Are the Minnesota Timberwolves Done Making Moves? | The Minnesota Basketball Party

Are the Minnesota Timberwolves Done Making Moves? | The Minnesota Basketball Party

welcome to the party I’m Sam xtram of lockdown Sports Minnesota we put a bow on Timberwolves free agency today on the Minnesota basketball party this is locked on Sports Minnesota podcast it’s endless Minnesota Timberwolves talk with the diverse voices of your local experts it’s time for the Minnesota basketball party on the locked on podcast Network your team every day wolves talk every Wednesday here on lock on Sports Minnesota it’s the Minnesota basketball party and the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks for making us your first listen today for your second listen check out lock on wolves with Ben Beacon who’s absent today but he produced it great daily wolves content wherever you get your podcast please subscribe to us on YouTube the lock on Sports Min Channel produces lots of great content uh every single day of the week plenty to get to on this 10th day of July the timber wal seem to have wrapped up their free agency dealings they do not retain any of their in-house free agents they bring in Joe Engles they bring in PJ doer the summer league is coming up and the Olympics are coming up and Anthony Edwards is headlining that in many ways uh but first we tell you that Today’s Show is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply on once again I’m Sam extrom executive producer here at lockon sports Minnesota I’m at Sam extrom on X let’s meet the rest of our panel today with the opening tip I’m Jack Borman co-host of the lockon wolves postcast with my man Luke Inman former editor-in Chief at Kus uh and and right on that Sam I’m gonna be be talking a little bit about why I believe Anthony Edward’s confidence uh in himself is completely Justified as we we in towards the Paris games and and kick off the exhibition season tonight and I’m Ron Johnson former gopher wide receiver Gophers Hall Famer NFL wide receiver host of The Ron Johnson show in lockone sports Minnesota and I am going to talk to you guys about I’m a big Marvel comics DC t uh movie guy I just watched The Flash I finally got to watch I haven’t watched Aquaman 2 yet but I’m GNA talk about why the flash ended up in the speed force and he’s gonna change the history of Minnesota you’re gonna forget about slowmo and you’re only gonna know about Joe Engles and I’m Andrew dukowitz uh beat reporter for Zone coverage first year being credentialed with the wolves and I’m going to tell you why Rob Dillingham may not be the best rookie on the Wolves it’s good to have Andrew dotz here we don’t have Reggie Wilson we don’t have Ben Beacon Andrew filled in admirably on our postcast a few times works with Zone coverage Zone coverage.com and uh he’s going to the summer league as well so I think we’ll get him on again next week to talk about what he saw at wolves summer league uh which begins here in short order but we jump right into it it looks like free agency is winding down for the Minnesota temp wolves unless there’s a big splashy move to come maybe that that crazy Lowry Markin scenario that Jack Borman laid out last week but barring that it seems like the wolves are pretty settled they do not retain Kyle Anderson Monty Morris we knew that last week Jordan mcgoffin the final Domino to fall he departs to Sacramento with an emotional goodbye video on Twitter I think I had tears in my eyes uh the wolves have brought in Joe Engles as multiple of you predicted last week they bring in PJ doer as well Joe Engles probably the one that’ll be part of the rotation next year so we kick it to Jack Borman who was on the Joe Engles bandwagon uh what’s your take on the way things have settled now for the wolves in free agency yeah last week well well Sam too I want to say I I think we could we could maybe not be done with with some player movement and some some stuff uh with with the Wolves down the line but but that’s a conversation for for another time potentially what do you know what do you know yeah with Joe Engles Joe Engles said said last week that I think with the roster they’re really only going to be able to choose between two of four skills between defensive versatility playmaking shooting and athleticism uh the Wolves chose shooting and playmaking with Joe Engles and and they’re probably hoping that tan Shane and Jr potentially could give them some of that defensive versatility and athleticism he’s 65 220 as a 68 wingspan um but with with Eng Les primarily a shooter and a pick and roll partner for gobear um I mean he shot 43% on nearly 17 3es last season was in the 99th percentile in terms of his efficiency and catch and shoot situations um and he had a 3.2 assist to turnover ratio right one thing we loved about Kyle Anderson was that he was able to you know to be a productive playmaker without turning the ball over um that’s certainly the case for Engles he had 250 or 215 assists and 67 turnovers last season in Orlando um and obviously the chemistry with uh with Mike Conley and Rudy goar is huge and that you know he’s someone who’s very comfortable throwing lobs for R go bear I think that’s something that the timber wolves can never have enough of um you know and obviously understands the way that Mike connley likes to play and where to position himself um you know off the ball when Conley and goar are doing their thing in pick and roll um you know a couple of down things about Engles you know he’s not as athletic as he once used to be I don’t think he’s going to be um you know much of an impact defender in in the same way that slomo was you know I don’t know how well you’re going to be able to put him on some of the bigger more physical perimeter players that we saw