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These guys survived the David Kahn era of Timberwolves basketball and live to tell about it. It's Flagrid Howells. And welcome in to Target Center, Phil Mackey, Doug Zilgat, the sports dad himself. Yeah.
The Minnesota Timberwolves got their asses kicked in game five, and their season has come to an end. And I don't know, maybe you can hear behind us right now, the Target Center crowd, some of them are booing, I guess, but Ernie Johnson is introducing your Western Conference champion, Dallas Mavericks, and awarding the trophy here. But we're here to recap it all. We're here to put the season to bed, and we're here also to let you guys vent as you wish.
I'm going to put the email address out right now. We use the Vikings Vent Line email address. VikingsVentLine at gmail.com. VikingsVentLine at gmail.com.
Luca. Oh, the MVP. Luca's going to be the Western Conference finals MVP in favor of Bowie. Yeah, we hate him.
We don't like him. Yeah, this is a tough one to take if you're a Wolves fan here. I will say, man, those dudes came in, the Dallas Mavericks, led by Luca's 20 points in the first nine minutes of the first quarter. Yep.
And they decided the series ends tonight. Yeah. And they ended it pretty much in the first quarter here. But this is, it's tough because the Wolves got smoked out of their own arena, and there's a million things in the micro to talk about here.
On the macro, and fans gave them a standing ovation as they walked off the court. This was one of the two best seasons in franchise history, so I'm a little bit conflicted in terms of the macro and micro here. Where do you want to start, Judd? I think there's going to be plenty of time and days to talk about the positives from the season, as Luca now is, of course, talking and being rude.
I think there's a lot of time to talk about what went right, what went wrong as far as the season goes. I think tonight was, well, it was a few things. One is, you're right. Luca, and to a certain degree, Kyrie, decided this was it.
But it also felt like, in retrospect, that the Wolves shot any last shot that they had in Game 4 to stay alive, and that, like, tonight was, what was the final point differential? 21, 22 points? 21 points. For the game, you're saying?
Yeah, yeah, it was 21 points. It felt like 40 points. Like, this was just an absolute ass-kicking in every single possible way. And for those who are frustrated, I get that.
Like, you get this far, and it feels like, okay, all these games, because they were up until this one, were very, very close. And it's like, if you go out in a close game in Game 5, it's disappointing, but it's a close game. This was just a mismatch. This was as bad as any of the Denver routes, either way.
And so, I get the frustration, because I think it was fair to expect more. And between Luka deciding that the series was done, and the Wolves looking just totally spent and gassed, that was a recipe for a basketball disaster tonight. Yeah, I would say, two main themes for me, just series encapsulated. Number one, the story of the series to me is, it turned into Anthony Edwards against two all-time offensive superstars.
Ant wasn't able to live up to what Luka did in the series, or even what Kyrie, I mean, Kyrie was a little bit more understated in the series than Luka was. But it's funny, because we rank the players going into the series, right? Like, 1 through 10. And Luka's number one.
I think I put Ant number two if we get playoff Ant. And then Kyrie number three. Well, now that the series is over, Luka won, large gap, Kyrie to Anthony Edwards just ran out of gas. He wasn't ready to go in and battle those two guys on his own, and we can have conversations about sort of what the future looks like, is the roster good enough to run back for the most part, and just learn from what happened in these playoffs.
But the story of the series was, the Mavericks have two all-time great offensive players. The Wolves couldn't stop them, Anthony Edwards couldn't match them, Carl Anthony Towns outside of one half in game four certainly couldn't match them. And then I'll give you the stat of the series. The Timberwolves, in five games, Judd, missed nearly 40% of their shots at the rim.
Point blank layups. Now, a lot of these are contested, because Dallas has great contesting bigs, as they remade their dunk, you can't make these contested shots at the rim, and if the other team has two all-time great offensive players that you don't have a good enough answer for, that's how you get beaten in a gentleman's sweep in five games. And this series was, as bad as tonight was, this series was lost in games one and two, because you had every chance. Those are incredibly close games, was a game two that Nas had the last second three-pointer that would have won the game and didn't go down.
I mean, yes, tonight feels like a really frustrating and bad way to end your season, but that being said, if you want to identify where was this series lost, it was the first two games here, because you had every chance there. Game two specifically. Game two. And as great as Luka, and to your point, I'm inclined to agree, Kyrie to a lesser extent, but he was still great, you still had chances.
And unfortunately, you know what? The first round, and then for the most part, as weird as the Denver series was, I don't think you had a lot of passengers. Like Ant was playoff Ant, and Carl, for a lot of that time, played his role really well. Like, he wasn't a dominant fourth, but he did what he was being asked to do, and I think at the end of the day, in the first two rounds, he was, you didn't look at the roster, aside from maybe, like, slow-mo and say, because in the first two rounds, he didn't add much.
In this series, you had far too many passengers, and I think that's got to be something that this team examines and looks at, because at some point in time, like, we can try and include Ant while he struggled here and there, but the reality is this. You're going to have to rely on Ant, and you've got to give him more help than he got in the series in particular, and so I think that's your starting point of, okay, you've now seen what the Western Conference Finals look like from everyone, from Ant to management. How do you navigate that next time? And I don't think running this thing back in its entirety is the right move.
I do think that you are. I think you've been given a roadmap. The question is, are you now going to follow the instructions on that roadmap? Yeah.
You know what's kind of funny? Remember that clip toward the end? I can't remember if it was after Game 7 against Denver. Whenever it was that the reporter, the national reporter asked Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, hey, you know, a lot of times as teams climb the ladder in the playoffs or try to climb up the championship ladder, you have to suffer a loss of large magnitude.
You have to suffer like a great loss of some kind, and they both kind of stopped, and Karl was like, we've been losing 20 years, 20 years, we've been losing 20 years, right? How much more losing do you want us to do? And at the end of the day, that's kind of how the NBA works. Like, you do, oftentimes, you don't just go from first round out, first round out championship.
