Could the Timberwolves GIVE UP On Rob Dillingham? | Why the PG of the Future Should Not Be Traded

Could the Timberwolves GIVE UP On Rob Dillingham? | Why the PG of the Future Should Not Be Traded

Hello and welcome into another episode of Locked on Wolves. Today on the show, is there any chance at all the Timberwolves trade Rob Dillingham and find a different solution for the point guard of the future? I’ll explain why I hate that idea next. You are Locked On Timberwolves, your daily Minnesota Timberwolves podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Lockdown Wolves podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. My name is Ben Beacon. I am the host of Lockdown Wolves. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Happy hump day. Have hopefully you’re having a fantastic week so far. Today on the show, I’m going to dig in a bit on a a fake trade is is what is what spurred this thought on for me for today’s show. I want to talk about the idea of trading Rob Dillingham to try and find a successor for Mike Connley, which hurts my head to even think about because I think it is just a little counterintuitive. Um, and I guess it it really does depend what you think of Rob Dillingham. And uh you know, we may feel a lot differently here in 6 months, but I feel strongly that that that this fake trade that I’m going to talk about in a minute got me thinking about like, hey, look, could you really actually do any better than Rob Dillingham as a point guard of the future? Um I’ve been hard on Dillingham on this show. I think that um you know, it was easy to get excited about great moments for him last year, but he’s not what the Wolves need him to be now, but that’s not the question. The question is what will he be next year and the year after? and do you give up some of that for something a little bit better now? And I’ll make the argument against that here in just a moment. Um, but a fascinating nonetheless fake trade to discuss here in the middle of August. So, we’ll do that here next. It involves Rob Dillingham uh over at a trade suggestion over at Bleacher Report that I’ll get to here in a second. Also on the show today, I want to talk a little Western Conference power rankings. We’ll get into some Wolves notes, see some uh player movement, a new coach, etc. We’ll cover that in the final segment of today’s show. Big thank you here 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 Locked on Wolves. You can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Okay, so without rehashing what if you’re listening to this you likely already know which is the very short version is with Donkey Alexander Walker who is the de facto backup point guard who is the eighth and ninth members of the Timberwolves rotation this year. it it you know as I’ve said many times in the show I believe the Nquille roles filled in the aggregate with some combination of TJ Shannon Rob Dillingham both of course first round picks in the summer of 24 and also Jaylen Clark who was a second round pick in 23 missed all of 20 excuse me second round pick in yeah 23 missed all of the 24 season 23 24 season with injury so effectively you know was a rookie last year right all three of those guys have just one NBA season under their belt so there’s obviously some concern I think concern is the right word here that they can provide the same level of production that he Alexander Walker did uh which of course led to him receiving this big deal in the sign and trade with Atlanta in the offseason. One of the more um intriguing or I should say sought after free agents on the market this year and for good reason. Now the argument I’m about to make though is actually I talked about this a little bit on Monday’s show is is you’re not necessarily replacing the defense of Nikquil Alexander Walker. trying to replace the offense, which was a lot more modest in terms of his contribution. Really good catch and shoot three-point guy, but he wasn’t really creating a lot for himself. And yeah, he was a point guard in name. Uh, not even really, but like de facto point guard in name as the backup point guard, but like he was never the Kelly Alexander Walker is not a natural point guard, right? He’s a natural scorer who was actually not that good as a off the dribble scorer at the NBA level which is why he struggled so much early on in his career in New Orleans and Utah because he was being miscast a bit and he found his niche in Minnesota as a secondary you know catch and shoot guy 3 and D guy with the ability to create a bit for others because he needed to. The way the Wolves constructed their roster and the way that Chris Finch failed to trust Jordan Mclofflin, Monte Morris, and the way the front office wanted to build with just big guards, the failure of the Shake Bilton signing a couple seasons ago, it led the Wolves to say, “All right, Nikquille, here’s the keys of the second unit.” Now, we’re talking 10 12 minutes a game max that you have neither Mike Connley or Anthony Edwards on the floor. um or or potenti not potentially occasionally running the offense