Yeah sorry I meant from last season, where Divo led the Wolves in +/-

I’m guessing they mean starting backcourt from last year? Donte and Ant were the 1 and 2.

DDV and Ant were the backcourt last year. Thats how valuable he is. Him and Ayo off the bench will hit like crack.

It really highlights how absolutely stupidly athletic this team is, Julius Randle must’ve been stomping on kittens in front of them last year or something

This is why I’m excited to the POR matchups next week. Both teams seem completely bought in and play hard.

I will always sing praises for Finch. He’s a strong culture builder. He’s managed some heavy personalities and there’s been moments like Anderson and Gobert, but they’ve continued to play strong ball and look like they have a great time doing so. He even had Randle playing into a role. Only so much you can do there bc Randle is a terrorist, but Finch is a hell of a coach

There was a play in the first half where LaMelo hit a crazy 3 then immediately turned and SPRINTED back to his guy on D. I’ve never really watched LaMelo prior to this, but his hustle on both ends of court this whole season has been mad impressive

Man tonight they were NOT letting off the gas even up 40 deep into the 4th

This is the best Wolves team I’ve ever sean, Finch should be front runner for COTY and they’re tier 1 contenders.

Pretty much every rotation player on the teams PPG has gone up without Ant, they’re all stepping up big time

I am really excited for the Wolves playoffs this year. They were on of my favorite team last seasons and they keep getting better.

People keep bringing up the teams we have played in regards to our defense, but if you’ve watched the Wolves the past few years we were missing this effort and energy defensively, especially against the bad teams

we’ve been on that side of the ball with dubious handle turning it over to a super physical handsy team.

wolves know this weakness too well, they are really leaning into the same style this year

Great teams are a matchup nightmare for everyone! but I think lively definitely would have helped

It rlly is. Jaden McDaniels was made in a lab to give cooper Flagg fits

It rlly is. Jaden McDaniels was made in a lab to give cooper Flagg fits

clearly Irving lost a step, so Jaden defending him was multitudes easier. also having someone like Kuminga to guard Flagg well now Dallas’ A and B options are in a vice with Rudy on the back end. Dallas also doesnt have the shooting needed ot beat that, or guard depth. Wouldnt be shocked if Dallas tries to trade KI to get some pieces more along Coops timeline.

PJW, Gafford could also be candidates. dont think you own your own picks for a while, like us lol

Can I just hire you as the Hornets GM right now? I don’t care about any of your qualifications, just recognizing that having LaMelo Ball instead of Dennis Schroeder and Coby White is a good thing, is enough for me.

OK, do not underestimate importance of having point guard.

Its beautiful.

He can score, obviously. But he can also facilitate. Getting the ball where it needs to go, with good timing and location. And he makes it look effortless.

The assists are insane - you can tell he played with big brothers

Direct Drive Zone!

FR it’s the combination of LaMelo and Ayo… which is the two sides of Ant.

Happy for your success, but also wondering what I did to deserve this 😭

They’ve added upbeat guys AND seem to all have matured perfectly right at the right moment to be able to lock in.

They are so connected on both ends of the ball

They’re having tons of fun and that’s why they’re taking basketball so seriously. Like genuine love for the game and their identity

Minnesota has been one of my favorite teams to watch for a couple years now. Your guys play hard and have fun doing it, glad to see another year with success

I still hope my blazers beat you guys in this b2b! But it’ll be fun watching those games either way

LaMelo Ball effect

And it works because they’re having fun while winning, unlike Westbrook’s “fun” with the Lakers.

Helps when you have a point guard who can break down a defence, spread the floor and deliver amazing passes.

I have seen a lot of NBA analysts credit Ant with this. He has a ton of fun, but knows when it is time to get to work during practice/games. And him being the best player, he help set the tone for the team, even when he is not playing.

LaMelo not a winning player.

Yeah the nuggets are clearly a better team than us because they added serious players like derozan

Wolves in 5

found Brian Flores

Offense will get you to the final 4, defense will get you the championship.

Menasoda

For how addicted to their magic rectangles people are, they really don’t fucking use their magic rectangles enough.

For some reason it’s shockingly hard for people. Which is why so many of them say “Minny”, which so many of us despise

Minesodda is easy to spell idk why so many people struggle

It’s like they sounded it out and still got it wrong.

Minisoda

to be fair i can honestly see if you aren’t from minne that you’d overemphasize the t over the n but yeah (im not defending this behavior)

Right! Downvoted immediately for this erroneous foul

Minesoda

Minneapolis

U kidding me? This makes the Dub’s win over Minny even more impressive.

