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Minnesota Timberwolves’ FanDuel Win Total REVEALED | Can the Wolves Get Back Above 50 Wins?



Minnesota Timberwolves’ FanDuel Win Total REVEALED | Can the Wolves Get Back Above 50 Wins?

Hello and welcome in to another episode of Lockdown Wolves. Today on the show, the first round of FanDuel win total overunders are out for next season. Tell you why the Timberwolves are too low. Also where they rank compared to everybody else in the NBA across the landscape of contenders where the Wolves sit. We’ll also do what to watch for in Vegas. Part two is the Wolves kickoff in Las Vegas summer league today. It’s all coming. Welcome in. You are locked on Wolves. You are Locked on Timberwolves, your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome in to the Lockdown Wolves podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. My name is Ben Beacon. I’m the host of Locked on Wolves. Today’s episode is brought to us by our friends at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use the code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Happy Thursday everybody. Happy first day of the Las Vegas summer league for the Timberwolves. They play this afternoon. We’ll talk about that a little bit later. I do want to give you kind of a what to watch for part two as uh as kind of a primer for today’s first game of Vegas. They play again on Saturday as well. So, a big few days ahead for the Wolves Vegas entry. But I want to start today with the Las Vegas. Nope. The F. Well, yeah, Vegas, but FanDuel’s over under win totals and why the Wolves are too low. I want to compare their number to everybody else in the league. Compare them to where they were at this time last year at the start of the season from a win total perspective and uh why I think the numbers too low. I do. Uh so we’ll get into all that here on the show today. Big thank you off the top for making Locked on Wolves your first listen every single day. Of course, this show is free and available everywhere. That includes YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms. Wherever you like to listen to podcasts, you can find Lockdown Wolves. You can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV. All right, let’s start with FanDuel Win totals. This is one of my favorite times of year when when or favorite, I guess, shows, favorite moments of the year when this is released. And obviously, this is preliminary. The offseason is not even over. We talked about this earlier this week. Like I mean two weeks ago the finals were still happening. I think I guess two weeks ago is the start was the draft. So two and a half weeks ago the finals were still happening. We’re only two and a half weeks away from game seven of the finals. And already we’re doing win totals for next year because so much happened with the draft and and the start of free agency and some trades etc. And of course these numbers will shift a little between now and midocctober. Uh but remember last year in the wake of the Carlton Towns Julius Randle trade I don’t think the Wolves number changed at all. I think it stayed exactly the same. I think the Knicks went up slightly and Minnesota’s stayed the same. Minnesota this season, I don’t want to bury the lead here. The Timber’s FanDuel win total for this year is 50 and a half wins. Now remember, FanDuel win totals are usually fairly conservative because a lot has to go right for teams to actually hit the over no matter what, right? Like most of the time you only have, you know, three to five teams or whatever winning 50 plus games and that’s basically reflected in the win totals. Um, and and I’ll get into what some of the other teams are. For context, last season, Minnesota opened at and finished the offseason at 52 and a half wins for their win total. Year before they had won 56 regular season games. Last year, they came into the season with a win total of 52. I took the slight over preseason. I thought they would be in the 53 54 range. I did think they would win less than 56 games. I didn’t think they’d be quite to the level they were the year prior. I was right about that. But they did end up only winning 49 regular season games. I didn’t count on them kicking away so many games against bad teams. And also the I didn’t necessarily think that the Julius Randle thing wouldn’t be a little rocky to start. Uh but it was more just the you know the the silly games they lost. remember that they were outperforming or underperforming, I should say, their Pythagorean win loss, their their um their uh point differential for much of the season until it kind of caught up there toward the end and and it it ended up a little closer to