slow-mo defend um he shot for only shot 46% at The Rim uh last year he didn’t take very many shots at The Rim it’s a small sample size but still not a great number um and he really didn’t shoot the ball very well out of pick and roll he only shot 36% uh when he took shots after uh after receiving his screen in pick and roll and so that’s something that you certainly would hope would improve with with one of the best screen Setters to ever do it and Rudy go bear with him so um yeah I you know I’m a fan of Joe Engles I think that what he’s going to bring to the team is nice and um we’re gonna we’re going to circle back to to doer after or you want that now uh let’s let’s Circle back because I want to get Ron on Les because Ron you were breaking down Eng Les tape you were sending us Les clip so you you like this guy yeah so when I first we I mean on the show before they even signed him that was one of the names I threw out there and this is why I’m a Hooper like as a football player yeah I know I play professional football but everybody knows professional wide receivers in the NFL are usually your best hoopers on your team just check with the Minnesota Vikings and Justin Jefferson ignore Adam Thelen because he’s not a Hooper but he does like to play basketball but when you when you are a Hooper and you play with guys all the time there’s one thing that I love and it’s a lefty shooter why because they are awkward when I say that we’re all right-handed so our thought to defend with our left is to run at their shooting hand we were we grew up being taught hand up one hand down because of lefties and righties like that’s just everybody’s a righty so coaches always taught put that left hand up the right hand down to stop the crossover most guys I’m not saying they I mean in the pros they know they know he’s a lefty so they’re to run at the left but it still throws people off how quick he gets his shot up and I just I love the way he gets the shot up quick um again it’s the opposite of slow-mo when it comes to getting the shot off not the athleticism not the the defensive side of it because I I did end up having to praise slow-mo Sam you’re you were right he did a great job against the Nuggets but I want scores give me some scores because I I agree with Jack on that I think Terence Shannon Jr I think he’s going to be able to add some of that defensive prowess that they might be looking for again when you look at that size 652 20 you can put him in that slow-mo role to say come in and deal with like a Klay Thompson come in and deal with a you know a Kevin Durant you know for a couple series like I think they’ll get that out of Terence sers Jr but I I I I like Joe Engles when he’s if he’s on the floor Anthony Edwards Mike connley uh Carl Anthony towns and goar or if you take goar I’m put Nas Reed Nas Reed and Joe Engles on the wings or in the corners you now add two quick Shooters with the trigger and you have cat so now you just added an additional big with j you know Jaden McDaniels I that’s why I don’t think I mean free agency if something happens something happens but look at where this team was I feel like they were one score away from being able to be in the game with the math they were never in in these games but I think one score would have helped Anthony Edwards maybe not have to feel like he had to exhaust all of his energy Andrew dukowitz can we call you The Duke is that okay that’s that’s fine it’s what I call high school it’s fine Duke Duke Duke Duke of Earl Duke of Vegas that’s there we go tell people tell when you meet people say I’m the Duke of Vegas I just want to piggyback off of what Jack was saying was it’s just the shooting I think is the most important part with Joe Engles uh 91% of his shot three-point shots came off of assists 41% of his total threes came as wide open no Defender within six feet and he hit those at 54% for reference I think Kyle was about 18% on open Catch and shoot threes yeah that upgrade when you’re picturing Kyle Anderson in the corner getting a wide open three and having that hit shot versus Joe Eng Les just being able to let it go I think is going to put an added level of kind of fear in the defense you know his playmaking is something he’s had his entire career I mean with Utah Kyle Anderson even said you know to get comfortable with Rudy he was watching Joe Engles film to try and get that lob pass and those pocket passes down I think Joe Engles even at this stage in his career is going to be definitely addition to this team that being said the defense is is tough I was watching quite a few clips of Joe Engles for a Joe Engles piece I did and his on ball defense he’s just not quick enough to cover guards anymore and his post defense he’s just not smooth enough to stay in front of people he’s he’s gonna be have to be someone that you hide at this point in his career that being said we’re talking about a guy that’s going to play like 15 to 18 minutes a game at best and I think the shooting and playmaking when you can surround them with Jaden nille Nas Reed Rudy I think it’s it’s a very big upgrade for the rotation in general yeah the shooting’s good enough that you’re willing to sacrifice some other stuff and and let me kick it back to to Jack and you can toss in some PJ doer analysis here if you want but let’s just look at the tale of the tape you subtract slowmo Morris mlin you add Eng Les Doer Dillingham Shannon so with with that being the case and jack it sounds like you think they might make more moves if that’s the end game did the wolves get better this off season no question I think they addressed their biggest issue which was that they didn’t have enough on ball creation and and guys that can can put the ball in the deck and and go get their own bucket they they