man oh man welcome in to the table podcast i'm your host evan and of course it's always good coming to you guys when there's a timberwolves win the wolves get a big win last night against the golden state warriors and yes i know they had a lot of guys out which we'll get into in the show but you can only play who's in front of you and this team really needed it after what they've gone through what the state has gone through here in minneapolis hopefully with sports what we're doing we can just give you guys a distraction have some fun listening to us today and we'll really get into it um kind of what happened in the game go over some other things like trades are they realistic do we have any favorite ones and just have some fun i think it's much needed right now in this time so tim joe we got you on today how you both doing hey i'm doing well today happy happy tuesday can't wait to summarize this one for you yeah doing doing well too uh just happy to see the wolves get a win after a streak like that and excited to be a part of the team here with the daily wolves oh it's gonna be a ton of fun you're gonna be seeing a lot of different faces coming in soon uh which is really exciting for us to bring to you um before we get to the show guys we are brought to you by c geek if you use the promo code the daily wolves all one word on c geek in the promo code section we're hooking you guys up with 20 dollars off your next purchase on c geek bones island last night guys i think i want to start there because big win obviously we talked about but bones island was awesome that's the bones island we know that's the bones island we saw for a lot of times he's been in a wolves uniform this year he's been struggling of late but last night he was incredible i mean 17 points he was doing it all he was rebounding he's assisting he came off the bench he was electric i felt like when he came in i felt like the game changed uh tim why do you feel like bones island was such an impact player last night what things did you see that maybe wolves fans can hopefully hold on to and expect bones island to be more consistent doing yeah so bones island uh on that game on sunday it you know obviously it was a very emotional game um but bones island in that game had a really tough one he missed a couple shots had a turnover got benched and he went to the bench and hung his head um it was very discouraging uh really concerning for me especially in the trade deadline so watching him come in and just play with pace uh and it wasn't just offense he was very pesky at the point of attack um finch raved about him defensively that's big time um and the way he operated in the pick and roll with rudy gobert it was just beautiful so if he can continue even when he's not hitting the ball just giving that effort don't go inside your head when you miss a shot next shot next shot i'm gonna look past that because of the optics of what's going on outside with that game uh but just push the pace uh be that pick and roll partner and just try be a pest defensively i thought he did those things last night it's a game changer 100 he's a plus 19 joe what'd you see out of bones island last night also seven uh rebounds for bones five assists man two seals was doing it all you know that was what i was gonna mention the rebounding really impressive i mean obviously you watch these wolves games he's not the biggest guy usually the smallest guy on the court and just seeing that effort he was putting in on the glass getting some rebounds and like you talked about him the pick and roll is what really really impressed me there was a one play in particular i believe it might have been in the second quarter he was there running a pick and roll on the left wing with rudy he got down low got g santos and poster onto him and just had a really nice pass to rudy right under the basket and then the fast break too was something i really enjoyed watching bones run uh he's just like you said moving with pace break next speed getting down the court and making some nice passes he just looked really in control i would say it's hard for a guy at bones high wind size to when things get physical it can be hard to to keep that momentum going but he just kept it going all game slow down a bit in the second half but i mean the wolves need point guard play so seeing that out of bones was it was really impressive would you guys say that after last night for wolves fans can they see the vision now where you had a second guy in the bench that was consistent along with nas reed can you see the vision because nas reed also had a good game which we'll get into later he was a plus 30 last night they look amazing when they're on together but the problem is nas reed's been just on some games and bones is off right and so that's been the issue with the timberwolves yeah we'll go into it later with the trade line but you saw yesterday what it's like when both guys are on and how you know impactful it can be right tim yeah i mean 36 bench points and that's factoring out garbage time you know the wolves uh they've been in the bottom third and bench scoring that's a huge issue uh you know the starting lineups are starting to come together to put together some of the best net rating lineup combinations across the league for starters so if you can just get a little bit more uh get a little bit more of your guys and uh inevitably a bones highland is gonna be volatile so you need a couple you need more than one uh and ultimately if you can get that one more guy it pushes someone like jalen clark to truly be that fourth fifth guy on the floor and that's where he thrives he's such a good cutter um he's such a high IQ player never makes the wrong decision even though he has so many uh things he's lacking offensively uh so if you can just get another couple guys where he can truly be that fifth guy and play off of his IQ uh it's gonna go such a long way for that bench unit what'd you see out of rudy gobert's game last night joe as well moving on to gobert because he was also dominant along with bones highland um i thought he imposed his will his size he was on the defensive end was a monster last night yes he was facing smaller guys but you have to take advantage of it and he looked like the defensive player of the year man on top of that we saw some crazy offensive game out of rudy gobert's bag he had a spin-off move that he almost made he was out here trying to do layups and he was really doing it all man what'd you see out of rudy gobert you