The Timberwolves Top 10 Most IMPORTANT Players For Next Season

The Timberwolves Top 10 Most IMPORTANT Players For Next Season

All right. Hello and welcome or welcome back to the Worldwide Wolves Timberwolves podcast. We’ve actually got some topics this week. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Two episodes. Look out for the other one coming out later on. But today we’re going to go over our list of the top 10 most important Timberwolves. But first, my co-host Jake Howells of sorry, host of Howls and Growl’s YouTube channel. How are you doing today? Yeah, I’m done. I’m doing okay. Um I’m a little bit sick which is why my voice is a little bit weird but um yeah I have a one almost one-year-old who’s in daycare which means my immune system has just taking just takes a battering week on week new sicknesses pop up then I they leave and then another one takes its place. So I apologize if I sound a little bit weird but but I’m excited for this. Yeah. I mean it’s it’s tough. I’ve got a four-year-old dog which is just the same thing. You know we’re both in the same boat here. Um, and there’s nothing more than that that young parents like more than hearing that. Yes, that’s what I’ve heard every time I bring it up. So, no, of course not. But what we’re Yeah, I mentioned it. We’re going to be going over top 10 most important Timberwolves. What that means is kind of a loose definition. It’s not top 10 players. I think that would come out differently. There would certainly be different ranking for that. Maybe we could do that later on. But uh basically what I thought is if player X goes down, how impactful would that be to the team? And I asked this to you before we hit record, Jake, but uh how did you kind of look at this list as you were forming it? Yeah, I think your your logic is probably better than mine. Um, I think I just kind of based it on a case by case basis just in terms of if they were all healthy, I guess, who do I think is the most important player, which again doesn’t make as much sense as yours, I think, but like I do think that you I kind of looked at it in a view that yeah, when this team is healthy and firing, what um how important each of these guys and I guess I have an individual reason, the specific reasons for each player. So, I’m excited to see, you know, we kind of combined our list in the end and I’m excited to to work through it and kind of um get to a conclusion. Yeah. Um I guess do we want to just do the combined list first and then go through each? Sweet. We can do that. Uh yeah, should be fun. We’re going to start at number 10 for this list of the most important players. And that comes out to Jaylen Clark. This really is I think that’s the 10 um you know, rotation guys. Or I thought you said one for a second and I was like I think you got the list. upside down. Yeah, that’s actually my list. My personal list had Jaylen Clark at one. Sorry. No, no. Number I was like, why are you laughing? And then I realized that I’d laughed and I thought I probably shouldn’t explain why I’m laughing like a crazy person. Okay. Anyways, number 10 is uh going to be Jaylen Clark. Yes. bordering on rotation minutes after summer league are both of our takeaways were pretty similar there where we’re just kind of we know what we have and Jaylen Clark um he’s probably going to be the odd man out but we’ll have some rotation minutes just in sporadic form but yeah for me this was he was really the one guy left on my personal list I actually wrote Jaylen Clark/ whatever third point guard they bring in because yeah we can you know maybe talk about that later on but there’s rumors the Wolves might bring in a third point guard And to me, that guy would probably go ahead of Clark. But for now, Jaylen Clark and you know, he’s very, very solid defender. Hope he can shoot 38% on threes. We know what we have in him. Any other I mean, what are your thoughts on Jaylen Clark at number 10 here? And we both had him at number 10. Yeah, it’s it feels almost harsh because there was a point in last season where it felt like Jaylen Clark was really important, really exciting, and I still think that should be the case, at least really exciting. Um, a very reliable player, doesn’t make mistakes, which I think is very important for Chris Finch. Um, especially compared to guys like like TJ Shannon and Rob. Like I think there are still going to be times this season where Finch leans on Clark because those guys are more mistaken prone either within a game or within a stretch of games. Um, and that probably might look him being 10 here look a little silly because it he does do things I think that especially if he can make threes. He made I think 43% last season. Obviously low volume, obviously small sample. Um, but yeah, I think 10 maybe is more of a testament to that this roster has a lot of good pieces because I think he’d be a lot higher on a lot of other rosters. Yeah, I’m with you. It’s It’s almost like if you took this guy off the roster, how impactful would it be to compared to like everyone else? And I just I don’t know. Like yeah, Jaylen Clark had a lot of spark last year, but we’ll see. I mean, year two, I guess year three technically, right? But year two of actually playing, so intrigued to see what he’s going to bring. But yeah, right now I think that’s a very fair ranking just based on the entire roster. and especially, you know, seeing who comes in at number nine. A guy that just clearly, I think, took a step ahead of him this off seasonason in summer league and in the playoffs, which is TJ Shannon. Both of us on our lists had him at number nine. And I think this just makes the most sense. He’s going to be in the rotation this off season. Whenever they’ve talked to Finch or Connelly or really anyone around the Wolves, they’ve been extremely high on TJ Shannon, and we saw a lot of that in summer league. It’s, you know, he’s been seemingly working out in Minnesota this off seasonason, too, but very excited to see him in this