Did Durant Almost End Up in Minnesota? | Are Wolves Threat to Rockets? | T-Wolves Insider Joins Us!

Did Durant Almost End Up in Minnesota? | Are Wolves Threat to Rockets? | T-Wolves Insider Joins Us!

Welcome to Houston Sports Talk with your host, Robert Land. Thanks for checking into the best Houston Sports Podcast, part of the National Believe Network, presented by FanDuel. Great to have FanDuel aboard. And joining me to look at a key Rockets competitor out west is Gabe Anderson who hosts Running with the Timberwolves in our Believe Network. And it’s great to have you, Gabe. Can we get a thank you for wearing out Steph Curry’s hamstring for you guys? Yeah. No, we we really do appreciate it. It was looking pretty bleak in game one, but I mean that completely changed that changed that series to a monumental degree and that series wasn’t the same after Steph Curry went down. But yeah, thanks for going seven with him. We appreciate it. Absolutely. Uh wish we could have pulled that one out and played you guys in the second round. we got, you know, actually I was rooting for that. That’s what I want. A the two reasons. One, Curry always scares me. That that was the first thing. The second thing, I just think that would have been a fun matchup between two young upand cominging teams. I I was really hoping for I think that series goes kind of like your first round series. I think that goes six or seven for sure. Yeah, I was going to say we’re gonna we’re going to talk about the potential uh T-Wolves versus Rocket stuff and and just a little bit later in the show, but I know you guys the fan base there has got to be excited about finally getting rid of Glenn Taylor. Bad ownership just kills you. And what does this mean for the fans of the Wolves right now? Well, first let me let me give Glenn Taylor his due. He did a couple things here in Minnesota. one, he kept the team in Minnesota. That was big. He had a opportunity in the ‘9s to sell the team and move it when the NBA wanted to. He didn’t do that. Two, and maybe this isn’t really about the T- Wolves here, but he did help facilitate a great team in the Lynx who dominated the 2000s or the 2010s in the WNBA. Those are the two things he did do. what he didn’t do the Joe Smith thing hiring David Khan. Oh man, where do we begin? Not building around Kevin Garnett. And the other thing that I will say that he did do is he was willing at least initially to kind of mentor A-Rod and Lori. remember they they they signed the deal in 2022 and the deal was we we’ll kind of we we’ll kind of be part owners for a little and teach you kind of how to do this. But then obviously it turned sour. Uh he wanted to go back on the deal when he realized that the deal was worth way more to him. And so that will definitely spoil Wolves fans opinion of him. They couldn’t wait for him to go. But yes, we’re we are super excited for A-Rod and Lori. Fresh fresh blood in the owner’s box. Big ideas. The hiring of Tim Connelly was huge. All he’s done since he’s been here is just go for it. He went for it with Rudy Goar. He went for it with Carl trading Carl Anthony Towns. I mean, it’s crazy the big moves that Tim Connelly has done since coming here from the Nuggets. So, no, we we’re excited. We could have a new arena that’s really needed here. I mean, they did some renovations to Target Center, but it’s We really do need a new arena here soon. So, they’re bringing back jerseys that that Wolves fans love. They’re bringing back the Prince jerseys and the Black Tree jerseys. I mean, people are excited here in Minnesota to finally get rid of Glenn Taylor. It it just feels like a a fresh new start for this team that struggled for so long. Yeah, you and I were talking before we started about my friend that works up there and does a lot of stuff for the sports teams and you know, he said uh yeah, there’s a an element of cheapness to David Khan that a lot of fans might still not have an understanding from, but he knows from doing stuff behind the scenes and you mentioned, you know, somebody like David Khan and that hiring and I’ll just never forget even at the time I was looking at the draft and I was like, “Wait a second, you guys drafted Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn before Steph Curry. What? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Ricky Rubio, I almost understand because I mean, he was supposed to be this one of a kind talent, but the Johnny Flynn one still scratches heads to this day. In fact, there’s something going around Twitter that what’s a moment that Wolves fans know with no context, the picture of the draft board of Rubio and then Flynn and then Curry is going around like wildfire. So yeah, I mean that was a huge mistake. So many mistakes along the way and like you said, fresh blood in Minnesota is always a good thing. What did you hear about the potential Durant trade to Minnesota? What was the offer to the Suns and would the Suns have taken Minnesota’s offer if the Wolves were willing to roll the dice on KD not resigning beyond this year? Well, here’s the thing. I think that it was all the Suns that didn’t make this happen. From what I hear, they were ready to trade Rudy Dante and then either Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr. to be honest with you, I would rather have Terrence Shannon Jr. at this point than Dillingham, which we’ll get into. I have some worries about Dillingham, but from what I understand, Durant a didn’t want to be here. didn’t think that the team would, like you were mentioning, give him a extended contract, which you guys did. Even though it’s been very clear from last year’s playoffs and reading Ants Autobiography and and all the stuff around him, KD is his hero. Like KD is the guy that he grew up watching and emulating his game around. So, it felt like a perfect fit. I just think that at the end of the day, Durant didn’t want to be here. didn’t want to. I think be in a cold climate, as weird as that sounds, for an NBA player who can on a second fly in a private jet to Miami. I I think he wanted somewhere else to go and I I I just don’t think that it was the right fit for him. And honestly, I I’m happy that you guys got him, but I don’t want a player who doesn’t want to be here, particularly an old player on the way out uh on the tail end of his career. And yeah, I I just I I think it I think it didn’t work out. By the terms of the trade, you were good with getting KD. The fan base was good. They were excited about that. There were some people had reservations. I mean, Rudy Gobear like is also on the tail end. So, they didn’t mind giving up Rudy, particularly we when we have Nas Reed in the reigns. I think that overall, yes, the the team was ready. They were excited to have a Randall Edwards Durant team. I I think it was the moves like we were mentioning with uh Glenn Taylor, the moves that Glenn Taylor didn’t make back in the day. It was almost like, okay, now we’re going to make the moves now to bring in a generational talent in Kevin Durant. So, yes, I think I think fans were definitely willing, particularly didn’t have to give up Nas Reed. Dante Devanchenzo struggled greatly last season, particularly in the playoffs. So, yes, I think fans were ready to welcome in KD. Was there anything the Wolves did or didn’t do against OKC that frustrated you or had the fan base a little peeved? And we talked about this actually on last podcast, me and my co-host Chris Emerson, but last year we went into the Western Conference Finals against Dallas and we felt like, hey, we got a shot at this and the first two games were super close. We really could have gone either way. We had leads late in the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t finish. I think we went into this one, particularly with the Curry injury, thinking, “Oh man, I I don’t know. like we’re going to give them a fight, but I OKC like what the Celtics were the year before just a dominant team and they really showed that. What we could have done differently I think is just come out of halftime better in the third quarter in games 1 and two. The Wolves were outscored 67-39 in the third quarter. Game four in Minnesota we really had to have uh but we just couldn’t get it done. Too much Shay, too much Jaylen Williams, too much Chad Homegrren and the supporting cast. If we had a shot to beat OKC, you can’t shoot 33% from three. So I that’s that that’s what really was our downfall, not taking care of the third quarter and then not shooting, which honestly if you look at the stats, we didn’t shoot well from three basically the entire playoffs. We had stretches where we did, but overall not too great. Now, if you look at the Western Conference Championship odds right now, our friends at FanDuel have OKC as the big favorite. No surprise, plus 140. But after that is where it gets interesting, and this is what I want to hit you with. The Rockets and Nuggets tied at plus 500. The Lakers and Wolves next tied at plus 1,000. Do you agree with where they have the Rockets, Nuggets, Lakers, and Timberwolves right now? Yeah, because honestly, I think it’s a crapshoot of who’s who’s going to take what. I mean, you look at the Wolves last year, they are one game out of the plan, right? Like they were the six seed. If they lose, for example, talking about the OKC Thunder, we had a game earlier this year against OKC where we came back from 25 points down in the fourth quarter. if