Connelly and Finch have said they want Anderson back. But as teams started negotiating with free agents on Sunday evening, it became clear that the two sides were far apart, according to team and league sources. A reunion has not been ruled out, but there were little signs of progress in the early going.
Anderson also said at the end of the season that he would like to come back. His son is on the autism spectrum, and Anderson said he has been doing well in the schools in the Minneapolis suburbs. But as the season got further away and free agency closed in, there appeared to be less common ground between Anderson and the Wolves.
Anderson is one of the very best free-agent signings in Timberwolves history. He has been a vocal leader in the locker room and a do-it-all player on the court. If he departs, Finch will not have one of his most trusted players to lean on anymore. It may open up even more of an offensive role for Naz Reid. Josh Minott and Leonard Miller could see more than slivers of garbage time. Terrence Shannon Jr., the other Timberwolves rookie, might have more minutes on the wing.
Or maybe Anderson will test the market, see fewer dollars than he expected and return to a team and a coach that values him. That’s not how it felt on Day 1 of free-agent discussions, but things can change quickly in this league.
If Anderson does go elsewhere, the Wolves can only replace him with a veteran minimum contract. The young players that are already in their system will likely be relied upon much more than they have been.
by TylerIreland
10 Comments
Teams like Mavs and Denver losing their best perimeter defenders. Not saying losing KA won’t hurt, but we really could use a good 3pt shooter in his place and more 3 pt shooters period. Feel like if we did match up with the Celts, they would of drowned us in 3s more than they did the Mavs.
I like KA and think he can provide value in spots, but I’m excited to give his minutes to some of our young and hungry guys.
I still am camp pro Slow Mo and I also believe that losing him is not just a bummer, but will be a significant hit.
14th in assist to turnover ratio in the entire league, extremely high IQ player and a legit floor general (even though he rarely ran point), very good rebounder, high-level defender that can guard multiple positions on ball and generate steals and deflections. The guy obviously had his flaws with his shooting, but that is still an extremeeeely valuable player. And his impact metrics throughout his career have played that out.
They are going to sorely miss his playmaking, BBIQ, and size on defense. Without him, they won’t have anybody on the roster that has shown any proclivity or ability to organize the offense outside of a soon to be 37 year old Mike Conley. They also now have no high level defenders to throw at big bodies like Luka; Ant, Jaden, and Nickeil are all absolutely elite perimeter defenders, but Slow Mo was a key piece in our on-ball defensive rotation that could handle the physicality of bigger, stronger ball handlers in a way none of those other guys can.
I’m not trying to imply that losing him will doom their season next year, but he was an undeniably key cog in this team that a lot of more casual fans misguidedly overlooked because of his lack of shooting ability.
I pray to never see another possession of him getting the ball wide open on the perimeter, and clumsily driving into traffic for a floater/pass to Gobert.
Watching Kyle and Gobert share the court is absolute terrorism
Anderson one of the best free agent signings in Timberwolves history??? My god people have gone too far with this guy. The team will without a doubt be better without him on the court.
I love Kyle Anderson, but I think this team needs more shooting. When Finch played Anderson and Gobert together it absolutely killed spacing. Not bringing him back will also force Finch to develop some of the younger guys.
Kyle Anderson is a quirky player, and he seems to provide lots of intangible value to the Wolves (leadership, IQ, etc.).
That said, let’s take a look at how his advanced metrics look against the rest of our top-9 from last season (everyone over 500 minutes played).
– PER: 7th (12.7)
– TS%: 9th (51.3%)
– TRB%: 5th (8.7%)
– AST%: 2nd (25.0%)
– STL%: T-2nd (2.0%)
– BLK%: 3rd (2.3%)
– TOV%: 9th (15.6%)
– USG%: 8th (14.5%)
– ORtg: 6th (114)
– DRtg: T-5th (109)
He may be one of the most polarizing players I’ve analyzed. He was clearly our worst shooter last year, and our team turned the ball over the most when he was on the floor. Yet, he has high AST% and he, himself, turned the ball over very seldomly (I believe the high TOV% is because of the spacing problems he causes, leading his teammates to struggle to find easy isolation shots and in turn, turn the ball over).
On top of that, he’s got good BLK and STL percentages, but his DRtg doesn’t exactly correlate, indicating relatively poor off-ball defense.
My (data) conclusions are that his best assets for the Wolves last year were his on-ball defense and his offensive communication/playmaking (IQ). His worst assets were his abysmal shooting, low offensive confidence, and below average off-ball defense. Those data conclusions largely match my own eye test.
He’s not my favorite player to watch, personally, and I don’t think he’s really a lynchpin to our second unit success (Naz Reid), but I wouldn’t be surprised if his intangibles will be missed if he is to leave.
can we dump someone to pay him a bit more? is Minott a keeper?
I wrote this the other day but I wish they could give him a larger contract just to have flexibility and a valuable trade asset under these 2nd apron trade restrictions. $10M makes addressing a hole with a 1 to 1 trade at the deadline plausible. Having at least one decent contract gives us the salary needed to make changes while retaining our core.
Gives us roster construction flexibility too – if young guys are doing well they can change their mind at the trade deadline and have an option to improve the roster without giving up anyone in their core. If the young guys struggle, well Slomo is there to help out with his playmaking and bbiq.
Without Slomo on a higher than vet min contract, we’re kinda stuck if the young guys struggle and don’t have options to improve at the deadline aside from trading Naz, Jaden, KAT or Rudy.
That’s Joe Ingles’ music.