rotation, playing with pace, speeding everyone up. And again, like nine sounds kind of harsh, but this roster has nine to 10 really, really important guys, and I don’t want to like diminish his importance, but yeah, I mean, he comes in at nine, and he’s going to be the what, ninth man in the rotation. So, I guess it kind of makes sense here, right where he’s placed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Um, again, it it like you said, it feels harsh to put him there. I think there are going to be times where he feels more important like I said with Clark. Um, and he’s replacing Nquila Alexander Walker who on many nights was, you know, a top five important player on the team. Um, and overall probably, you know, in that seven seven or eight region. Um, and that’s an important role for this team. So, I’m really excited to see TJ. We’ve talked about him a ton already in the summer. Um, I just think he’s going to be awesome. I think he’s going to be the type of player they need to do a lot of different things, especially push the pace and and provide another guy who can drive uh consistently in the half court. So, yeah, I’m excited for TJ, but also I don’t really know. It’s hard for me to put him lower or higher. I don’t know how, you know, closer to one. I got you. Um on on this list just because there are so many important guys who who it feels like their roles are a little bit more important. Yeah. And that’ll just move us to number eight. And this one is kind of the first where you could kind of move this guy all around. At eight in our combined list is Mike Connley. And I mean he’s going to be the starting point guard. Important. You could argue like fourth fifth I think just because of the role he’s going to play. But I do kind of hope and think that role is going to be a bit diminished. And I also think we know a lot of what we have in Mike Connley. He’s an aging veteran point guard who can steady this offense. And you know, I mean, he’s certainly slowing down. He’s not close to the same player. Still a really, really solid shooter, but if he’s inside the paint, it’s, you know, look, everyone look out. Who knows what’s going to happen. Defensively, you got to kind of hide the guy. and he is what is he 38 I think. Yeah. I mean he’s he’s up there. So yeah, it’s a good it’s a good innings, isn’t it? To get to to this age and to to be in the NBA and still be an impactful player. And I think we do downplay his importance sometimes because I think he does need to be replaced and I think everyone knows that he needs to be eventually phased out of this team, but he’s also an important player while he’s there and again Chris Finch trusts him implicitly. Um, and I also think Chris Finch has been pretty smart in the last kind of half season, uh, in tapering those minutes off when when they don’t need him, especially in the playoffs. Mike Connley didn’t play in a ton of second halves, um, and didn’t play in a ton of late game situations, fourth quarters. So, uh, that bumps him down the list in my estimation. Um, and again, this if this team is going to be really, really good, I think that other players need to have good seasons that more than Mike Connley does. Um, but he can’t probably be as bad as last season, especially for that that start, the start and the end. I think Connley was pretty good in that middle section. Um, but he obviously needs to be better than what he was in the playoffs, better than what he was over those first six to eight weeks. So there is an importance there with Connley, but it it’s still lower down on this list. Yeah, the importance comes, I think, from his position rather than like the player he is at this age. So intrigued by what he’s going to bring. You’re right. Last season was pretty rough on the uh sandwich the ends, but uh yeah. Um next player on this list, one of the players that I think had the biggest gap between the two of us is actually Dante Devenzo. You had him at five on your list. I’m going to throw this right to you, Dante Dvenenzo, a top five most important wolf for you. Yeah. Well, I I think this this ties into the the Conley thing. It will tie into the Rob Dillingham conversation that we’ll have soon as well. Um I just think he’s going to play like he did last season a ton of minutes without a point guard on the floor. Again, you know, my feelings on the point guard in terms of it more being Ant, especially in those situations. Um and I just think that when Dante plays really well, this team is much better. And I think we saw that in the playoffs that he didn’t play very well and they just lost something from from their their ingredients, their recipe. So, I’m doing I’m actually doing a video long video on Dante right now, which has taken me longer than I’d like, but um maybe that’s kind of playing in my head a little bit as well. Um but I just think that when he is playing really good, this he works with everyone, you know, like he he provides a shooter that Ant can work with. He provides a shooter that Randle can work with. He provides a shooter that that sits there when Rudy’s uh in pick and roll and and the defense kind of slides in to take away Rudy. He He’s open. He’s the kind of player that works with Jaden. If you’re going to give Jaden more of the ball, especially if he’s doing less. Like I I I don’t want this to sound like I want Dante to do more like he was last season. I’m definitely advocating for him to do less next season. I just want him to be a catch and shoot guy pretty much. Um, he’s also the only guy that you can really run catch and shoot actions for except for Ant. Um, and I’m kind of lowkey worried about the amount of shooting that’s on this team right now. Um, not that there I mean there was they were a pretty good shooting team last season, so maybe it’s an unfounded worry, but Nil was a really good shooter and pretty high volume for a bench guy. And I think you’re replacing that with two guys who h, you know, Rob and and TJ, who haven’t really proven