got a big time Hooper uh for our guy Ron and Rob Dillingham who who you know not only is going to be their point guard of the future but is going to be a guy that has a really scalable role that fits his game right away and being able to be another microwave score Off the Bench which is huge so I think just by acquiring Rob Dillingham and getting two guys on rookie scale contracts um is no question a win in the aggregate for for the Timberwolves and um you know then the other nice thing about you know what they did with with going out and getting PJ doers you know hopefully they can get some of that defensive versatility that they lost with Kyle Anderson and that you know he’s 66 205 pounds he can switch one through three he’s got some good P&R um chops on the ball he’s really long and moves really fluidly from side to side um and he’s familiar with Tim Connelly right so he played for for Connelly and Denver he signed a training camp contract with the wolves in 2022 dominated for the Iowa wolves um and played last year in Serbia uh with Frank Kaminsky uh out out there in Serbia um it was the same team that Dante exom played for before he had his NBA Revival with the Mavericks um averag nine points 29.4% from three um three rebounds three assists and stock and a half in Euroleague play not really going to set the world on fire with with those numbers but again he’s much more of a role player at this point a guy that’s going to come in and and primarily be a defensive guy so um you know you’d certainly like to see him improve on him shooting 33.7% on catch and shoot threes but um you know again it’s it’s a defensive option on nights where maybe you don’t have nikil Alexander Walker um or or maybe you know you don’t trust Jaylen Clark quite enough and you want a guy that’s got a lot of NBA experience in PJ doer um so yeah I think overall you’re looking at a at a pretty darn good offseason for the Timberwolves considering the circumstances um you know it’s not going to be perfect but I think when you’re when you’re dealing with such limited um you know mechanisms that you have to be able to improve the roster I think what Tim Conelly and his staff did was U was pretty commendable yeah Ron quickly do you think the Wolves got better as Jack does I think so um again I when I talked about Terence shanon Jr Rob Dillingham and just last year’s team like look at the guys they let go nothing against I think schomo was the one it’s like ah Maybe could have been nice to keep him because of his defensive versatility and the guys he can guard offensively you get more with Joe Engles but I think Jordan mcgoffin and uh what’s his name Monty Morris the two rookies are an upgrade so yes I think they got better Duke yeah I’m right in lock step with them uh I think if anything we learned that Tim Conley is a phenomenal GM as well that draft day trade to get the extra assets I mean they wouldn’t have been able to get anyone close to Dillingham and and frankly probably not even Shannon uh in a veteran minimum market so setting themselves up for the future learning that Tim Conley is that guy that is going to be able to guide this team hopefully for the foreseeable future and then upgrading at pretty much everything they really needed I mean they didn’t need they don’t really need more scorers Off the Bench with Joe Engles being able to hit threes Dillingham ant cat they just need a guy that if there’s a lot of injuries he can go in and play his role and it’s sounds like PJ doer can do that at this point in his career let’s talk about that bench rotation when we return how do they divvy up the pie chart of bench minutes we’ll discuss what that rotation looks like next on the Minnesota basketball party we’re presented today by game time and authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer you get to First pitch and the Minnesota Twins have been playing really good baseball lately they’ll be back at home after the allstar break and they’re creeping in on the first place Cleveland Guardians so make sure you get in the building at Target Field and find some great deals maybe it’s a Zone deal where you choose a section game time chooses the seats in uh exclusive inapp deals are the flash deals with game time on select seats ahead of games or events and it’s not just Sports 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start with you like who who do you think is going to be ble to crack this bench rotation of these rookies I mean you’ve got Dillingham obviously Shannon and then Jaylen Clark coming off an injury who the team apparently really likes um how do you think that bench is going to look next year uh I think you kind of hit it I think you know the guys we’ve seen Joe Engles Nill Alexander Walker I think like cracking the like lineup a lot um is going to be the two drafted guys tan Shannon and uh and uh what’s his name Rob Dill um and just because of what we saw last year year I think the minutes I mean unless somebody and and and maybe the Duke can can tell us what he sees down at summer league but unless somebody really just goes off in summer league I don’t I don’t see it because and when you draft a guy in the first round it’s not a like guarantee we have to play him but the eighth pick you usually want to see what you have in him at least uh and another first rounder you probably get him in the rotation and get some work in I think that’s about it because Joe Engles deserves I mean nasri Joe Eng Les uh n and um Jen McDaniels that’s a lot and then you still have Mike connley Anthony Edwards Carl towns and Rudy goar that’s eight right there so I I think those rookies are gonna have to fight for minutes uh I think Brock Dillingham probably gets way more than tan Shannon just early on my initial thoughts because