By: Dan Slaubaugh

Hello all, and welcome to my notebook. This is my first article of the 2019-20 NBA season. With the absurd number of quality writers in Wolves Land, I am honored that you have chosen to click my link. 
 
One of the things I have going at On The Prowl is the free content. Still, of course, I have to give you a reason to click our links! With that said, I will do my darndest to provide unique coverage of the No. 1-in-the-West Wolves with a tasty spin to our readers all season. 
 
Let's ride.
 
Andrew Wiggins wills the Wolves to victory
 
Well, wasn’t that something. With the Wolves down 96-93 with 5:56 remaining to Miami, Andrew "Max Contract" Wiggins - who was 4-13 (0-6 3PT) at the time - dropped the jawlines of Timberwolves fans everywhere converting his next five shots including four from downtown.
 
From 5:52 to 1:45, Wiggins scored 16 of 17 points (KAT made a free throw). At the end of his scoring clinic, the Wolves led 110-101. A 17-5 run spearheaded by Mr. Wiggins that, for at least one night, silenced his doubters across the country. 

“It was a great feeling. My teammates got my back through the thick and thin,” Wiggins said.
 
Last year, the year before that, and the three years before that, all of Wiggins’ threes would have been pull-up mid-range jumpers off the dribble. To Ryan Saunders’ credit, Wiggins is slowly but surely re-shaping his game to a modern-NBA style. Hence, all the threes late from Wiggins. “I’m glad he stuck to the shot values,” Saunders said about Wiggins at the end of the game. 
 
I wasn’t a “Ryan will save the franchise” type of guy when the Wolves removed his interim tag, but it’s so nice to have a forward-thinking head coach who is clearly at the forefront of player development. 
 
For all who drank the Wiggins kool-aid this offseason, this game was for you. ​

Towns having to anchor massive scoring load
 
While Wiggins’ heroic play injected further hope and excitement that the Wolves (3-0) can continue to be competitive, the Wolves completely squandered a lead after Miami and Bam Adebayo found a way to contain Towns. 
 
KAT only scored nine more points after his 15-point first-quarter outburst and until Wiggins turned it on, the Wolves had trouble putting the ball through the net. 
 
With KAT being so good and the Wolves not having a clear number two besides the unpredictable Wiggins, I suspect this will be a theme all season. The scoring load KAT is having to take on is absurd. It reminds me of a little of Harden’s first year with Houston where the Rockets started Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, Patrick Patterson and Omar Asik alongside him. 

I said before the season that for it to be a success, two things have to happen: 1) KAT has to make the jump into the "top 10" tier and 2) One of Vonleh, Layman, Bell, etc. break out and become a piece of the valuable piece moving forward.
 
Well, through three games, Towns is averaging 32 points, 13.3 rebounds, five assists and two blocks on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and 51.7 percent from three. He also ranks as the league's best rim protector, with opponents having shot just 10-for-29 (34 percent) at the rim when he's been there to defend it. So yeah, he's off to a good start.

I'm afraid the MVP-caliber play will have to continue, because when it doesn't, games could get out of hand quickly.
 
Where are the shooters and where have they been?
 
The Wolves have orbited the sun at least 600 times without being able to sign or develop a 3-point shooter, right?
 
Besides KAT, who was the last pure shooter the Wolves employed that received consistent minutes? Inconsistent Nemanja Bjelica? 20-year old Zach LaVine? Kevin Martin? Yeah, K-Mart sounds about right.
 
The lack of shooters this franchise has employed has been a problem for the last decade and has carried on into this season. 
 
Besides Towns, the Wolves only have one historically average or better three-point sniper and that’s Jeff Teague. Towns having little help offensively has something to do with this  and the fact the Wolves employ an offensive scheme that works against their skill sets. While I agree with the decision, as it’s better to switch the system and then find players to make it effective, the Wolves are shooting 30.2 percent from three (26th in NBA) at 42 attempts per game (4th most in NBA). Not exactly pleasing to the eye. 
 
$1.8 mil Napier > $ 8.8 mil Tyus
 
Small sample size, I know, but the front office has looked smart thus far in sticking with the cheaper option of Shabazz Napier over the $8.8 million/year-through-2022 Tyus Jones. 
 
