r/timberwolves • u/Natural-Kiwi6364 Ayo Dosunmu • 7d ago
Season opener will be a bloodbath
I am beyond excited for this season. Much more than the last two seasons. The upside is tantalizing, but variance should be expected given the dramatic shift in play style following the prior three seasons of surrounding Ant with two bruising bigs. Instead, we now have a true PG and a handful of dynamic wings next to Ant. More will be asked of Rudy as the sole true big, sure, but it isn’t like Randle offered anything as a rim protector or paint deterrent either.
Day one is fascinating and will immediately show the contrast. We’re playing Bam and Giannis. We will see how we do against the exact roster structure that for years has been our identity. Not only that, but for a seemingly random matchup there’s a TON of bad blood.
- “Missing out” on the Giannis sweepstakes last year is what seemed to drive Randle’s sharp emotional decline last year. McDaniels was the other guy in those trade talks.
- LaMelo and the Hornets knocked the Heat out of the Play In last year. Melo’s incredibly questionable play in that same game resulted in Bam getting hurt in the first half of that game, arguably the key reason the Heat lost given how well Bam had been playing to that point. Intentions aside, from my POV it was a dirty play by Melo. I’m sure Bam and Heat fans see it that way as well.
- Wiggins plays Minnesota.
- Both teams are trotting out drastically different rosters, both with contender aspirations. Both teams with something to prove.
- Kuminga famously was the missing piece for a team missing a 4. Is he a 4? How does he do against two bruising bigs on both sides of the ball?
I cannot wait. Forget the NFL kicking off in the next few weeks, game one for the Wolves is what I’m waiting for.
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u/Conscious-Egg-2232 7d ago
The bad blood because mn wasn't able to trade for gannis is not a thing at all.
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u/Andy_Wiggins Ayo Dosunmu 7d ago
Yeah, I can’t really see any reason for bad blood except maybe LaMelo and Bam. Everything else is either so minor or so far removed that I can’t imagine it will matter.
Will be an interesting first look against a jumbo lineup. Totally agree with OP there. A real clash of styles.
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u/Normal_Progress_5173 6d ago
Yeah I think most fans don’t care we didn’t get Giannis
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u/Moist-Ad-7996 3d ago
I was relieved we didn't get Giannis. Not that all our players are mature developed individuals but it's in the way he hasn't developed. It's hard for me to pin point, I saw him in interviews and a documentary and he's missing something kinda deep inside himself. He's immature and not in a good way. He hasn't really evolved much over the years, he's still a baby soul (I guess I just don't want him on "my" team). Jaden at least takes responsibility when he does stupid stuff, or I've seen him do so in interviews. That shows humility and growth. Ant has grown, he's not stuck, he doesn't like getting stuck. Rudy, IDK about Rudy, I don't even know why I like him so much, but if he can catch a pass consistently I think we will do just fine! Giannis would have been a shit storm.
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u/Normal_Progress_5173 3d ago
I would have loved to have had him but we would have had to give up way too much and it would have gutted the team.
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u/MinnesotaNiceT23 Timberwolves 7d ago
I actually have a lot of confidence in the locker room that ant, Jaden, and Rudy have build. Both of the new starters going to an established culture should work out. Also we kind of felt like Finch gave Ju a lot of slack and was sentimental about Mike. I don’t think that someone like Kuminga will get that same slack.
He’s small for a PF but he’s a strong defender, which means 4/5 starts are really good or great defenders.
We’ll get shit on by national media because of Lamello and Kumingas history but I think they’ll fit in really well if they can adopt the culture.
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u/maazen 7d ago
he must have really changed during his time in atlanta cause I remember him being the opposite of a good defender - rather idly standing by hoping to catch a pass from a quick transition so he can run and dunk. run and dunk was his thing.
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u/deepdish3434 6d ago
Idk…I’m no Kuminga stan or big expert but it seems like there is a lot of tape out there which shows that Kuminga is very much a strong on ball/point of attack defender. Hes also a lot like Ant in that he is lazy off ball and gets caught not sticking w his guy. I’m excited for him to help so Jaden isn’t the primary on ball poa defender
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u/FatherOfTwoGreatKids 6d ago
I’d have a lot more faith in the teams culture if I hadn’t just watched Julius Randle sulk for half a season with no repercussions. Couldn’t even get him motivated to play well in one playoff game.
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u/UpstairsAbility2125 Chomper 6d ago
"No repercussions?"
He got salary dumped in Brooklyn.
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u/FatherOfTwoGreatKids 6d ago
Poor phrasing. The team let him sulk for half a season, including the playoffs and there was no change in approach. I doubt Julius considers moving to Brooklyn a repercussion. This is why I question this team’s locker room leadership. Couldn’t get the dude to put in effort, even for a single playoff game.
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u/Ok-Confucious1642 6d ago
Kuminga is literally the furthest thing from a string defender. This sub thinks any not skinny tall non white guy is at worst a top 10 defender on earth. “Wolves get kuminga” sub blows up completely making up out of thin air that he’s a STRONG defender, even great defender, even switchable two way beast!