Anthony Edwards is a beast I mean in in hockey terms he’s a guy that can skate probably over 90 seconds uh you know he he’s a he’s a true like I’m gonna grit this out I can play but I do hope that they use tan Shannon Jr if he is usable in that situation so Anthony Edwards when we’re in the Western Conference Finals again he’s not gas but no I I think those eight are it and then you’re going to see some Rob Dillingham as that ninth player yeah I mean Duke there’s G to be good players when the team’s healthy that is they’re going to be good players on the bench that are not playing simply because it’s a numbers game right you’re not going to play 10 every single night but but H who do you see cracking their uh this rotation this year this isn’t a shade at Luke ridar but there isn’t going to be a Luke ridar type player getting minutes on this team I mean the the bench of this team could have been starters seven or eight years ago um I I think Ron said it perfectly I mean Nel and Reed are probably going to get their 20 minutes or so dillingham’s probably going to get close to 15 20 minutes and then you have Engel Shannon Clark Miller and Min not that are all going to be trying to figure out which one or two of them can split the last 15 I I I do think that Chris Finch early in season has shown that he’s willing to go to nine 10 men rotations to try and figure out what he has um so we might see quite a bit more earlier in the season I also get the vibe that the team really wants to lessen minutes on Mike connley Rudy gobear I mean to some extent ant I think he would play 45 minutes a night if they’d let him but they’d probably like to see him closer to that 38 Mark so there might be more minutes available this season as opposed to last season but I really think Nelle nazri Dillingham you can pretty much pen in the lineup at this point and then it’s really G to be Eng Les Shannon Clark Miller Min not all battling for those last 15 which when you have Joe Eng Les and a first round draft pick battling for 15 minutes you’re doing something right yeah I mean if anybody’s wondering why they traded Wendel Mo this is why there’s not room for there’s not going to be room for Leonard Miller you know like Jack what do you think yeah I think uh you know you’re going to get Nas and nille playing you know really substantial minutes like they did this past season I think and maybe with na his his minutes might be a little bit more matchup dependent um you know if you need a bigger uh you know if you’re playing against a bigger team maybe you see a little bit more Joe Engles than than nille but I think those two guys are pretty pretty set in stone as the the seventh and eight or the sixth and seventh guys in whatever order you want them I think Rob Dillingham is locked into that eighth spot in the rotation like chis Finch is going to use a ninan rotation he used a ninan rotation for pretty much the entire regular season he even went to 10 at some point so Jordan moffen was playing really well um so I think it come you get those four locked into the rotation I think on night one and then you know depending on foul trouble depending on you know what part of the season it’s in if guys are tired you feel like you need to go to 10 um you know the timber roles certainly have the talent to be able to go to a 10-man rotation um then I think you start just seeing you know who’s doing the who’s playing the best in practice who’s making the most of their their minutes at the end of the game when the game’s already been decided whether that’s um you know tan shanon Jr whether that’s PJ doer Jaylen Clark um or whether that’s Josh Minot or Leonard Miller you know I think when you look back at uh you know some of the guys the timber rols have drafted in recent years like none of them have really played between wend Del I mean Walker Kessler before he got a chance to trade or play was traded in the Rudy go be deal and then you have wend Moore Jr who had that one start against John Morant did a great job but but didn’t didn’t really play much outside of that then Josh V leard Miller um haven’t played at all um and Jaylen Clark obviously hasn’t played at all because he’s been hurt so there’s not really a lot of precedent for for the Timberwolves um you know playing these young guys at least in the last few years but I think then you know when you’re looking at who’s going to play with who I think you have to structure it in terms of who’s going to play the best or who’s going to fit the best with each big right because that’s kind of how they structure um you know it’s kind of a bifurcate R rotation in that way I think with Rudy you’ll probably see Nas and and Joe Engles play with Rudy and and Rob Dillingham play a lot with Rudy as well as a pick and roll partner kind of get him on on the same wavelength throwing lobs um utilizing more of his pick and roll scoring off the bounce in the mid-range um you know and then and then I think with Carl you’re going to insulate him with more uh you know more defensive guys I think you’re gonna see Nel play a ton of minutes with with Carl and I think you’re gonna see Jaden McDaniels play play a huge chunk of his minutes with with Carl Anthony towns last season Jaden was a plus 8.4 with cat on the floor he was a minus 1.1 with cat off the floor so those two guys have a really good connection together and and Jaden’s play really bounced back once Carl returned from injury so um yeah I think you’re going to see that I think you know if you you know with Carl you can have Nas out there for defensive purposes um like we saw last year he was tremendous defensively and then if you want more standard spacing um in second side creation I think you could go with Joe Engles with with cat but the nice thing is like