that something crazy doesn’t happen and we don’t do that, we’re in the playin and we’re scrapping to even play OKC in the first round. So, that’s the thing. It’s so hard to quantify who’s going to step out on top when injuries happen. There’s a lot of old players. You got LeBron who’s old, Curry who’s old, uh e even like you’re mentioning Durant who’s old as well. So, I mean the Wolves could be a three seed next year. here. They could be the seven seed. The Rockets could be a three seed. They could be a seven seed. The West is crazy. Like, it’s the most crazy I have ever seen a conference. If the Wolves were in the East, yes, absolutely. Top four seed. Easy. Easy. Although, we did struggle against Eastern Conference teams for some reason, and we have for the last couple years. But, man, I I think it could go either way. I I like you’re mentioning, I do think OKC is in a tier above everybody. Now, that can go the wrong way as well. Like we saw with Boston last year, everyone thought, okay, Boston’s going to win the next two or three. They get some injuries. It doesn’t go their way. They have to blow up the whole team. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen with OKC. But I do think right now they’re on a tier above everybody in the West. I’m trying to figure out where I would actually put my money if I was betting on FanDuel. I I wouldn’t go homer on the Rockets. Uh if I’m throwing down best, I would put a couple bucks best value on the Nuggets. While I believe in OKC, of course there’s not much value there. So the Nuggets to me are the one team that makes the most sense. Oh, definitely. Yeah, the Nuggets the Nuggets to their credit got a lot better this off season to to their credit. And I mean, it sounds like I’ve heard that once Jokicage is done with his current contract, he may just retire. So they’re they’re seeing that the the onus is on them to win now. So they did they had a great off season. There’s so many teams that were aggressive and tried to get better this off season. So like like I said, any of these teams could be the three seed, two seed, any of these teams could be the eight seed. So, it’s going to be a crazy Western Conference once again. Like I said earlier, we’re going to hit on the Rockets T-Wolves matchup. But before we do, how do you listeners feel about where the Timberwolves fit in the West? Let me know in the YouTube comments and where the Rockets fit in the West for that matter. Look for our YouTube shorts, too. I’m posting shorts constantly. So, if you need a quick break at work, check them out. And hey, did you miss yesterday’s Texans training camp breakdown with Jacob Barzilla? Tap on that. Jacob’s doing a hell of a job covering the Texans. Don’t forget that the Texans play Saturday. I’m once again doing live postgame shows. We’re planning going live at 900 PM game days this season. So, if you’re hanging with friends or at the game now, you can check in to our live chat that night. So, if you miss the live chat, of course, you can also uh check us out in the record, but uh make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube with notifications so you get those updates on the postgame shows. You also want to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. All right, Gabe. Julius Randle signs for three years, $100 million. Did you like the Randall contract? You know, I think he earned it in the first two rounds of the playoffs, to be honest with you. He was great. He was fantastic. Now, obviously, there’s always going to be the asterisk, what if Curry was in the series. But as far as what Randall did in those first two rounds, he was everything we wanted him to be. Now, he came in in such a tough spot at the beginning of the season, traded to Minnesota 2 days into training camp. This this goes for Dante Devenenzo as well, but obviously not as much usage with him, but he has to come in and replace basically the face of the franchise for the last 10 years on a moment’s notice. He struggled early. He got hurt, I believe, in January. he got hurt and he said that he was able to really take a deep breath, look from afar and see how he fits with this team and since he came back he was fantastic. I know Julius is going to be 31 but you know two years with a player option feels about right for Julius Randall. And the other thing is, compare it to what we would have had to pay Cat. Like, and don’t get me wrong, this is not Cat slandering. Cat was great. Cat’s a great offensive player. Like, he he’s all NBA and allstar for a reason. But when you compare the things that we can do with that money for Julius Randle compared to Cats, there there’s a lot of things we can do. And another thing, if Julius Randle doesn’t