You've got to get a little bit deeper into May, into early June, and then take a devastating, heartbreaking series loss in the Western Conference Finals or Eastern Conference Finals. And you know, Kevin Garnett went on his podcast. Kevin Garnett touched a bullet not showing up to this game tonight. I did hear quick side screen.
I heard when they put the hype video, they always put the old school KG hype video on before the fourth quarter, even when they're down by 25 points. And they put old school KG on tonight. I heard a smattering of boos in this arena. People not happy that Kevin Garnett didn't show up to tonight's game or any playoff game.
Just going to throw that out there. Thought that was interesting. Were you surprised about that? I mean, they were booing the video.
They were booing Kevin Garnett. Yeah, here's why I'm not surprised by it. I think we saw a manifestation tonight of frustration in different ways. I'm not going to blame this crowd.
Like, this crowd showed up. I also think that there was, I don't know if you would agree with this assessment. Tonight, I sensed a foreboding feeling, like a tip-off pregame. Like, not one of excitement of, okay, we got back here for game five, but one of, oh, boy.
And then I think it became a self-fulfilling prophecy as their asses got kicked. So I'm not entirely surprised it got booed because I think fans were very torn. Until the final buzzer went and they applauded the Wolves. I think that this was, I mean, Phil, this is every Minnesota fan's worst-case nightmare, right?
Like, you finally get it back here, and now it's like, ooh, what's going to happen? And then, you know, compare it to whatever disasters you choose. What do you want to donate to the Giants? I compared it to game six of the Stanley Cup Finals in 91 when they went to game six, and Pittsburgh beat the North Stars 8-rip.
But, you know, that's always sort of the thing we're fighting against. And unfortunately tonight, that self-fulfilling prophecy came true because, again, it wasn't close, and it could have been a 40-point spread. Yeah, but, again, zooming out to the macro here. Okay, positive Phil stumbling back in from the bar that he went to in the second quarter when they were down by 30 points.
You're going to get portion of the comments. I'm making a positive Phil here. Also, I'm all over the place. I do have a KG thing I want to get back to.
But in the macro, this is the beginning of a long stretch of winning for the Timberwolves. So, already three straight winning seasons, a deep run into the Western Conference Finals, and a 22-year-old superstar that took some body blows in this series, but ultimately has risen up in each of the playoffs that he has played in, age 20, 21, and 22. It is a buzzkill loss. It's a buzzkill series loss.
It's a buzzkill way at home to get smoked down by 35 points at once. Like, totally, totally get that. But this is the beginning of something long-term, I think. There might be some tweaks.
We can have the off-season roster construction discussions. But as long as you have a franchise built around Anthony Edwards ascending to his prime between now and age 25, 26, this was not a pop-up season. The Wolves are almost certainly going to be fighting into May, maybe early June, over the next few years. So, I have a hard time getting us worked up.
Like, you bring up some of the Vikings comparisons, the 41-donate. Well, that was the end of a window. That's an aging roster. That's a coach that was on the verge of getting fired, right?
Like, that's different to me. Some of those wild teams, right? Like, as Parisi and Suter aged out into their 30s. This is the beginning of something, not the end of something.
By the way, when the KG Wolves, 20 years ago, went to the Western Conference Finals, Game 6 against the Lakers, almost 20 years ago to the day, that, in retrospect, was sort of the end of something. Because Latrell Sprewell was old. Sam Cassell was in his 30s. KG had been around for, what, like, 11 years at that point in a Timberwolves uniform?
And he was gone in a couple years after that. So, I keep going back to, I know it stings Wolves fans right now in this moment. And there's a lot of what-ifs. What if the Wolves don't blow an 18-point leading game, too?
What if they make some different adjustments here and there? At the end of the day, Luka and Kyrie are much more experienced, much more seasoned, much better as offensive players, more efficient than Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns. It was not Anthony Edwards' time. It was not the Wolves' time.
All of us, including myself, probably underrated just how great that Mavericks team was in the trade deadline. And so, I refuse to sit here and savage the organization and be doom and gloom when I think this is the beginning of a really nice window for the Timberwolves. Well, this also opens a very intriguing door, too. Because, you know, basically during the entirety of what's been a really fun run, we try to avoid the questions.
But now the questions come up. Who's going to own this team? Is that person going to go into the second apron? Is Kat coming back?
Because there's definitely going to be that conversation. Is Tim Conley coming back? Or is he going to opt out and go elsewhere? Like, this now opens a very intriguing door.
Because I will say this. This feels like this godforsaken franchise has finally found a stability that it lacked for years and years. And even when they started to win again with Tibbs and Butler, that stability was very fleeting at the time. Now it feels like there is a chance for stability.
But now the question is, does Glenn Taylor take the team back? And if so, does Tim Conley stay? So, like, there is. I can see a window potentially being very positive.
I can also see one going down a path that we don't know yet. And that does concern me. So, I think it's now going to be time, starting tomorrow, really, to ask a lot of tough questions about where does this go from here. Because there's no question Ant is a marvelous building block.
There's questions about the roster construction around him. And just as importantly, until these questions are answered, there's also franchise questions. There is more risk, obviously, with what could happen to this team if Glenn does not own it. And it's Laurie and A-Rod, but there's also potentially way more reward.
I think if Glenn takes the team back, we sort of could write the script. And I don't necessarily like that script. So, I am now on pins and needles. Very curious to see where things go.
Because now that the party is done, we're all going to have to sober up here. And what does the franchise look like in the morning when we wake up across from it? Well, but the franchise, without doing anything to the roster, the franchise that we just watched was one of the four remaining teams. Three, technically, because the Pacers got bounced before the Wolves did.