all these guys are going to play together it’s a long season and hopefully they’re as healthy as they were last year where you’re able to get a ton of minutes with with both guys so and Jack before we move on to Team USA I got to extract something from you you seem to think that they’re going to add to this roster I think they do have a roster spot open so what what does your instinct tell you in that regard I don’t know I think I think they’ll try to leave a roster spot open so that they can uh convert Jaylen Clark from a two-way contract to a regular contract uh once we get uh into the regular season probably around that February time what they did with Luca Garza just because it’s a cheaper way to to avoid having that um you know having that in complete roster charge uh hit the books uh at the end of the season so so we’ll see I you know who knows if it’s free agency maybe maybe it’s a trade um but we’ll we’ll see you know I think I think one thing with Tim Connelly is that he he operates in the shadows and and you don’t know uh what’s coming until till it comes so Jack Happ Jack’s holding out on us clearly he knows things he’s withholding information from his dear friends at the Minnesota basketball party really disgraceful disgraceful um we’ll get it out of you eventually let’s talk Team USA after a very quick pause on the Minnesota basketball party all right it was indeed a very quick pause Team USA uh the Olympics coming up in just over two weeks and the big quote that came out of press conferences this past week Anthony Edwards believes that he is the number one option I think he said some other unselfish things as well but that’s the one people have latched on to that ant believes he’s the alpha on a team with Durant with LeBron with Steph with embiid Tatum Duke um do you think that Anthony Edwards is a top to pecking order with Team USA I think Aunt believes he’s on the top of the pecking order for Team USA uh I mean looking around on that team though I mean he’s he’s beat all of those guys I mean he knocked the Suns out of the playoffs Durant and Booker both you know theoretically under him on the pecking order I think when it comes to Team USA though this team is so stacked and I think it’s going to be more of you know you you’d like to say it’s like a healthy competition but like it it may be closer to that dream team where it’s just Curry LeBron Durant all having fun together and I I think there’s an equal chance that ant just takes this team and this is his team to it is just the kind of last tour for an old band on the road good take uh yeah it’s it’s like if Durant takes the final shot you know no one’s bothered by that if LeBron takes the final shot if Curry takes the final shot that’s there’s no headline there if ant takes the final shot with those guys on the floor and whether he makes or misses that’s going to be the headline right like ant can really assert himself above some of these Legacy players uh but Jack you teased this in our opening tip what do you have on on the Olympics yeah I just want first of all I I want to give a big shout out to Chris KY I I don’t know if people saw that clip of him talking about Anthony Edwards on the Olympics but that was that was incredible and and I feel the same way in a sense like sum it sum it up for us because I didn’t see it he he basically they they asked him you know what players would you know do you do you think player X is better than Anthony Edwards they went down the line asked him every single player can you say this player is definitively better than Anthony EDS and he was just like no no no no no I don’t he just like just Crescendo into him just getting progressively more and more dug in in his defensive ant it was it was a great clip but no I feel the same way I think LeBron and Curry are the only two guys that I think definitively you’d probably want the ball in their hands at the end of a game just because they have such a proven pedigree of uh you know of being able to make plays either for themselves or other people at the end of ball games and um you know and I think those two guys are probably the the guys that strike the most fear in the hearts of defenses right in terms of being able to draw um you know being able to draw attention to to themselves to create for other people um but I mean you’d look around I mean Jason tat is one of the least efficient clutch players in the NBA right now he beat the breaks off of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in the playoffs who by far the best player in the floor in that series Kawhi Leonard you know are people even sure he’s gonna play you know is he gonna pull a Jimmy Butler in the All-Star Game and just say like no I’m just here but I’m not gonna I’m not gonna play because if I was the Clippers I I sure wouldn’t want kawhai playing uh if he was hurt in in the playoffs and now you turn around a month and a half later and you go and you play Team USA Tyrese halberton won’t be on the floor at the end of the game and and Joel embiid like Steve K’s never played through a big man late in games with with the Warriors so I don’t under I I don’t think he’d start now I mean and you’re looking at Joel embiid he’s not trying to hit a game-winning shot he’s trying to draw a game-winning foul so I you know I think when you’re looking at ant you want you want a guy that’s got that that Alpha Dog in him that leadership and and ant certainly has that he’s one of the most magnetic people that that you’ll find um you know and I think you know Steve Kerr wants a perimeter Centric player to have the ball in their hands at the end of a game and and I think you know it’s going to be really important for ant if he does have those opportunities to try to seize them because I think you know