with Ant on the floor, you know, kind of in tandem. That was Nquille’s role by default. So, we’re not trying to solve for the current backup point guard situation because I don’t know that it’s necessarily going to be worse. And and I don’t mean that as a slightest Nquille Nquille was like a what he gave you as a quote unquote creator was just what he gave you. It was nothing fantastic. So, anything you get from like I think TJ Shannon could get there. We saw a little bit of it at summer league. Anything you get from Rob Dillingham is going to be better from a shot creation standpoint. So, what you’re trying to solve for is the point guard of the future. What happens when 38-y old 38-year-old Mike Connley’s contract expires next June because it’s going to you need somebody you need an air parent. And the idea behind the Timberwolves trading up to number eight in the draft last June in 2024 to acquire Rob Dillingham is that he could be that guy. And then of course he saw limited rotation opportunities last season and understandably so. But yes, there were flashes. And so the question I want to pose is, is there a chance the Timberwolves move off of Rob Dillingham this year to acquire somebody who they think is more likely to be the era parent to Mike Connley as the point guard of Minnesota? It is absolutely possible. However, there’s a terrible fake trade out there from Eric Pinkis at at Bleacher Report, who I generally I think does a good job. He he’s done a good job with cap stuff. I think he used to be at Hoops Hype. Um, this trade is much more of like a look look let’s look at all these different cap machinations um than it is an actual like real life trade the wolves should consider. Here’s what it is. This is over at Bleacher Report. Eric Pinkis the proposed trade. To be clear, this is a completely fake trade manufactured to try and find a solution for the Orlando Magic to get more offense and for the Timberwolves to find potentially more play payroll flexibility and a successor to Mike Connley. But I think he’s also trying to solve a little for the backup point guard role, which as I’ve already identified, I don’t think the Wolves necessarily are trying to solve right now. I’m not saying they shouldn’t or they can’t or they or they don’t need to, but I don’t think they’re going to try and solve it right now. So, in this proposed trade, the Timberwolves get just one asset, and that’s Anthony Black from the Magic. He was the sixth overall pick in 2023. So, he’s got one more year of NBA experience under his belt than Rob Dillingham. The Timberwolves trade out Rob Dillingham to the Atlanta Hawks as well as a second rounder in 2031 to the Hawks. Bunch of other stuff changes hands. Bones Highland in a signing trade goes to the Jazz just because you got to send something else. Picks to the Magic essentially. Uh, basically the Magic are are trying to recoup some of the assets. Remember, they traded a bunch of stuff for Desmond Bane. So, the idea here is the Magic are recouping some of that and getting off of a non-shooting point guard in Anthony Black, a team that obviously had massive issues scoring each of the last few years and try to solve some of that by acquiring Desmond Bay in this offseason. So, who is Anthony Black? Well, as I mentioned, he’s a recent lottery pick. He’s still only 21 years old, which is great. However, the short version is he’s a really big point guard that’s a good passer and not a good shooter. He’s a very good defender. That I mean like that that’s that’s that’s the deal. He’s 67. He shot 32% a little under 32% on threes last year. As a rookie, he was 39% much lower volume than last year. So overall for his career over two seasons, he’s 34%. So well below league average from outside the ark. Scored nine a game last season on 42% shooting overall. Again, a plus defender, no doubt. He’s a good not great passer. Okay, so here’s what Eric Pinkis says about the Timberwolves, why the Timberwolves would do this trade. I’m just going to read what he says and uh and then I’m going to I’m going to pick it apart a little bit. He says, “The Timberwolves don’t need a modern high usage point guard. The team has two primary scorers, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. Going with a scoring lead guard would be counterproductive.” Pause. I’m pausing. This is me talking now. I understand what he’s trying to say, but if he watched the playoffs, he would understand that in practice, it’s not quite that simple. And I I’ll I’ll explain what I mean here in a second. Also finish reading what what Eric Pink has said about this potential deal. I use the word potential is not the right his proposed deal. Eric Pinkis proposed deal. So I’ll pick that apart a little. Also, I’ll finish reading what he said about it and explain why it is not counterproductive to have a guard who can score off the dribble next to Anthony Edwards. Uh, we’ll do all that here next. Today’s episode of Lockdale Wolves is brought to us by our title sponsors at FanDuel. August 26th, coming up here in just two weeks, less than two