But it was one of the last four teams remaining in the NBA. One of the best regular season records. They have one of the best teams in the NBA. Now, there's a gap between where they're at and the Larry O'Brien, the championship level, and much like they had to do coming out of the Gerson Rosas initial build, early in Anthony Edwards' career, D'Angelo Russell was one of the centerpieces.
Tim Connolly came in, looked at that iteration of the Wolves that made the playoffs, right, for the first time since 2018, second time in 20 years, or at the time, I guess, second time in 17 years. And said, okay, for us to go from 42, 44, 46 wins to 50-plus and win playoff series, D'Angelo Russell probably can't be a part of it. Pat Beverly aging probably can't be part of it, right? Okay, Tim Connolly builds this iteration.
What's the next iteration? Correct. How many of the guys on the current roster belong as part of the next iteration to get you from Western Conference Finals to hoisting the first championship in Timberwolves history and the first men's championship since 1991? Those are some big boy conversations that have to happen in the next five to six weeks.
Well, and quite frankly, with what he's done, if Tim Connolly is the one making the decisions, he clearly, despite the criticism a year ago about the Gobert trade, he clearly had a plan here that's working. So if he's going to stay here, I feel pretty good about this. Like, you're being run very competently. We might question the moves at times, but clearly that there was a plan.
If Connolly, you know, if Glenn keeps the team, and Connolly's like, that's not my guy, and Glenn blocks it, I mean, Tim Connolly on a final contract is making $8 million a year, okay? So that's my point, is now we wake up and see, okay, can you keep the stability here? Because, I mean, Phil, when you look at this team, how long has this been, and I'm not just talking about the Encore product, I'm talking about the entire franchise, how long has it been since you felt this good about the stability? 20 years?
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, even then, like, if you want to go back 20 years and relitigate all of that, because you used the word stability, there was still a lot of instability in just some of the bumbling front office moves. That's the point. Yeah, it's part of the franchise history.
Yeah, it does, and that's what having Anthony Edwards will do. Now, on the ownership front, I saw our friend Nadine Babu, I think, put this out on the Gopherhole Twitter account. Who do you want to own the franchise going forward? A-Rod, Laurie, or Glenn Taylor?
With over 1,000 votes when I checked, 84% of people would like A-Rod and Laurie to own this team. You know, they're the ones that identified Tim Connolly, they're the ones that have built sort of the new culture that you see and feel these last couple of years. Real quick, on the KG front, so on his podcast a few days ago, this is when the Wolves were down three games to none, this is before the Game 4 comeback, and he was talking about how this story came to be, how can a Wolves team that looked so great a few times against Denver just hit this wall, blow these leads late in games, right? Like, just look sort of lethargic in some spots at home, be losing home games in the Western Conference Finals.
And he said he brought up the Jordan Effect from 30, 35 years ago where Michael Jordan trained. so that his body would be ready to play basketball games in June, into mid-June, into July. Because a lot of these kids come out of college, you're used to playing a 30-game schedule, and you get to the NBA, and now you're playing an 82-game schedule, and that's a huge jump. Oh, and then, once you start making deep playoff runs, that's two full months.
That's another, potentially, if you play like six-game series, that's another 20, 24 games, maybe even more that you're playing, deep into May, into June. And KG's observation was, it doesn't look like some of these Wolves players' bodies and minds emotionally, mentally, physically. It's fatiguing when you go through a grind of seven games against the defending champions, and you come out on top after a 20-point comeback in altitude, on the road. Oh, we're only halfway there.
His observation, it's not like an excuse or a cop-out, but I think it's all part of the process, especially for Anthony Edwards, Jay McDaniels, 23 years old. They haven't done this before. They haven't trained their bodies or their minds to play 100, 105, 110 basketball games. Kyrie has.
Luke Godonjic has. You know, he hasn't won a championship, Kyrie has. But, you know, if you want to take that for like an excuse or a cop-out, you can. But, again, I don't think you go from never making a deep run to just winning a championship, and it's just easy breezy.
And it's possible that Wolvesville got a little carried away. And I'm included, man. Like, after that Denver series, boy, Wolves are going to be favored against the Mavericks, probably going to be favored against whoever comes out of the East, and that's not how the NBA works, historically. I also think that this is where you're probably, if you're Conley and Fitch to a certain degree as well, I think you're going to have to sit down with Ant and basically say, who else has the want to do what you want to do?
Because, like, that July thing sounds great, right? Not everybody wants to do that. And, I mean, the Bulls literally weeded guys out and brought in guys who might not have been as talented, but had the killer instinct. And, like, that's what we're talking about here.
We're talking about who wants to be in the gym. You know, Kobe. Kobe style. Jordan style.
Who wants to be doing that? Because that's a sacrifice. Who wants to get their 1,500 shots up every day? Yeah.
That's the question you're asking? Yeah, yeah, yeah. A cap. I didn't know the word cap until then.
I really like that term. Oh, you didn't? No, that's a great term. Well, I mean, I'm sports dad.
I wouldn't know that term. But anyway, I think that becomes an incredibly important part, too. And then, you know, there's stuff like this. Kyle Anderson gets a lot of credit for being a great locker room guy.
And he actually, you know, despite the shots tonight, he didn't make some, he actually fit this series really well. He didn't fit the Denver series at all. But I think the question is, can you, for instance, approve that roster spot? Can you get a guy who you literally don't see start to shoot and say, oh, boy.
You know, like, those are the questions. Like, who can you, it's not just like, are you going to trade cat? It's who are you going to bring back? Who fits here?
Who are the guys that we saw at the end of this game? Who fits, potentially? And so, I mean, my big thing in sports is I don't like running things back because a lot of times that causes complacency and it causes this, oh, man, we're just going to go out the court again or we're going to go, you know, 2010 Vikings. We're going to go on the field again and do it again.