where it should have been. So, what gets me a little bit off right here off the bat without even comparing it to any other teams is the Wolves already two wins lower than where they were last year. And and maybe the real answer is they’re one game worse without Nikil Alexander Walker because that’s the only real difference right now is Alexander Walker is gone. And then maybe Vegas is is overorrecting or is correcting for going too high last season. Remember the Wolves won 49 games. Their number was 52 and a half. So maybe there’s some correction here for Vegas. Like all right, we overshot it a little last year plus they lost Nikquil Alexander Walker. Is is Nquille worth a full win over the course of the season? I don’t know. He’s a really good player, but is is the idea of Rob Dylan and Terrence Shannon Jr. worth one to two games? I I mean, I think worst case scenario, sure, but I guess and I guess maybe that’s the position here is is it’s fair to expect the worst case scenario for two guys who have never regularly played rotation events in the NBA. Two guys who I guess I mean TJ’s 24 like he’s an older secondy year guy. Dylan Him’s 20 21. Um, but again, that’s the only rotation change. Seven of the top eight are the same. There’s actually less change now than there was last year. I mean, the only difference is Alexander Walker’s gone and his role will be filled at the moment. I’ve said this a million times. It’ll be replaced in the aggregate by Rob Dillingham, TJ Shannon, perhaps Jaylen Clark. That’s that’s kind of what what that eighthman role looks like. But nothing else has changed. And that’s only a game and a half better than where they finished last year at 49 wins, which surprises me a little. Again, like like I guess the counterpoint or the argument for the Vegas line would be for the FanDuel line would be, hey, it’s the same team. Rudiggo Bear’s a year older. Mike Connley is a year older and they didn’t get better. So, why would they why would they organically improve or or improve because of internal improvement? Well, I I would argue Ant’s going to get better. Like, we saw him improve again last year. It might be time for a little bit of a bigger leap this year. Um, this is like will actually be year two of him being like completely loaded up on. Remember, we talked about this going into the playoffs last year that the amount of times the teams blitzed and in the pick and roll was dramatically more than just the year before. The first year the Wolves went to the conference finals and lost to Dallas to to this last season that just finished. He was bliss dramatically more. Two on the ball all the time. He’s going to be better at that this year. You assume that you know Dante Danchenzo struggled for a decent portion of the year. So that’s he’s probably going to get better. Jade McDaniels probably improves. You expect probably the same from Nas Reed. And yeah, Mike Connley might get a little worse, but his role started to be um you know, paired back just a little toward the end of the year. So yeah, if you’re going to take the over, you’re going to bet on Rob Dillingham and TJ Shannon doing something positive this year. And I’m not saying I am taking the over. My my immediate re I’ll tell you what my immediate reaction is. My immediate reaction is to take the over even in the rough and tumble west. We’ll talk more about the Western in a second. And I like last year I took the over on on 52 and a2 slight over and I was wrong. Two years ago I took the over on what was it? 49 and a half or something two years ago and I was right. Uh but I thought they’d win 55 56. They ended up winning 57 games that year or sorry I thought they’d win 5455. They ended up winning 56 two years ago. So I undersshot them a little bit two years ago but was right on the overunder. And I overshot them and was wrong on the overunder last year. Um, my immediate reaction right now, this team right now against the West is currently constructed when I see this is to take a slight over again. I think this is a 52 to 53ish win team. I think that they will be better than last year. I thought last year they were worse than their or excuse me, better than their record. And now, and by the way, I talked about the Ant improvement, the Jaden improvement. But the other thing is this is year two of Julius Randle playing with Ant and playing the front court with Rudy Goar. Remember what we said two years ago after year one with Rudy when they got the eight seed they were in the playin they got the eight seed they lose to Denver they were worse than the year before they acquired Rudy and everyone’s you know some people were like a they got Rudy and they got worse and a lot of us said