know what i was really impressed by was him getting to the line i think that's a huge thing not only getting there but making them once he gets there he went five for seven from the line and like you said he was just dominant in the paint 15 points 17 rebounds two blocks which isn't like the most flashy number but i'd say the big thing is he's not getting as many blocks because guys don't want to shoot in the paint when he's there you see guys passing up what what would normally be an open lane that a lot of guys would take simply because they know that rudy's waiting for them like you said on pace for potentially a fifth defensive player of the year season and it's just been incredible to watch him like you said i mean quinton post not necessarily most physical guy at the five more of a stretch big but i mean i think that challenged him a bit as well forcing him to get out on the perimeter a little bit more and just do something a little bit different than what he's used to him the neverminds last night for people listening that's a stat that minnesota fans know you saw neverminds yesterday and i like that y'all brought that up too um brandon podjensky coming in i saw rudy gobert shutting him down he's out there on the perimeter on guards he's switching on the santos he's doing all the different things it was really on display last night i mean how important are those plays man and um just why is it such a special season from rudy all around yeah uh so first off i'm happy about the neverminds because that was such an iconic moment for tim wills fans to have michael grady uh on a national broadcast educating his fellow broadcast partners and fans tuning in across the country on what a nevermind was uh so shout out for michael grady uh that was an awesome call uh with rudy he's our floor raiser um we need him to go in there and be dominant against these teams that don't have the size uh don't they don't have that premier offensive option that can get to the you know score and make tough shots you know in games like last night where golden state is playing the jb team you just need rudy gobert to be that floor raiser um and he's mainly been that um the second thing is the wolves i don't care how ugly it looks in the first quarter it's um they have to get in the ball they have to find a way to get re-engaged early on uh almost like kyle teige last year coin phrase established the run i think that was maybe two years ago um i think the wolves need to establish a run with rudy gobert this time because when he's engaged and he's involved offensively it upticks defensively he has a little bit more want to he's testing more shots uh and then he starts to find that mojo and that's when you see those little spin around takes and drives to the rim um so i don't care how unesthetic it's gonna look i just think the wolves need to find a way to get rudy engaged early in quarter one it raises everything offensively and defensively and we talked about before we were on the live me and joe kind of how bones highland and rudy gobert these were big games for them because they kind of got their mojo back to both of them rudy got that confidence back a little bit of a hip injury but he had a little bit off a couple games there where he just didn't look like the defensive player of the year all the time and i felt like he was so dominant in this game that he got his mojo back he got his you saw when he is confident and he's taking he's going down in the post and taking guys off the dribble and doing all these things he's passing to the perimeter and he had that one pass that was like a full court pass too that led to a dunk like that's not an easy pass to make especially a big man doing it but that shows he was confident so hopefully he builds even though he was against you know a lesser opponent let's say that but hopefully that builds some confidence for bones rudy moving forward and another guy who builds confidence for julius randall man because guys randall he's been amazing all year but he struggled late the last few games i felt like he also this game started a little bit slow he was very passive in the beginning to talk about on the broadcast for i was listening that he was settling for too many jumpers but he got down and got physical he realized he could take take them down the post and they can't stop him he became so physical joe what did you like out of randall's game last night yeah i mean that was something i definitely noticed early on he was it's a great shot for him he hits a lot of them those little fader middies he does he'll do the jab stab high post try to get a look off he's usually got a guy not as physical on him especially in this matchup you just got to get downhill these guys are not going to be able to stop him once he gets down low and as you said once he was able to do that he really got things going i was a little disappointing seeing some of the threes he was settling for and one for six on the game and that's just not what we want to see especially in this situation because when he's getting downhill it leads to kickouts to guys like dante vincenzo easy twos there's there's not many guys on the warriors or even in the league who i would consider as strong as like bullish as julius randall he can like when he gets going there's not a ton of paint defenders who can stop him so just getting that going and being able to get in a rhythm i think i think it was great to see does he take this game to a new level when he plays like that tim is that just not just a floor raiser but does that make this team a team that can beat anybody in the west even oklahoma city thunder they're going to go to the western finals yeah i mean i think the idea of randall is being able to have another guy that can force double teams so you know when randall can be that threat down low and he can start using his gravity they talked about that a lot on the broadcast last night when he starts pulling guys to him in the post or um using those iso opportunities to uh have his gravity get guys open and find them for an open three that's when when we're really cooking um and it's really the keys to this construction of the team especially that starting unit to have him uh firing all cylinders and spraying out to the perimeter um so absolutely if we're going to go anywhere in the playoffs we need julius to be efficient uh we need him to not turn the ball over as much inevitably he's going to it's just a part of him um but if he can outweigh that with with efficient