And the reality is, as coaches like to say, each year has its own personality. So, like, I don't think running it back is a realistic great plan, but I do think that if you're going to tinker, that's where I want a guy like Conley who clearly has a vision for what that entails. Well, yeah, I mean, you bring out the ultimate question here for the front office is to what extent do you run it back and look at what happened in these playoffs as a great experience to sharpen them going forward? I mean, how much can you, because part of the plan from the previous year to this last year was, well, Anthony Edwards is going to be a year older and Jade McDaniels, like, those guys are going to take a natural step forward.
So, and the chemistry with Rudy Gobert and Carl Anthony Towns coming back from the injury from a couple years ago and they sort of trusted that it would all form together in a more impactful way and they were right. Do they trust the same thing trying to go from playoff contender to actual championship team? Right. Or do you need a bigger tweak of some kind?
I think, you know, I don't want to turn this into a Cat Bass session because we've done a couple of those episodes this weekend. I think our thoughts are pretty clear on the way he played the first three games of the series. He was wonderful that is LeBron in his prime, Michael. And even then, I just don't know if it's possible.
I think, I think if Cat is going to win a championship at some point in his career, whether it's with the Wolves or somebody else, he needs to be the Kevin Love to LeBron and Kyrie in Cleveland. He needs to be the Chris Bosh to Dwayne Wade and LeBron in Miami. He needs to be the, like if the Celtics go on to win this year, the poor Zingas to Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, right? Like, I, now can he be the third guy who's a great spot-up shooter and offers some other great offensive qualities, a big body defensively, he rebounds, like, can you find a way while you're paying Rudy Gobert super max money to keep Cat as the third guy and find a second guy?
Like, can you even make that work in a transaction? Probably not. Like, again, these are the tough conversations that have to happen as you look to go from Western Conference Finals to hoisting an LB at some point. So that brings up a really interesting scenario, though, because I think the NBA, to go back to the Heat, which was, you know, LeBron and D-Wade and Bosh, I think the big threes have died out way more.
I think it's a big two and then a really good supporting cast. And the third guy's a supporting player. Like, I didn't see Love as, like, the third trio of the big three. I thought, okay, Kyrie LeBron and Love's a nice player.
He was a spot-up shooter rebounder in Outlet Passery. And I think Cat proved here, I think Cat proved second round that when he is put in a specific role and the lights aren't too big yet, he can be an effective player. But is it going to happen here and can you expect him to be part of what carries you to a championship? And my response is probably not.
No. And that's where you're going to have to probably trade him to create space because you know what? If Nas retakes Cat's place, look at Nas's salary. And I know he signed a pretty nice contract, but it ain't anywhere near Cat's, right?
So I guess my question is this. Can you find, I think it's gone from a Power 3 trio to a Batman-Robin and then everyone else has to come along and play nice as well. Can you find that? Can you find the Robin to Ant's Batman?
And I think this team, 100%, like when push came to shove, Kyrie, Luka, right? The Wolves did not have that second guy. They just did not. I mean, Cat's not on that level as a creator.
And by the way, Ant is not on the level of Luka and Kyrie yet as a creator. I think he will be at some point. But he's still finding his spots on the floor. One more thing, and we'll get to, looks like we got a bunch of people in the Ventline green room, so to speak.
So we'll turn this into a therapy session. But a couple things. If you could click the like button and the subscribe button on this live video on the Sorner's YouTube channel, we would appreciate it. Help us grow this channel.
Help us grow Flagler Howells. Spread the word to other Timberwolves fans who are mourning and celebrating this season all in one. And on the Anthony Edwards front, just one other take real quick before it escapes my mind. In some ways, it's a great thing that this happened the way that it did, where he's watching in his own arena, Luka Doncic come in here and hulk up to a level that Anthony Edwards, even Anthony Edwards is not capable of hulking up to.
We've seen Ant flex and rise up and go on crazy scoring runs, conducting the arena, right? What Luka Doncic did in the first quarter to stomp out the Wolves right away and quiet the entire crowd as he trash talks fans in the front row, trash talks the Wolves bench. That was a master class in putting a stranglehold on a series. And so Anthony Edwards has to sit there and think about that and stew on it and watch the dominance replay over and over in his mind while he goes to the gym and gets his shots up and plays with some of the best players in the world in the Olympics this summer.
So that might have been the tough dose of medicine that Anthony Edwards based right here in St. Paul, Minnesota. Legendary Golf Apparel, lgndy.co. They donate a portion of all proceeds to veteran organizations.
They've got the Wolves playoff snapbacks that you've seen me and Declan, not the sports dad wearing on YouTube. Kyle, I'll enjoy my hat. Promo code Howell, H-O-W-L at checkout for 20% off your order. That's lgndy.co.
Promo code Howell at checkout for 20% off your order. And while we're at it, let's say hi to our friends also at EcoFun here, Judd. So EcoFun is your summertime fun headquarters. Scooters, motorcycles, ATVs, side-by-sides, all sorts of fun giddy-ups.
Premier brands like Yamaha, Kawasaki, Vespa, Vintelli. And for all your summertime fun on the water, you can visit Tim and the team at the Forest Lake location which has a fully stocked line of 2024 Kawasaki and Yamaha watercraft. Two locations for EcoFun. Forest Lake and Burnsville.
You can go to ecofundmotorsports.com. If you go in, tell them that Flagler and Howells or Sworn or I'll send you in. That's forestlake and Burnsville ecofundmotorsports.com, sports dad. Any just quick thoughts for you before we jump into the therapy session and turn this into a Wolves band line?
Yeah, I've seen a lot of comments going past me right now about Gobert who clearly had his struggles at times. But I think the Gobert thing to me which is a conversation at some point in time, while it is important, I think the Cat conversation is a different one. Because I think the expectation for Cat, rightfully so, is higher. And I don't think the advanced metrics back out Cat's play like they do Gobert's.
I think Gobert gets a bad rap in part because he... It looks weird. Yes, because he's a wee sort of... Well, so is Cat.
