The 2025-2026 Season General Discussion

[KGdaBom]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

[winforlose]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

[KGdaBom]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

All the talking heads seem to think Denver had a great off season. I know adding Valanciunas will help. I forget what else they did. They have some young players that are just getting better. As for not aging well the Wolves struggling mightily against Portland would knock us down a couple pegs.

[winforlose]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

All the talking heads seem to think Denver had a great off season. I know adding Valanciunas will help. I forget what else they did. They have some young players that are just getting better. As for not aging well the Wolves struggling mightily against Portland would knock us down a couple pegs.

Their big move was trading MPJ for Cam Johnson. I do think it was an improvement, but not a seismic shift. Portland started 0-0 like everyone else. They had a big win streak last year and intend to compete this year. They are gonna do better than people think if they focus on a defensive identity with ball pressure and defensive intensity.

[BlacJacMac]

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

All the talking heads seem to think Denver had a great off season. I know adding Valanciunas will help. I forget what else they did. They have some young players that are just getting better. As for not aging well the Wolves struggling mightily against Portland would knock us down a couple pegs.

Their big move was trading MPJ for Cam Johnson. I do think it was an improvement, but not a seismic shift. Portland started 0-0 like everyone else. They had a big win streak last year and intend to compete this year. They are gonna do better than people think if they focus on a defensive identity with ball pressure and defensive intensity.

The Jonas move was huge. He's not what he once was, but he's still really solid - and he should let Jokic take a breather without their opponent going on a huge run.

Bruce Brown and THJ were nice bench adds as well.

[younggunsmn]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

Denver took OKC to 7 games with no bench and a hurt Gordon. We got smoked by OKC.
Denver added a bunch of quality rotation players to their bench in the offseason and we subtracted one and didn't add a single quality free agent.

They deserve to be ahead of us I put them #2 behind OKC.

Cippers on paper should be very good but they're also old as hell and have a bunch of malcontent personalities and the Kawaii scandal hanging over their heads.

[winforlose]

The Wolves are 1-0 on their way to 82-0. They reserved their secret weapons Dilly and Le Berricade for when they're more needed.
NBA.com has a power rankings for all 30 teams and IMO didn't disrespect us at all placing us 5th.

#5
Minnesota Timberwolves

OffRtg: 108.7 (19) DefRtg: 112.3 (20) NetRtg: -3.6 (20) Pace: 103.2 (19)

The Timberwolves have reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the last two years, and their star just turned 24 years old. But the next step could be the toughest, especially given the talent in Oklahoma City and Denver.

Preseason takeaways

Anthony Edwards saw a huge leap in 3-point rate (3PA/FGA) from 2023-24 (34.1%) to last season (50.3%). In the preseason, he was back down to 37.3% (19 of his 51 shots), and overall, the Wolves saw the league’s second biggest drop from last season. Only Brandon Ingram took more mid-range shots in the preseason than Edwards, who was just 5-for-15 from between the paint and the 3-point line.
The Wolves need either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to produce off the bench, but their time on the floor wasn’t great. Against NBA opponents, Minnesota was outscored by 46 points in Dillingham’s 116 preseason minutes and by 16 points in Shannon’s 88 minutes.
Something to watch in Week 1: Closing time. The Wolves had the Western Conference’s second best point differential last season, but finished sixth in the standings, because they were 20-26 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, ranking 24th in clutch defense for the second straight year. A top-four seed in the West will likely require better results in close games.

The Wolves lost both ends of a back-to-back in Portland last November, scoring just 102 points per 100 possessions over those 48 minutes. They’ll open the season at the Moda Center on Wednesday.

Week 1: @ POR, @ LAL, vs. IND

Denver being above us when we got deeper in the playoffs is a bit of a shot. LAC being 6th did not age well after they got blown out by the Jazz (maybe the only aggressively taking team in the whole west.) I didn’t bother looking further because any power rankings based on the pre season are inherently speculative.

Denver took OKC to 7 games with no bench and a hurt Gordon. We got smoked by OKC.
Denver added a bunch of quality rotation players to their bench in the offseason and we subtracted one and didn't add a single quality free agent.

They deserve to be ahead of us I put them #2 behind OKC.

Cippers on paper should be very good but they're also old as hell and have a bunch of malcontent personalities and the Kawaii scandal hanging over their heads.

Denver barely got past LAC. Gordon dragged them across the finish line.

[Loaf_of_bread]

We need to trade randle and ddv for a pg. Also need a c. No way we get to wcf again as currently constructed.

[Baseline81]

We need to trade randle and ddv for a pg. Also need a c. No way we get to wcf again as currently constructed.