they can shoot in the league. Um, if if Mike drops off a little bit more, that’s worrying. If Jaden doesn’t improve, that’s worrying. And if Randall isn’t I mean, Randall, I think, made 38% after he came back last season. Um, and maybe even a little bit higher in the playoffs. So, if he kind of plateaus back to his normal 30 to 34%. Yeah, I just think Dante’s importance increases in that, which feels like a kind of likely scenario. Like it just feels like everyone’s going to hit their their median. Um I think having a high volume, high efficiency shooter, even in a down year, Dante shot 40% on like eight threes a game coming off the bench. So like this is one one of the best shooters in the league. So if he can have a bit of a bounceback season, more consistency, I think he’s he’s a top five important guy on this team. Yeah. And I think I I like everything you said. Dante is someone that when we’ve talked about him on this podcast, it’s been an intriguing conversation just because going into last season, the expectations for him were were much higher than I think they are right now. I think the expectations for Dante have dropped off pretty dramatically just because of the season he had, the injuries he had, the playoff performance. A lot of people seem to be kind of out on Dante. And I I don’t think that’s right. I think another year in this system, an off season here, you know, remember last year he literally got here on media day and I don’t really think he wanted to be here. I think he wanted to be in New York. So things were kind of thrown around. Toe injury as he’s heating up really sucks and the playoff performance just really puts an emphasis on a really weird season. So yeah. Yeah, I see it. I I I just had him down a couple slots on mine. Overall, our rankings were pretty in tune, but yeah, I mean I really I like Dante. I think he’s going to have a bounceback season. And you’re right about the shooting. It’s it’s an interesting case. They have Anthony Edwards, but uh you don’t want him to just be the catch and shoot three-point shooter. Uh that would be really bad. Mike Connley is obviously going to have some of that, but like you mentioned, his role is going to be decreased. He might not play in second half sometimes and we don’t know what we have in a lot of these guys. So, I’m totally cool with Dante being where he is on this list. And pretty much the next guy here that’s, you know, tied in the tallying between our lists with Dante is actually Rob Dillingham. Couple slots above Mike. And I think Rob, you know, he comes in above Mike on both of our lists. He’s someone we’ve talked about a lot because of his importance, right? like he’s coming into his second year here and the gap between how important he is to this team and how good I think he can be is maybe maybe the widest um you know out of anyone on this team which is it’s worrying but maybe he can prove us wrong. I just I’m I really struggle to see it with his size and his age this early on in his career. Again, I keep saying he’s a year maybe four or five entering his prime guy that could be a starting point guard on a championship team if all goes according to plan, but year two might be pushing it. I don’t expect him to start the more we talk, but he’s a 20 to 25 minutes per per game guy with the roster they have and that makes him extremely important for a team that very much lacks people at the point guard position. So yeah, his importance you could argue even high or you could argue top five for him. We just don’t fully know the role he’s going to be playing, which is actually why I knocked him down a couple spots. But uh yeah, on Rob, what do you think? Yeah, I I think I kind of agree with with everything you’re saying there. I I guess if this was the rankings of how important it is that for a player that to become a really good player in the future, I think Rob would be close to the top. like um but if we’re just talking next season one probably, right? Yeah. Yeah. If maybe him like the only ones you can really make a case for is maybe Jaden obviously. I guess it depends on like career stage but but Rob is in that kind of you know need them to be a really good player, really want them to be a good player along with with TJ and and Baron Jay, you know that those guys are all lumped in that group but Rob’s at the top of it. But if we’re talking next season, I I agree with you. I’m not sure I’m still not sure what the role is going to be. I like I said with Clark, I still think that Finch will rely on reliability when push comes to shove. And Rob is going to be volatile next season. I I think they’re going to let him be volatile more than they were last season, which is a good thing. Um or else I think they would have signed one of these point guards that you know if they signed Bones Highland I think that’s a um endorsement of Rob Dillingham almost. Um but yeah I I agree. I still think Dante’s going to play point guard minutes or at least you know um minutes with no point guard on the floor. Mike’s still going to play minutes. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still games where where Rob gets DMPS. I don’t think it’ll be consistent like this season. Um Yeah, I know. I agree. Yeah, but I think there’s going to be or there’s going to be nights where he has one shift in the first half, you know, six minutes and it’s a bad shift and they they kind of use some of their other lineups that that including Clark probably. So, I think that bumped his importance down, but also if I’m if I’m using the logic of if this guy has a good season, how important is it? Rob might be even a little bit higher because if he does have a have a good season, then that solves a lot of problems. If him and Connley both have good seasons, we won’t be worrying as much about this point guard position or about Ant playing point guard or Dante, you know, like it’ll just be um two good point guards out there. So, I think this is about the right um right range for him. Maybe