They're gangly, right? They're gangly. He's a rim protector. And it's not...
I think Gobert does a lot of what I would describe as garbage work. And I think he does it at times really well. But I think if you were looking for the show to talk about Cat and Gobert as the same player, that's just not the case. And yes, for all of you pointing it out, Cat was marvelous against the Nuggets in the games that the World won, and that was great.
But the point is, how do you get to the NBA Finals? Not how do you get to the Western Conference Finals and go out in five games. So that's a big difference. And I do think that what we saw here is something that if you're an executive, you are not going to now just completely ignore this and say, well, my team got tired.
The Mavericks have been here before and you can see what they did. And so I think the call of Gobert and Cat is sort of wash of ineptitude is missing the point about how you're going to get to the Finals someday, which obviously is the goal of not another 20-year wait between getting to a Western Conference Finals and returning. Let's start to Wolves' vent line here. There's live flagrant howls from Target Center with Jake.
Jake, what's going on, dude? Okay, Jake. No, I'm saying that's all right. I overall was kind of enjoying the season because I knew the game was over when I think Rudy Gobert took like eight shots in the first five minutes and it just kind of wasn't a good offense.
But yeah, just listening to you guys, I kind of agree with the point. People might just see you guys for bringing down capital. Cat, I think, is the perfect three option, just like his offense. And it just isn't consistent enough and he started the first three games.
That kind of put us in a hole. Obviously, his last two, he bounced back. But yeah, that's kind of one of the interesting points. I thought Jay McDaniels is corner threes now.
If he could build that into next year, 40% from the corners, I'd love that because he showed it this time. That can help the scoring. But I feel like we've seen that one piece to just keep running along with Ant and that can just knock down shots because Nikhil Alexander Walker is kind of frustrating. He can buy a bucket this series.
And then obviously, I feel like even if it's not obviously with our cap space and electric tax, even if it's just someone we just need another shooter out there that can just consistently drain like 40% three-pointers just to run with Ant is where I'm at. Yeah, no, Jake, some good points. And it's not enough for me to just be a spot-up shooter. And you know, that's kind of what Carl has become.
He doesn't really have a go-to move in the post. Look at how many times these teams will just run smaller defenders at Carl because he kind of gets flustered. He doesn't really have a go-to automatic bucket against smaller defenders. He doesn't always make the right decision out of double teams.
So again, if he's just going to be mostly a spot-up shooter and sometimes gets downhill on pick-and-roll as a role man, like, okay, but is that enough when you're going up against teams with two great wing get-their-own-bucket-scorers in crunch time, right? I mean, the Timberwolves were, I think, 17th in offensive net rating and when the games get really tight and slow down in the last five minutes of clutch time, they get even worse. And part of it's because they only have one guy that can microwave offense on a regular basis and he's 22 years old and still trying to figure out where his spots are. Where's Jaden Sealing at in your mind?
I don't know that it's like second guy that we've been talking about high, but that's the crazy thing, man. Like, he's a three-level scorer. He can convert at the rim. He's got a mid-range game.
His three-point shooting fell off after the all-star break, but he has shown the ability to be a good three-point shooter. And I mean, he dropped like 50 points in one of those Jamal Crawford off-season games in Seattle a couple years ago. Not that that really matters, but like, he's got a bag and I don't know that he's ever going to be a 24-points-per-game scorer at this point, but he has more offense to give. He took a step back in terms of scoring averages here.
But like, you see the flashes and you see when he gets aggressive. I just, as we're talking about who can be the second guy on a championship team, it's wishful thinking to think that Jade McDaniels Oh, I agree with that. But he does have some diet Kawhi Leonard to him. Personality, perimeter defense, three-level scorer.
It's interesting. When his confidence is high, he hits those shots. Like that is, as the first commenter was saying, the corner three. Like when he gets going, he definitely, and I'm not saying that he could be the two to Ant, but I think that there is a lot more there.
And I also think that there's times where there is almost a hesitancy to shoot like he thinks he shouldn't shoot. And it's like, no, dude, when you're going, you're playing really well and knocking down baskets. Anyway, I just, I think that there is a, I think we have seen some maturation there. I think the defense is fantastic.
I think that there is a lot more offense that could be consistently unlocked, especially if he feels empowered to shoot more often. By the way, I'm just looking at post-game just below us right now. Anthony Edwards was at the podium. And there's a bunch of stuff to sit through here.
He said, we'll be back next year. And he also said, interestingly, this is from Chris Heinster's Tribune, that he needs to train better to withstand deep playoff runs. Exactly what Kevin Garnett was saying on his podcast. Said he didn't feel like he was training as well as he could in the offseason.
So, okay. But if this like hardens him even more and he becomes a cyborg in late May, early June because of this. There's a conversation to be had here though because he's going to go play for the U.S. in the Olympic Games, which is great experience, but that's playoff basketball.
Do you want that? And it's going, there's not a question here. It's going to happen. But do you want him, or would you prefer him training or going and doing that and then stepping into the season?
Like he's going to have a, this is going to be as brief of offseason as a player can possibly have. Yeah, but he's young enough. I think the experience is good. If you look historically, there's been a lot of dudes.
Go back to Dwayne Wade. You go back and look at Kobe Bryant after Shaq had left for the Heat. I mean, when you go and play at a high level in the Olympics, it can unlock another level of your game. Kevin Durant, I mean, LeBron James.
I think that's what this summer could be for him as he goes and competes in practice with the best players in the world. And maybe that helps. I guess it could tire him out, but I just, I don't know, man. Like he's 22 years old.
Is he still a bear playing? I don't know if he's committed. I would assume so. But, you know, you kind of already mentioned the three things that I came up with.
You know, first thing was just the idea of I'm kind of glad that we got smoked in this game. You know, a case could be made after the three games, it could be a 3-0. But, you know, after tonight's game, it just kind of shows you, you know, we're not the better team. So, you know, I think that's number one for me.