what we’ve seen with ant is that um you know he’s been really hit and miss and up and down in clutch time but uh just in terms of his blend of of scoring and athleticism and ability to get downhill and and create open shots for other people um you know it wouldn’t surprise me if they choose to to kind of Leverage that athleticism and downhill uh you know just play to to be able to open up shots for guys like Steph or KD on the on the perimeter or Devon Booker or something like that so it would not surprise me one bit if if an is the guy there yeah Ron you talked about this at length in the Ron Johnson show yesterday but I don’t want to spoil what your take was give it to us what do you think well well the Duke I mean Sam I felt like the Duke watched the show and just literally I mean we said the same exact thing like literally Sam did we not say the same exact thing like pretty similar pretty similar beat these guys I am better than you I don’t care what you say I want the shot I beat you you can’t beat me give me the ball Kevin Durant Devin Booker LeBron James the only person that I could see taking a shot over him and I believe he should Ste is gonna be Steph Curry because Steph Curry is an absolute but Steph Curry and KD had their issues with who takes the last shot because we’ve seen the Draymond Green videos so I think the pcking order becomes like Curry KD but then I think it goes to ant like and we know LeBron doesn’t want the last shot like LeBron gave DLo last shots with the Lakers and Austin Reeves like so LeBron’s pass the like I guarantee you there will be a game this year early on because he already said I want to be on the floor with bronnie he’s gonna give bronnie the last shot like he’s gonna tell his son to take the last shot because he doesn’t want it and then he’s gonna have to deal with the consequences if he doesn’t make it and everybody’s be like dude why didn’t you take the shot this is this is this is nepotism I’m I’m All forward but Godly take the shot and so Anthony Edwards he is three in my opinion on that list do ju see skip saying that Bron has the clut has a better clutch Gene than LeBron does oh come on skip is like a Skip’s like a hippo that has like 12 Lions surrounding him and he’s trying to figure out how to survive like skip needs to just let it go like he already got rid of Shannon uh uh what’s his name Richard Surman doesn’t want to be on the show with him anymore like skip is realizing is it was never about you it was about your co-host and he’s ruined them so hey but yeah he’s gonna say dumb stuff like that to go viral like that’s that’s his point and the the funny thing is LeBron’s probably gonna feed into that like oh yeah bronnie is clutch no no shut up shut up skip that’s what shanon sharp wants to say skip skip stooping to new lows using LeBron’s son as an argument against LeBron which I mean in incredible incredible um incredibly bold take there the uh the the anticlimactic part of this is that we might not have a single clutch time situation in these entire Olympics for Team USA just because they’re they’re so loaded um I know Canada beat them in FBA but they didn’t have a lot of these dudes on the Team USA on FanDuel minus 470 to win the gold medal Canada next best chance at plus 1100 so like unless nille Alexander Walker goes off for 40 um I don’t know if Team USA has any clutch time situations maybe one you know at most two games in this tournament will they I think really be tested in that way so we may never find out we might not find out at all but I think it’s going to be compelling to watch and and Jack to be honest with you I’m probably watching nervously the whole time about like I’m worried about injury right like kawai’s worried about it embiid’s worried about it those are injury-prone guys but I think every wolves fan is going to watch this for two reasons one to see if ant asserts himself and B please please stay healthy I me that’s a huge subplot in this yeah no doubt um and you know the fun thing is that wolves fans will be able to watch because all these games are going to be on it at watchable at watchable times but yeah I think the biggest thing for for me watching ant is just like how other guys on the team react to him and like where they think he’s at because they just had a straw poll I think in the athletic of like where guys are and it was like LeBron was definitively the best guy according to that straw poll and then Steph and ant were tied with the second most vote so that’s what I’m most keen on on watching you know I think the good news is that I don’t think there’s going to be all that much physical stress on his body so I maybe it’s in it’s an ankle turn that we’ve seen a million times but um yeah know it was fun last season when you got to kind of watch Ant be the guy but yeah with with an i it’s never something I worry about I’m honestly more concerned about it with Rudy playing and banging with big guys down low for France yeah Duke we got we got goar with France we’ve got nille with Canada are there any other wolves in this tournament no other wolves I Do cover the links though so I do want to give the the W it shout out they have uh BC Bridget over with Canada Lana Smith is playing with Australia and nefisa Collier is working her way back from a planter injury and expects to be a big part of Team USA third and third on FanDuel for MVP fee so uh they do the wolves do have Joe Eng Les that did make the Australian team as kind of a last man rotation spot so if if you do want to I think they’re called the Boomers so if you do want to watch some Boomer basketball uh Joe Engles might be hanging around over there but I I kind of go I second what what Jack was saying is just you know I’m not really worried about ant he he falls down