“We’re Really Excited.” | Matt Lloyd Post Draft Media Availability | 06.27.24

“We’re Really Excited.” | Matt Lloyd Post Draft Media Availability | 06.27.24

the first thing I’d like to say is I don’t think I think Tim Connelly slept about 16 minutes last four days total so um it was an exciting two days I give quesy and those guys at the Vikings a lot of credit for kind of getting through two-day or multi-day draft that is a monster um but we uh I guess just open up for questions okay Matt just H how do you feel just in general walking out of these two days and what you’re able to accomplish uh with the with the team yeah I think um you know all the credit really goes to Tim the guy have you guys seen that Meme where the guy like the Beautiful Mind Meme and all the numbers and everything the guy was a complete monster the last two days just putting us in a position to add to the team without you know with kind of limited resources so we go into the summer league and into the rest of the summer with a good little Foundation of talent we’ve enhanced the talent on the team we’ve addressed some weaknesses on the team um and we’re really really excited about the next couple weeks summer league will start I think in the next week or so um and we’ll get a chance to see these guys get them on the floor and start competing a little bit when you guys make a a trade as significant as what you did last night to get robbed what what kind of organizational kind of uh poll does it take to to make a move like that like getting everybody on board to make a move like that decisions up to where Tim pulls the trigger on it night it really starts at the top of the ownership they were in the the the ownership group was here last night and the resources they kind of provided us they they okayed everything we did and it’s really a testament to the staff today is like the Super Bowl of scouting and when you’re a scout and you’re on the road and you’re staying at uh these hotels and getting on commercial flights it’s a little bit different because you’re detached from the team so our staff I just give them so much credit from the top down Tim listens um on everything he has questions um and all the information that’s provided over the course of the Season that these guys are gathering that fuels those decisions that were made yesterday so um it starts at the bot at the top and it goes organization wide staff-wide the staff was incredible for the last month month and a half after the playoffs ended and in getting us ready we had to get a lot of workouts jammed in because we did have 27 and 37 and then over the course of meetings and and and um discussions and debates and video and stats um Rob Dillingham was someone we really wanted to go get and so Tim he just uh he just went and got him it was Savage you know it was just an incredible two-day performance uh and it really has put us in a position to uh to get better how have you felt we asked Tim this last night but that you you you’re talking about having sort of limited resources to work with this is a different sort of financial setup than you have worked in or Tim has worked in with the with the new rules how did how did that kind of play into being more aggressive in the draft specifically yeah I I would opine that you know Tim kind of laid the foundation for teams that are in our position going forward with these with the aprons and the and the the tax exposure and the the cap exposure we had to address needs on the roster with limited resources so we just utilize the draft as opposed to utilizing you know free agency or trades so when Rob and Terren get here and they get cycled up and they’re they’re introduced into the system we’ll have the opportunity to uh to really get high production from them where they’re going to have great mentorship um the veterans on the team are all in a position of their careers where it’s time to win and they expect to win um and so exposing those guys to that sometimes these guys in the draft it’s it’s about the situation you’re entered into initially and that dictates the rest of your career and I think with Rob and Terrence in particular they fit such specific needs for us there’s going to be the capacity to really um grow them organically so we you know Tim and in in again the Beautiful Mind meme may have discovered a way for a team in a position like ours to enhance the roster and it it’s Bea the draft um he mentioned this last night and I think it was such an interesting point he never had picked higher than seven in the draft and so we got the eighth pick last night um utilizing an really aggressive move so uh you know all in all I think it this could be kind of a road map for teams in our position going forward mat you you’ve been in other draft rooms and other organizations what’s unique about the way that Tim runs this yeah it’s his his ability to communicate and his ability to like gather information you know across the league everyone knows him um because well you guys all you guys all know him too and it’s his personality is not he doesn’t come up here and and uh be someone different than who he is re in real in in real life so um his ability to gather information and know who was doing what and when where why and how um that’s why we got in the position we got in yesterday and and and made the the deal we did because of the information gather now he relies on the staff quite a bit too um and it’s not just the the the rank and files Scouts it’s our analytics group it’s um you know the the the health and performance staff providing medical information so his ability to kind of take in information and process it and then make decisions on it in in it’s it’s it’s really impressive and to be up in that room and to kind of watch it unfold over the last couple days I mean it would it’s it’s that’s why he’s in the position he’s in and that’s why he’s kind of been responsible for two very very good teams in the last three years fans saw you trade down down and down out today what did you come out of today with yeah so we have a lot of like kind of balls in the air and Logistics so things aren’t finalized they won’t be finalized for a while so um I guess we kind of have to TBD on that one man you mentioned a moment ago like quacy and valy was here last night as well what were some of the things that you guys kind of took away from them like Tim mentioned it last night as well what are some of the things that you like maybe took from them applied here something just learned about um we also I Tim and I had the a chance to have lunch with uh with Derrick a couple couple weeks ago um and as well and so just kind of like sharing some processes and sharing some Logistics about how that night work he questy came to to kind of watch us have a meeting and more people ended up asking him questions than