Napier, who the Wolves are paying $1.8 million this season, has been a stable presence for the second unit as the backup point guard. The six-year guard out of UConn has been sound defensively while averaging seven points and six assists in 19.7 minutes per game. Napier had dreadful shooting performances in the first two games, but played a big role in Sunday's win netting 12 points (2-5 FG, 2-4 3PT) including this disgusting crossover of Goran Dragic. 

 Plus-minus is not the most effective way to evaluate a player, but it's hard to ignore the Wolves' three best in the category have come from the bench (led by Napier): Napier (12.7+ per game), Josh Okogie (15.0) and Jake Layman (13.3). 

Meanwhile for Memphis, Jones is off to a cold start. The Apple Valley, Minnesota native is averaging eight points and five assists on 29.6 percent shooting  from the field (8/27) and 14 percent from three (1/7). He has a plus-minus of -3. 
 
Napier outplaying Jones won't necessarily cement waving goodbye to Tyus was the right choice. For the Wolves to look smart here, Napier basically needs to be average or mildly worse than Jones this season given the main incentive of letting Jones go was the increased cap flexibility. While $8.3 million/year isn’t outrageous by any means, having $5-plus million of extra wiggle room for the star-hunting Rosas could prove lethal for the Timberwolves POBO in the future. 
 
The underrated move of the offseason by Gersson Rosas? Perhaps acquiring Treveon Graham and Shabazz Napier for basically nothing. 
 
Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful Monday. Go Wolves.

By: Brian Simonson
 
Leading up to the start of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are in a completely different position today than they were a year ago. In the 2018 offseason, the Wolves’ pop up season of 47 wins was quickly exposed and dysfunction again ensued. Jimmy Butler destroyed the atmosphere and morale of the team, as he worked to push his way out of Minnesota. There was a clear disconnect and everything seemed on edge within the organization. Old school Tom Thibodeau dragged his players to the ground through aggressive minutes per night. Then, with Thibodeau’s firing, Ryan Saunders was tasked to pick up the pieces for the last 42 games of the season with a roster stacked with injuries. Finishing with 36 wins, the franchise was once again, reverted to a state of uncertainty and mediocrity for their future.
 
Enter the 2019 offseason, and there’s a new regime in town under President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas, with a proven track record with the successful Houston Rockets franchise. Rosas brings with him competency, which is something the Timberwolves have rarely had in their 30-year existence. Rosas tears down the walls immediately and begins working. He executed the hires of proven coaches and management within his staff, removes the interim tag off Ryan Saunders and with the limited amount of cap space he had to work with, fills in the empty roster with talented but unproven role players with upside while on affordable contracts. You could feel a breath of fresh air and a significant shift in how the Wolves were operating internally. The Wolves have never had a mind like Gersson Rosas in their front office.
 
Next thing you know, Rosas is constantly preaching “challenging the status quo” and “culture”. The Timberwolves were never a forward-thinking organization that tried to keep up with the times. Now, they have begun to rely heavily on tactics such as analytics and are trying to devise strategies to improve the players and elevate their game individually and as a team. The organization’s vibe is now an open and welcoming one. There was a trip to the Bahamas to bring the players closer together. Now you see the players showing up to practice early, participating in voluntary workouts and just simply wanting to be there working. There’s transparency, accountability and unity. The vision from Gersson Rosas is being projected through Ryan Saunders and the players and you can see it with all the smiles going around. There’s a lot of momentum going into the new season.
 
While we all hope the new culture will translate to more wins, what will happen to the hype if it doesn’t? 
 
It’ll be interesting to see the fan base’s reactions should they go down the losing path. If the Wolves lose more than they win and do not show real strides or improvements during those losses, will the fans continue to buy into the organization’s marketing tactics of their culture? Will the narrative get old? We will get the answers to these questions as the season progresses.
 
