Timberwolves

As a regular but casual follower (fan?) of the Minnesota Timberwolves–i.e., I study the box scores but don’t watch the games–let me wrap up the ’24-’25 season with a few observations:
1. It’s not fair to blame a 30-point playoff-ending loss to OKC on one person, but when Jaden McDaniels missed four straight corner three’s to start the game while the Thunder was scoring at the other end,  you could see the life drain out of the Wolves. The team as a whole started the game 1-for-11, which pretty much settled matters, but McDaniels could have given his mates some energy, and confidence, had he hit. I followed McDaniels’s stats pretty closely all year. He was given a big contract more than year ago and was projected to be a long-term complement to Anthony Edwards. He is also consistently listed as the Wolves’ top defender. On several occasions this year he exploded on offense and led the team in scoring. More often, however, he was not even in the top three. Is he still developing? I’m not sure, nor was I impressed with his defense when I did watch the playoffs. When I compare him to the supporting players on the Thunder or the Pacers, he doesn’t measure up. I suspect that the Wolves will go no further if McDaniels remains in the starting lineup.
2. There has been a lot of buildup around Anthony Edwards as the next Face of the NBA, the next Jordan-like superstar. The playoffs will surely put a damper on that. Looking at the other teams in the conference finals I was in awe of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Halliburton and Jaylen Brunson, each of whom carried their team to victory after victory. Edwards was simply not in their class. Yes, he was double-teamed and he wisely facilitated his teammates’ scoring, but you can’t tell me that the opponents didn’t devote similar attention to those other stars. Brunson, especially, seemed to take on three or four opponents en route to an amazing basket time and again. And let’s not forget Jokic, Doncic, Antenmkoupo, Tatum before anointing Edwards.
3. Minnesota fans all year clamored for playing time for Wolves outside the eight-man rotation that coach Chris Finch stuck with, and Terrence Shannon seemed to justify their position with the brilliant few minutes he was given in the playoffs. Rosters inevitably change over the summer, so it’s premature to offer a prescription, but I’m among those who would love to see Shannon, Jaylen Clark, Rob Dillingham and Luke Garza given more playing time, especially given how unimportant most regular-season games are.
4. Speaking of Luke Garza, what do you do with Rudy Gobert? The Wolves are stuck with his multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract, but he can’t guard better players (and there seem to be many) and his only offense is the dunk shot. There are games when he totals fewer than five points. His peers were wrong to vote him second-most overrated player, only because the vote for Halliburton as number one was clearly a mistake.
5. Finally, although the T’Wolves have overperformed for two years in reaching the Western Conference finals, their 1-4 dismissals there show that what they’re doing is not enough. Fans want something new to excite us. I am eager to see what it will be.