he claps his hands he he’s gonna probably have a couple times during this this USA run where it looks like he got shot and then he just goes back to the locker room and comes back out but Rudy I mean his first year in Minnesota he got injured playing internationally and he is at that stage of his career in his mid-30s where knees and feet and back start to become a problem I think it’ll help that they have Victor wanyama on the team hopefully they’re not doing a Vic Rudy combo a ton and Rudy’s playing closer to you know 25 28 minutes instead of the whole game but Rudy is the one that I’m kind of watching out of just hoping he can stay healthy yeah unquestionably there um by the way Team USA Women minus 18800 favorites to win that tournament so I mean that is an absolute runaway if they can fulfill expectations also no shade against South Sudan but South Sudan qualified for the men’s tournament I mean I’m I’m I’m wondering what that region looked like I just didn’t I didn’t associate them with basketball um all right the uh the summer league is starting this week Duke is going Jack’s going to be watching every game intently taking notes feverishly we’ll talk about that um after I remind folks that you can check out lock on sports today for all the best in sports every day at the lock on podcast Network also our big six in 60 find on Fast TV apps which collects the biggest Sports stories of the day with our locked on hosts make sure to check those out um our great National shows all right Duke you’re going to Vegas wolves summer league uh the roster pretty compelling obviously you’ve got the first round picks but some other cool names as well who specifically and what are you watching for closest I’m really excited to watch Jaylen Clark uh you know coaching staff has been talking very highly about him that he’s worked on his three-point shot almost throughout the entire time he’s been injured last year fans probably noticed that he was sitting on the bench next to Mike Connelly almost every game and you know he’s he’s really looking to kind of get back to that NCAA all defensive I think he won Defensive Player of the Year his junior year in uh with UCLA you know he he had a quote after practice of he wants to break the summer league steals record so he’s definitely motivated and he’s going to get a lot of opportunities the other thing I’m really looking for is just Rob Dillingham we know he’s a scorer we know he can get his own shot we know he can make catch and shoot threes I’m really interested to see how he runs in that Finch offense where it’s more of the you know quote unquote beautiful game Golden State Warriors esque style where it’s a lot of passing a lot of flow back Cuts coming off of pick and rolls looking for the option to pass to the option I just I just want to see him do it I think that’ll be really determinative of how many minutes he gets this season and then they do have aoup uh Minnesota kids Tyler walls from Lakeville is kind of the most notable out of Wisconsin that he’s going to get some minutes and it’ll be cool to see a a Lakeville graduate out there hooping at Summer League I was gonna highlight Gabe caler who I mean go goer fans remember how potent he was as a freshman from three helped them win an NCAA Tournament game and then just inexplicably couldn’t shoot threes the rest of his career Ian he he was 4 1% as a freshman beautiful release I mean it’s one of the most fundamentally pure shots you can imagine and then he never exceeded 35% the rest of his career so I I mean I I I’m intrigued by kshire just because he can defend and in theory he can shoot threes three and D kind of guy but he hasn’t really shown the three part of it the last four years uh Jack what do you got by the way for those wondering what I was showing on the camera for those watching on YouTube make sure you subscribe on YouTube you can see all the videos and the the hygiene JX I had Gabe CER on my iPad like I had his picture blown up I had all his stats so Sam you took my guy I got to find another guy now I was gonna say I mean Gabe K is a good friend of mine I went to high school with Gabe so I I’ve watched Gabe very closely for for four years and um and obviously super super proud of of everything he’s done and how hard he’s worked to to get here so I’m I’m super super excited to see him be able to to put on the the Timberwolves Jersey and and play so you know I’ll be rooting for him wherever he’s at above anybody else but yeah removing removing my guy you said you went to high school with him or yeah yep at D oh okay I thought you were from Idina I was about to say no he’s from Edina I’m not Edina come on now come on Ron jeez thought you guys car together from Adina you know hell no um uh no I’m Minneapolis through and through you guys are fine people by the way though thank you for subscribing on uh YouTube we we love Edina without without din there would be no Mighty Ducks just remember that we love cake oh man uh yeah doesn’t love cake but but outside of him you know I’m really intrigued to see uh you know if what Leonard Miller has done uh to to improve his playmaking and defensive awareness and discipline from from last season I think those were a couple areas that didn’t look super polished In Summer League last year or in uh Iowa for most of the Season he certainly has all the physical capabilities to do both of those things that a very High rate um a very high level uh but but it’s just a matter of of seeing it because I think Leonard Miller could be a really impactful player for the Timberwolves um probably not this year but but next year and certainly in the years to come um and then I’m also really obviously I think Rob tillingham is just an electric Factory with the ball in his hands and I’m