hey wait a minute wait till year two when Rudy and aunt are more familiar with each other Rudy’s healthy not coming off a Euro basket and what happened they won 56 games they went to the conference finals this will now be year two of Julius Randle year two of Julius Randle playing with Rudy Goar in the front court and year two of Julius Randle playing with Nas Reed in the front and year two of Julius Randle sharing an offense with Anthony Edwards and we saw the offense get progressively better throughout the year. It was a top 10 unit over the final few months of the season. Full stop. So I would argue this team improves next year. It might be slightly. They might go from 49 to 52 wins or 51 wins or whatever. But I I would take the slight over on 50 and a half right now. I reserve the right to change this before the start of the season. And I traditionally do my overunder like the day before, the day of the opening regular season game because I want to see how everything plays out in the offseason and all that stuff. But right now, my immediate reaction is a slight over on 50 and a half for Minnesota. I want to talk about some of the other win totals and and give some context to where the Wolves are. And then we’ll spend the rest of the show, basically the last segment and half talking about summer league, what to watch for here uh as the Wolves kickoff in Vegas today. It’s all upcoming here next. Today’s episode of Lockdown Wolves is brought to us by our friends at Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can’t. 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And also having everything together in one app like Monarch Money will make it easier to manage your money daytoday. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code lockedmbba for half off your first year. All right, so more win totals stuck out. I should say Minnesota’s 50 and a half. Where does that rank across the NBA? I’m glad you asked. Across the NBA, that’s sixth. There are only three Western Conference teams ahead of Minnesota. And I bet you could guess who they are in order. OKC 62 and a half, which is just a bonkers win total. Bonkers. I mean, last year Boston coming off the title was 58 and a half coming into the season. OKC this year is 62 and a half. Number two in the West is Houston at 54 and a half. Surprised me a little. And Denver at 53 and a half. Minnesota a relatively distant fourth at 50.5. Um, incidentally, the Lakers are at 48 and a half and the Clippers are 47 and a half. And I feel like there was another team that was hovering around 49 and I’m forgetting who that was in the West. Let’s see if I can find it real quick. Uh, I could be wrong. I could be crazy. It’s not Yeah. No, I’m crazy. It There’s nobody that’s hovering there. I mean, San Antonio is 43 and a half. I thought there was a chance like I mean, Memphis is 40 and a half. Golden State is 46 and a half. So, um, it really is kind of that gap. Dallas is 40 and a half. So, uh, yeah. So, it’s those two. It’s OKC, it’s Houston or those three and then Denver. A three- win gap to Minnesota at 50 and a half and then a two gap to the Lakers at 40 and a half and the Clippers at 47 and a half. I don’t really have a problem with that. Let me give you the other two in the East. The other the two in the east that are better than Minnesota are the Cavaliers at 56 1/2 and the Knicks at 52 and a2. Now Boston of course with the Tatum injury they slid all the way down to 43 and a2 which actually is a little lower than I expected still without Tatum. And then the Pacers with the Tyrese Hallebertton injury are at 38 and a half. Still a little bit lower than I would have expected there too. Although that one’s a little bit more understandable in my opinion. So I actually don’t mind this. I don’t mind. Oh, the Knicks. Yeah, I said the Knicks are 52 and a half. So, two wins ahead of Minnesota. Minnesota being sixth in the NBA makes sense to me. I that I buy that. I also buy OKC Houston and Denver being ahead of Minnesota. I’m I’m fine with that. My My gripe isn’t necessarily that the Wolves are sixth, they’re fourth in the West. It’s just that they’re 50 and a half. I think they should be in the 51 to 52 and a half range. Um I I’m okay with H like h you look at the overall landscape of the West. Houston’s obviously better. Like that’s that’s the obvious one. And they were the two seed last year. So they were really good in the regular season. And I do think they’re better built for the regular season than the playoffs still even now. But considering them to be four wins better than Minnesota, I think is a little aggressive. I like I don’t know. We talked with this on yesterday’s show. Is Kevin Durant still a