him and the next guy, you know, I guess I can just say like him and Nars Reed. Yeah, I’m not I don’t know who I’m hiding it from. Yeah, him and Nars Reed maybe in my mind could could be swapped because there’s more depth at that Nars Reed position. Um, but yeah, they’re kind of in the same the same spot where if they have really good seasons, they shore up the position completely and everything’s rosy. So, I guess I’d lump them two together. Yeah, I could see that. To me, Nas is just much more of a despite his kind of sometimes chaotic nature, he is a big-time stabilizer almost for this team, for this bench, and you know, he knows his role much more going into this year, I think, which is it’s it’s interesting. Yeah, Nas going to be coming off the bench just like Rob, but Nas will not be getting any DNPs, and he will be relied upon to score a lot. Like, he’s a top what, three offensive like relied upon player on this team. So yeah, he was he was very hard to rank for me just because he is coming off the bench. But yeah, um Nas for me is someone that is he just got paid, you know, he’s finally comfortable. There’s no questions about if he’s starting, if he’s going on the bench, if he’s going to be traded, offseason, free agency, whatever. He’s just here. He’s in his six-man role, solidified, which he was two years ago. And I think this past year was I don’t know. I think it was a little more streaky. So I’m I’m I’m excited to see Nas just solidified in this role. And I think that does put him at number five on this list for the most important players. Yeah, I mean he stabilizes the bench for me quite a bit, especially with Nquille Alexander Walker gone and you know guys like Rob and Volatile not so volatile Jaylen Clark coming off the bench. Um I think Nas is super important to that bench unit. So looking forward to seeing him and his importance play out this year. Yeah, and like like we’ve said, like you said there kind of sparked a thought in me is that he is such a he is such a stabilizer and I think sometimes his own individual play takes away from the thought that he’s a stabilizer but in terms of the role he plays stretch big, able to space the floor. Um you know still still not a great rebounder, not a great defender, but still able to be a rebounder and a defender on the court um in a big position really does help this team a lot. And like I said, I think last week, like they have eight, they had eight posit positive lineups last season, fiveman lineups, which is not a low number. You know, there’s not a lot of fiveman lineups that play a lot of minutes. Uh Naz is in six of them. So, and he also led the team in just in on-off numbers. I think he was the team was 5.7 points better per 100 when he was on the court. So, like the team wins games when Naz is on the court. They’re a better team than the opposition most of the time. He’s last season he was literally the most impactful player in an onoff um perspective. So he is a player that it’s like you said I found it hard for him to to rank him as well because on any given night Nars can be your most important player. Um and going forward now with this deal signed he is going to be a really important player. So I’m excit I’m always I love Nars. Like I know he has his flaws, but I I just think that if Nars wasn’t on the team, you’d really miss his presence. So yeah, I’m excited for Nars. Yeah. And they paid him like he’s going to be an very important player. So should be an interesting season for him. And then coming in at number This will be four for us. We got Jaden McDaniels. We’re down to the maybe predictable four, but you know, the order in which they’re in is a little interesting. But Jaden McDaniels comes in at number four here. And yeah, I think the importance for me when I ranked Jaden here, it was also anticipating a step forward on offense. You know, despite the same team and despite the fact that Jaden was at his best when uh Julius Randall was off the court, I think he’s still going to be able to settle in more and just find his role on offense. Or at least I hope he’s able to. I don’t know if I fully do think he will be able to just because I got to see it with this roster more than we did. But yeah, Jaden, is it it’s year what? Six. Yeah, same as Ant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Same as Ant. So yeah, I mean it’s time if you’re going to take that offensive leap, it’s now. And as we know, he is one of the greatest uh perimeter defenders. Hell, he’s one of the greatest paint defenders in the league. So very, very excited to see what he can bring. I think his paint defense is his most underrated skill. Like it is it’s outstanding. It really is. So yeah, it’s insane. like it’s super overlooked in I think most Timberwolves fans uh would tell you, but in the terms of wider media, Jaden, there’s no player in the league that combines perimeter defense and rim protection better than Jaden. And I’ve it’s a very very rare skill in general. And this is not a Dwayne Wade is a great shot blocking guard kind of thing. Like it’s it’s like Jaden can play the five in, you know, obviously he’s not going to guard guys in the post, but as a rim protector. I bet he could. Like I bet he could hold his own at least. Yeah. Like I don’t He’s got the mentality to do it as well. Like obviously he’s not a a really big guy, but I think Jaden’s strength is also underrated. You know, he he’s not a bit of that KG style where he’s never going to look like a big guy, but he’s clearly gotten a lot stronger since he entered the league. And we were a little different on this. I think you had him three, I had him four. We We’re actually a little different in the whole top four, obviously, except for number one, who you can probably guess. Whoever that is, could be anyone, but I am just obs I’m obsessed with the thought of Jaden becoming an awesome offensive player. I just think it’s there. I can’t get over How does it happen with this with Julius and Gob on the floor