Yum, steak

this team is different. Everything I’ve seen from them shows they don’t get complacent which hasn’t been true of past wolves teams.

and I’ve got tickets to the next game!

Fr

I guess I can’t post a link to it, but in the Wolves sub, there is a post today of DDV looking really good.

He’ll be back for sure

Agreed

Would have agreed with you if it wasn’t for Ant’s injury, that was such a gut punch :(

He’ll be back by February, apparently.

i have a bunch of parlays with the same belief. I think this team is absolutely ready

He will. Thunderous applause. We love him and miss him 💔

So happy to see him doing a good job in Portland!

He will. We just gave like a standing O to Kyle Anderson haha. The North Remembers.

Yea they’ll be good games, whens Morant meant to be back?

We fucking love Nori in MN. You got a hell of a head coach now.

I mean shit, how many first time head coaches walk into the job with multiple playoff wins under their belt already because their old team’s head coach had his knee blown out in a game and had to miss time during the playoffs?!? Nori held shit down as head coach against the lakers while Finch was out getting surgery. Absolute beast.

We all love Micah

Should be interesting. Timberwolves without their best player vs Portland.

Feels like if the wolves have a good shooting night, they win, otherwise Portland steals it

Will be so fun and excited to see our King Micah again - God I miss him but I am so happy he is doing well!

We don’t have Vit and CY either, not to mention Scoot wearing the other team’s jersey recently. We’re giving serious minutes to bottom of the bench / garbage time players. This is not Portland at full strength.

So third after blaze show?

https://youtu.be/fce9VAzA0os?is=R5qw3rhynve96nbf

Yeah that was a super strange statement that people are ignoring them. Prior to Ant, pretty well talked about (them and the 76ers make up) and same after he got injured because they kept winning?

But whatever gets the clicks I guess

Seems like they have ever since Ant went down

No, lol

“nba team quietly plays well”

He trying to come back after the All-Star break so we might get him back sooner.

Yuuuup

theyre almost there. they found recipe for jokic and the nuggs. they will get spurs and okc’s numbers too. just wait untill ant and donte back

Tobias Harris still hasn’t played a game for us but the Wolves definitely scare me the most so far

Is Gobert or Beringer going to stretch anyone out though? Ant is the biggest factor, if he’s walking on water he’s hard to touch but I’d still give SA the edge on talent alone

Nah, gotta hope houston, okc or lakers takes out the spurs 1st or second round. I dont want the wolves to be too gassed

if his name was lamelović ballić he’d be considered one of the smartest players in the league

If this is him being unserious I cannot wait for the playoffs. Lemelo is literally answering my question “What if Rubio could shoot”.

Warriors could have had him. Meanwhile Wiseman is a vet min.

I just need Melo to never drive a car himself and I’ll never talk ill of him again

Lets ground this in reality a little bit. The Timberwolves are in the same position as the Spurs. The schedule so far has been ridiculously easy.

They’ve only beaten 1 potential contender.

The next game they have against a contender/deep playoff team is ¹¹⁄₂₅ if you want to count an injured Thunders squad, otherwise, ¹²⁄₁₆ against the Lakers

I’ve not watched him very much, but in what I have watched of him, I’ve watched him chuck unbelievably ill advised threes against my Sixers in clutch time to help us win the game. It’s hard to forget. Maybe he’s changed in the last couple years.

His BBIQ is not his problem, its his normal IQ. Take him off the court and suddenly he is a degenerate.

No one said he’s got no bbiq. He’s a great playmaker with good court vision. Just low IQ outside the court.

I’m guessing it’s based on last years starting back court of Ant and Donte

Which is when we play our best 😎

It’s a dumb narrative. He’s a good asset for a team that’s trying to win now and a pointless contract to keep on a team that’s aiming to be competitive in a few years after his extension kicks in.  Of course Minnesota looks better, they traded in a pick for a short term gain since they’re currently competing for a ring. Charlotte won’t get the benefit until they use the pick in trading for an asset during their window down the road.

Tbf, Donte and Ant were our starting back court last season.

Donte DiVencenzo

Edit: Comment I replied to was deleted.

LaMelo doesn’t make sense on a team that’s not trying to win right now. His contract is good, but his extension won’t be worth it. You also need a team that won’t be screwed if he goes down for a while.

Charlotte decided they’re better of selling high, getting a pick for the future and building around Miller+Kon+a future trade for a star than trying to pull the trigger now and have a three year window.