thelesterlee
Karl-Anthony Towns was the star of the Minnesota Timberwolves for 9 years. A decade of constructing a boring culture—briefly interrupted by a year of Jimmy Butler using them to build his brand—Minnesota finally made it to the Western Conference Finals.
Lost in 7 games.
They could’ve easily made the NBA Finals had a few bounces gone their way. This organization was vindicated for their insane decision to send 4 first-round draft picks for one of RFK Jr’s little French mistresses.
The T-Wolves had the No. 1 defense last season. It worked.
And then they send Karl to his old agent’s team for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
I am so thankful this franchise punted on KAT’s boring, steadiness to become a chaotic pack of wolves—all with their own uniquely glaring flaws.
There is nothing boring about this team anymore.
Every lineup consists of 5 individuals playing their own 2K MyPlayer—focusing on their own stats and in-game goals. They’re a team in that they all dress the same and shower together but that’s about it.
Rudy Gobert is getting older and clumsier and awkwarder. He makes strange decisions like weird, reckless little jump hook passes or switching onto a guard to prove he can defend the 3-point line even though, no, no he can not.
On Friday night, Mike Conley scored 14 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
He sat out the game before. They lost.
Conley is elderly and shooting 31% from the field. The Internet changed Russell Westbrook’s last name for these types of shooting performances. Westbrook had to urge fans to be kind to him. Mike Conley is putting up Bruce Springsteen tour dates every night.
When he plays, he chucks up hopes and prayers but the team wins. But he’s going to need rest days. And they’re going to lose. It sucks.
Naz Reid checks into the game and just decides that everyone will now be treating him like 2018 Blake Griffin with 4 Pistons giving him the ball and watching him work. Naz Reid isn’t as good as 2018 Blake Griffin.
Jaden McDaniels was supposed to hit a new level offensively. There’s a Sports Illustrated article headlined “After ‘outstanding summer,’ look for Jaden McDaniels to get more involved offensively“.
He’s averaging 10 points a game just like he did last season—except his 3-point shooting has dropped down to 29%.
Anthony Edwards has stretches of pure brilliance. It’s like you’re watching him recognize that he’s capable of being the best basketball player on planet Earth on any given night.
But Edwards is only 7th in the NBA averaging 28 points a night. He’s still behind guys like Giannis and Jokic and Luka. Like, I could make a decent argument that Ja Morant is better than the guy the NBA media clearly wants to be the best.
Karl-Anthony Towns was a consistent, boring professional who kept everything afloat.
Thank god he’s gone.
I am so happy they traded KAT for a guy who will bury his shoulder into a defender for an obvious offensive foul, scream at the ref and sit Indian-style on the hardwood with his arms folded, protesting the call while his team gets blitzed on a 4-on-5 break.
[Highlight] Julius Randle tries to bully Deni Avdija to the rim and misses a tough shot. He grabs the offensive board, and tries to do the same on Toumani Camara, but gets called for the offensive foul. With replays of RW3 block from earlier. pic.twitter.com/2edmNOXnhh
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) November 13, 2024
Julius Randle wears his emotions on his sleeve.
You can literally read his face and see how visibly panicked he gets before he rockets a fastball to a teammate who wasn’t expecting the ball for Randle’s 7th turnover of the night.
Now that he’s not on my favorite team, staring at the ball when he dribbles like my elderly elementary school gym teacher—I can finally save I fucking love that Julius Randle exists.
I don’t have a fun time watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jayson Tatum play perfectly polished basketball. They’re human algorithms, AI run amok.
Julius Randle plays like Jason Statham in Crank where he needs to keep his adrenaline flowing to stay alive.
Donte DiVincenzo just had the best season of his career playing off-ball to a high-usage guard. The blueprint was sketched. He broke the Knicks single-season record for 3’s. Just do what New York did.
Nope.
Donte comes in for Mike Conley and serves as the initiator of the offense—throwing dirty lobs to Gobert’s stone hands or dribbling off his own feet or bricking jumpers.
He shot 40% from 3 last season. He’s currently shooting 30%.
The ball leaves his hands and beelines it into the waiting arms of the other team. My man is donating double-doubles all over the league. Red One is a Christmas movie about Donte DiVicenzo’s holiday spirit. Starring the Rock, for some reason.
I love this team. They’re 7-6, sitting at the 6th seed in the West after beating the Sacramento Kings Friday night. An overtime victory that included allowing De’Aaron Fox to drop 60 POINTS on them. Fox shot 22-for-35. 62% and 60 points on 35-shot attempts???
60 POINTS FOR DE’AARON FOX.
Career-high.
Franchise record.
Most in the NBA this season.He dropped 26 in the 4Q and OT as the Kings lose a THRILLER to Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/imQwLdh0jc
— NBA (@NBA) November 16, 2024
The Timberwolves are a hilarious team. I am locked in on Minnesota all season. You never know what’ll happen when these maniacs jog onto the court at 8pm Eastern time.
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