{"id":55651,"date":"2023-10-07T06:09:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T10:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=55651"},"modified":"2023-10-07T06:09:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T10:09:21","slug":"minnesota-timberwolves-rumors-notes-mike-conley-anthony-edwards-plus-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/07\/minnesota-timberwolves-rumors-notes-mike-conley-anthony-edwards-plus-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors &#038; Notes: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Plus More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like the Dallas Mavericks, the Minnesota Timberwolves are participating in the NBA Global Games in Abu Dhabi. Also, similar to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/05\/mavericks-rumors-notes-asia-and-europe-trip-training-camp-battles-jason-kidd\/\" target=\"_self\">Mavericks<\/a>, the Timberwolves have much to prove.\u00a0 Minnesota defeated Dallas 111-99 on Thursday to open the league&#8217;s preseason action. The two teams meet again today at noon (ET).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">started the preseason off right. \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EVbV5b1k2g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EVbV5b1k2g<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Timberwolves\/status\/1710090961424949444?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors &amp; Notes: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Plus More<\/h2>\n<h3>Timberwolves FSeason-Openerinates In Season Opener<\/h3>\n<p>A big part of Minnesota&#8217;s victory was getting off to a quick start and the play of their frontcourt. Minnesota scored 21 of the game&#8217;s first 26 points and led 37-18 after the first quarter. After shooting 50% in the opening quarter, the Timberwolves cooled off just a little but still took a 66-49 lead into halftime.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wolves with a dominant 1st half&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>66 PTS<br \/>47% FG<br \/>45% 3PT<br \/>135 ORTG<\/p>\n<p>KAT leads the way with 18 points.<\/p>\n<p>LISTEN LIVE on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iHeartRadio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@iHeartRadio<\/a> app (search Timberwolves, click Live Station) or on laptop at <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/E8q3tlyRDd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/E8q3tlyRDd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WolvesRadio\/status\/1709981774133031173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Karl-Anthony Towns<\/strong><\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <strong>Rudy Gobert<\/strong><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reidna01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Naz Reid<\/strong> <\/a>led the way for Minnesota. The trio combined for 35 points, 19 rebounds, and five blocks. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/05\/14\/nba-rumors-karl-anthony-towns-new-york-knicks\/\" target=\"_self\">Towns<\/a> led the way with 20 points on 8 of 16 shooting from the field, though he was just 2 of 7 from the 3-point line. Gobert added nine points and eight rebounds, while Reid tallied 16 points and seven boards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/20\/2023-24-nba-power-rankings-offseason-edition-no-16-minnesota-timberwolves\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota<\/a> finished the game shooting 44.2% from the field and drained 11 of 35 shots (31.4%) from beyond the arc. The Timberwolves got 54.0% of their points from the paint and outscored the Mavericks 60-36 in the paint. The Wolves also dominated the Mavs on the glass, outrebounding them 56-42. Additionally, they turned their 11 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.<\/p>\n<h3>The Exhibition Game Evaluation<\/h3>\n<p>Besides the Timberwolves frontcourt play, there were some other things that the Timberwolves did positively. There are also a few things that still need to be worked on.<\/p>\n<h3>The\u00a0 Good<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Playing with a sense of urgency. The Timberwolves struggled last year despite paying a high price in the Gobert trade. They then added a third-max deal by extending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Anthony Edwards<\/strong><\/a> this summer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to find ourselves,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4932060\/2023\/10\/06\/timberwolves-preseason-no-time\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> head coach Chris Finch said via video after the game<\/a>. \u201cWe have to figure out an identity, as we talked about. Got to play with great physicality. We\u2019ve been on them. We told them from the beginning we were going to play these games out here. We weren\u2019t going to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s [urgency] a huge point of emphasis.We\u2019re going to continue to do it that way through most of the preseason because, after Saturday, we only have three games the rest of the whole time. If we don\u2019t get something out of these games, you\u2019re risking putting yourself behind the eight ball.