top 10 player? Like the Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves all have top 10 players. Kevin Durant is very likely not a top 10 player. You I you could argue he’s 12 to 15. You could make that argument. And what’s the big difference between like Ant is better than Durant at this stage and I don’t think it’s all that close as a as a two-way player. Um, so I I wonder a little bit about the Houston thing and and at some point I’m sure Jackson from lockdown uh Houston and I will talk about this a bit in a bit more uh at a bit at a bit greater length. Denver at 53 and a half I’m okay with. I I think they’re better. I think the bench is clearly better. We’ll see what happens with Yonis Valentunis, but um and and you know surrounding Joic certainly one of the best two players in the world with a better bench and better players overall matters. I wonder a bit remember rookie head coach I think David Adam’s going to do a really good job but still rookie head coach. I don’t know. I I don’t necessarily think the west is dramatically better. I mean you look around and you say okay you know those catastrophic injuries I just mentioned are in the east even. I mean you include the lied one and the bucks. So like the east is just decimated. In the west you have the Clippers doing Clipper stuff and the Lakers with like they’ll have a bad defense. Nothing really around Luca Lebron and Austin Reeves. So like I don’t I know they signed DeAndr. Great for them. Like I don’t necessarily think the the West is obviously still much better than the East, but I don’t think it’s dramatically better which so I don’t again I I get back to what I was saying about Minnesota in the first segment. I don’t I don’t think that they’re going to be worse than last year and and I guess the win total is slightly better, but I think I think this is a a I don’t say an easy 50- win team. It’s never easy to win 50 wins, but I would I would struggle to take the under on 50 and a half for Minnesota right now given all all that information. All right, let’s transition into talking a little bit about summer league. And of course, we’ll get back to win totals later in the offseason. We’ll do final predictions. You know, that comes in September, October, but the day it comes out is always a lot of fun. summer league. What to watch for? If you missed it, just a real quick aside, last Friday, so like four shows ago, I did a full roster rundown of everybody on the summer league roster for Minnesota. So, the the actual roster guys for the Timberwolves first second year guys, the two-way player guys, the Iowa Wolves players that are on the roster, and then undrafted players and other pros on the team. So, I did that whole rundown last Friday. And then I spent some time on yesterday’s show, Wednesday’s show, the second piece of the show, second part of the show. I did like a what to watch for in summer league and I started with the four um four roster guys who were on the team last year for Minnesota. So Jaylen Clark, Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, TJ Shannon. So I talked about Rob Dillingham’s decision- making. Can he run the offense? Uh I’m more worried about that than his defense or his shot making. Like the actual shooting is we’ll see what happens in Vegas. It’s a very small, painfully small sample to take anything away statistically, right? It’s more about the feel, the decision-m for Dillingham. Again, the defense, I think the effort was there last year. It’s more about can he run the offense. He had the highest turnover rate on the Wolves last year. His usage rate was only behind Anon Rando. He had the ball in his hands a lot when he was on the floor. Can he make good decisions when he’s the focal point of the summer league team? The other thing I one of the other things I talked about yesterday was Terence Shannon Jr. in the half court with the ball in his hands and on ball defense consist consistency playing on ball defense. I want to see Jaylen Clark shooting again. Small sample. Yes. But he shot 43% on low volume last year as an NBA player, which was unexpected given how he shot the ball at UCLA. Can he continue that hot shooting in summer league? What is the comfort level, his confidence level with his stroke? And then also Leonard Biller. Can he prove to be a rotation guy? Again, can you prove that in summer league? Not really, but you can make a step in the right direction. You can show defensive intensity. You can be active on the glass. Those are the things I’m looking for from Leonard Miller. I want to give you four more things. I got four four-ish three and a half more things today about uh not guys who were on the Timberwolves last year. So, the