of Gobert's trade to Minny, my first thought was honestly that he's a weird fit next to KAT. I feel like last season possibly proved me right (the synergy just did not seem to work); though maybe it's still early days?? Maybe this year will be better??? I'll hope, but I'm exactly anticipating that.
Also Rudy is 31 years old (the second-oldest of all players mentioned); though I guess that isn't as relevant if we're talking about ONLY '24.

Rudy could end up being the most important, but I'm a little skeptical he will be. I definitely do not think he's the most important moving forward.


KAT
He was having such amazing offensive seasons between ages 22-24, I was hopeful that he would be just a mega-star by now. But it sort of hasn't panned out like that; it's like he plateaued very early. And the fit next to Gobert [+/- a rising Edwards??] has seemed to diminish him. Or at least I thought KAT was really disappointing last year.

So I really have no idea how to feel about him now.


Anthony Edwards
I mean certainly he has break-out potential. I didn't realize just how young he was when he came into the league: he was only 19 as a rookie. He's still only 22 years old. So certain "jumps" in ability are certainly possible (perhaps even expected).
I kinda have a vague hope/expectation that he'll be the most important player this year (and I definitely think he's the most important piece moving forward).


Kyle Anderson
Slo Mo is an awesome role player. He's one of those guys who's good/capable at everything, great at nothing; but as such he can fill a lot of niches as needed. He's a poised veteran, too, typically performs to expectation in the playoffs. Every team loves having a guy like Kyle around. He's 30 years old, so still should be more or less at last year's standard, or at least very close. Where that puts him among everyone, I'm not sure. But I like him as a player.


Jaden McDaniels
Another young guy, and given his size and athleticism, one assumes or hopes that he's gonna be a pretty relevant player someday. Will it be this year? idk, he's 23, going into his 4th season, so certainly he could make a jump of sorts. He's got a fair amount of defensive potential, and had developed a nice 3pt shot [at 6'9"] as of last year. No doubt he's got value, even if he hasn't improved substantially; although if he HASN'T improved since last year, he'd likely come in 6th among all the players I'm bringing up.


Mike Conley
Conley is such a class-act, really like this guy. Didn't take the head-space to appreciate him so much when he was in Memphis; as indicated above, I really came to like him a lot when he became a member of the Jazz (even though he had me worried his first year with the Jazz: sorely struggled that year). Such a savvy skilled player.
But he's 36 years old now. At some point, he's gonna fall off a cliff. With McDaniel being on the OTHER end of his career, it would not surprise me to see JMD surpass Conley in importance this year. I feel like he and McDaniels will be the bottom two among these six.

[trelos6]

For me it's Edwards #1. If he makes the leap to top 10 player, it really opens up Minny's ceiling.

Next is prob Gobert. If he can return to DPOY level of play, it helps anchor the D.

Then McDaniels. If he can become a premier wing defender, it also helps this team to lock down other premier wings in the league.

Not sure about Conley v KAT. KAT is a great offensive player, but needs to be a weak side shot blocker, and Conley is just the consummate professional.