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Timberwolves also moved well without the ball. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcdanja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jaden McDaniels<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alexani01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Nickeil Alexander-Walker,<\/strong><\/a> and Gobert were particularly good at making crispo cuts.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI thought we punished their switches with our bigger lineups at times, and we got off the ball in a crowd,\u201d Finch said. \u201cThose opportunities were created by people willing to move around and cut and re-space well. It\u2019s going to be key for us as we try to figure this thing out. There wasn\u2019t a lot of ball-holding. Guys got into stuff and got off of it and trusted each other out there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"ad-slug\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/miltosh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Shake Milton<\/strong><\/a>, who was inconsistent with Philadelphia, had a strong debut.\u00a0 Milton finished with 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting and four rebounds in 20 minutes. He also was 2 of 3 from the 3-point line. According to the Athletic&#8217;s Jon Krawcynski, Timberwolves coaches &#8220;have raved about him in training camp. They like his size, shooting, and playmaking and see him as a viable option as a backup point guard to Conley.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Finch on Shake Milton (5-6 FG, 2-3 3s, 12 pts, 4 rebs): &quot;We&#39;ve talked a lot about him internally, being so happy and surprised, even better than we thought he could be.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonKrawczynski\/status\/1710013799946723565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alexander-Walker picked up right where he left off last season. Alexaner-Walker, who the Wolves acquired at the trade deadline, became an important starter and perimeter defender during the postseason.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Starting in place of Edwards against Dallas on Thursday, Alexander-Walker had 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks. He also knocked down 3 of 5 3-pointers.<\/p>\n<p>He looks like midseason form out there with his fitness level, his sharpness, his decision-making, and his confidence,&#8221; coach Chris Finch told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/timberwolves-mavericks-anthony-edwards-luka-doncic-karl-anthony-towns-nickeil-alexander-walker\/600310147\/?refresh=true\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Star-Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Timberwolves&#8217; defense. The Wolves, who are focusing on defense this year, were very good on that end against the Mavericks. The Wolves held the Mavs to 37% shooting from the field and 30.4% from the 3-point line. They also registered 12 blocks, though fouling was an issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Things To Continue To Work On<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Gobert still hasn&#8217;t shown the efficiency that he did in Utah. The 7-1 center missed a couple of layups to finish the game 3 of 6 from the field. Gobert, who shot 65.6% from the field last season, had made at least 66.9% of his shots in his prior four campaigns.<\/li>\n<li>The Timberwolves are not a quick team defensively. Finch told Krawcynski that the Wolves would switch more often to counteract their lack of speed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Anthony Edwards and Jaylen Clark Dealing With Injuries<\/h3>\n<p>Edwards sat out the preseason opener due to a sprained ankle that he suffered during practice on Wednesday. However, Edwards could play on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust being super cautionary right now with that,\u201d Finch said. \u201cWe hope to have him back and playing on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chris Finch says Anthony Edwards tweaked his ankle in practice on Wednesday, but said he doesn\u2019t believe it\u2019s serious.<\/p>\n<p>Finch said they hope to have him back for Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaneMooreNBA\/status\/1710008634065801437?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/clarkja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jaylen Clark<\/strong><\/a>, the Timberwolves 2023 second-round pick, also was sidelined on Wednesday. Clark is still recovering from Achilles surgery and is expected to be out for the first half of the season.\u00a0 Clark suffered the injury last March.<\/p>\n<h3>Jaden McDaniels Contract Situation<\/h3>\n<p>McDaniels and the Timberwolves continue working on a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/04\/29\/minnesota-timberwolves-to-prioritize-anthony-edwards-and-jalen-mcdaniels-extensions\/\" target=\"_self\">contract extension<\/a>, per Krawcynski. McDaniels is rookie-scale extension eligible and has until October 23 to work out a deal. If the sides don&#8217;t come to an agreement, then the 23-year-old forward likely will become a restricted free agent.