with him? Cuz we we saw flashes, but can you do it consistently? Yeah. I don’t know. I I just don’t know. I think if one of those guys I think that’s hard because I think if if Randall wasn’t on the team I think he he’d score a lot more points but is that helpful for your team to to thrust Jaden? He’s not a number two probably. I think he there’s a chance a small chance he could be in the future but he’s clearly not that right now. So, it’s it is a bit fanciful to think that, you know, you can just say, well, Jaden would average 18 18 to 20 points if he got the volume because he also has to be a really good passer like Randall is to be a number two option. Um, but yeah, I don’t know. I’m just I just can’t get over the stretch when when there guys were injured and he was given a huge usage. I can’t get over the playoffs where guys weren’t injured and those first two series he averaged like 20 points a game. So, I just think that he’s got everything you kind of need. I think his ball handling has now improved to the point that you can give him the ball a lot. Like, he’s obviously not crossing guys up, but he used to lose the ball after three dribbles going downhill. That doesn’t happen at all anymore. Super tight handled, knows he gets to his spots, great shooter from the mid-range, great great shooter around the rim. Like probably the best touch around the rim on the team, I’d say. Um, and I think an underrated playmaker, like I said, but not someone who can give the ball a lot and expect that he’s going to make plays for others, but I do think he he knows how to throw a lob pass, a little dump off at the rim. Um, obviously he can he can drive and kick a little bit. So, it’s an improving skill, too. Like, it’s getting a lot better. And the importance in terms of this list is like he’s the best Premier defender on the team easily. And and now Nquil’s gone. So maybe that maybe you’re right. You know, you hit him with three item at four that maybe I should have swapped that around because they don’t have another Drake perimeter def perimeter defender anymore. So um yeah, I mean I just love Jaden, man. I want to see I want to see Jaden run pick and roll. I want to see him I think that like going back to how does he get better? How does he cement himself as the third or second most important player on this team? I think he should play like a big man. I think he’s just a a four. I mean, on offense, I think he’s maybe even just like what you would expect a five to do. I think he should be setting a lot of screens, playing in pick and roll. Ant seems to love finding him when they actually do run a pick and roll together. I think he should be hanging out in the dunker spot like Rudy does. Um, you know, obviously he’s going to do a bit more agile things. He can cut from the wing. You know, he can he can catch the ball and kind of take three dribbles and get to the rim. I think if you want to increase his volume, because he’s doing those things right now anyway, he’s always cutting. He’s always, you know, if he gets, especially the second half of the season, if he if the ball comes to the in the corner, he’s attacking the close out and trying to get to the rim or get to the mid-range. I think if you want to increase that volume of scoring, you need to put him in more pick and rolls with the ball as well on both sides of the pick and roll, both handling it and as a roll man. He’s super athletic. I just think he could be like a lob threat. Obviously, you need guys who throw lobs, but I think he can be Yeah. a really good like big man catching lobs, finishing on pick and roll, finishing around the rim, you know, like that’s the kind of player that he also is as well as a guy who can put the ball on the deck a little bit. So, yeah, I don’t know. I’m rambling cuz I just I could talk about Jaden McDaniels. What what I think I just think they need to be more usage. I think they that should be like on Chris Finch’s whiteboard this season of things we need to do. I think run more plays, be better in the clutch, and let’s get that three-pointer to like 36%. I think that would open up a little bit. But I think when you if you run more stuff for him or just give him more leash, you can decrease the amount of catch and shoot jumpers that he shoots. Yeah, decrease that and increase the amount that he’s making, I think, would be easier said than done. But uh I think I saw I think I saw yesterday that Jaden maybe you know there’s like an openness rating or some on one of those stats website. I think Jaden was like top top five in the whole league. So he’s getting open like open catch and shoot threes like good shot. Yeah one aren’t doing anything for him you know like he’s not making them. So I I think on this team I think I think he’s the like correct me if I’m wrong is he should just be the third option right like who else is to this in the starting lineup obviously that’s not the whole game him and you’re you know fighting both in there but yeah in the starting lineup certainly so it’s it kind of feels weird to me that they still don’t really run anything for him when he’s like clearly the third best option to score he’s still perceived as like the fifth guy despite clearly being ahead of Goar and whoever’s playing point guard at that moment. Yeah. So, next season I’d like it to be like, you know, Ant and Randall do their thing and we’re going to run four plays a quarter for every time Jaden’s on the court, you know, pin downs or let him handle in pitch and roll. Just let him do his own thing because I think I think he can create his own shot pretty comfortably throughout a game. you not you’re not going to be able to give him ant volume, but can you give him, you know, five to 10 extra possessions a game to go and get his his shot off or to go and create something for someone else? Um, that’s how Jaden becomes the second most important player on this team. Yeah. And maybe, you know, run some lineups that might, you know, you might cost a game against