What a difference a week makes.
When I posted last Sunday, the Wolves were undefeated, with two blowout wins – both on the road, all versus respectable competition – and zero Ls.
Over the next 7 days, they played 5 games, lost 3 of them, and along the way Anthony Edwards underwent a knee surgery that will keep him out of action for a couple months.
Yikes.
A super-quick rundown of those last five games:
- Home win over Raptors. Blowout victory. Kawhi didn’t play, but all the other Raptors did. Dominance continued from the first games of season.
- Road loss at Cleveland. Tail end of back to back. Cavs played well, with Evan Mobley hitting from three in a way he normally does not. Late-game calls were missed, tilting the outcome. Very good basketball game.
- Home loss to Warriors. Horrible game all-around. This was 24 hours after the news of Ant needing knee surgery, and team seemed entirely unprepared to adjust. Instead of “next man up” it was “everybody down.” Embarrassing effort – Jaden was torched by Steph Curry and it took Finch way too long to send Jaylen Clark in to stop the bleeding. LaMelo and Kuminga were at one point seen yelling at Rudy in the huddle. Rudy was terrible, as was LaMelo.
- Home win over Clippers. A bad opponent, but nonetheless a good Wolves win. Finch began to use Clark to dog the opposing star; in this case, Darius Garland. Comfortable win in front of the home crowd.
- Road loss at San Antonio. Last night’s game. Wolves were without both Ant and Rudy for this one – Gobert had back spasms and was a late scratch. Joan handled himself pretty well in Rudy’s place. Jaylen Clark played more minutes, and played them well – it is beginning to seem as if Finch IS GETTING IT, regarding Clark being one of his best 7 or 8 players. Hopefully that continues. This was a road back to back for the Wolves, missing two of their best players, against a Top 3 team in the NBA that was missing nobody. The officiating was unusually tilted in the opponent’s favor – not only did that put Ball on the bench with fouls throughout the game, but stopped action several times when the Wolves seemed to gather an uncontroversial defensive rebound. It seemed to stand out, and judging by Finch’s postgame remarks, he noticed too. Anyway, this was a game the Wolves were always going to lose, but they competed admirably, and if they approach every game the way they approached this one, they’ll have a great season.
Six observations about the team right now:
FIRST, it’s okay to say that Ant should’ve had this knee procedure done after last season, in the summertime. Boy oh boy does saying this get people worked up on Twitter (as I found out, on Tuesday) but it’s okay to acknowledge the obvious, even if part of Tim Connelly’s job is to tell some white lies from time to time.
How can we know that this surgery should’ve been done over the summer?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
First, it was reported and visible to anyone watching the playoffs last year (even before he hyperextended his left knee) that Ant Wasn’t Right. His right knee was giving him trouble, and it’s been reported that he had ongoing right knee inflammation, patellar tendonitis, and patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee), which caused him to miss time and required treatment during the spring and playoffs. In fact, Ant was struggling enough in the Nuggets series before he injured his other knee that it’s fair to think the Wolves would not have won that series but for his injury – it was that bad.
Second, we know that Ant was undergoing a treatment and rehab program for his right knee in the summertime. Connelly has stated that he was undergoing imaging of the knee in the summertime, and it’s been reported that Ant took two months off to effectively rest it. So, the knee was obviously a concern in the offseason.
Third, Connelly himself and the team’s PR release after have effectively confirmed that there was no significantly new injury. Connelly flat denied that there was a meniscal injury. There was obviously no ligament tear, or they’d have reconstructed it. Connelly used the common sports-orthopedic term “clean-up” to describe the procedure that would be done. Team PR later used the more medical term “debridement” in its press release, announcing a successful surgery had been completed.
Fourth, and this is just if it helps some people that struggle with this, arthroscopic knee “clean up” procedures are not uncommon for NBA players, even some of the great ones. They just get them done in the offseason so as to avoid missing a big part of the season, like Ant will now do. Dwyane Wade had two similar procedures on his left knee. Kobe Bryant had three of them on his right knee. All of them were done in the offseason, allowing months of time to recover. For a counter-example of a player waiting until the season started to have surgery, see how Scottie Pippen was blasted by Michael Jordan and the press for waiting until the ’97-98 (“Last Dance”) campaign was underway to get his ankle fixed. (The background there was Pip’s understandable frustration for being severely underpaid by the Bulls after his own terrible Kahntract negotiations years earlier, and deciding he’d recover on company time and enjoy his summer before surgery.)
None of this is to suggest any sort of scandal, or even any bad faith on Ant’s part, or his medical team. He probably just wanted to avoid surgery and preferred to see if it would heal without it. It isn’t wrong to want to avoid surgery. But his knee was bad when last season ended, it didn’t look great when this season began (despite some big scoring nights with 3 bombs, his explosiveness was not where it should be) and now it’s fair to just state the obvious: he should’ve had his knee cleaned up last summer, so he was fully ready to roll when this season began. Connelly can’t say it, but we can.