you know he asked us and um I give those guys I think they do like what do they do the baseball they do like three-day draft and I mean I I would just faint right now if we if we had one more day that we had to do so um but it’s a good opportunity to learn too so we’ll be able to manage that those processes and itics of the the multi-day draft going forward and you know give the NBA Credit they’re always looking for ways to um improve things and and with this situation what they did was they extended it into two days and it allowed us to have a lot more communication with the agent community and team Community to get some of the things done that that we did get done today Tim O seems to be pretty humble when we’re around him does he have to go into boss mode when you guys are in these meetings do he have to to bark a little bit or is he always that way I think he’s just um he’s is such a I mean I’m not I’m I’m not bi I’m biased you know cuz he I he and I are s such close friends but um going into boss mode for him is is more just uh setting Direction and and kind of deploying people in a manner to get the information that he needs to make decisions so um I don’t you I haven’t seen boss mode yet you know uh but it’s it’s it’s more uh the constant stream of Comedy over the last two days in addition to doing the getting the job done his is always kind of woven in there a little bit Matt you mentioned with uh you know some of the scouts who have you know track in these guys maybe for years I mean you’re also one of those people who have been on the road scouting players with Rob or Terrence what is kind of your story when when you maybe first saw them or have kind of been tracking them over the years yeah I mean Terren like uh the first time I saw him was his freshman year at Texas Tech at the pole you know and that U that was my previous team it was uh so so he had been in the pipeline and and in The Scouting kind of ether for quite a while and to have a wing that has switchability that is a unbelievable transition player his speed his power you know we got into the Western Conference finals last year and um to have another Wing player to throw on those D big Power Wings is it’s going to really help us with Rob it it um you know because of covid and stuff he he had kind of matriculated around a little bit but in the pre Kentucky years so this year was really the full the F the first chance that I had to sit down and and really study him and watch him and everything that he does is translatable in a way that is effective in the NBA now his speed his his ability to play in isolations his scoring component um you know and so I think with both of them it’s again like not necessarily them per se it’s it’s them plus us you know it’s them plus the Personnel on our team and we’re really going to have a chance to to benefit from having them both here I mean they’re they’re both um you we got we got really lucky last night Tim Tim said going into last night that he fit for watching film but he didn’t think it was going to happen that that dilling him was going to be be there for you guys to get at what point did it become a reality last night was one of those things that was last minute like as they’re on the clock or was it no I guess it was more just a product of his like a savagery man he went and got we got went and got the eth pick we had a couple options lined up um but but Dillingham was the the main target all the time and and he just out and got him so it probably came became more of a reality around like 6 or seven cuz and again like just given the the amount of canvasing we had done and he had in particular had done we kind of knew what was going on in front of us um and we knew where we had to go get we had to go to get him yeah man I had of curiosity I mean last year with Jaylen Clark like he couldn’t play obviously but what what’s the plan for him right now do you expect to see him in summer league like how how how are things coming together for him yeah we’re going to see him in the summer league um and you know the Hope was the hope was that he was going to get a chance to play Maybe in Iowa last year and that didn’t happen um the rehab process is done he’s been working out he’s been part of the workouts since the last month of the Season he’s really been in here every single day since the season ended um he’s in here shooting he’s in here getting in shape so we’re going to see him at the summer league and really hopeful for him mat when you look at free agency coming up here like how confident or what do you feel about keeping some of the guys Kyle and maybe even Monte that you know in the fold Tim talked a little bit about that last night and um you know they’ve all been so important to the team I think it would be our preference to kind of bring everyone back and they all contributed to 56 wins in the Conference finals last year so um it would be foolish for us to to to be dismissive of the opportunity to bring those guys back they were all great vets um and so we just kind of have to see how it plays out we don’t control all the variables that you know in free agency you mentioned Jaylen uh for summer league do you with your other roster pieces do you know which ones of those guys will be will be playing Leonard and Leonard will play yep um let’s see who else Josh minot’s going to play um D Nick is going to play um you know then Dillingham and Shannon and we’re going to have a couple guys coming that were undrafted we’ll see we’re kind of that was why I was so late we were trying to kind of finalize a couple things um and a couple players from our Iowa program are going to come too so but the main roster players are the ones that we we mentioned I’m sorry Matos spagnol you know he’s injured right now so um he’s going to still he’s going to stay in Europe this year he he had came come last year he rehabed an injury he had last year he had a really good season in the Euro league in Germany um but we’ll just you know that he’s not going to be here for Summer League this year Co Matt was was Rob dinged up at all in the pre-draft or like the workouts I I just thought I read something about just yeah he had he had a slight ankle injury that kind of prevented him from working out a couple spots but his but he’s okay now y y I’d like to thank Jace Frederick for coming too oh good yep yep GL we got that on the record please make sure that gets on TV tonight too

SUBSCRIBE » https://bit.ly/WolvesYTSub

Stay connected with all things Timberwolves:

TWITTER » https://twitter.com/Timberwolves
INSTAGRAM » https://www.instagram.com/timberwolves/
FACEBOOK » https://www.facebook.com/MNTimberwolves

#NBA #Minnesota #Timberwolves #Wolves #RaisedByWolves #AnthonyEdwards #Ant #KarlAnthonyTowns #KarlTowns #Jaden #JadenMcDaniels #KAT #RudyGobert #Rudy #Gobert #MikeConley #Conley