play and stuffing double teams so ant can attack on the weak side on a shift to defense that is just that's the recipe right there how do we get julius randall to maybe be better in the clutch because i think that's something that the timberwolves need right now too is gobert has these offensive i mean randall has these offensive spurts it's amazing he does all these things we need him to be better in the clutch because he leads the nba in clutch turnovers right now and i think sometimes randall gets a little salty on the defensive end or doesn't put in the effort uh obviously we saw ant also having that issue in the defensive end of the last couple games but we've seen the game against the spurs a couple weeks ago when he locked down wendy he really took it on his own he got motivated so he has the body to get in there he can do it if he wants to is randall going to be consistent i think that's what they need if this team wants to consider him being a number two because when it gets into the playoffs he's got to play defense and we know he's a facilitator he's got to be that guy like you said forces the double team can be a facilitator can't help when they don't have a starting point guard per se him and and gotta really come in and be that for the timberwolves and then you cannot do those clutch turnovers i think that would take them to a new level what about jayden nazareed they had great games yesterday talked about earlier naz was a positive or a plus 30 in the game but i thought jayden also just like randall started off slow then he came on the broadcast what do you think of their games yesterday joe you know it was just great to see them get going especially after sunday like you said there was some circumstances going on that might have led to just the players feeling down on the team but just i mean six guys had 14 or more points so just seeing the ball moving around seeing guys just in their rhythm comfortable not forcing shots and i just think jayden's growth this year on offense has been great to see i mean with ant out you need guys to be handling the ball more and guys to kind of take initiative on offense and to see him do that i mean it's what we need it's what we need to take that next step is for jayden to step up always been an incredible defender locked down i'd consider him one of the best in the league i mean we saw he skied up on quinton post got a great great uh block on his post hooks there and so we know what he can do on the defensive end it's really just about leveling up on offense and i think last night's a great example of that efficient efficient from the field just getting in his rhythm not forcing things we've seen him force things sometimes so last night was it was just nice to see and then for naz i mean six man of the year on pace for it for a second time when he can get going he just changes our offense so much as just a totally new dynamic because to have a guy at his size look so smooth from beyond the three-point line it's just a complete game changer spaces the defense out so much and just really creates a lot of line of flexibility when you can get things going he's been rebounding at a higher rate too naz read of late which i really like i think the rebounding changes a lot for the tim we'll see at nine the other day at seven again uh tim just to add on to joe's points on jayden naz uh what do you got for us on man yeah i mean naz is having one of the most efficient seasons of his career uh it's better than my last couple years he's had uh effective field goal percentage of you know 57 uh so you know he's when you consider the fact that he struggled out of the gate uh what he's done since december is incredible uh it's given in the world another option uh he's pushing pace the best thing about naz too is he's just decisive even if it's the wrong move it's decisive and it promotes ball movement uh and we were praising bones earlier for pushing the pace i actually thought naz was a huge piece of that as well uh game high plus 30 uh when he's pushing pace playing with some mojo uh and he's hitting those no dip threes in the corner fading away it's just it's gonna be hard to stop the timbers it doesn't even matter if it's the jv team for uh the warriors i agree totally and before we get keep going with the show guys we're also sponsored by better the best sports betting app out there if you don't know better you can download it on your app store today search v-e-t-r and when you download the app sign in with promo code the daily spn we're looking you guys up with a up to 200 deposit bonus and you're gonna attend our free play by signing up with our promo code again that's better the best sports betting app out there guys where the wolves stand right now in the west joe i'm gonna kick it to you first man uh obviously we're struggling right now we're down towards the plan we were just in the fourth seat just the other day we were just talking about this team being like a half game out of the two seat with the spurs but they dropped can they get back up there do you think they're gonna finish fourth in the top four um what are your takes on that oh the west is just it's just so tough i mean have a five game losing streak and like you said you go from one of the top teams in the conference and now barely in the play-in you know and it's just tough i mean we just have to keep our foot on the gas last night was so important because losing losing six in a row that and especially with the all-star break coming up we gotta get some type of momentum going before that and just uh just to see them get that win i still have a lot of hope that they can be top four in the west even top three i mean there's a lot of tough teams but i think we're right there with the thunder i think we're right there with the spurs and nuggets i think there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to make a good playoff run again it's just really a matter of i mean we've seen in some of these games against the jazz against the bulls we've seen maybe a bit of underestimating the team we're playing you know both of them jazz lower in the west bulls lower in the east kind of going into the game thinking already got the win in the bag but i mean you can't afford to lose games in the western conference because before you know it you could be out of the playoff picture entirely right 100 what do you have to add on to that man yeah i mean i think the only team in the league that has a higher defensive upside than minnesota