first one I want to talk about is and this is really in no particular order. Let’s continue, I guess, the theme with somebody who was at least in a Wolves uniform at times last year or at least on the Wolves bench. Jesse Edwards. Jesse Edwards is the 25-year-old big man who played five years in college, split between Syracuse and West Virginia. He is uh like 7-1 and the archetype of Rudy Gober, right? Offensively, he’s a roll big. He’s active on the offensive glass or at least he should be and he’s a shot blocker. Um we need to get a feel for is he a viable fourth or even a fifth big at the NBA level. I mean, Minnesota, even when they were desperate last year, played Luca Garza 10, 12, 14 minutes in some of these games where Rudy was out, Rand andor Nas was out, and they Jesse Edwards didn’t see a minute of non-garbage time playing time as a two-way guy last season, but yet at the moment, they’re at least planning to bring him back. Can he show? And Summer League’s its own beast in terms of pace of play. Um, turnovers all over the place. like you get this weird combination of um of guys who are just athletic and G-League guys that are trying to make it into the league and you get these kind of four-year college guys that that are the opposite, right? That are these kind of um they’re they’re here because they know how to play and teams just want these glue guys. And so you get this weird kind of mix of players and and the ball’s flying all over the place. And can Jesse Edwards fit in a good way? What’s the mobility look like in pick and roll defense? What’s his motor, especially on the glass? Like, is he playing hard? Can he Can you hang your hat on a skill and a half or two skills that you’re like, “Okay, Jesse Edwards could be a fourth big at the NBA level.” Cuz if not, I I like I don’t know other than having a body in practice that could replicate stuff that Rudy and other bigs can do. I don’t know what the point is if if they’re not going to trust him to the level of of playing the quote unquote Luca Garzo. He’s a very different player than Luca Garza, but to play that role as a as a deep backup big, I that’s a real question. Um, and and I don’t know that we’ll get like a full answer here at Summer League. Again, this is a at max six games, I think, like a five to six game sample, but what’s what’s the field look like? Has he improved since last year? He’s very stiff last year in Summer League and and in the brief moments he played, I guess, with the Iowa Wolves, too. I would describe him as stiff, not super mobile. Like, what’s that look like now? Uh, and can he hold his own as a deep bench big at the NBA level? I think that’s an important question for him to try and answer. I’ve got two and a half more things that I want to cover about non-roster guys, names to know, and what to watch for for three players. We we’ll just say it that way. There’s three guys that I have specific skills that I want you to watch for here as we get into Las Vegas summer league. We’ll do that here next to close the show. All right, couple more things. I think there’s two players to watch out for that might have a shot at pushing for a two-way spot. Probably not an actual roster spot, but could they then push somebody? Like I don’t think Jesse Edwards is getting a roster spot, but if they if he plays really well and like one of these other two guys plays really well, could one of them grab a two-way spot or Minnesota as of right now, uh rookie? By the way, I I should mention that Roco Zakarsski, second round pick out Australia did officially sign his two-way deal. The trade was announced the other day. The two-way deal was assigned or announced, I should say, on Wednesday. So, it’s Zakarsski and it’s Jesse Edwards on two-way deals. They have one open. They reportedly had extended the qualifying offer. for the to a restricted two-way free agent Tristan Newton who is on this roster. So, he’s obviously someone to look out for. It’s easy to resend that. It’s easy to wave a guy who’s on a two-way. So, there there’s some stuff that can happen there. So, I say all this. Could one of these guys I’m about to mention beat out Tristan Newton for the third two-way spot? Could somebody else get elevated to a standard contract? A Tristan Newton, a Jesse Edwards, or maybe even one of these guys? or might they wave somebody like a Tristan Newton or or I guess in this case a Jesse Edwards or whatever to let one of these guys onto the roster. The two guys I want to talk about are Amari Bailey and Jamal Kane. Amari Bailey is the tough kind of little bit undersized hard-nosed guard out of UCLA. Um he’s somebody who was kind of like a borderline draft pick type guy anyway and played with