weeks, is officially FanDuel Futures Day. A brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches for just 24 hours on August 26th. FanDuel’s giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP eye on a longot division winner or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. Take a flyer on the MVP race. U go through the odds. There’s plenty of fun options. Um, I mean like there there’s a lot of guys that that you it’s not fun to go with Lamar, Josh Allen, the guys who won the last couple. There’s lots of guys you could pick with more long odds. Crown your champion in August. Who’s your dark horse? Or maybe you just want to parlay your division darkhorse winners. Um, obviously people think the Lions are going to win the NFC North. Uh, I would say the Vikings and Packers are kind of right there. Uh, you know, with with a possibility to win the North as well, but um, yeah, there’s lots of find the right value, right? This is the time you to find the right value. You can do just that on August 26th, FanDuel Futures Day. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. Okay, so Eric Pinkis says in his article that the Timberwolves would be it would be counterproductive, his word, to have a scoring lead guard next to Anthony Edwards because of the presence of both Ant and Julius Randle. He goes on to say, “Anthony Black from Orlando is a 67 21-year-old highlevel defensive-minded guard. In 24 minutes off the bench, Orlando, he averaged nine and a half points, three assists. He’s not a great shooter, but showed flashes as a rookie at 10.1 million for 2627.” So next year he’s not significantly more expensive than Dillingham, 6.9 million, but he is more ready to play now. He’s talking about 2627. He’s not talking about 242 or that’s got to be a typo because he’s only under contract for two more years. The Timberwolves are trying to win now and Black played 18 minutes per game through Orlando’s first round series against the Celtics. His ability to guard multiple positions would help offset the loss of Nikki Alexander Walker. Initially, Black could come off the bench behind Conley, who’s in the final year of his contract. For context, Black is represented by Bill Duffy of WME Sports, the same agent who represents Jade McDaniels and Anthony Edwards. Also in considered ancillary connections, Minnesota general manager Mike Lloyd uh spent several years. That’s not his name. His name’s Matt Lloyd. Come on, Eric. He’s got he’s got Matt Lloyd. I just reading this and I was like, that’s not his name. Minnesota general manager Matt Lloyd spent several years as the assistant GM with the Magic. the Timberwolves traded up to number eight to draft Dillian Hammond 24, but he hasn’t shown he’s near ready, etc., etc. Uh, and then it says instead of Bones Highland, Minnesota, it could instead could instead include Leonard Miller or Jaylen Clark. They would never do that. The Wolves could round out the roster at the minimum player to get to 14 contracts, finishing a little over two million under the Second Apron, and they could then pick somebody else up at a veteran minimum if they wanted to later. Okay, so let’s start with the counterproductive thing. Here’s the deal. I understand the idea there’s only so much basketball to go around and it’s obviously a concern I had last year when the Timber were swapping out Carl Towns for Julius Randle. Obviously Cat needs the ball too, but Cat and Ant had played together. There’s some understanding there. Cat’s a great catch and shoot three-point shooter. Obviously so is a Julius Randle isn’t. He’s much more of a volume three-point shooter. Yes, he can make them, but that’s not his game. He’s not the same threat as Cat. So, I was worried about the congestion, the space, the lack of spacing was a concern of mine. And it was a problem at times and and ultimately the Wolves offense was much better with Julius Randle than it was with Carl Towns. Um, or a better way to say that would be it was better last year than it was the year prior. I don’t think it was specifically because of that swap out. In fact, I’m confident it wasn’t. But all that to say that the numbers don’t lie. It was a better offense last year. Here’s the thing. a higher usage guy actually makes more sense than a defense first distributor. In in fact, there’s a reason why Mike Connley and Aquil Alexander Walker worked better with them off the ball. Like Mike Connley in nominally was the point guard and brought the ball up the floor and could organize things and yes could orchestrate, right? But he wasn’t like high usage spamming pick and roll with Rudy Gobear. That’s not the engine of the Wolves offense. Neither was the kill Alexander Walker. The whole deal with those guys works better with them off the ball because they could both shoot. They were both really good catch and shoot guys. Mike Connley, one of the better catch and shoot guys of the last really almost decade in the NBA. Um, but neither one of them scores consistently off the dribble and teams know that. So, what happened in the playoffs? What happened in crunch time? Teams