Number two, you guys mentioned as well, you know, Tim Conley, you know, almost every move he's made, you know, we have no reason not to trust him. So we got to give him another offseason. And then number three, you guys just talked about it. And I don't know if you guys saw it but right after the game, He ran, he ran.
And, you know, some might say all bad sports, but sportsmen, but, you know, that's just something that Michael Jordan would do or Kobe would do, just bail. And, you know, like you said, let's see Cyborg Ant this offseason, and here he goes. But, yeah, thanks, guys. I appreciate all your content this year.
I want to shout out my Eyes on the Rise boys chat this season. But, yeah, thanks for all you do, guys. We appreciate it. Yeah, man, no, Aaron, thank you for the kind words here.
Let's keep it rolling. Is Joe. Let's go to Joe next. Joe, what's going on, man?
Hey, guys, can you hear me? Yeah, we got you. Hey, first of all, just thank you, guys. You guys, you deserve to be paid overtime tonight for days like today, and you really are sports therapists.
We're going to need you. I need Positive Phil the next two weeks or so, okay? Positive Phil may have booked some non-refundable flights to Boston that you have to figure out here, so we're going to hop on in this podcast. Even Positive Phil needs an offseason, you know?
Hey, I don't know if you guys have mentioned this yet, but I wanted to say, we always talk about, you know, Ant going through that playoff experience and stuff and maybe getting another step, but have you said about the coaching staff? Was this a big, you know, step for Finch? Has he been here before? That's what I'm wondering.
No, Joe, these are thanks for the kind words and the good question. I mean, yeah, this is definitely, as a head coach, the deepest that Chris Finch has ever coached. And Jason Kidd is a guy that, as a player, as a coach, who's been deep in the playoffs a number of times, he's won a championship as a point guard with the Dallas Mavericks. And the way, and some of it's coaching, but some of it's just too, like, Luka Doncic unlocks everybody.
He makes perfect passes almost every time he makes a decision. The amount of times we sit here and wonder, how can the Mavericks possibly get so many easy dunks? I want to say that Derek Lively was like 15 for 15 in the series. I think all of those were dunks.
But then you watch Luka orchestrate his way into the paint, throws these perfect lobs that are impossible to deflect or block, and, you know, some of it's coaching scheme and putting the chess pieces in the right place. Some of it's just having a transcendent superstar who not only can get whatever shot he wants and score 35 or 40 points, he's one of the greatest passers of this generation as well. Two things. So one is Kyrie has also fitted perfectly.
So, like, I mean, because there could have been a conflict there. I feel like the Kyrie from Boston and from Brooklyn has really toned it down. And I don't know if he was talked to or what, but, I mean, he's become what appears to be a model teammate. Like, everything that you didn't see previously, you now see.
And Dodgers can then be the, I guess, the alpha, and Kyrie is alpha too. The other thing that's really interesting about what the Mavericks did, too, is look at the deals that they made. They make the playoffs, but I don't think that they make any type of run. That's supporting cast.
And that's what I'm talking about. Like, when you look at the Wolves, the supporting cast is huge here. And, yes, they've got a likable team. And, yes, they've got some nice players.
But is it the right supporting cast? And I love it. I mean, the Mavericks went out right at the deadline. They made some deals.
Those deals were absolutely instrumental. Like, that, you know, backdoor play that they ran a thousand times. You look at that play. And it, to use your term, unlocked Luga to do so many different things.
It was basically unguardable. So, like, these are the things that Tim Conley knows about. But if you're him and you look at what the Mavericks did, I think that's the blueprint for, okay, if it's your time, do you have the intestinal fortitude? But I think Conley does to pull the triggers on deals like that.
Because that, to me, is the reason why, with two great players, this team is going to play Boston in the finals, was those supporting cast moves. Well, he absolutely has the intestinal fortitude to pull the trigger on huge trades. I mean, he has it. At every point, he has identified, D'Lo, you're not coming along for the ride here.
Pat Bev, Jared Vanderbilt, you're not coming along. Rudy, we're going to get laughed at for this, but you're going to come on board over here. So, yeah, we'll have to see what tweaks are made. Let's go to, is it Monty?
Monty, how y'all doing? Monty, what's up, man? How you doing? I'm doing good.
I'm doing all right. I just have three quick things. I'm not mad. I'm not upset this season.
I'm actually kind of happy because just going through those quarters of the non-scoring, which is almost too much to bear. So I'm just going to do it quick. I just want to give a shout out to our fan base. Our fan base is just awesome.
That's just how we just cheer this team on. And it's just really, really hurts for us to not have a win here in the Western Conference Finals. And also, thanks to you guys. I've been watching you guys for some time now.
This is my first time popping up. But the fan base here is awesome. Another thing I want to get to, I want to make it quick. I wonder, and I just want you guys' opinion on how you guys feel about, we need another score.
I like DeMar DeRozan. Just his veteran, the way he can just get to his spots. I think him and that together will be a good fit. I don't know about the front office and all the money and all that stuff.
I don't know about that. But DeMar DeRozan, he sticks out of my head as far as somebody that Ant can play with. Number three, and you guys might hit me for this. I don't know if Mike Conley can do this next year all by himself.
I think it would be nice for us to have another point guard to kind of relieve Mike Conley next year. I think he would be great coming off the bench. I don't know, to reserve him. And another thing is, it's crazy because with Ant and Gobert, I have never seen two guys who cannot back somebody down in the paint.
I mean, not one. I mean, so I'm thinking about guys like DeAndre Aiden. Somebody who could just, I can back down. I'm 35 years old and I'm out of shape, but I can go to the Y and back somebody down in the paint and come up with a little spin move and try to put it up.