like pan out in Minnesota, let’s say he has a bad second year, very tradable contract, I think, very tradable contract to do something else because what the Wolves have right now is a generational talent in Anthony Edwards that we haven’t had in years e in years. And he’s just going into his prime. In fact, today is his 24th birthday. So, happy birthday, Anthony Edwards. So, I mean, if it doesn’t work out with Randall, I feel like it’s a very tradable contract. It’s not like a max contract. It’s about on par when you look at it with the extension he signed with the New York Knicks. And so, yeah, I’m I’m all for it. I think we had a great start to free agency when we found out that uh Randall was coming back. The other big contract you guys signed, Nas Reed, five years, 125 million. What was the price for Nas too high, too low, or just right? Let let me start out by saying if you want to know something about Minnesota sports, Nas Reed may be the most popular player. It I I’m not talking about in in the Timberwolves organization. He may be the most popular player at times in Minnesota. So that would have been there would have been a national day of morning. Our governor Tim Walls would have probably uh issued a Day of Morning if Nas Reed signed with a different team. But you mentioned it, five years for 125. You know, I think that seems about right. I do think that he could have gotten more on the open market. Maybe not a lot more, but slightly more. It’s interesting because he made comments, and maybe this is these were passing comments. Maybe they got overblown, but he made comments saying that he would like to be a starter in the NBA. So that’s why we thought he was on the outs. That’s why we thought he wasn’t going to resign with Minnesota because obviously Rudy Gobear there. Honestly, after those comments and what I’ve seen in Rudy’s contract, there’s a chance that Rudy Gobear may be out the door at some point, it seemed like maybe he served his purpose and now he could be on the outs. I don’t know for sure, but it’s it’s definitely possible. But yeah, I I’m on board with Nas Reed. Kind of like your guy with the with the Rockets. Fred Van Fleet worked himself out from being an undrafted uh basically summer league player to now being one of the best sixmen in the entire league. So I I’m happy Nas is here for five more years. Hopefully it was a good contract. He’s an interesting mix of where he can actually if you watch him to to quote a or to bring up a Houston great there’s a little Keem Elijahan in his game. If you really watch Nas Reed he does a dream shake here and there. He puts up some hook shots and I’m like there’s no way that’s going in and it goes in at a pretty frequent rate. He he on offense he’s almost like 80% of what Carl Anthony Towns is for almost half the price. So yes, I’m I’m happy with both contracts. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting because the Rockets signed Jabari for almost an identical deal that Nas was signed for and be interesting in a couple years just to see which one of those contracts looks better. Uh, right. Yeah. Yeah, it will be. I I liked I like a lot of your young talent. I know you had to get rid of some in the Kevin Durant trade, but yeah. No, I Houston definitely an up and cominging team that that I I love watching. Is the loss of Alexander Walker a big deal or a little overblown? Nquille is another one of those players. He was a throwin in the Mike Connley trade. Basically just a salary filler. Like we didn’t know who he was. The headline was, “Oh, DLO’s gone and we’re bringing in Mike Connley, and there’s this guy named Aquil Alexander Walker.” When we first got him, we didn’t even know if he’d crack the rotation much. But he rebuilt his career here in Minnesota. He’s become a fan favorite. He’s one of the, if you listen to his postgame pressers, one of the most affluent and wellspoken players in the entire NBA. I think there’s either broadcasting or coaching in his career after NBA career if he wants it. But I think the Wolves, as sad as they are to see him go, I think they’re confident in Terence Shannon Jr. who looked awesome in summer league in only three games and Jaylen Clark are enough to fill that eight9 spot. I think they’re happy with that. I think they’ve seen enough out of Terrence Shannon Jr. I mean, you got to remember, although Terrence Shannon was a rookie last year, I mean, he’s older than Anthony Edwards, so he’s ready to go. Jaylen Clark is an absolute pest, which fits in with the Wolves DNA where defensive first. And I think initially there could be some growing pains where Terrence Shannon and Jaylen try to find their way into the lineup, but I I think overall the Wolves