is okc um the problem with minnesota is they just don't show it consistently uh there's a little bit of a uh casual approach at times uh so you know i think the wolves even in the middle of this five game losing streak is capable of being a top five offense top five defense teams that do that historically have a really good shot at winning the title i think they can still beat anybody they have a lot of issues like yes we finally got the monkey over back we won end of the streak we also have 22 turnovers there's there's a lot of issues that we have to work through so if the wolves can just play smarter basketball find that defensive consistency maybe that doesn't happen until post-off all-star break but if you can just hang around in that six to four seed and give yourself an opportunity to come back refresh after the all-star break uh and really hammer it home and get those reps to the playoffs i mean my opinion really has not changed for the wolves i think they're as high i have an upside team they can beat anybody i think like i agree with that point so much if you can get to that point if you get them to get their health back because i think we can see it taking toll on this team With what's going on in the city Just mentally Anthony Edwards taking his sock off On the sideline And just you can tell He's just out there And he just hasn't been the same player You're just not getting Anthony Edwards every single night Not that dominant force It seems like that tone of action Isn't having some type of an impact Randall's been a little banged up Ruby was banged up Not at the shoulder issue And I'm sure those are all lingering Conley's wrist is about to fall off I think so All these different issues are coming But that's normal right Every team has to deal with it And then everyone forgets about it But just getting Terrence Shannon Jr. Coming back in the future I think people forget That could be something Maybe he is healthy Maybe that changes things for the Wolves And if they don't go out And they don't make a move Maybe that is their move I don't know yet exactly What that's going to be But I think that's something That fans can't forget Because I'm still high on TJ I know he's disappointing In the beginning of the year But he just did too much last year For me to be like And he did in the playoffs too In the WCF against the Thunder Just had an incredible time In the playoffs I just think at this point TJ's somebody who could change a lot For the Timberwolves Again if you're having Bones Or TJ kind of rotate every so often Who's going Who's kind of having that game To help Nas Reed That right there might change everything For the Wolves He gives him another body He's big He's young I don't see it being Like trading for a new starter Moving like a Some people talk about Moving Gobert Moving Nas And I don't really agree with that I see it as more of a marginal thing And I agree with you Evan I really like Terrence Shannon Jr I think the energy he provides Is unmatched Like I've never seen anything Like what he did With his big game against the Thunder I mean comes in and outscores Everyone on the opposing team Like there's not a lot of guys Who have that type of spark to them So he's definitely something I want to keep around What I'm sort of a fan of Is moving Rob Dillingham I think it's just kind of clear At this point He just doesn't have a role On our team It's just not going to work out But it's not that I think He's a bad player I just don't think He's fitting into our system And within our offense And there's a lot of like Seventh, eighth guys That we could go for The Kings have Keyon Ellis I wouldn't even be mad Getting Russell Westbrook Help out with our point guard play He's having a great season A bit more ball dominant Of a guy than I think We really should be looking for But I mean just adding Another quality impact player That can give meaningful minutes In the playoffs Is what I think is really important Because right now I mean we're doing good We just had this losing streak But we're still a great team In the Western Conference But I think when it comes Playoff time Is when that seventh, eighth guy And then being able To provide quality minutes Is going to become really important And Rob and Mike Conley Are probably the two guys That are going out It's probably one of the two of them Probably not Mike We know this But if it were Mike Rob, what can you really do With those guys, Tim? I know you know this You got your guys We got to hear your rundown Of kind of who you would like This team to go out And trade for And what does that do With this team And what level Do your fans expect? You know, I don't think They make a big pivot At all This deadline I think this team Coming up back to back Western Conference Finals And showing the upside they have They've earned the right To go try it one more time And this spring Is all about What can this core do?
I think they need a seventh fan I think it'd be really risky As much as I love TJ I mean, I was hyping him up To be a friend All-Star player this offseason Not this year But like as an upside I think he's a great player And it'd be really painful To trade him But if you can get a guy Like Ayo Desumo Who's basically coming in And basically a more sure bet That you're going to get The player you expected TJ To be this past October Otherwise, you don't have To trade TJ I think there's moves out there For guys that make Under $5 million Or $6 million Because Rob makes $6.5 There's guys where you can Just do a swap I mean, Keon Ellis You know, Joe mentioned Russell Westbrook You know, they have a problem Point guard too That they picked high And Devin Carter I think Devin Carter And Keon Ellis Could make a ton of sense For Rob Dillingham And maybe Leonard Miller So there's some options out there Where I think they need To go get a seventh fan I think it'd be really Playing with fire to trust TJ Those foot injuries You just never know I mean, he could not be right This entire year So as high as I am on TJ I think it'd be a massive risk To not go bring somebody in I mean, I think they should make a trade It's just a matter of who you can get Well, I guess we'll see The February 5th trade deadline Is coming up in a few weeks We're going to wrap up the show We appreciate everyone for listening Again, you can follow us on Twitter Or X We're on Instagram, TikTok Everything like that Just search The Daily Wolves We appreciate you guys Wherever you're listening to And as always guys Go Wolves