So with all that being said, I'm excited for next year, but I really want to know you guys' opinion about DeMar DeRozan and should Mike Conley get, should we get somebody here to kind of like take over more of a point guard role? Thank you guys. Thank you for the kind words and for jumping on here. I think we will definitely do deeper dives into like specific moves that they could make in the, in the coming weeks.
But when talking about a player of the caliber of a DeMar DeRozan or like Kevin Durant's name has floated out there. Now I think Phoenix is going to look to keep fortifying around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker as best they can. But you know, if Kevin Durant gets, you know, gets sick of playing in Phoenix and he's demanded out in a couple other spots. But the question is going to be, how do you, if you're aiming for a wing scorer that plays at a high level that can play opposite Anthony Edwards as a tag team partner, you'd be talking about getting ready to be the Rudy's contract or Carl Anthony Towns contract.
So what are you giving up on? Like if it's, if it's Rudy going somewhere and it's like a three team trade, well now you're giving up the centerpiece of your number one defense. The defense is the reason, the main reason why the Timberwolves flirted with the one seed all year and made it as far as they did. So if you're, if you're planning on trading that piece, you know, just be careful what you wish for, right?
On the Carl front, again, like I'm all for exploring trades. I, again, I don't think he can be the number two guy on a championship winning team, but he offered a really key piece to beating Denver and Denver's not going away, dude. Jamal Murray and Nicole Jokic are in the middle of their primes. Jokic coming off a third MVP.
Just because you beat them in the second round doesn't mean they're like, oh, challenge over. They're gone forever. Like they're going to be staring at you in the Western conference until Jokic ages out. And that's not going to be for probably another four or five, six years.
And Carl is one of the biggest threats to slowing Nicole Jokic. So like there's, there's just, there's a bunch of different elements here before you just start blowing things up and trading one of your big super max players. I think if you start to make phone calls, you're going to find out though that Carl, if you're going to make a trade, Carl's going to get you a return, probably more comparable to what you want. I don't know that Gobert is at this point, especially when the price for Gobert has been determined.
Carl, of course, has not been traded on Conley. I'm inclined to agree completely. I mean, Mike Conley has a place on this team. Hell, I think he's got a place on the coaching staff when he's done playing.
So in no way, shape or form, am I saying he should not be back? Should his minutes be decreased? Probably, absolutely. Like, I guess my question is, again, when we talk about running things back, can you run the amount of time that Mike Conley played this past season back next season?
You're starting to take a risk there. And so I agree completely. I think that it would be a very, very good idea to get another point guard that you trust and that can play, not because you don't want Conley, but because I do think that you are pressing your luck if you try and get away with the same amount of playing time that you got him this past season. Agreed.
He's going to be 37 years old. You need, and the number of times that Nikhil Alexander-Walker was operating as your backup point guard, because Monte Morris fell out of the rotation, and he was going to be somebody that stepped in. I thought he was going to provide more, but I don't think he ever, with the injuries, did he, like a quadriceps? Yeah, he hadn't played.
He was just like three or four months behind all season. So they do need a younger ball-handling backup option to Mike Conley. You know, at halftime today, just an observation, so I went down to go grab the sports dad and make a couple snacks, and he went down there too. And I sort of lingered back while the Wolves came out of the locker room.
And I just wanted to see. I just wanted to see. You wanted to see what a game down by 30 at halftime looks like when they come out of the locker room. So it was the third time in these playoffs that I waited in the bowels of Target Center and watched the Timberwolves come out of the locker room.
The other two times, I think they were winning. One of the games was like the game six blowout or something. But the other two times, they were chatty. They were talking strategy together.
Okay, so we're walking out. You know, we're going back out for the second half. So if this happens, we're going to do this right. Yep, here we go.
And they're dapping up the staff and everything. It was a funeral procession coming out of the locker room. I mean, just everybody walking slowly with their head down. And I even told you, man, what I just saw in the hallway, it's going to get worse before it gets better in the third quarter.
And the Mavericks came right out. You know, what I noticed was Mike Conley was Mike Conley's been hiding and covering up a very sore foot or whatever. The soleus or whatever. Yeah, right around the Achilles area.
He was hobbling. And there were no cameras. It was just like me and a couple security guards. He saw you, though.
He was like, I got to hobble. He started limping when he saw me. I got hobbled by Phil. He was not 100%.
But I mean, how many 36, 37-year-olds are going to feel great in stride playing their 100th game of basketball on the season? But what you saw is, to your point from before about Ant in particular, what you saw is what you want Ant to have to go through, right? Because, I mean, Luka literally came here and in the first quarter took the Timberwolves heart, reached into their chest, took it out, and stomped on it. And, I mean, that is for Ant.
I guarantee you, Ant left the court quickly tonight saying, this ain't going to happen to me again if I can do anything about it. Because you got basically super started. Like, you just got done. And I do think, again, here's my question.
And it's a very important question about the mentality and makeup of this team. Who was offended by that? Who learned from that? Because at the end of the day, if you're like, well, we just got our ass kicked.
I don't want you on my team. I think a lot of guys, reading some of the posts, Ant is offended by it. Right. Nikhil Alexander-Walker was saying, run it back.
Like, we know we can get back here. Run it back. Well, and that's where if I... That dude's going to knock down some open threes, by the way.
Well, and that's also... You've got to knock down a corner three once in a while, buddy. Absolutely. Phil, we have been subject in the various sports that we discuss here from, you know, keep the team together.
We're winning some games. That's a dangerous thing. But I want you... I want players, more importantly than even the Game 7 win against Denver, I want players to remember that halftime walk tonight.
Because that's the one that sticks with you. And that's where you're like, okay, now we know what this takes. And damn it, we're not going to allow ourselves, especially when we do have a budding superstar, we're not going to allow history to repeat itself. We're going to actually be the proactive team next time.
Let's go to Colin next year on Flag and House. What up, Colin? What's going on, guys? How y'all doing?