were okay with letting him go. And I I’m happy for Nquille Alexander Walker turning his career around in Minnesota. I think he’s going to do great things. He’s going to fit in perfect with the new defensive minded Atlanta Hawks. Dyson, he’ll play great next to Dyson Daniels as well. So yeah, it’s a loss, but I don’t think it’s a huge one for the Wolves. What’s Minnesota’s biggest weakness at this point after all the offseason moves? Oh, easy. This is this is honestly the move they haven’t made yet, which I actually made a video on the channel. The move they haven’t made yet is address the point guard issue and that is where we’re weak. Now, it’s hard saying that we’re weak at point guard when you have Mike Connley who everyone respects. He’s like the pros pro, never got a technical grit and grind Grizzlies, but it’s an old Mike Connley. He’s the fifth oldest player on the league. He’s on the way out. We know it. He knows it. That’s why he was so disappointed that the Wolves weren’t able to at least make it to the finals last year. Uh the a lot of a lot around the mic uh the locker room a lot of players were saying do it for Mike. They were saying that postgame pressers as well. And then like I mentioned earlier with Rob Dillingham, to me, and maybe he has to some fans, but I get the feeling that Rob Dillingham hasn’t done enough, whether it is his own faults for turning the ball over or not being able to finish at the rim. Whether it’s his own fault or it’s the fault of his situation where he got drafted in the lottery, but to a team that drafted up, so to a winning team, a contending team. I don’t think coach Finch trusts him yet. And he showed some of the same attributes in summer league where man, I don’t know if you can give the reigns to Rob Dillingham 20 plus minutes a night. And then it’s in it’ll be interesting to see does that mean more Devenzo at point guard which he doesn’t prefer to play or do you give Shannon those minutes even though he would be a bigger point guard now obviously positionless basketball in today’s NBA but I still think like I mentioned with the Rudy Gobear contract there may be something in the works with Malcolm Brogden’s out there Gary Payton I’s out there even Russell Westbrook’s still a possibility which scares me a little bit, but we’ll we’ll we’ll see if anything like that happens. I don’t know if the roster is set in stone at point guard yet, but if we had a weakness, it would definitely be at at the one right now. Yeah, should be extremely interesting because the teammates uh Dillingham and Reed Shepard at Kentucky, it’s a big year for both of those guys. So yeah, it should be interesting and both of them need to do a little bit more of their second year and show that they can stay on the court defensively. It seems like they they mirror each other in a lot of ways. Both of them great offensively on paper or on, you know, on virtual video game sets, I guess, or something. But like you were mentioning, Dillingham, he seems like a very street ball kind of player, which is a bad way to put it, but he’s definitely elusive. He’s got all the handles in the world. The the question is, can he turn into turn into a decent defender who doesn’t get bodied down low, which will be tough because of his size, and can he take some Chris Paul attributes where he can hit a mid-range shot or kind of facilitate the offense. I’m not saying he’s going to be Chris Paul, but some of those attributes. The Timberwolves won two of three versus the Rockets this past year. Now, the Rockets got their one win in that inseason tournament. So, maybe that counts as two wins. I don’t know. According to Adam Silver, maybe it does. That was one of my favorite games of the season, actually, because that was fun. That was it had a had a kind of a playoff feel. The Rockets uh the one Rockets game I did attend this year was the Timberwolves one-point win when the Rockets blew a 12-point lead in the final three minutes. Ant hit that ridiculous falling away three-pointer to win it. uh these two teams they felt pretty even. Gabe, how do you see the matchup overall and after the Kevin Durant deal? Like you were mentioning, I think it comes down a lot to Kevin Durant in his health at his age. Like like don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Kevin Durant is some geriatric player. Like I I’m not saying that he’s over the hill. I mean, if you look at his numbers, still fan, and I’m sure you’ve gone into it in your show, still like 50% from the field, 40% from three, still a super just efficient player, which I was going to actually mention with Randall, he’s actually super efficient as well. Maybe not to that extent, but I think these teams mirror each