just so excited to to to be able to watch him make all these highlight plays and and play a super fun brand of basketball but but do it as a Timberwolves player not necessarily as a Kentucky player um because I think he’s got a ton of fans and he’s going to he’s going to be box office uh with with Naz and Anthony Edwards this season so um those the two guys that that I’m certainly most interested in watching yeah I stole calire from Ron anyone else Ron yeah no so I I do want to see I mean honestly my number one is Rob dillam like I want to see what they say about him how does he play you know is he playing within the scheme is he a one-onone guy because at the end of the day and I I love I forgot the quote I don’t know if it was uh Kyrie Irving or Jason kid but they said a lot of people can play Within certain schemes and certain offenses but they’re only a handful of guys that you can say clear it out oneon-one let’s see what you got and I don’t know if you guys remember the old kg clip and the way Kyrie actually talked about the USA team where back in the day it was always who can beat who the most one-on-one because that’s what we’re going to need in this International game the way it’s structured well we saw Kevin Garnett kind of take all those guys to to the Woodshed with his size and his his ball handling I want to see what Rob Dillingham does because in the summer League you get a lot of that like if you watch some of the bronnie highlights he had one-on-one opportunities he just didn’t make a lot of them but he had a couple where of course they’re going to show the highlights we cross the guy over does his little side step guy falls he knocks down a jumper there’s gonna be a lot of opportunities like that like that for Rob Dillingham because one other teams in summer league because I mean Sam you remember we had James Theus on the on the show uh he’s down there working for junior NBA uh down in Vegas and he talked about the one-on-one ability a lot of these guys and and the coaches want to see Are you a one-on-one on ball Defender because I can’t always send help your way and so that’s what I want to see I want to see both sides I want to see Rob Dillingham guarding guys and I want to see him can he just absolutely do what he did at Kentucky which is control the floor and sorry and I wasn’t gonna say this out loud but I am interested in Tyler wall like I know he went to Wisconsin but he’s graduated so we can move on now um but I do want to see Tyler wall because with his size and I hate to say Wisconsin guys do play a Smart Level of basketball who knows what he I mean he’s probably going to be a g- league guy but but you know or can he make the G league but you know can he be a guy that works back at 69 you know and becomes just another piece on this team to be a 10th guy maybe in two or three years I want to see what Tyler wall can do yep that’s a good point uh well one of us is gonna have a better week than the rest because only one of us is going to Vegas and it is the Duke um so I’m I’m going I’m watching softball all week so I don’t know about that I’m gon be in Missouri watching softball Vegas softball in Missouri pretty tight soot places that are really not hot in the summer Ozarks ‘re do to the Ozarks oh yeah out for Marty bird I know that’s I’m look I’m looking for him I’m trying to figure out where where the money’s hidden um I did just want to say calir did play last year some spots thin with the Iowa wolves so yeah I saw that you know he he at least knows the system sounds like he’s going to get minutes desan Nicks also has been brought up quite a bit in the practices of him getting a good shot at it a good crack at it whether he makes the roster yeah those would be sort of the so-called veterans on the on the roster Duke what’s your poison if you sneak away at 1:00 a.m you go down to the casino floor is it the slots is it backarat Blackjack craps what what are you playing uh gambling days were behind me uh Blackjack if I have to choose I’m gonna be honest I I before the whole journalism thing my wife and I would go to Vegas for about a weekend long weekend to go watch all the shows cir the cay Michael Jacks ‘s dope uh the other cir shows are Great Blue Man Group a lot of good food a lot of good comedy down there so even if you’re not a game Monopoly Slots the Monopoly Slots have always been good to me they’ve always been good to me because you get a bonus pull and then when you get that bonus pull it’s like you’re if you can hit go or not so it’s either Monopoly or or Jeopardy I gotta look at look up and see which one it was it might be Jeopardy though but one of them you get that bonus pull oh no it’s the Price Is Right you get the you get the bonus pull so those like prices right Monopoly Jeopardy like those slots every every year I go I’ve always gotten lucky with those guaranteed profit I I hear red 19 red 19 dude red red 19 made me and my friends probably a collective three grand when we were in Vegas a couple years ago oh my goodness I mean Instagram shows there’s some foolproof roulette strategies out there can’t possibly lose um please don’t listen to us Duke have a good time in Vegas stand in the lobby and say who Let The Dogs Out appreciate y yeah there you go thank you out anytime it’s always a blast coming out here you bet check out his work at Zone coverage Jack Borman um from our postcast formerly kis hoopus and Ron Johnson host of The Ron Johnson show I’m Sam xrom thanks for watching and listening on the lockon Wolves podcast feed talk to you next week

The Minnesota Timberwolves seem to be done with the majority of their offseason activity, so how are things looking as they come out the other side? Plus, Anthony Edwards is set to shine for Team USA. #minnesotatimberwolves