The 2025 Wolves Off Season

[Klomp]

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Is Joe Connelly Tim's brother? Yep.

Yes, Tim Connelly and Joe Connelly are brothers. Tim Connelly is the President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Joe Connelly is the Director of Scouting for the same team. They are two of five brothers in the Connelly family, all of whom work in basketball.

Nepotism.

Non-story. He's mostly worked with Tim since the two of them were in Washington together.

All 4 of Tim's brothers work as scouts or managers in the NBA or college basketball. Its in the blood.

I agree it's a non-story. To me, nepotism is when someone hires a relative (usually their kid, but not always) who would not likely otherwise be in consideration for the position.

This article is from 2018, but gives some history on the brothers: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2013/06/22/nba-family-tree-from-baltimores-connelly-brothers-is-growing/

Spoiler:

Heck, none of the five brothers from Roland Park made it past the Towson Catholic varsity when it came to their own playing careers and, with the exception of second-oldest Tim, rarely made it onto the court in high school.

But here they are, a few days before the 2013 NBA draft, spread across the country, four of the Connellys working for four NBA franchises.

Tim Connelly, 36, was named last Monday as the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets after spending the previous three years as assistant general manager of the recently renamed New Orleans Pelicans. Connelly started out 16 years ago as an unpaid intern for the Washington Wizards while still in college.

Pat Connelly, 32, was hired last month as assistant general manager of the Phoenix Suns after taking the same route as his brother, working his way up from being an unpaid intern in Washington to following Tim as director of player personnel with the Wizards. His first job offer in basketball was helping coach the Brighton Bears in England’s professional league.

Joe Connelly, 41, has worked the past two seasons for Washington in player development after Pat introduced him to former Wizards guard Roger Mason Jr. The oldest of the Connelly brothers coached under former Towson Catholic head coach Mike Daniel while teaching 12 years in the Baltimore City school system.

Dan Connelly, 29, who was a junior varsity teammate of Anthony’s at Towson Catholic on a team that shockingly won only one game, was “the best manager” Daniel said he ever had. After working for four years as a team manager for Leonard Hamilton at Florida State, Dan Connelly is now an advance scout for the Utah Jazz and trains a number of NBA players, including former Maryland star Greivis Vasquez, now with the Pelicans.

The youngest brother, Kevin, 26, followed their father, Mike, into the financial world, but was recently approved by the NCAA to start his own scouting service for high school players.

[KGdaBom]

Is Joe Connelly Tim's brother? Yep.

Yes, Tim Connelly and Joe Connelly are brothers. Tim Connelly is the President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Joe Connelly is the Director of Scouting for the same team. They are two of five brothers in the Connelly family, all of whom work in basketball.

Nepotism.

Non-story. He's mostly worked with Tim since the two of them were in Washington together.

All 4 of Tim's brothers work as scouts or managers in the NBA or college basketball. Its in the blood.

I agree it's a non-story. To me, nepotism is when someone hires a relative (usually their kid, but not always) who would not likely otherwise be in consideration for the position.

This article is from 2018, but gives some history on the brothers: https://www.baltimoresun.com/2013/06/22/nba-family-tree-from-baltimores-connelly-brothers-is-growing/

Spoiler:

Heck, none of the five brothers from Roland Park made it past the Towson Catholic varsity when it came to their own playing careers and, with the exception of second-oldest Tim, rarely made it onto the court in high school.

But here they are, a few days before the 2013 NBA draft, spread across the country, four of the Connellys working for four NBA franchises.

Tim Connelly, 36, was named last Monday as the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets after spending the previous three years as assistant general manager of the recently renamed New Orleans Pelicans. Connelly started out 16 years ago as an unpaid intern for the Washington Wizards while still in college.

Pat Connelly, 32, was hired last month as assistant general manager of the Phoenix Suns after taking the same route as his brother, working his way up from being an unpaid intern in Washington to following Tim as director of player personnel with the Wizards. His first job offer in basketball was helping coach the Brighton Bears in England’s professional league.

Joe Connelly, 41, has worked the past two seasons for Washington in player development after Pat introduced him to former Wizards guard Roger Mason Jr. The oldest of the Connelly brothers coached under former Towson Catholic head coach Mike Daniel while teaching 12 years in the Baltimore City school system.

Dan Connelly, 29, who was a junior varsity teammate of Anthony’s at Towson Catholic on a team that shockingly won only one game, was “the best manager” Daniel said he ever had. After working for four years as a team manager for Leonard Hamilton at Florida State, Dan Connelly is now an advance scout for the Utah Jazz and trains a number of NBA players, including former Maryland star Greivis Vasquez, now with the Pelicans.

