Very ambitious, the Wolves of Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore hoped to take a new step this summer by poaching Tim Connelly, of the Nuggets, to entrust him with the post of “president of basketball operations”. His mission was to do his best to support the Russell-Edwards-Towns trio after the great last campaign.
He therefore went for the triple best defender of the year, Rudy Gobert, and tried to improve the whole by recruiting Kyle Anderson, Bryn Forbes or Austin Rivers.
Still need time
As the first quarter of the championship passed, Tim Connelly was asked to assess the level displayed by his team. And the leader is aware that his proteges have not yet found the right fuel.
“We saw moments when we were very good and others when we were not. If you had asked me my expectations two months ago when the season started, we thought we would be a little further ahead on our progression curve.he said in particular.
The success of his project will be based in particular on the contribution and impact of Rudy Gobert as well as his agreement with Karl-Anthony Towns, moved to position 4 to try to form the best racket in the league. Also on this point, Tim Connelly therefore asks fans and observers a little more patience.
“Individually, Rudy was fantastic. When we’re fully fit, we’ll have to figure out how to use all those guys in the most efficient way possible. It is a league that is based on the result above all. If we had three or four more wins right now, our position would be more positive. We’re not going to hide and pretend that everything was perfect. We didn’t expect that. When we made the exchange, it didn’t happen without a lot of conversations, a lot of video viewing.”, he added. “Rudy is getting used to new faces, a new coach. He’s still the best circle protector in the NBA, an elite rebounder, and a guy who has a pretty good idea of what he can and can’t do offensively.”
The sense of responsibilities
As for the association of the French with KAT, Minnesota is still looking for the right fuel, and will even take a little delay in terms of cohesion following the injury of the “franchise player” of the Wolves.
“They really like to play with each other. They are truly unique. There are nights when it will be a difficult match-up for us, and others when it will be for the opponent. How do we mitigate those tough encounters and put those guys in a position to be as effective as possible? That’s what we’re working on right now.”
For the moment, the rendering is not up to his expectations. And if the workforce failed to give its full measure, Tim Connelly would not refute his responsibilities.
“If it doesn’t work, point your finger at me. I am a big boy. I have pretty high expectations for this organization and for myself,” he launched. “If this team is not performing well enough, the responsibility lies with me alone. Not to these guys. It’s my responsibility as part of my role to make sure we put a good team on the pitch. But in this quest for a good team, we have very good guys.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Anthony Edwards | 23 | 36.5 | 46.2 | 34.5 | 76.1 | 0.6 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 23.0 |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 21 | 33.8 | 50.5 | 32.5 | 88.5 | 1.7 | 6.5 | 8.2 | 5.3 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 20.8 |
| D’angelo Russell | 23 | 31.5 | 43.6 | 31.9 | 78.0 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 6.7 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 15.0 |
| Rudy Gobert | 21 | 30.5 | 65.2 | 0.0 | 71.7 | 3.7 | 7.8 | 11.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 13.2 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 23 | 18.1 | 43.2 | 32.0 | 79.5 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 11.5 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 20 | 29.3 | 54.0 | 37.3 | 76.5 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 3.8 | 11.2 |
| Naz Reid | 17 | 14.5 | 52.4 | 28.9 | 64.0 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 7.9 |
| Taurean Prince | 18 | 19.5 | 49.5 | 38.9 | 86.4 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 7.9 |
| Kyle Anderson | 18 | 22.1 | 49.4 | 42.9 | 82.1 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 6.4 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 16 | 16.3 | 41.7 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4.2 |
| Josh Minott | 1 | 4.5 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Bryn Forbes | 12 | 10.3 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 3.6 |
| Wendell Moore, Jr. | 6 | 8.0 | 43.8 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| austin rivers | 13 | 13.0 | 35.5 | 20.0 | 92.3 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.9 |
| Aj Lawson | 1 | 1.8 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Nathan Knight | 9 | 2.7 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 |
| Luka Garza | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