other a lot. I mean, you got unproven backup point guards, Dillingham and Reed, and maybe not their own fault. Maybe just where what the teams they were drafted to. Both have all world perimeter defenders, Aean Thompson and Jane McDaniels. I love Alfred Shingun. I He’s one actually one of my favorite players to watch. I think he’s a almost kind of like Rudy. I’m not comparing their post games, but very awkward player to watch. kind of a bang in the post kind of player. Not necessarily the blueprint for a NBA center today, but I I do love watching him play. I do know there were a couple games where Jaylen Green played very well against us. really got hot against us and I know he struggled in the playoffs which was probably one of the reasons that you guys were ready to get rid of him for KD but I think it would be a very interesting matchup. I think the question is when KD’s out of the game or Fred’s out of the game or even Sagon’s out of the game your second unit who’s who’s scoring for your guys cuz I don’t think it’s Josh or Kogi. I I mean you’re you’re not going to go post up Stephen Adams. He’s more of a facilitator. So I I think it actually questions for us as well. We don’t have a lot of guys particularly with Nquille gone who can attack the rim off the bench at least. So I think like like I kind of said earlier, I think if we match up in the playoffs, I think it goes six or seven. Couple matchups, a couple bad bounces will decide the series. And I thought that last year as well. And like I mentioned, I think a lot of it has to do with Katie’s health. I I think you guys definitely struggled having a guy who can close games, and Katie might be that guy for you. We’ll just have to find out. I I got to see it in action for for the Rockets this season. Yeah, one of the guys that I think really loves seeing Rudy go Shenon. I feel like he gets up for that matchup. And so that’s helpful for the Rockets. You know, we talked about the game that they blew the 12-point lead. if you have Kevin Durant to make the big shots. And I was at the game, like I said, watching Jaylen Green turn the ball over late in the game and doing other things that were not super helpful for winning that particular game. You know, I I think KD really flips the series between these two teams in a lot of ways, you know, like I think he’s going to do with other matchups as well as long as he can stay healthy. Yeah. The the other thing about this matchup that’s, you know, I feel really interesting is, you know, I just I love Chris Finch as a coach and Udoka and if they played in the playoffs, the chess match between those two guys. Oh, yeah. It’d be real interesting. It would. It would be a fun matchup. And Chris Finch, I think, has learned a lot. Like, for example, his first playoff series against Memphis, people dogged him time and time again for game three. I was actually at this game. Game three, Memphis goes on this huge run and Chris Finch doesn’t take a timeout. Doesn’t stem the tide at all. And I think he’s learned how to do that. Like for example, against OKC, the game three that we actually won in Minnesota, the Wolves were up something like, I don’t know, 20 25 at half. OKC comes back after halftime, cuts it to 21, and he senses, “Okay, I need to take a timeout here. I need to stem this tide.” Wolves come out go on like a 100 run put the game away. So like you mentioning the the chess pieces at play would be very interesting in that series. I like Udoka as well. I I think he’s a great coach and yeah I I think it would be a fun playoff series if we saw you guys in the first round, second round or maybe even the Western Conference Finals. Who knows? Big picture for the Wolves. FanDuel has them with a 49 and a half win total. Okay. What do you think about the number and do you bet the over or under? Man, it’s hard in like I was mentioning earlier in the Western Conference, it’s so hard to determine who’s going to go where. I would bet slightly over. I I know I know they had 49 wins last year. I know that. And I know that a lot of Western Conference teams got better, but I just got a feeling that given a whole off season of connectivity, given a playoff run where you blow past the Lakers, blow past the Warriors, I just got a feeling that I I’d say 51 or 52, so just slightly over. I would have them 456 is where I would put the Wolves in the Western Conference. But like I was mentioning, it could they could be eight, they could be three, they could be two with the Western Conference with Spurs getting better, so many teams in the mix right now. But I I think the Wolves with their experience and Anthony Edwards going into his prime. I I got them slightly over. If anybody wants to see the Rockets overunder, go check FanDuel. Go to the website. You can find all the overunders there. They’re all out right now, of course. And uh you know, one of the things that’s um super interesting about this matchup is the connection between the Rockets and Timberwolves over the years. 