Other than Delos. We're sitting here now, by the way, in a mostly empty Target Center. It's just the staffers of the arena cleaning up the garbage and the tears from Timberwolves fans. It's a rough one.
No, so I was going to say, my father grew up where he lived in Chicago in the early 90s. And he was there for when Jordan Bulls first repeat. And how they got over the hump against Detroit. And how they got beat up and lost.
And I think what the Wolves need to identify right now is, who is your three players? And I honestly think the Wolves need to build around Ant. They need to build around Nas. And they need to build around Jane McDaniels.
Because they're all right around the same age. I think, as much as I like Carl, as much as he's done a lot for the team, I feel like he's a part of a regime that's kind of been already taken away. And I think he's probably the piece that you could get the most for. But I wouldn't ask for as much.
I think trading Carl for the magic for Jalen Suggs. And having that point guard you're talking about. And he's from Minnesota. I think bringing somebody in like that that could be about the same age and can grow with the team is huge.
And I think maybe getting like a Doug McDermott, like a three-point shooter, as much as we were a great defensive team, there wasn't one guy we could pull off the bench and be like, yep, he plays no defense, but he can hit a three 60% of the time. It didn't seem like they had a guy that could do that. But if they could go by that model, I think going forward, they could become a lot better team. And I don't think you can really get anything for Rudy but a salary exemption.
I mean, at this point, his contract is so overblown. I feel like you could maybe make a mid-season trade on him. But I think bringing in like a Suggs to be the guy that kind of steps in for Conley and be that guy, and I think Conley could be a great bench guy. I think he's fine at this point in his career too.
So that's my thought. Yeah, no, Colin, good suggestions, man. Appreciate you coming on here. We have a lot of people just kind of waiting for us to be done blabbing.
So let's run through here a few more Wolves fans. Nick S., you were on Flagrant Hollows, my man. Thanks for having me on, guys. Mackie, I just want to say it takes a lot of humility to have Kat as your avatar in this program, so I just appreciate that from you.
And I also want to take a Kyle Teige approach here and just comment on this 12-year-old, four-eyed, red-headed kid had half-season tickets with his stepdad in 20 years ago watching a guy number 21 in a jersey like this, the Black Trees. And, man, it was amazing to see the team make it here this year again, even though it's not the result we wanted. I need to say, it occurred to me today that Rudy kind of started looking like Rudy from last year in the Denver series, actually. And it made me wonder if the length of the season got to him as well because middle of the season this year, he looked like a completely different athlete.
So that's something that came to mind. And then the last thing I want to say is, yeah, Kat has to go, I think, because he doesn't seem to be a winning player. I mean, that mentality, that killer mentality you guys are talking about in another scorer who can come alongside Ant. So appreciate it, guys.
Yeah, no, Nick, thank you, man. Thanks for the kind words, and we appreciate you coming on. On the Rudy front, one of the things that bothered me the most about this Maverick series, and I stand for Rudy. I think Rudy has been, I mean, he's the most overly criticized, undeservedly criticized player in the NBA.
You have the TNT panel just clowning him all the time. But he's literally turned on him. Kendrick Perkins turned on him. I shouldn't avoid him for Defensive Player of the Year.
KG went on his podcast and said he'd start Naj Reed in place of Rudy Gobert for Game 4, Game 5. But, I mean, he is consistently the anchor defensively of 50-win teams in Utah and Minnesota. And, like, he's a really good franchise-changing player on the defensive end. But it drove me nuts how many times throughout the series and throughout the last two years, somebody would throw a perfect feed into Rudy in the lane.
There's some traffic. Here's a little pocket pass or a little lob. And 50% of the time, it rattles off his ping-pong paddle hand. And then you watch freaking Dallas, and Luca and Kyrie are just threading needles in traffic to Gafford and Lively.
And I don't remember those dudes fumbling any of them in the entire series. It's just bang, hands, sticks like glue, dunk, layup, dunk, every single time. Yeah, Gobert's hands are careful. I mean, there's no two ways about it.
He just does not have hands. He can't catch a basketball for the most part. It's rough. Let's go to Brian next on Flagler and Howls.
Brian, you're on the Wolves' vent line, man. You might be muted. I think your mic is muted there, Brian. We can't hear you.
Like, locally, on your end. It says you're unmuted here, but... Here, we'll put you in the... Time off.
Brian, time off. Let's go to David next. What's up, David? Oh, so the Before I Die...
Nice start. I know, it's more of a mantra for all the teams, not just the Vikings, right, at this point. I had a long speech, actually, right now, but for the sake of time, I'll try to keep it to some bullet points here. One, first of all, it just sucks when this happens to a team that is very likable.
I just really didn't want this season then. that the Wild, Timberwolves, Twins, or Vikings have won two rounds of the playoffs, which is just sad. Our men's sports teams reach the semifinals and lose at around the same rate other cities' teams win championships. That just sucks that I'm sick of it, so I'm sorry to be a little negative here.
But looking forward, I know I should be more positive about this team, but I'm really worried about Glenn keeping the team, Tim Connolly opting out, and now we're relying on Glenn Taylor to hire a competent GM to manage a team with a tough salary cap situation and limited draft picks, so I'm worried about that going forward. So I don't love being this negative, and I hope I'm actually wrong and just this is the start of something great, but thanks for your time and thanks for having me on, and I'm a fan of this podcast, and it was a fun season, and thanks for doing it. Amen. Thank you, David.
Appreciate your support there. Let's try Brian one more time. Hey, hello. There we go.
Yes, yes. Audio issues. Hey, good night. Or good evening, everybody.
Sorry for the audio issues. Last time I called in actually was the Twins and Blue Jays series when we swept them after game two, so it's a long time since I've talked to you guys. Hope all of you are doing well, but yeah, this is kind of a little disappointing ending to the end of the season. I'm 35, Bill.