<\/p>\n<p>Krawcynski said the sides now have a negotiation comparison as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vassede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Devin Vassell<\/strong><\/a> recently signed a five-year, $135 million pact with the San Antonio Spurs. Vasell&#8217;s deal could be worth as much as $146 million with incentives.<\/p>\n<p>For his part, McDaniels is concentrating on the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cReally, I\u2019ve just been focused on basketball,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4911997\/2023\/09\/29\/jaden-mcdaniels-minnesota-timberwolves\/?source=emp_shared_article&amp;access_token=48618&amp;redirected=1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">McDaniels said<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m working out. I know the contract thing is there, but I just try to let my agents handle it and continue to get better as a player.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>McDaniels is an excellent versatile defender who has improved every year and is coming off a career season in 2022-23. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.0 blocks while compiling a shooting slash line of .517\/.398\/.736.<\/p>\n<p>McDaniels will be counted on guarding the opponents&#8217; best player like he did when he checked Dallas&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Luka Doncic<\/strong><\/a> during Thursday&#8217;s preseason contest. McDaniels does need to stay out of foul trouble.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cJaden is the most important person on the team, for sure, because he has the most potential,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI think the world knows we wouldn\u2019t be the Minnesota Timberwolves without Jaden McDaniels. So yeah, I\u2019m looking forward to him having a phenomenal season.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>\u00a0Minnesota Wants Mike Conley to Finish Career With Team<\/h3>\n<p>Conley, soon to be 36 years old, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. While it is unknown how much longer Conley plans to play, the Timberwolves want him to finish his career in Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we got Mike, our goal was for this to be the last spot,\u201d Timberwolves president of basketball operations <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/4924375\/2023\/10\/04\/mike-conley-timberwolves-rejuvenated\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Connelly told Krawcynski<\/a>. \u201cYou never know how things are going to develop. And certainly, we didn\u2019t get Mike for just to be a short-term thing. When you get a person as special as Mike is, you want to be sure that he doesn\u2019t leave here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota acquired Conley in a three-team deal with the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz. Conley was good last year in his 24 appearances for the Wolves, averaging 14.0 points, 5.0 assists, and 3.7 rebounds. He really shot the ball well as he knocked down 2.4 treys a game with a shooting slash line of .460\/.420\/.863.<\/p>\n<h3>Wolves Woking On Improving Offense<\/h3>\n<p>While Minnesota is focusing on defense &#8212; they ranked 10th in the league on that end this year &#8212; Finch is looking for improvement offensively.<\/p>\n<p>Finch, known as an offensive coach, brought a free-flowing offensive philosophy to Minnesota. But the Wolves struggled mightily executing the offense, and they finished 23rd in offensive efficiency last season.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the Wolves coaching staff is considering shaking things up on that end.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/minnesota-timberwolves-offense-mike-conley-anthony-edwards-karl-anthony-towns-chris-finch\/600309895\/?refresh=true\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Chris Hine of the Minnesota Star Tribune<\/a> is reporting that Finch still prefers a more free-flowing offense. However, he will incorporate more structure and play calls to help jump-start the offense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;[Structure] might slow you down a little bit, but we&#8217;re not the world&#8217;s fastest team to begin with,&#8221; Finch said. &#8220;It might take away some creativity, but nothing&#8217;s going to be overly elaborate. Just set a starting structure. We get in trouble when we don&#8217;t have good structure to start an offense.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like the Dallas Mavericks, the Minnesota Timberwolves are participating in the NBA Global Games in Abu Dhabi. Also, similar to the Mavericks, the Timberwolves have much to prove.\u00a0 Minnesota defeated Dallas 111-99 on Thursday to open the league&#8217;s preseason action. The two teams meet again today at noon (ET). started the preseason off right. \ud83d\udd25 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":56187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1608,62],"tags":[2109,2559,48951,208,394,3811],"class_list":["post-55651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-jaden-mcdaniels","tag-karl-anthony-edwards","tag-mike-conley","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-shake-milton"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}