42 guys, according to my math, have played for both the Rockets and the Wolves. Actually, it’s just basketball references math. I’m too lazy to do that. But, uh my personal favorite of the guys that have played on both teams, Sam Cassell, I I know he was beloved with the Timberwolves. the Rockets won two rings with him. There’s also Gerald Green who occasionally does Rockets television on their studio crew. But your longtime TV analyst, Gabe, was one of my favorite teams on the Rockets. The 86 Rockets Finals team had big man Jim Peterson. Oh yeah. And uh if Rockets fans don’t know, Peterson is a Minneapolis native. He played for the Golden Gophers. So, all the connections back there, which is why he’s back there. So, the Twin City native played with the Twin Towers. So, you have that little uh fun fact and trivia question for you, Gabe. Do you know Peterson’s nickname from back then? Oh gosh, I’m trying to I’m sure he said it on the broadcast. I’m almost positive. Was it like the big something? Was it like big blank or No. Well, the the hint is uh Twin Towers. Uh that’s who he played with. He was the answer. The Ivory Tower. The Ivory Tower. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Like I said, I’m sure they mentioned that on the broadcast at some point. By the way, Jim Pete, fantastic color commentator. I know Michael Grady is taking a little bit of a step back from the Wolves this year to do Prime and I think he’s even on NBC as well or ESPN or one of them. But yeah, one of I got to be honest, one of the best color commentators in the entire league. He does an awesome job breaking down every He knows the Wolves better than almost anyone in Minnesota. So yeah, Jim Jim Pete, we we love having him. He’s been here for years. He also does stuff. Used to be the Lynx assistant coach, I believe, as well. So, I mean, he’s all Minnesota. He’s all Minnesota Timberwolves here. So, we we love him here. Yeah. I’d love to talk to Peterson about the Twin Towers one day. And if the listeners go in our YouTube library, they’re going to hear my conversation years ago with Peterson’s teammate, Robert Reid. If you’re wondering about the demise of the Twin Towers, just listen to this clip of Reed explaining what happened to Ralph, starting with his injury in the 86 finals against Boston. If we would have had the sports medicine that these young men players have today, Ralph would have been a a factor, a tremendous career. And definitely he, you know, he got into the uh collegiate hall of fame. But you remember that a horrible fall he had at the garden and find out that part of his hip, just that left side or the right was an inch off. Then the next year his knees did off because of that hip. So now he got the inch off the hip. His left knee is halfway gone. Then the third year comes the right leg. So So no, Ralph was never fully healed to be the player that as rookie a year that he was his first year. That was a Ralph Stance that everybody knew was supposed to be there 12, 15, maybe 17 years in NBA and be one of the top leading scorers. Great stuff. Love Bobby Joe. The rest of that interview is on our Rockets history playlist in a Robert Reed tribute that we did last year after we lost him. It’s sad that we’ve already lost five guys from Jim Peterson’s 86 team. One of the five is another Wolves Rockets connection. Gabe Minnesota first overall pick. Andrew Wiggins dad Mitchell was one of the guys on that team as well. Okay. Okay. Very cool. Yeah, we uh had a complicated history with Andrew Wiggins, but I mean Yeah. No, that that’s awesome. Yeah. the Rockets with Elijahan and Sal Samson. Definitely interested to go back and and uh and see their history. Any final thoughts on the Timberwolves or just uh your thoughts on the on the Rockets as we go into next season and how this West looks? Like like I like I was mentioning before, the West is crazy. It’s insane. Like we almost we did an episode a couple weeks ago about should the Wolves want to go to the wet the Eastern Conference and the answer is yes at least for now they if if expansion happens but I mean it’s going to be f it’s going to be a dog fight and that that’s what you want in the regular season is not meaningless games towards the end. You you want games that matter towards the end. It’s going to be interesting to see how Kevin Durant works out for you guys. I think it’s going to work out great. I just think it was a bad mix of