When people discuss the “modern NBA” — more specifically, what is wrong with the modern NBA — one issue that comes up is the number of games sat out by the best players. The increased DNP frequency seems related to a few things, including awareness of the costs of fatigue versus benefits of rest, the increased bodily movement of the modern game relative to the more stationary (if also more physical) half-court sets of the older NBA, and a plain old uptick in real injuries.
The Minnesota Timberwolves of the first half of the 2024-25 season are an exception to this trend. Finch relies on eight players, as fans know by now. Of the Iron 8, six of them have played all 41 games. Mike Conley, by far the oldest of the bunch, missed 4 games earlier in the season, so he’s only played 37. The other one, Donte DiVincenzo, sat out last night’s game — the team’s 41st — to spoil his own perfect attendance record. DDV’s played 40 of 41, but figures to miss at least a few more with a big toe sprain injury that is probably a lot more debilitating that it sounds.
Unfortunately and perversely, this great health has been more curse than blessing for the Wolves. They’ve barely managed to win half their games despite having an objectively very good roster. The offense has often looked inept, the worst combination of slow-paced but somehow also pretty sloppy. (In fact, the Wolves as of this writing rank 27th out of 30 in “pace” and commit turnovers at the 5th highest rate in the league.)
Making matters more aggravating in the big-picture sense and possibly also worse in the immediate, the great health of Finch’s Trusted Veterans has meant almost no playing time for the young guys, several of whom can make a case for a long-term piece of the Timberwolves Puzzle. 8th in total minutes is Conley at 901. Ninth in total minutes? Josh Minott and his paltry 188. Finch at the 8-9 rotation border is basically Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross when announcing the prize for third place in the upcoming sales contest: “Third place is you’re fired.”
Yes, all of this health has allowed us a great deal of sample size to find out how Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Donte DiVincenzo play basketball together. We know what it looks like, we know that it is not good enough, we know it is never going to be good enough, and we’d all rather see other things attempted, if nothing else than to see something else attempted.
On Thursday, before Game 41 at New York, an injury was announced.
The only semi-significant change that Finch has made this year was subbing DDV into the starting lineup for Conley, who now looks mostly washed. While I think that change is a half-measure and more of a band aid than a cure, it did bring out a more prolific version of DDV and the Wolves won some games with the lineup change. (They went 4-2 in the 6 games DDV started. He had 27 and 28 points in two of the three most recent games.) Donte also plays basketball very much The Right Way, and very unlike many of his teammates. He’s aggressive, decisive, fundamentally sound, and team oriented. If they had 2 more players like him, they’d probably be a real championship contender.
Which is why all of the above makes it ironic, hilarious, and maybe just curiously logical in some way that they would suddenly play without Donte, on the road against a good team, and put together one of their best performances in weeks.
On Friday against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the suddenly undermanned Wolves beat the Knicks going away. The final was 116-99. Ant played one of his best games of the season. He struggled in the first quarter clanking some questionable shots, but then pretty much did everything right. He finished with 36 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Plenty of others played well. Naz Reid was on fire, the night after having his jersey retired at his old high school in New Jersey.
Most significant of the “changes” was of course Rob Dillingham, every Timberwolves fan’s favorite Iowa Wolf. Rob’s been on the injured list for a while with an ankle sprain that was certainly not causing Finch to lose any sleep. He was finally back in NBA action after a brief “ramp up” in actual Iowa, and just in time to fill in some of the DDV minutes. He racked up 9 points and 3 assists in just 13 minutes. One of his best plays was just a missed field goal attempt in the box score – breaking down the defense, drawing all of the help defense, and leaving an easy putback for Naz who was there to clean it up. Rob is not always going to knock down his dribble jumpers, but he has a speed and INCREDIBLY SMOOTH handle of the ball that — paired with his small stature — figures to make him a headache for opposing defenses. He will make mistakes — 2 turnovers in those 13 minutes, last night — and he will be targeted as a defender — he was guarding Knicks backup guard Cameron Payne when he erupted with his own 2nd Quarter Heater — but he provides obvious value in an area where this team is sorely lacking: he can break down and scramble opposing defenses. He needs to play.