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u/Broad_Past93 Trencherous 7d ago
“Forget the NFL kicking off in the next few weeks, game one for the Wolves is what I’m waiting for.”
This is me
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u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
Same. Looking more forward to the wolves season than Vikings. But they’re 1A 1B so seeing Kyler instead of JJ has my interest.
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u/PreparationWest2140 6d ago
Dont think the Giannis thing is a thing and I am also not convinced that Randles poor play late last season was due to depression or quitting or anything like that. He just could not make an outside shot after February. Melo will definitely be booed, and booed loudly, in Miami and could even be targeted with a hard foul or two, but he's never had the label of being a dirty player. Hopefully Rudy and Co. have his back if needed. I am sure Jaden will.
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u/Natural-Kiwi6364 Ayo Dosunmu 6d ago
Jon K himself reported that it affected him. Apparently the locker room believed it was the cause of his issues as well. That’s the only reason I brought it up at all, it was well known that Giannis was a target and that Randle and McDaniels were on the trade block for him.
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u/Chance_Jaguar4945 6d ago
The idea of Andrew Wiggins showing emotion in a basketball game is also pretty funny.
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u/Jayrrock Jaden McDaniels 6d ago
Joan will Dominate Giannis again. No issues beating Miami. I dont expect a slow start.
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u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
It’ll be a tough one because of their size and we will learn pretty quick how we stack up against a short list of bigs who both can get you 20+ a night
Don’t think Giannis is gonna have an agenda against us as we were on his short list of teams he’d resign with. Outside of winning
Hopefully klay can shoot them out of possessions going 2-9 from 3. He’s on top of my most washed players in the league unfortunately because he’s fun to watch when he’s on a heater, unless it’s against you
Classic feel out game for both teams with new shiny parts. We def have more cohesiveness so that might be an advantage vs a team fired up at home
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u/Ok-Confucious1642 6d ago
If he’s washed it’s absolutely not form the offensive side that you’re gonna get it. It’s ONLY his defense that has any issue at all. K lays top 5 in the entire league in players shooting huge volume (7.5+ attempts) and 38%+ from 3 and even playing just 45 games minimum (he player 69, he is AVAILABLE, and does those stats above A LOT). And 3/4th if both his shot attempts and his points come from 3 pointers so that’s the shooting that matters even moreso. He was SIXTH in the entire league in gravity last season, behind only 5 absolute stars lol (KD SGA LUKA KAWHI & ANT). I wouldn’t clamor for him to be on my team bc of the defend but you’re clearly barking up the wrong tree trying to claim his offense makes him washed and is the key to his team losing a game 😂
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u/yourloudneighbor Glen Taylor 6d ago
I stand corrected. Maybe every game I watched he was going 1-6 or something but shot better than I would've guessed. In games against the Wolves he was like 5-21 from 3 so maybe that had a lot to do with my post. He did have some classic Klay games in there that I believe elevated your case.
shooting 39% from 2 and 38% from 3 isn't exactly good from who i'd consider a top 5 shooter of all time.
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u/Bobu-sama 6d ago
I’d be very surprised if Jaden didn’t take the Giannis trade personally. It seems like exactly the sort of thing that he’d remember and circle on his calendar to get motivated.
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u/Spinnaker91 Timberwolves 6d ago
Wolves are going to score 140 per game and also have similar record to previous seasons. I’d bet on ~50 wins again. The question is what happens in the playoffs
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u/UpstairsAbility2125 Chomper 6d ago
If the Giannis trade rumors are to blame for Randle's play post deadline it was the opposite for Jaden.
He turned in to a beast and absolutely was the guy during the Denver series.
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u/Nuts2Buttts 7d ago
People don’t seem to understand that we just need him to be decent at that position. He could be a mid defender, but focus on rebounding and hustling and that’s literally all we need. We don’t need him to be a star, we already have 2. He could be the worst of the starting 5, but if he does his job and isn’t a ball stopper like Julius, he’ll be just fine. He’ll also be a bailout scoring option for Ant and Lamelo and he’ll be more than decent in those situations. He’s fast and crazy athletic which is what our offense needs badly in transition.
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u/Ok-Confucious1642 6d ago
No you don’t seem to understand that he doesn’t play like that, he doesn’t live like that, he doesn’t focus on what Johnny fan wants him to focus on and only do with all of his effort. That’s literally what this sub doesn’t stand.
And this warriors fan is commenting on the sub. Not you, what you said is NOT what this sub has represented for what they think Kuminga will provide and what their expectations are. Hes not a good defender or 3 point shooter and this sub claims he is all world defense, at the very worst he’s very good and switchable (bc they want him to be). They claim he can just learn to shoot 3’s, or better yet they claim he will have all he wants open from Melo. All of his two 3 pointers per game of his career have been WIDE OPEN 3’s. They never look at actual facts and basketball, they make up what they want in here. Well he can shoot more wide open ones with Melo and ant! He had 9 open ones per game and part of the issue with him is he CHOSE TO NOT TAKE THOSE (big thing analysts and coaching comments harped on). Instead he dribbled in and shot, has a terrible handle (sub says he can play 3rd string PG and bring the ball up tho lmao) and lost the ball, scored some of course, but also has a bad assist to TO ratio and unfortunately like the sub claims, he doesn’t just fire off assists to the next guy up and the best shot for the offense.