players in Phoenix and almost a rush job to try to win a championship with new ownership coming in. And then the Wolves, I mean, we’re just we’re we’re loving it right now. We we are so happy to be relevant. I know if we did this interview 10 years ago, I’d be talking like, oh man, well, Zack Lavine could be something or we we might win 30 games next year. We’re hoping for that. But it’s just so fun to be relevant. It’s so fun to be go to two straight Western Conference Finals. And I just want to thank you for having me on. And so you can get a little bit of a snapshot of what’s going on here in uh in in Minneapolis. Well, a couple of things. I have some Rudy interest because like I said, a friend of mine covers the teams up there and he’s been up there for I think a couple decades now. Another little rooting interest that I have is a few years ago, uh, I was doing some production for a show called Sports Stars of Tomorrow and a guy came to town in a basketball tournament. They said, “Can you go out and get this guy?” And, you know, I I knew that I knew I was seeing something special because we already knew he was number one or two in the country at that time. I think he was one in the country maybe. And the guy that I got to shoot the highlights for and get an interview with him was Anthony Edwards. and really it was fun to talk to him and you know just seemed like a very effervescent. You could tell he had that sort of it factor. So I’m I’m glad to see the stuff that that he’s doing. So you know definitely rooting for the Timberwolves. It’s a a smaller market. You know it’s not one of the big guys. So I I I enjoy that. Uh love everything that I’ve heard about the people up in Minnesota. My uncle lives up there. So, I’ve been up there uh one time and and got a chance to sort of see Minneapolis a little bit and and that was fun. But really looking forward to the matchups this year with the two teams. Remind us before we go where we can find you on social media and just plug anything that you want to be that. Oh, sure. Yeah. Oh, well on social media you can find us on X uh RWTWolves PC. So really just type in Running with the Timberwolves and you’ll be able to find me on Twitter. Also our our YouTube just type in Running with the Timberwolves. We got some new video. I just did a new video yesterday which actually will go over a lot of the talking points that I went over today. We do a podcast. We try to do it at least once a week about varying topics. Just try to cover the wolves as much as possible. We’re on Spotify. Just look for Running with the Timberwolves. Apple basic Google podcast wherever you can find podcasts as well. And once again, I appreciate you having me on. I’m excited to watch the Rockets this year. They were actually one of my favorite teams to watch last year. I love watching Sangon. Uh he he’s one of my favorite players. And then of course the KD factor as well will be fun to watch. And another Rocketswolves player that I used to love watching, Kevin Martin back in the day. Oh yeah. Uh I things were pretty sparse in Minnesota, but I mean he could light it up with his weird shot form as well. So loved watching him and uh been to Houston once. Great city. So yeah, I’m excited for you guys as well. Should be a fun barn burner here in the Western Conference. Well, thanks so much for doing this. Really appreciate the time, Gabe. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. You’re listening to Houston Sports Talk. Hey, don’t forget to support us by subscribing and commenting on YouTube. You can always listen to us on Spotify, Apple, or your favorite podcast app. Tell your friends about us and share our show links on social media. Spread the word, everybody. Thanks for listening.

Bleav Host Robert Land asks Timberwolves Insider, Bleav Colleague & ‘Running with the Timberwolves’ Host Gabe Anderson about the Durant trade that didn’t happen, the Wolves-Rockets potential matchup & what he thought of Minnesota’s offseason. Presented by FanDuel.

(1:27) Was does Owner Glen Taylor leaving mean for Wolves?
(4:59) Potential KD to Wolves: What happened?
(6:40) Did Fanbase want KD deal?
(7:37) What should the T-Wolves have done vs. OKC?
(9:14) Are Fanduel odds for Western Conference Champion right?
(13:12) Julius Randle Contract: Worth it?
(15:34) Naz Reid Contract: Worth it?
(18:27) Is loss of Alexander-Walker big deal?
(20:21) Wolves Biggest Weakness?
(23:35) How do Rockets & Wolves matchup with KD?
(27:25) Finch vs. Udoka
(28:41) FanDuel over/under Wolves odds: What do you do?
(30:03) Rockets-Timberwolves Connections
(32:25) Robert Reid on Ralph Sampson’s Career Ending
(34:23) Final Thoughts

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