The Timberwolves Will Be Back… Right?

The Timberwolves Will Be Back… Right?

so the Timol season is over and it’s a bit of a weird season to recap because prior to the season I don’t think there was a ton of optimism about them potentially being Championship contenders given that the year before they just weren’t that good now granted they were not very healthy the prior year they weren’t really able to fully understand what the cat gobear combo was going to look like um but still coming into the year the expectations weren’t super high there is a scenario here where because Anthony Edwards is so good because he continues to make a leap to potentially being a top 10 maybe top five player in the league over the next couple Seasons maybe Minnesota will be a contender with this Rudy goar a and then once we got partway through the postseason it seemed like they were almost the favorites to win the title and of course they don’t end up getting to the finals and so when you think about their off season it makes it that much more complicated to figure out exactly what the direction of the team should be were they just a really really good matchup against Denver and that made us you know more impressed with them than maybe we should have been or are they true legit contenders over the next couple of Seasons I think that this version of the team at least going into the year next year is is one of the better teams in the Western Conference obviously Dallas is good OKC is good Denver is good the West is loaded and it’s going to continue to be the case but Minnesota is going to be in contention I think at least for next season and so this offseason that’s going to be where the focus is how do they push this team towards a title now in terms of free agency uh there’s only two guys really that are kind of important Kyle Anderson and Monty Morris both those guys are unrestricted free agents um in terms of this upcoming off season and then into following off Seasons Rudy goar has a player option in the summer of 2025 I would expect him to pick that one up it’s $46 million so realistically Rudy Gober is going to be on the team for two more seasons and then beyond that like Nas Reed is on the same schedule is go bear but uh McDaniels is sign longterm a sign longterm cat sign long term so from a free agency perspective no big issues there for Minnesota this off season of course that also means they don’t have any cap space of their own this offseason that also means that moving forward there is going to be an expensive team this going to be a luxury tax team this is going to be a team approaching $200 million worth of payroll and they knew that at the time that they made the gobear trade and and they didn’t necessarily know that the rules were going to change from a salary perspective the way that they did when they did make the gobear trade but this is the situation that they’re in now and even given the fact that maybe they were a little bit disappointed by how their season ended up uh by the time the postseason was over I should say um I don’t to expect any kind of massive significant roster changes as it relates to just trying to cut money they’re going to be able to pay the guys whoever the owner ends up being of the team is going to have to pay a pretty hefty price um but they shouldn’t have to get rid of anybody just for money really quick though I want to thank the sponsor of today’s video pricee picks and with that I have a special offer for you you can click the link down in the description you can use code sporting on prize picks for a 100% deposit match up to $100 with the NBA playoffs going on right now this is a fantastic time to get started with prize picks and they also have a ton of other options as well you can see the free Square on screen here you can see all the other sports that they offer as well and you can combine those with some of these NBA playoff games you feel like you have a decent idea of what might happen in a game price picks is an awesome way to just enhance your viewing experience 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have any future first round picks actually um and the assets on the roster aren’t fantastic but if they really wanted to maybe they could look to upgrade that I know they really value Mike Conley and what he brings um but in terms of just having another option in terms of someone to finish games for them I think would be good and as we talked about in previous videos the offensive infrastructure around a needs a little bit more spacing needs a little bit more creation um especially if they’re obviously going to continue to go with the two bigs with goar and Cat in the front Court speaking of Carl Anthony towns people are going to bring him up all offseason long talking about him as a possible trade Target can he go to the Knicks can he go to all these different teams and I talked about it before the season that gobear is is an asset you can’t trade and that cat would probably get you some stuff and if you really wanted to spread things throughout the roster get in another Creator get some more SPAC and get some Wing depth and you felt like there was a trade out there that you could kind of work where you get that in exchange for Carl Anthony towns that made sense for Minnesota before the year and in certain ways it makes sense for them now I just can’t Envision a scenario which Minnesota is as successful as they were this year arguably the most successful season in franchise history and then they go and trade their second best player you can talk about what you want about cat I’m not a huge Carl Anthony towns guy but like I just can’t see a scenario where a team that finally has some sense of stability trades not only their second best player but a guy that is still obviously young and continuing to develop I can’t see that scenario maybe there are teams