At what point does Atlanta decide it's time to move on from Young?

Not saying he's the PG I would want...

[KGdaBom]

We need to trade randle and ddv for a pg. Also need a c. No way we get to wcf again as currently constructed.

Trading Randle would definitely be a bad choice unless we got somebody like Luka.

[ILC]

I have been mad all offseason when I see people just so easily putting Denver over Minnesota. Most of them still think the reason we played them well was KAT on Jokić gimmick.

They will find out it is because Denver does not have a prayer of guarding Julius, let alone Ant, especially at the rim.

Denver is a good matchup for OKC tho. So I am rooting for GSW or another team to get ahead of Denver together with Minnesota and assuming OKC is no.1 it would put them and Denver in the 2nd round. Denver gets rid of OKC for us and then we spank them in the final before eventually winning the title. Heard it here first.

[KGdaBom]

I have been mad all offseason when I see people just so easily putting Denver over Minnesota. Most of them still think the reason we played them well was KAT on Jokić gimmick.

They will find out it is because Denver does not have a prayer of guarding Julius, let alone Ant, especially at the rim.

Denver is a good matchup for OKC tho. So I am rooting for GSW or another team to get ahead of Denver together with Minnesota and assuming OKC is no.1 it would put them and Denver in the 2nd round. Denver gets rid of OKC for us and then we spank them in the final before eventually winning the title. Heard it here first.

I like the way you think.

[KGdaBom]

When I opened this thread I should have said Timberwolves general discussion. So far that seems to be the way we are all treating it. We have the Around the NBA thread for everything else.

[KGdaBom]

From the Star Tribune. Finch said that Donte is likely to be the starting PG for the foreseeable Future and that Dilly not playing was just a one game thing. We will find out more tonight.

Timberwolves’ point guard rotation strategy is known only to coach Chris Finch
All the preseason speculation evaporated in the opening game when Donte DiVincenzo started and Rob Dillingham didn’t play.

By Chris Hine

The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 24, 2025 at 12:30PM

LOS ANGELES – Whatever fans might have thought about the Timberwolves point guard situation, coach Chris Finch turned that on its head with his rotation Wednesday night in the team’s season-opening victory at Portland.

Conventional wisdom coming into the season was that Mike Conley would start and likely play around 20-25 minutes. Donte DiVincenzo would come off the bench and straddle between playing the one and two guard position while playing the same amount of minutes. Then second-year guard Rob Dillingham would enter the mix to earn some minutes off the bench.

None of that happened.

Instead, Finch opted to start DiVincenzo, bring Conley off the bench and not play Dillingham at all.

Before the game, Finch walked through his thinking on starting DiVincenzo over Conley and said, “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a little while.”

“There’s a lot of things that went into it. I thought [DiVincenzo] had a really good preseason. Mostly it’s strategic around Mike. It’s a lot easier to manage Mike’s impact and minutes in the game over a 36-minute span than it is over a 48-minute span. It allows us to get to different lineup combinations and maybe maximize things around him and Rudy and other lineups.”

Conley played 13 minutes and went 1-for-5 for three points. DiVincenzo had a rougher night as he struggled with Portland’s physical defense and had seven points but six turnovers. But from the sounds of it, Finch was not making this move just for opening night.

“We’ve done it in consultation with everybody, Mike included,” Finch said. “Mike was all for it as you would expect him to be. He’s a team first guy. This is not an indication on mike Conley’s performance in the preseason or where we feel he is as a player. It’s just the best way to maximize his minutes without having him sit for a long period of time in the middle of the game.”

DiVincenzo will likely be the starting point guard for the foreseeable future. He started 10 games at point guard — and played some of his most productive basketball last season — when he was starting over Conley before a turf toe injury sidelined him.

“Mike is obviously way more a classic point guard,” Finch said. “Donte can handle for sure. He creates pace. He does get out and run. He’ll push the ball on the outlets. He unto himself is kind of a pace setter for us where Mike isn’t quite as much. Obviously he’ll have to step in and handle at the one from time to time. We have confidence in him to do that.”

As for Dillingham, he didn’t play at all Wednesday as Finch went 10 deep into his bench. With DiVincenzo and Conley struggling to get a rhythm, Finch turned to Bones Hyland for fourth-quarter minutes because he thought Hyland’s size could help on the defensive end at a time the Wolves were having trouble containing Portland’s bruising drives. He finished with two points. Finch said Dillingham’s DNP-coach’s decision was not indicative that Dillingham had to do more in practice to crack the rotation.

[KGdaBom]

Donte playing PG is certainly less than ideal, but I think his 6 TOs in game one was just a fluke. He's never been a TO machine.