MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The message to the Minnesota Timberwolves from the championship tier of the NBA has been delivered clearly and forcefully with their elimination from the playoffs three straight times: You're not there yet.
Nobody was listening more carefully than Tim Connelly.
“We have a lot of confidence in our guys, but it would be disingenuous to sit in front of this group and say we’re happy with the sixth seed, we’re happy with not being a home-court playoff team, we’re happy that our last three closeout games have been lopsided,” the Timberwolves president of basketball operations said. “We have to be realistic about what we have, which is way more good than bad, but we know that we’re not good enough right now.”
The San Antonio Spurs ousted the Timberwolves last week, taking the second-round series with a 30-point win. Last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Timberwolves in five games in the Western Conference Finals on the way to the NBA title, finishing that series with a 30-point victory. The Timberwolves were beaten in five games in the 2024 Western Conference Finals, too, by the Dallas Mavericks when they still had Luka Doncic. They lost the clinching game that year by 21 points.
Now the Spurs and Thunder have begun what could be a conference final for the ages, two young teams with mental toughness, defensive acumen and a superstar player. So how can the Timberwolves catch up to that? Some of the improvement effort will come from within, be it expanding roles for young players or new responsibilities for established starters. And some of the actions toward trying to keep up with the Western Conference powers will come from the outside.
“We know our competition is not going to sit still, and nor will we,” Connelly said Tuesday during his season-ending news conference. “If we mess up, we’ll mess up loudly. We’re going to try to be as aggressive as possible.”
The Timberwolves have the 28th overall pick in the first round and the 59th overall pick in the second round in this year's draft, assets that won't move the needle much in trade talks, so they'll likely have to give up a key player or two to get one. The other disadvantage they have in building the roster for next season is the Achilles tendon injury to starting guard Donte DiVincenzo that will keep him out indefinitely in the final year of his current contract.
“Donte is one of the most competitive guys in the league. We've got to certainly find some more shooting in his absence,” Connelly said. “We think he's going to be back. We don't know when.”
Much of the offseason roster speculation will center around the status of power forward Julius Randle, who had a dismal performance over the final five games of the playoffs. His combined plus-minus rating over the four losses to the Spurs was a minus-93, but Connelly sidestepped questions about whether Randle still fits into the team's long-term plan.
“We don’t win because of one player, lose because of one player. I think when we lost in the fashion we lost to San Antonio, they were clearly the better team, and we have to look at the collective, me included, the whole building,” Connelly said. “What can we all do better to ensure that we don’t see the same result next season?”
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