that call Minnesota and they try and see what they can get for him maybe they want to just go with goar ant and then you know McDaniels and a couple other guys in the starting lineup but I find that really hard to believe even given um you know potentially some issues you may see with cat in the postseason he was awesome in the first two rounds by the way but against Dallas obviously not so much and so where that lands Minnesota is in an interesting spot it’s a team that clearly needs a little bit of an upgrade um on the wing maybe a wing Defender that has a little bit more size um than McDaniels who obviously has great length but isn’t the biggest guy in the world that was uh you know very apparent when they uh tried to guard Luca unsuccessfully that’s certainly a need for them just more Wing depth more bench depth than another Creator but at the end of the day I think they have a championship caliber team even with this roster they’ll look to improve it you know replace some of the guys if they lose Anderson or or Monty Morris but it’s a championship caliber team and Anthony Edwards is 22 years old and the a big reason that they weren’t able to to advance to the finals was because he wasn’t ready to to match to match Luca and to match Kyrie late in these games he wasn’t ready to be that primary fourth quarter score he was tired in the fourth quarters of these games because he was actually guarding and playing defense as well and at some point it’s just like yeah we just need that guy to get to that point and then we will be able to get past teams like Dallas that have some of these guys lad in games that are really really good you can continue to improve the infrastructure I’ve talked about the spacing I’ve talked about uh you know having another Creator and all that stuff but you’re waiting for ant to get better you that cat continues to improve as a postseason player and then you’re going to be right there again next season but the interesting part of that is that as we continue to revisit the Rudy go bear trade right I mean I think that a lot of people have seen it now as a as as a success with Minnesota getting to the Conference Finals and and you know at a certain point being seen as the championship favorite um this was kind of my concern with the gobear trade in the first place was like you’re making the trade assuming that ant is going to be ready when he’s 22 and he’s 23 years old because Beyond this point you basically have go for two more years and yes you could resign him after that but he’s obviously going to be much older by then and certainly much less effective and that was always the issue with the go bear trade was one how much they gave up and two the timeline of it all and it accounted for Aunt being ready and he was awesome early on in the playoffs but when it came down to it and they really needed him in the Conference Finals to no fault of his own he’s 22 you shouldn’t expect the guy to be ready to go up against you know Luca and Kyrie and these guys are some of the best late game scorers in the entire league but that was the that was the concept behind the goar trade was like we’re going to be ready we’re going to add this guy him and Cat we’re going to have the size McDaniels ant those are our guys are going to be a guard and then ant’s going to be good enough at the end of these games and that just wasn’t the case so I’m not necessarily saying that it was a mistake or bad trade or whatever we’re going to go back and forth on the go bar trade probably a 100 times over the next two years right but all I’m saying is you can see a little bit when you look at the salary cap table when you look at the age of the team when you see kind of where they finish this year you can see a little bit why I was concerned about the timeline aspect of this for Minnesota as it relates to ant now the bottom line for them is that even you know beyond the next couple of Seasons go be leaves whatever the case may be maybe they have a disappointing year next year and they do move on from Carl Anthony SS um they’re going to be fine ant is awesome and as he gets to age 25 26 like he is going to be an unbelievable player for them it’s obviously on them to continue to grow and improve and add pieces around him and without the future cap uh space and and draft picks and stuff that’s going to obviously get a little bit more difficult but he’s on a pretty good deal Cat’s on a pretty good deal McDaniels is on a pretty good deal once the go bear money comes off maybe they’ll have an opportunity to continue to add to the roster in some interesting ways around an but that’s really really all it comes down to for them the future is bright they have Anthony Edwards they’re not very many 22 23 year old guys under 25 guys I would pick ahead of Anthony Edwards to kind of lead the franchise with and he seems like he’s happy in Minnesota he wants to continue to lead the team and like I said if you told Minnesota fans before the season hey you’re going to end up in the Conference Finals you’re going to be a handful of games for making the finals and at certain points you’re going to look like the championship favorite um they would take that even knowing that it didn’t work out all the way for them so a a good season for them fantastic season for them progress now they need to figure out what the final pieces are along the margins in the offseason and you just wait for a to continue to get better and hope that he becomes the guy that you thought that he was and hope that he would be when you made the go Bear tree

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The Timberwolves season has ended against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals… so what is next for Anthony Edwards, Karl Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert?

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