some team in the middle of the season, but run some more lineups that maybe maximize Jaden. It might not always work, but just to see what you got, right? So yeah, lineups where he’s the second option or the first option for for three minutes, you know, like um that I think again should be in the top of, you know, near the top of Chris Finch’s um to-do list for sure. Yeah. All right. This player coming in at number three, Julius Randall. You actually had him at number two and I had him at number four. So I’m going to throw it to you first. Let me know why Julius Randall is the second most important player on this Wolves roster. Yeah, like I had trouble with I had trouble with the whole top four. Like I was saying, I think Jaden, Rudy, and um Randall could all be interchangeable somewhat. I just think that this team lacks guys who can score the ball. Like obviously we we just talked about Jaden. I think on a on a team that has a lot of guys who can score the ball, Jaden wouldn’t be your third option, like we were saying. So I think the second option next to Ant is just a crucial crucial piece on this on any Wolves team going forward. Um, which mean and I think kind of with the same logic I had with Dante, if Randle’s playing really well, this Timberwolves team is really good. And if he’s not playing well, they’re not very good. And I think that kind of proves to me his importance. Um, they dominated the back end of the season, dominated two playoff series because Randall was awesome. So, I think if we don’t get that version or something close to that version next season, I don’t think they’re going to win as many games as we’d like them to win. And if we do, I think they could be a team that wins 50 plus games. So, to me, Randall is the second most important player on this team for that reason. Um, but I I I also could hear arguments on Yeah. three or four guys. Yeah, redoing it, I think I would put him ahead of Jaden for sure. I’d probably put him at three right now with Randall. Cuz you’re right. I mean, laying it out, they need a guy who can score after Anthony Edwards. And I think when I was making it, I was almost still stuck on like what if they had replaced Randall, but like, you know, that’s it’s not the list. So, it it is this current roster and as it stands, yeah, Julius Randall is a top three, I think, most important player just because and he can score the ball and he’s going to have a lot of playmaking responsibilities. One of the most talked about things this offseason has been the point guard position, but Julius Randle is going to be handling a lot of that, just facilitating and having the ball in his hands a ton. So, and he’s I mean, he should he’s one of the better players at, you know, playmaking. So, for sure. Um, I like that take. I’ve certainly could have him up there as well. We’ve certainly gone back and forth on Julius Randall and just his fit on this team overall, but with him on this team, yeah, very important player. So, yeah, that brings us a great point. Sorry about the playmaking because I didn’t mention that but yeah, you it let me mention it so it’s okay. Yeah. No, it’s an it’s an awesome point. This team doesn’t have enough playmaking just period. So a guy who is good at playmaking does create advantages um for other players is super important. So I’m pretty I’m pretty concrete I think on number two. All right. Well, screw you then. No, just kidding. Uh number two on this combined list, it does end up being Rudy Goar. And to me, this one to me is just as long as Rudy’s on this team, the defense is just going to be so centered around him completely. And the offense, like unfortunately, he has to play offense. And I mean, he’s he’s not I don’t know, he sets good screens, but just defensively obviously like he’s the anchor of this defense. They’re building. I might use unfortunately he has to play offense as just a mantra for the season. they can’t, you know, quickly at half court throw in Terrence Jenner just but anyways, yes, I think as long as Rudy’s on this team, um, he they mold the defense around him. And you know, being bad on offense is something that’s actually really important to this team because like in a bad way. Like if they could fix that. I don’t know. It’s hard to kind of wrap my head around Rudy Gobear as he continues to age and they still like you know he’s he’s vital to this team despite I think clearly taking steps back. So he’s important in a way that this team is kind of built around him defensively. I would like take Julius and Jaden over him certainly right now. But yeah, um to me it just goes all in on how this defense is built and especially with you know losing toil Alexander Walker. Go is still the you would you rank him ahead of Jaden? I I think I’d put Jaden ahead of him but they play completely different spots and uh yeah they I think rim protection is still more important. I think that’s if you don’t have a good rim protector kind of, you know, you can get by a little bit with good perimeter defenders, but at the end of the day, you always need someone who can protect the most efficient shot on the court. So, yeah, like like you said, it’s he anchors the defense and they’ve been a defensive team and he’s and yeah, and he’s the hardest guy to replace. Like we saw it whenever he was on the off the court last season. Obviously, you get a boost. They switch to a completely different style. like they’re completely different team and they have to because because getting a guy who’s 60% of goar I don’t think they think that’s a good idea. I think they would they because Gobear being 100% of himself you know or last season maybe 90% of himself makes makes it tick makes it work like getting Bism Bumbo or someone doesn’t make that you’re still not a good team when they’re when he’s off the court or you’re still not a good defense. So their I think their logic was let’s just go small, run fast, play offense, you know, win games like that. And again, like those lineups were