While we are all optimistic for the new-look Wolves and seeing Karl Anthony Towns take the next step in his game and leadership, we must be honest with ourselves with our expectations. In a stacked Western Conference, there is one true star on the roster in KAT. Andrew Wiggins does not seem interested in improving his work ethic and the team is still strapped in cap space. We are looking forward to seeing the development of the players and the team throughout the season, but we must be open-minded and understand that while this team will do its best to put a good product on the court, there are still limitations that cannot be entirely addressed within this individual season. It’s our turn now to “trust the process” through seeing the young players develop, remove bad contracts when able, and execute savvy trades and free agent signings.
 
The 2019-2020 journey of answering our questions begins on Wednesday, Oct.23 against the Brooklyn Nets. For now, let’s enjoy the culture and the feel-good environment.

By: Seth Toupal

WELCOME TO THE START OF NBA FREE AGENCY!!!!!

It's finally here and Gersson Rosas isn't wasting any time trying to improve the Wolves roster. By the time you read this, the Wolves will have been linked HEAVILY to D'Angelo Russell, and are meeting with him on Monday. Seems difficult considering the Wolves current salary cap commitments right? Well before we get into Russell let's take a look at what is currently on the books according to Spotrac:

​And here are the Wolves impending restricted and unrestricted free agents:

And most importantly here is the salary cap figure for the upcoming season:

Depending on what happens with Russell, the Wolves will have to attack the offseason in a couple of different ways. Each option gives this team a pretty drastically different look.

Plan A is clearly acquiring Russell. This can be done in a couple of different ways. According to Woj, it is all but certain that Kyrie Irving will sign with Brooklyn, who had extended Russell a qualifying offer. The Nets will then renounce Russell's rights making him an unrestricted free agent which helps the Wolves in their pitch. They no longer have to worry about putting a package together that Brooklyn would be comfortable with taking on in return, and simply have to clear cap space to bring him in. Russell and Towns are very good friends, which helps the Wolves in their pitch.

Their biggest competition appears to be the Lakers, but the Lakers view him as a fallback option in the event that Kawhi Leonard goes elsewhere. Will Russell be willing to wait if Kawhi doesn't sign right away? The Timberwolves biggest contracts are Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, and Gorgui Dieng. The growing sense around the league is that the Wolves will have no problem moving Wiggins in a trade and wouldn't even have to classify it as a salary dump. If the Wolves are able to unload Wiggins, that would clear the room they need to sign Russell.

The question then becomes what next? With Russell in the fold, Teague becomes expendable and the Wolves can look at their options. Phoenix is looking for a veteran point guard (and has been for basically the entire post-Steve Nash era) so that may be a logical trade partner. If Teague is unloaded, then suddenly the Wolves have money to work with and can look at veteran bigs to put around Karl-Anthony Towns. Taj Gibson may be receptive to coming back on a reduced salary with a guarantee for more playing time. If not other names the Wolves could consider if they offload big salaries names they could target to help bolster their big rotation look like this:

And the Wolves could look for some wings too, but with Culver, Covington and Okogie all under contract right now the need there is substantially less than some bigs.

These names would be those that the Wolves would target either way, but a roster with KAT and Russell looks dramatically different than one with KAT and Wiggins, it just does. The main objective here is obviously Russell, and if that falls through then they'll resort to Plan B -- a plan we aren't quite aware of yet but from what Rosas had said, would still be an aggressive pursuit of a potential star sidekick next to Towns.

This offseason has started out with a surprising amount of buzz and that means the Wolves are working on a few things. This roster could look dramatically different by the end of the week.
​
Seth is the host of The Scoop on KLGR Radio out of Redwood Falls, Minnesota. Listen to episodes of The Scoop here.

By: Dan Slaubaugh

​Happy draft day, everyone! Thanks for clicking. I will get into draft talk quickly, but first, want to begin with a prelude. 

I'd like to apologize for our non-existent NBA draft coverage. We have essentially been ghosts, and are the first to admit it. In a time of transition for a lot of us, we’ve all been simply busy. I’m fresh off college graduation working full-time while trying to find full-time work in sports journalism, which, if you’ve ever attempted, know is an exhausting and periodically dejecting journey. Zach recently had a wonderful, precious baby girl, so he’s basically working two jobs. Lastly, Seth is working about 55 hours per week so he hasn’t had much time to contribute. 