I took a lot of chemistry courses before I knew what I would do with my life. I’m not sure what good it did me — I certainly don’t use that education or knowledge in any direct way. If I had to justify it, I suppose I would say that it helped me learn how to learn…or something. Anyway, one thing I do remember about learning chemistry is the huge difference between memorizing as much as possible about specific reactions, versus having it actually sink in where you understand how the reaction actually works. Memorizing leads to cramming and then releasing all of that info from your brain as soon as the test is over. Conceptually learning leads to something that can be carried over into other problems, and is more lasting. Obviously the latter is the goal. The former is sometimes what’s necessary to pass the exam. I experienced both, at different times.
This year’s Timberwolves chemistry (to be clear, I’m referring to the “on-court” variety) is toxic. There is much more talent on this roster than the results of the experiment would suggest. Anthony Edwards is an offense-first All-Star. So is Julius Randle. Rudy Gobert just won Defensive Player of the Year. Jaden McDaniels joined him on the All-Defense Team. Naz Reid was 6th Man of the Year. Donte DiVincenzo had second-round-of-the-playoffs games last year where he scored 35 and 39 points. As much as it tries to tell is otherwise, this team is LOADED with talent. Even if it doesn’t bond together in a way that produces the sum of these parts, it should do a lot better than it has been doing. Finch has tinkered here and there, and I’m sure he is trying to get certain players to do things different types of ways to improve spacing and ball movement.
But at a certain point, even if we cannot explain why, we just have to throw our hands up and say “this does not work.” Remove any of the ingredients — even one of the best, in Donte — and things are immediately much better. Had it been Randle or Conley or NAW, I bet it would’ve been better, too. I don’t know why, so I’d just be sure to remember this on the chemistry test.
A few random jottings as we sit at the season midway point:
- The midway record of 22-19 obviously paces for a 44-win season. The keys in this year’s West is to avoid the play-in, and avoid the Thunder for as many rounds as possible. The 6 seed, at this point, would be a great result. I’m guessing we’ll need 47 wins to get it. In other words, things have to improve, as the health suddenly gets worse…
- The NBA trade deadline arrives in less than 3 weeks, on February 6th. If Julius Randle is still a Timberwolf on February 7th, then the odds of Naz Reid remaining a Timberwolf after this season drop considerably. The team is not going to stay over the “2nd Apron” for consecutive seasons. It is not easy to trade Randle under the restrictions the team is under now, owing to its 2nd Apron status as well as the cap-exceeded status of just about every team in the league. Connelly might cook something up, but this is a major franchise storyline to follow. Among regular rotation players, Randle current ranks as follows: Points (2nd) Rebounds (2nd) Assists (1st) FG% (2nd) Offensive Rating (T-1st). As much as many Wolves fans hate Randle for not being either Karl-Anthony Towns or Naz Reid, and as much as his game is idiosyncratic in ways that require accommodations, he is very clearly a good NBA player. Something to keep in mind as we stay sane with our takes out here.
- Before the season at Media Day, Tim Connelly talked about Ant’s future career in Minnesota. This was in the fresh wake of the blockbuster KAT trade. He referred to different “iterations” of supporting casts that will surround Ant over his hopefully long career as a Wolf. I cannot predict the future, but I will not be surprised if neither of Jaden McDaniels or Naz Reid are on the team in 1 or 2 years. There was a time that many including myself hoped for Jaden to ascend as a clear-cut “Number 2” sidekick to Ant. As time goes by, that is not taking shape. He’s the outlier amongst the regular rotation as far as poor on/off numbers go. Defense is his calling card, and the team is defending a lot better with Jaden on the bench. His shot is unreliable. There is talent there, to be sure, and maybe this will reverse course and he’ll get back on the improvement plan he was on for the first 2 or 3 years of his career. But that is seeming less likely as more time passes. Naz is a somewhat different story, as his play is not disappointing per se, but it is also not good enough to clearly demand some type of foundational spot for the long haul; at least if it’s going to hamstring the team’s flexibility the way the current cap sheet does. As noted above, a lot of this is tied to Randle and what happens with him. I just wouldn’t have tunnel vision for what the future of this team looks like. They’ll try to maximize the number of times they can contend for championships with Ant. Last year was one. This year is not going to be one. Next year, to get back to that form, they’ll probably need to have somebody on the team that is not presently on the team, who is a very high impact player. How that happens is anyone’s guess and Tim Connelly’s job.