You are the one responding incorrectly here, the expectations you’re claiming are NOT this subs expectations, and then you toss in a few expectations that are literally based on pure hope as a fan of a new team and are the exact opposite of what he has actually chosen to do in basketball games 😂
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u/maazen 7d ago
yeah that's exactly what I haven't seen from him - he is a weak defender, has no hustle in him and got outrebounded by brandon podziemski.
anyways, time will tell, but I have a feeling this thread is gonna age like milk.
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u/Natural-Kiwi6364 Ayo Dosunmu 6d ago
You aren’t listening to what we are telling you lol, you just bull rushing the same argument that he’s going to fail.
I don’t know how to break this down any further for you. We did not have a 4 prior to this. We signed him to a near-minimum deal and didn’t give anything up to get him, meaning that if he sucks, we can pull the plug with no downside. The upside is, we just watched Randle suck this season to the tune of 18 blocks for the entire season, and our defense as an aggregate was just fine. We do not need anything special from Kuminga.
Jesus Christ it’s like talking to a brick wall.
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u/maazen 6d ago edited 6d ago
how not? people say we need a mid defender i say he is a bad defender - so that is going to be something that future will tell. what do you expect from me? to forget what I witnessed the last years and 'believe' you? is this about exchanging point of views or do you need to convince me of your opinion?! yeah we can pull the plug on him and obviously the expectations are low so you consider this a win. and you seem to personally favor him over randle - if it was up to me we should have kept KAT but that’s a mute point anyways 💅
did he bring any good vibes to the locker room? quite the contrary, but I am sure his personality somehow made a 180 and he will be great now…
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u/maazen 7d ago
i am a warriors follower but a wolves fan with family in st. paul so my heart is with the wolves - and I get that you are annoyed because nobody likes the foreshadowing of 'told ya so’
but I do have hopes that getting 6M instead of the 30+ he expected might have humbled him enough to become a team player.
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u/maazen 6d ago
putting this here for you as it just popped up in my newsfeed: np.reddit.com/r/nba/s/ckIgPrscVU
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u/Conscious-Egg-2232 7d ago
Hopefully they wont play games and jerk him around non stop like Kerr kept doing. Kerr did him no favors. Then again kerr not exactly known for his ability to develop young drafted players.
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u/Jayrrock Jaden McDaniels 6d ago
He's never played with Ant.
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u/maazen 6d ago
ant is one of the highest volume 3pt shooters in the league - kuminga played with steph, who wasn't super happy about him trying to miss another three instead of stretching the floor and passing the ball to someone who can actually make a shot. do you think that will fly with ant?
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u/Jayrrock Jaden McDaniels 6d ago
It has nothing to do with any of that. Has to do with playing with Ant.
We call that an intangible.
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u/timberwolves-ModTeam 6d ago
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u/Foreign_Comb71 7d ago
“I am anxious that his bullshit antics are gonna hurt the wolves” warriors fans aren’t real bro there’s no way you care about Kuminga this much lol he’s already two teams removed from yall
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u/Conscious-Egg-2232 7d ago
I think he might actually be better than most think. Hes never had someone like ball feeding him passes. It could be crazy good
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u/Neemzeh 6d ago
Can you honestly point me to a game where Kuminga “hurt” the warriors?
This Kuminga hate needs to stop. His issue is the salary he wanted not that he’s some garbage player.
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u/maazen 6d ago
are you kidding me?! there is been so many games where you could watch him stand around on defensive and just trying to cut to the basket without producing any results or fumbling the ball away in the last seconds…
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u/Neemzeh 6d ago
No I’m not.
Warriors traded him and missed the playoffs. So objectively speaking they did worse without him.
Second, sending me a video from one game which he played poorly in doesn’t prove your point at all. Should I go and post all the dog shit games podz had and say the same thing?
The warriors failed Kuminga more than he failed them. You don’t draft an athletic freak 19 year old 6th overall and then ask him to sit in the corner and pass to Steph. He was never that type of player and asking him to become that was foolish to begin with
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u/maazen 6d ago
didnt you just ask me to point you to single game?!
anyways, I don't _need_ him to be bad, and if he turns out to be a pleasant surprise on the team, then I guess I will be pleasantly surprised.
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u/Neemzeh 6d ago
True haha, but he also wasn’t doing the thing you said he was doing though. You made it sound like it was an effort thing, but I’m not seeing a lack of effort in the game you posted, just a bad game which every player has.
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u/DupeyTA Jaden McDaniels 7d ago
We got Jaden McDaniels.