As a result, the blog has inadvertently taken a bit of a backseat in our lives. We’ll do our best to get back into things and churn out fresh content on the state of the franchise throughout free agency and the 2019-20 season, and I’m sorry I’ve let you down over the past few months.

Now, what you came for!

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The Wolves currently enter tonight’s NBA Draft with the No. 11 overall pick in the first round and No. 43 pick in the second round. Many are quite intrigued at the potential outcomes President of Basketball Gersson Rosas could swing for tonight’s NBA draft. 

The most recent update regarding Minnesota comes from The New York Times’ Marc Stein, reporting Minnesota is aggressively trying to acquire the No. 4 overall pick from New Orleans. This suggests they have their sights set on Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland, who is projected on most boards to go top seven.

It makes sense why the Wolves would be highly attracted to him. Their biggest hole is a star level perimeter player that can create out of isolation and the pick-and-roll. Garland projects to be that and checks off a lot of boxes NBA executives are looking for. Restricted free agent Tyus Jones may be an otherworldly ball protector and solid team defender, but he doesn’t move the needle. The Timberwolves need a backcourt presence with a playmaking ability to complement Karl-Anthony Towns. If Rosas and co. believe Garland get there, they should go get him and pay the necessary price.

The problem, however, is the Wolves just don't have much to offer. Would Saric/Okogie and No. 11 be enough? Or Covington and No. 11 if they believe Garland is the real deal? Whatever it would be, it’s fair to suggest the Celtics or Hawks - both of whom have been reported interested in the No. 4 pick -- could create a better offer. Atlanta could package No. 8 and No. 10, while the Celtics could offer multiple future first round draft picks. 

If not Garland, who should Rosas be eyeing?

In exploring avenues the Wolves could take in the draft and free agency, acquiring restricted free agent guard D’Angelo Russell remains the best and most exciting outcome. No other player on the free agent market possesses both the upside and KAT-concentrated timeline. There is no easy path to acquiring him, as it would likely require a sign-and-trade with Brooklyn -- a team likely not wanting to take money back given their ambition to sign two max players. The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski examines in further detail how the Wolves could make a play for the all-star. 

If the Russell interest never materializes, the Wolves would be wise to attempt to acquire Washington’s Bradley Beal or New Orlean’s Jrue Holiday. Neither player projects to fit the timeline of their respective team’s window, making it probable each team will test the market on their all-stars. Acquiring a player of this caliber would take quite a lot from Minnesota, likely Jeff Teague (to make money work), Robert Covington, Dario Saric/Josh Okogie, and two to three future first round picks. Giving up the few assets the Wolves currently own would be incredibly risky. However, as we step into KAT’s max extension years, pairing him with an all-star caliber player is essential to raising Minnesota's ceiling and convincing him things are progressing around these parts. Could Garland or the potential No. 11 pick become that? Perhaps. But the Wolves don’t have forever to watch them develop and if they don’t (worst-case), the Towns clock in Minnesota will speed up faster than Byron Buxton on the basepaths. 

The Wolves need to acquire a needle mover this offseason, or, at minimum, shake things up. Consequently, they should select the player with the highest upside if they stay put at No. 11. Flip did it right by swinging for the fences and selecting Zach LaVine in 2014. The current cap-strapped Wolves will need to do the same and pray he quickly develops into the star sidekick they are looking to pair with Towns. I’m not going to pretend I know who that could be, but it suggests to be the best route if they stick at No. 11. If Rosas is unable to move up and isn't enamored with anyone at 11, there is the option to trade down and attempt to attach Jeff Teague or Gorge Dieng's contract to a deal -- which could open up space for a potential Russell sign-and-trade.

Given Minnesota’s lack of upside on the current roster, their ceiling looks to be a second-round exit. If the new regime can unleash Andrew Wiggins’ potential, that changes. However, from what we’ve seen from the former No. 1 overall pick in five years here, It's fair to be skeptical of him materializing into a premier player.

KAT needs a star sidekick for the Wolves to compete in an ever-improving Western Conference. Let’s hope Rosas has the kahunas (and brains!) to acquire one in the near future.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the draft. Go Wolves.