actually pretty good last season. They just felt a bit ugly because we are used to seeing Go Bear. that that kind of illustrates his importance that we all feel a little bit tetchy when goar’s off the court because you don’t have that room protection, you don’t have the rebounding and that’s stuff that you take for granted a little bit, you know, when when we’re watching games and just on a possession by possession basis. So, Go has a great argument for the second best player on this team. I think um he just it’s just hard to it’s hard to replace him and you notice him when he’s gone. And I think when when Randall was out and Dante was out and go was out and we had a lot of fun in that like 15 game period but they didn’t win. I think they I think they maybe won less games than they lost. I think it was more that like I think you did get a little bit of Julius with with Nars getting more minutes with Jaden getting way more usage. what you didn’t get was Go Bear and I think that’s the reason why they probably lost those games. So, um, Gobear frustrates me, frustrates everyone, I think, at this point, um, especially in the postseason. But it is one of those things where you we would miss him when he’s not there. So, you do have to kind of squeeze as much soap out of this sponge as you can before you you get rid of him. Yeah. And when I was defining like important, another thing that went into it was like if this player takes a big step back just with age or whatever else, how impactful would that be? And if Gobear takes a, you know, another step backwards this year and maybe even a larger one as he just gets older and those limbs get a little weaker and, you know, he’s been playing basketball constantly forever for NBA and team France and he didn’t do it this summer, so we’ll see. Maybe he comes back fresher, but yeah, I mean, if Rudy takes a step back, the Wolves just aren’t winning as many regular season games. They’re not Yeah, you need you need a lot of things to go right in other places to cover for any any slip that that Joe Bear has. And he’s such a weird player because he’s he’s 5% him being 5% worse feels like way more important than like Nars being 5% worse next season or Ant having a season that’s 5% worse. Like I just think that especially or if it’s 20% a lot of players can kind of deal with that. Like Connley was 20% worse I think last season at least and the Wolves made the Western Conference Finals. Um if Rudy’s 20% worse next season they’re just going to lose a lot of games. So um in that sense he’s super important. All right. And then number one is any guesses better Jayen Clark again. No Anthony Edwards. We did a full episode on Anthony Edwards. I mean, we he’s going to be hopefully top three to five in MVP voting. If he, god forbid, you know, knock on anything any wood around you, suffers an Achilles or anything, it’s it’s wraps like it’s that you feel like you’re just putting pins in voodoo dolls even out loud. It’s a I mean, it’s happening all over the place. So, like it’s certainly a possibility. So, it’s it’s scary, but yeah, it’s it’s hard. There’s nothing really to add, you know? I think every other guy had a had a interesting conversation. We all know Ant’s the most important player on this team. Superstars run the league. Can’t win without one. Not a single team that’s ever been in the Western Conference Finals or the finals has ever not had an insanely good player leading them. So if Ant wasn’t there, this team would be bad. Other players, it’s like if Ant wasn’t there, they’d lose more games than we’d like. Or, you know, even Rudy, even Rudy, you’re kind of like, you know, you you’d have fun still like Yeah. You’d win 38 games if Rudy wasn’t there and it would be a bad season, but you know, not if Ant wasn’t there, they’d win 25 games. Do you think that’s so many they’d win if Ant wasn’t there? I just I mean, I’ve watch I’ve been watching so many games lately just just for different pieces of I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just like No, no, no, no. I’m just saying like it it hit me. I think going watching that’s why I like to watch games in the offseason because during the season you there’s a bit of fan fandom about it every game and it’s just such a whirlwind kind of the game day off game kind of um rotation but when I watch him in the offseason I think I learn a bit more about the season and obviously we all know an is important that’s not I’m not breaking any news but like I just watch these games and I’m just like every single thing that works on this team is because of an like even if it’s Jaden driving off the catch just because Jaden’s man was six feet off him because they want to stop Ant, you know, like or Rudy being functional on offense is because he has a guy he can screen for who can hit pull up threes at one of the best rates in the league. Like Randall being a good post player is because if Ant standing up next to him, they won’t send the double. Um or Randall being a good passer is because they will send the double and will get a three or someone else will get a three. Like I think I posted a video on um the house and my house and brows Twitter the other day that two players they’re kind of swinging the ball around. It’s a weird play like someone drives they kick to the corner you know and and the defense is in rotation trying to get around. They’re one player short. Um, and it swings to Dante and two players run to Anthony Edwards 14 feet away from Dante so that he doesn’t make a swing pass to Ant. And Demon Chenzo has 5 seconds to stand there and line up a three. And that’s one of the best shooters in the league. Like that’s the kind of fear that Anthony Edwood strikes into opposing teams and you can’t replace that with anyone. So, I mean, yeah, again, I’m not reinventing the wheel saying that Anthony Edwards is important to this team, but I just think he I I think Ant is even better than I think we need to appreciate Ant more next season because it’s so easy