The youngest brother, Kevin, 26, followed their father, Mike, into the financial world, but was recently approved by the NCAA to start his own scouting service for high school players.

Interesting article. All the brothers are pretty much failed players. I looked up the definition of Nepotism and was surprised to learn that it includes friends as well as relatives. Nothing about being qualified for the job or not in the definition.

nepotism
/ˈnɛpətɪz(ə)m/
noun
the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs.

Hiring friends I always considered cronyism.

[shrink]

Instead of the country club, it’s the backyard barbeque!

Seriously though, these guys all earned their jobs, and shouldn’t be looked down on because they are related.

It also helps keep Connelly here if two families are in town. They are making Minnesota their home.

[Folklore]

Jaylen Clark

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[shrink]

Kevin Love after a buy out?

Bookend his career?

[NebWolvesFan]

Kevin Love after a buy out?

Bookend his career?

Unlikely, but they could use a back-up center to limit Rudy's minutes.

[Domejandro]

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Hoping that it is largely unguaranteed for flexibility later in the season.

[KGdaBom]

Jaylen Clark

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For some reason you have to jack the volume way up to hear this.

[Klomp]

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Good to know that Jon's career is safe!

[cupcakesnake]

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Hoping that it is largely unguaranteed for flexibility later in the season.

Heaven forbid the Wolves ever have to go a single second without a tiny guard on the floor.

I kid, and I don't expect Bones to spend any significant time in the rotation. I used to really like his game, until I started watching his defense. There are bad defenders, and then there is Bones. He'll make Dilly look like a stopper. There's something about Bones where opponents are so unbothered by him. I see middling players grow suddenly confident when Bones is guarding them. As a help defender, you think his 6'9.5" wingspan would make him a factor in passing lanes, but instead, he's a low-motor negative.

[KGdaBom]

I'm definitely unhappy we used our last roster spot on Bones. Oh well in Tim we trust.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I'm definitely unhappy we used our last roster spot on Bones. Oh well in Tim we trust.

I agree. Love or another choice qould have been much better. Bones is headless player, no defense at all. Sometimes he get hot but this is 5% of his game. Hope we don't see him too much. I even prefer old Joe to play and pass the ball.

[cupcakesnake]

I'm definitely unhappy we used our last roster spot on Bones. Oh well in Tim we trust.

I agree. Love or another choice qould have been much better. Bones is headless player, no defense at all. Sometimes he get hot but this is 5% of his game. Hope we don't see him too much. I even prefer old Joe to play and pass the ball.

I don't count on it, but Joe Ingles bouncing back and being healthy enough to play 10mpg would be awesome.

My disappointment of the offseason is that we didn't add any passing. I felt the thing that got "exposed" in the playoffs is that we don't pass well enough against locked in defense. Finch re-built the offense around simple reads for Ant and Ju (drive and kick, repeat), and that had us flying through the rest of the regular season. Then we faced defenses who sat on those reads, and things got ugly. We won 2 series ugly. Having people who can/will actually throw lobs to Gobert makes our offense so much more functional, because teams can't play off him to muck things up. We blow teams out when Rudy is involved. Ant and Ju both lost confidence in those interior passes, and our offense sank into the grimey muck.

If you have someone in the dunker spot, that player needs to be a release valve that punishes opponents when they panic help on drives. Once Ju and Ant weren't throwing that pass, they became easier to guard. Golden State especially knew Ant preferred to throw to the corner and wing, so they would sit on those reads, which is why Ant would drive, jump stop, then be stuck pivoting around looking for something.

Dilly can throw a lob, so he might be the only hope on the roster of addressing this critical weakness. Long term, this matters for Beringer as much as it matters for Rudy in the short term.

[Klomp]

My disappointment of the offseason is that we didn't add any passing. I felt the thing that got "exposed" in the playoffs is that we don't pass well enough against locked in defense. Finch re-built the offense around simple reads for Ant and Ju (drive and kick, repeat), and that had us flying through the rest of the regular season. Then we faced defenses who sat on those reads, and things got ugly. We won 2 series ugly. Having people who can/will actually throw lobs to Gobert makes our offense so much more functional, because teams can't play off him to muck things up. We blow teams out when Rudy is involved. Ant and Ju both lost confidence in those interior passes, and our offense sank into the grimey muck.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think they are hoping for internal growth and development. Not only from young guys like TJ and Rob potentially, but I think even the vets like Ant, Jaden and Naz. I think even Julius has room for more growth.

Maybe it doesn't result in a 2025-26 championship. But if they lock in on growth and development, 2025-26 could be what sets us up for the following three years with all of the core young guys under contract.