Jaylen Clark again at UCLA. He’s only 6’4 with a 67 wingspan. He’s not really a natural point guard. He’s more of a natural shooting guard, but um the shooting is is a little bit spotty. So, what does he do well? Well, again, he’s tough. He’s got a good first step, really good footwork, really physical, great around the rim, can score in the paint, can get past guys and score. Uh but again, at 6’4 with a 67 wingspan, unless you’re a lights out shooter or a really good playmaker, it’s tough to make a living if you’re not really good at at least one of those two things. and he had moments as a shooter. Um maybe less so as a passer and a playmaker, but given the modest size, he’s not a good enough passer to be a point guard. He’s not a good enough shooter to be a full-time shooting guard, but he does all these other things really well and kind of has a nose for scoring. So, there’s some value in having and by the way, he did he was a second round pick. Um I said he he was talked about as a possible first round pick a couple years ago. Second round pick by Charlotte. uh has, you know, bounced around here the last year or so and I think he ends up with the Iowa Wolves if he if he doesn’t if the Wolves don’t end up keeping him. Um I mean, he played with the Owl Wolves last year, so that that could be where he ends back up. But I think there’s an opportunity for him to show like, hey, I’ve improved the shooting skill or I’ve learned how to be a little bit of a better passer. There there is actually some similarity there to Jaylen Clark, although I think he’s he’s not as good defensively obviously, but I think he’s more developed offensively. Did I say off? I meant to say I I meant to say he’s not as good defensively. I think I did say that as Jaylen Clark, but he’s tougher. Not tougher, he’s better overall, better well more well-rounded offensively than Jaylen Clark. There are actually some similarities there. They already have Jaylen Clark. They don’t also need Amari Bailey, but he’s a name to look out for. I I think he’s going to to do well in summer league. I think he’s going to score a little bit and maybe stand out. I could see him, this is a bit of a prediction, I guess. I could see Amari Bailey if he gets the minutes leading this team in scoring. And I don’t know, the rotation is always like weird. Like maybe Dillingham plays the first two games and doesn’t play in game three or whatever. Um, depending on what how the timing or the how the the minutes get split up, I could see Amari Bailey having a pretty big scoring role. The other guy I mentioned as pushing potentially for a roster spot or two spot would be Jamal Kane. Jamal Kane has seen NBA time with uh Miami and New Orleans. I believe he’s the one who’s a bit of a jack of all trades. He’s got good size. He’s a he’s a a a wing forward type guy. Um a good athlete. Can shoot the ball a little bit as well. Nothing really stands out as incredible. He’s 67 and a half with a with a wingspan of a little over 69 69 and a half. Everything he does basically is is good. I would say the defense is maybe a shade below where you want it to be as as like an a quote unquote average defender, but nothing is really great other than his length and his size. Can handle the ball a little bit, can shoot a little bit, can score a little bit, rebounds actually really well for his position and size. Um, again, okay defensively. He’s just not great at anything. But given the size and the fact that he can do everything a little bit, could there be an NBA role for him? think of like he’s not this player, but a guy who I remember that was like this is Otheus Jeffers. Remember him? Um bounced around with the Spurs a little bit with the Wolves back in the Tibs days or was it Adelman days? I don’t know. It was a while back. I thought he had a shot like and he did play in the NBA obviously. I guess so was Jamal Kane. That type of a player where like jack of all trade, master of none. There’s value to having that guy as a depth piece especially look at a Wolves roster that with no Keille and everybody getting bumped up a rung. You know, you look at this depth chart and it could get a little hairy there on the wing depending on your thoughts on aging Joe Engles and, you know, how how the rest of this thing all all breaks out. Um, he’s somebody who could at least give you professional minutes. And so, the Wolves have not stashed a guy that way on a two-way the last couple years because they don’t need to. They’re a contending team that that the roster 1 through 15 should be good enough. You don’t need to rely on a two-way guy. But if they decide to go that route with somebody who’s relatively young, I think Jamal Kane would be a worthy