Moving on…
SECOND, I don’t think this team can beat the Spurs, at least not if the Spurs are healthy in a seven-game series. We don’t have a center who can pull Wemby away from the basket; not Rudy, not Joan. If your answer happens to be Trey Lyles, then I would just say “If Trey Lyles is the answer, then I don’t wanna know the question.” (Lyles has been “fine” by 10th-man-regular-season standards, but he is not a playoff-rotation guy. He’s way too stiff and slow.) Along with the center-position issues, it really seems like Jaden’s Leaning Midrange Jumper Superpower goes out the window whenever Wemby is anywhere lurking nearby. It isn’t just that Jaden misses when Wemby is the shot contester – he seems a little shook whenever Wemby is on the floor.
This isn’t very Earth-shattering news, and it’s nothing to panic about. If the Spurs stay healthy, they’re probably going to the Finals many times in the coming seasons. But plenty of things can go wrong, and probably will go wrong, on their end – just how it works (see: OKC’s nightmare injury list) and it’s the Wolves job to field the best team they can, and then let the chips fall.
THIRD, despite the 3 losses in 5 games, this seems like a very good basketball team. There’s a chance this will be Finch’s best team here. LaMelo has had some off nights now, and Ant is obviously on the shelf, but through 7 games they’ve played 6 very strong ones. The losses at Cleveland and San Antonio were strong performances on tail end of back-to-back versus deep playoff teams, and the Wolves were right there. Both games had some reffing adversity, the Spurs game had major Wolves player absences, but the fight was there. Finch has a deep roster right now, especially in the backcourt. I’m always whining about Jaylen Clark Minutes, and yet in some of these games Finch looks good because of all of the Bones Buckets and TJ’s all-around play. (Shannon is coming around as a defender, especially with a willingness to draw charges and sacrifice his body for the greater good.) Last night at San Antonio, Ball was out for most of the game with fouls and the Wolves competed just as well or better with Clark in his place. This is both a testament to the roster Connelly assembled, and the way Finch has his team ready to roll when the ball is tipped off. The schedule will not always be as demanding as it has been in these first 7, and if the early signs are a predictor of how this team conducts its business, it will win 50 or more games and might be a title contender.
FOURTH, the Ant injury and a little bit of Chris Finch Enlightenment has led to some overdue Jaylen Clark minutes. He was fantastic against the Clippers, turning off Darius Garland’s water when Garland was otherwise keeping that game from becoming the blowout it always should’ve been. Clark was maybe even better against the Spurs, smothering Stephon Castle, and hitting some 3s on the other end. In the horrible GSW game, Clark was a bright spot, entering the game in the second half to stop Steph Curry from scoring every single time down. (Jaden got torched that night, and Curry had nothing for Clark, after he checked in.) Clark is the team’s best perimeter defender, and rivals Rudy as the team’s best defender period. He guarded Wemby a couple times last night, and got the stop. There isn’t a lot this guy can’t do on that end, and he isn’t NEARLY bad enough on offense to justify the opportunity cost of not playing him. Let’s keep it up, Finch – you seem to be getting it, slowly.
FIFTH, we’ve now discovered that LaMelo Ball might not actually be the best basketball player in the world. After a brilliant 3.5 games to kick the season off, he’s shown a few flaws and imperfections. His second half at Cleveland got sloppy against their physical defense, and he straight up stunk the next game vs the Warriors (when Rudy was also terrible, and they seemed frustrated with each other). Against the Spurs last night, Ball fouled out in just 20 minutes of action. I’m sure the reality is somewhere between the incredible start and the struggles of late. He’s learning his teammates, and opponents are scouting his Wolves-specific tendencies. It should sort itself out and stabilize into whatever he ultimate is, over the course of the season. I have enjoyed, even in his worse games, his nose for the ball when pouncing interception-steals or diving to the floor for loose balls. He’s a little bit feistier of a competitor in those ways than I would have guessed.
SIXTH, Joan seems like he’ll be a perfectly adequate backup center, this year. He plays hard, his positioning isn’t perfect but far from terrible. He fearlessly pursues contested rebounds, sometimes falling to the floor a little harder than anyone would like to see. Hopefully those become more graceful with age, without losing too much of the edge. Offensively, he’s good at catching lobs for dunks, and he’s very good at roaming for putback dunks off of soft misses. He’s not terrible at baby hooks. Beyond that, I’m not seeing any sort of “unicorn” who develops a perimeter jumper that’s ever primetime-ready. Seems more like a hustle big man who can defend and dunk. If he becomes elite at those things, an above-average starter. If he stays about where he is, a viable 8th man on a good team.
That’s all for now. Easier slate of games this week, just Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Monday home versus Bucks had better be a win. Wednesday at Rockets will be almost as tough as the Spurs matchup was. Friday at New Orleans should be a very winnable road game. Winning 2 and dropping 1 feels most likely.
Go Wolves.
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