to get annoyed at your star player, especially when they’re, you know, having a down game or things are going a little bit wrong, but just everything that works works through him. So, I’m super excited to see year six event. And that’s my dog, by the way, if you can hear it bark. can’t. Mine was just barking too, so hopefully you couldn’t hear it. Great. Look at that. Um, I was just watch I was gonna put it on the screen, but we might get copyrighted. I don’t know the rules, so I’m not going to. Anyways, that’s why I like Yeah, if you if you were looking at it, you can kind of see what I’m saying. It’s wild that two guys like completely ignore Dante just at the off chance that they get a hand up on Ants three-point shot. So, yeah, that’s where we’re at now. Yeah. And the reason I texted Jake to do this podcast is right there. He said, “I don’t have much to add.” and then went for about four minutes on Anthony Edwards, which was great. Sorry, I ramble so bad on this. No, it’s the literally the reason we’re doing this. It was great. Um, but yeah, that’s our list. Uh, our main differences, we can kind of go through the lists, but I think the main ones were I had Julius at four, you had him at two. I would move Julius up a spot. Devenenzo, I had him at eight, you had him at five. Otherwise, nothing really of note, I don’t think, unless you’ve got anything you want to throw out there. No, I think we kind of got through that. That was really fun. That kind of um was a good way to frame this roster. Um because importance is just as um important as kind of how good they are. Like a player is probably only as good as how important they are to their team. So true. Wow, that was really that was really good. Um, Dave, I guess that’s all I’ve got on that, unless you’ve got anything else. We’ll probably wrap this one up. No, no, I’m I’m cool, man. Another fun episode. We’re getting through this off season. Not too long now. We did get the schedule. Um, which I mean, I’m I don’t have any content to make off a schedule. They play they play all the teams I usually play. Um, but I’m excited when the schedule is kind of that first tiny little step into feeling like the season’s coming around again. Yeah, they try. I know you don’t know NFL, but listeners will. They try to make it like the NFL schedule release with the NBA one, but there’s 17 games in the NFL and every one is like life or death. There’s 82 of these, man. We don’t need a whole hype video. I’m sorry. Maybe I’m just Maybe I’m just old. No, I agree. Like, obviously, uh, Australian Australian football is 23 games. So, it’s similar in that that every you play once a week. Every game’s different. you you play you don’t play you play every team once and then you play a couple of teams twice every season um depending on where you finished in the in the ladder last season. So you kind of play the teams that were around you the season before. Um so those are important when the schedule comes out, right? You you’re excited to see, you know, what teams they they place you alongside to play twice. Um the NBA, they they play all the same teams at the same times every season. Obviously back to backs and stuff are important. screw up the rivalry weeks all the time. Like I don’t It’s Walt Warriors, man. Yeah. Like Okay. Yeah. Like Nuggets, they seem to have put the put Denver, Minnesota in a lot of prime time big games and kind of forgot that they’re doing a rivalry week, which I mean maybe Nuggets fans don’t feel that it’s a rivalry because, you know, they’ve won a championship every time. Okay. Yeah. Both. Like they probably don’t want these games to come around, but also they’ll just say, “Well, we won a championship and you didn’t.” So, yeah. Um, but yeah, I don’t know. I mean, even even like Well, are the Warriors the second rival right now or is it That’s what I was just thinking. Like they don’t really have rivals, the Wolves. No, because the other teams they played in the playoffs were the Lakers, which I mean the Lakers have bigger fish to fry in terms of rivalries. Um, Yep. Really just us being like, you took our team from us. Yeah. Like the Bucks I guess like like geographically geographically the Bucks make more sense, but that’s never been a rivalry. Like I think it would be cool if that could become one, but you don’t play each other. You got to move the wolves to the east. Yeah. Um which I would be in favor of. Yeah. I don’t know. The Thunder, I guess. But the Thunder again, like they just kind of rolled them in the playoffs. Yeah. Like so I guess this is the conversation they don’t have Luca anymore. Like it was a Luca rivalry. I guess just the conversation they were having in the NBA offices and they probably same conclusion as us that they don’t know. I just complained about it only to be like they don’t have any rivals, which is true. Um, yeah, maybe the Blazers, but they play them opening night, so there you go. Yeah, but the Blazers are like the opposite. The Blazers just dominate Minnesota every time. They’re like they’re like our nuggets, right? Actually, the Wolves see them as like the 30th on their rival list. They don’t give a about playing. I’m terrified of of the Blazers. The Blazers and like the Kings at home. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. late a late January home game against the Kings is just terrifying to me. That’s when rivalry needs to be rivalry week. Wolves Kings Wolves Kings back in the day. Um but yeah, uh not so much. Anyways, that’s our schedule takes. Hope you guys enjoyed that section of this episode. Yeah, that’s all I’ve got. Uh see you next episode.

Thanks for watching! In this episode, Jake Paynting and Cooper Carlson dive into the Wolves’ clutch time execution on both sides of the court. Can it be improved next season? We would love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment and hit the subscribe button! For more content from Jake, check out the link below!

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