possibility there. So, younger guy who has stuff to develop and is a good defender and a a good score in, you know, tough-nose scorer, Amari Bailey or Jack of all trades, Master of None, little bit more experience than Jabal Kane. I like both those guys. Keep an eye on both of them. Last one would be Bob Baba Carain. Um, he is a he’s only 21. He’s been playing professionally for basically four years. I think he’ll stick with the Iowa Wolves. I’m just curious if he gets run and I want to see him play. I don’t think he’s got a real shot at making like a two-way or anything like that. He’s got raw talent, length, uh athleticism, really a good defender, just needs more reps. Uh overall, um 6’8 with a wingspan that’s over 72. Great athlete. Again, really good defense. There’s not a whole lot of offense. He’s not doing anything off the dribble. is not really shooting the basketball well, but I think he’s an intriguing prospect still that Minnesota obviously feels the same way considering that they brought him to the Iowa Wolves last year. He’s played with the G- League Elite. He’s from Sagal originally um and bounced around a bit in the G- League here state side, but I think there’s a lot to like there about Babakar Sain. I feels like he’s the sort of guy who they wanted to see him in in camp, summer league camp throughout the week and and maybe he doesn’t get a whole lot of run in Vegas. This is, by the way, a rare year for Minnesota. There’s actually several guys to watch like like legit roster guys. We’ve rattled them all off, but um you know the the the draft picks from the last two years and then the two-way guys like it’s like eight like basically the rotation is going to be guys that will be in Wolves uniforms on their bench at least maybe in street clothes but on the bench for the Wolves uh in the fall and it’s been a little while since we’ve seen that. I mean, last year Dillingham and TJ Shannon, sure, but usually it’s like, you know, second round guys a year or two later, like what do they work on this summer? And these are all dudes that like Rob Dillingham, TJ Shannon are fighting for rotation spots this year. And obviously, there’s a lot of intrigue with Jean Bar and uh and Roco Zakarsski, the two draft picks for this year. So, there’s so much to watch. They play this afternoon at 1:30 and uh I’m going to do the regular show here uh on Friday and 1:30 2:30 2:30 this afternoon central time on ESPN 2 and I will have the regular Friday show. We’ll do basically a postgame pod like I do during the season to talk about Wolves Pelicans game one of summer league and then they play again Saturday night. I will have a show for you. It’ll probably post Sunday evening, maybe first thing Monday. Uh we’re going to talk to our guy Andrew Dukowitz uh over at zone coverage and the Daily Wolves. Um he’s going to be on site in Vegas. So we’ll talk to him after the first two games. So it’ll be a bit of a postgame pod from Sunday, but also kind of like a what happened over the weekend for Monday’s show and then we’ll get you ready on Tuesday, what to watch for for the next game. So they get Sunday and Monday off before Tuesday afternoon they play Detroit. So a lot to unpack here. So you get me Friday with the postgame pod, myself and Andrew on Monday. Um, as we uh we enjoy some Las Vegas summer league basketball here together. Uh, a reminder the show is still daily every day of the week, Monday through Friday throughout the month of July. Big thank you for making Lockdown Wolves your first listen every day. Of course, this show is free and available everywhere. That includes YouTube as well as all of your favorite audio platforms. Wherever you like to listen to podcasts, you can find Lockdown Wolves. You can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV. A reminder that for your second listen, you can find the Lockdown NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Of course, the Lockdown Wolves podcast is also part of that very same Lockdown Podcast Network. Remember, the Lockdown Network is your local experts on all the biggest stories. Once again, I’m Ben Beacon. This is the Lockdown Wolves podcast and we’ll catch you next time.

FanDuel win totals are out! Why is the Minnesota Timberwolves’ number lower than last year’s and barely higher than where they finished following a disappointing regular season? Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) explores where they stand compared to other team win totals around the NBA, plus a second edition of What to Watch For in Las Vegas Summer League, this time considering the non-roster players that the Wolves’ entry will have on the floor.

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