The Minnesota Timberwolves’ depth improvement matters + Donte DiVincenzo’s defensive impact
Despite trading away Karl-Anthony Towns, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton’s trade grade for the Minnesota Timberwolves after the blockbuster with the New York Knicks was surprisingly positive. Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) breaks down Pelton’s analysis, including the Wolves’ improved depth with Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Plus, DiVincenzo’s impact on the Wolves’ defensive options, as well as Chris FInch’s media day comments regarding areas for improvement within the Timberwolves offense.
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18 Comments
take me to schleep boy-os
I like how the team looks, can’t wait for the season to start. KAT was the Kirk Cousins of the Wolves. 🐺🐺🐺
Wish I had time to buy another KAT jersey before the Timberwolves discontinued his jersey 😭😭😭
Humbly and patiently I come to you Ben asking that you please kindly and respectfully, review the trade a little bit closer with respect to your contention Towns is the best player of the traded players……. it's questionable at best…..both Randle and Dante not only are starters, they are all star caliber starters.. Towns was unbelievably talented sir but so is Randle and so is Dante, we won this trade easily man… Both Randle and Dante could be all stars.. I'm shocked given your high level of intelligence, that you're not seeing this
Ben, ugh, I respectfully disagree with you, trading Towns for Randle is not a downgrade sir, I just don't think you're characterizing this trade correctly and it's annoying….. Randle will only help us, you'll see….geesh…. Ben, have you seen Randle when he's on??…he's one of the best players in the entire NBA when he's on!!!!
I think people are sleeping on Randle. He’s in the last year of his contract. That alone could have him playing his ass off. However, if he buys into the game plan Finch can put him in the right situations and lineups to utilize his abilities.
He will be a much better low post scoring presence than towns was willing to be. Many of us were screaming for towns to score down there last season., He is also a better downhill driver with better handles and kick out ability. Not even close when it come to Kats out of control downhill driving. He will work well off pick and rolls with Ant/Connely/Divincinzo…He is also a great offensive rebounder. If he buys into the game plan and defense people are going to eat their words.
I love Kat and he will be missed but financially as well as on the court I think Randle could be a good fit/ possibility better than towns did. Divincinzo is a no brainer.
The trade was graded higher than what you expected
"KAT was easily the best player in the trade"
I can agree with that, but he's not worth the super max. Period.
KAT is not $20 million better than Randle. Value. DDV is $20 million better than his contract. Value. We have draft pick we didnt have. Value. Bates-Diop…well, he's a non factor.
Tim Connelly was easily the best GM in the trade.
I also think we may have this wrong. Three of the top 5 3-man combinations last year included Naz. 0 had KAT. Naz very well might start. It's proven to work. Randle can be a scorer for the bench. Randle scoring has been proven to work (no matter who he's on the court with). If "spacing" is such concern, we have a very viable way to solve that. Bench scoring was DEFINITELY a concern last year, and we now have 2 very viable ways to solve that in Randle and DDV.
Bro your using stats and lineup to determine the knicks defensive BRO YOU DIDN'T WATCH THE KNICKS Divo got cooked every time thats why we got OG and DUECE is a way better defender
I can pretty much guarantee that a month into the season DDV will be a starter with Ant and Randle
MIN has far more lineup flexibility in terms of putting offense on the court, which was their biggest need. They can also put far more playmaking on the court.
The ceiling is higher – it’s the floor that’s lower & that’s only due to unproven chemistry
I really don’t get how you’re so confident they’ll be worst. Peltons model, Hollingers model and Vegas championship odds all improved post trade. You act like depth isn’t that valuable when is was pretty clear in the wcf that they were gassed and when naw or naz wasn’t on were screwed. The other problem in the wcf was there wasn’t a secondary shot creater to take burden off ant. Sure Randle shoots worst but he’s not bad from the corners and has shot better than last year where he was hurt most the year. He’s definitely still guarded at the line and if improves or changes his 3pt shot selection (like finch said) it could greatly improve. I mean the year before last year he 2% less than kat on way more volume and three years ago he shot 40%. Also what team in the west outside Denver has a guy who can guard him, while kat was a more awkward fit for everyone but Denver. What if donte is closer to the guy who averaged 20 a game for the last 30 games last year than just bench help.
All I’m getting at is there’s a bunch of solid arguments to say it could make them just as good or better, to dismiss it out of hand based only on spacing when Randle had a 120 off rating with Robinson on the floor and Brunson had no problems that way, is dumb.
I understand Town’s offensive skill makes it easy to think he is a “the best player” but the “not even close “ is just crazy. Both Randle and Towns are both All Star and All NBA. I know the game is not a 1v1 but I would take Randle in that contest. I also think Randle bring elements that don’t translate to a box score or analysts.
Now on to the pre/ post ranking. I also thought many people didn’t appreciate how hard it is for any rookie to make an impact. The Wolves were relying on not only 1 but 2 to fill out our bench. Sorry but that is not how you win in the NBA. Again the game is a lot deeper then what you see on at stat sheet. Team chemistry and toughness matter. Ant and Towns had no chemistry.
This guy's is pretty off with along of stuff lol
Best part about this to me is you can’t Double up Ant and Double up Randle. Both can easily win one on one match ups. If they double down on both we got killer 3-point shooters and dump off to Gobert. Never will I doubt the mind of Tim C. He and Finch know exactly what they are doing. We got a lot more physical and better their defense when we already have the best defense. Go wolves 🐺
Our most effective line ups did not include Kat, I love Kat I have his jerseys but at the same time Donte is a stud that will probably get even better here and Randel is still one of the best to do it when he’s on, I may be in the minority but I believe we will be better then last year.
I love this trade!