would absolutely load up on Anthony Edwards to the point where it wasn’t just happening late in games. is happening all the time in the playoffs saying, “Look, we know Mike Connley doesn’t want to.” So, what if you go back and look, Connley probably got one layup a game in the playoffs because teams would overplay the pass so much against him that occasionally he’d be like, “All right, I’ll just get an uncontested layup.” And teams were fine with giving that up because it would only happen once a game, right? Like Connley wasn’t looking to drive the basketball into the paint. Nquille was a little more than that, but he wasn’t super successful doing it. and he improved and and and certainly got better on the offensive end as as a as a point guard because he had to. He was being forced to do so. But neither one of those guys is a threat to score off the dribble. So teams could shade towards Ant if Ant was playing off the ball. They could pack the paint to protect against an ant drive uh you know a catch and a catch and decisive slash to the basket or a you know a lob to Rudy or a Julius Randle drive or whatever the case might be. But teams were not worried about the Timberwolves point guard, whether it be Mike Connley or Nikuel Alexander Walker scoring off the dribble. That’s why the Timberwolves drafted Rob Dillingham. What’s Rob Dillingham do? Well, scores off the dribble and he’s a really good catch and shoot guy. So, he can do both of those things. Yeah, you’re giving up a lot in size and you’re giving up a ton in defensive acumen, but he’s a really dynamic offensive player. That’s why you have Rob Dillingham. You don’t trade Rob Dillingham for a defender who doesn’t shoot well and doesn’t score off the dribble well. Like that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Yeah, you’re losing some defense by getting by losing Mike uh excuse me Alexander Walker and by Mike Connley getting older. Yes, TJ Shannon should be able to make up call it 50% of what Nquille did defensively. That might even be a little generous. But then you got Jaylen Clark who I think is pound-for-pound as good as Nikquil Alexander Walker defensively. We’ve talked about this before on the show. Rob Dillingham’s the all offense option. Jaylen Clark’s the basically all defense option. I know he shot threes well on on limited volume last year, but he’s nothing but a catch and shoot guy on offense, right? And then TJ Shannon’s the guy who in theory could be a two-way player. He’s not yet. I don’t think he’ll be as good as Nick Hill defensively. I don’t think he’s going to be consistent enough offensively. Uh but I do think there’s a lot there. So between those three that or or or among those three, that’s how they’re going to backfill the nil stuff. the Nikil production. It’s not just Rob Dillingham. All that to say, of all the guys I’m talking about right now, Rob Dillingham, Jaylen Clark, TJ Shannon, Anthony Black, who’s got the highest ceiling? It’s Rob Dillingham. So, would the Timberwolves really trade the highest ceiling guy who is still has the potential? This is a guy who played one season, was barely in the rotation. Would the should the Wolves would the Wolves trade the guy with the highest ceiling in this whole conversation for a guy who like is is um I like he’s not Ben Simmons. Anthony Black is not Ben Simmons. He’s not as good as Ben Simmons was when Ben Simmons was great and he’s better than Ben Simmons is now. So I you know I don’t want to like but that type of a point guard, right? A a pass first. He’s certainly more of a scorer than Ben Simmons is at this point obviously. Um, but grading that on a curve like Anthony Black isn’t a quote unquote scorer, right? That’s not what he’s doing. So, is is replacing that role with a defense first guy that then becomes in Mike Connley’s role? Then what happens? Like, fast forward a year, Mike Connleyy’s gone, he retires, whatever. And is Anthony Black your starting point guard with Jada McDaniels and Rudy Goar? So now you’ve got exactly two guys in your starting lineup that are plus scorers in Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle and exactly one guy who’s an above league average three-point shooter. That would be absurd. Um now I I get it right now like Mike Connley is the other guy that’s that’s an above league average three-point shooter and he’s only a catch and shoot guy. He’s not scoring off the dribble. It’s true. But the combination of if Ant’s got the ball in his hands, Julius Randle’s a capable three-point shooter, a really good second side attacker against mismatches, and Mike Conley is a great catch and shoot, three-point guy, and Jaden’s passable, and Rudy’s there for in the dunker. Like, that’s workable. But now take out Mike Connley and add in Anthony Black and do you think the spacing is going to get better? No. Spacing is not going to get better. Think the offense is going to get better? No. It’s Anthony Edwards. One non-shooter Rudy Go Bear, one at best league average three-point shooter in Jane McDaniels. One at absolute best three-point shooter in Anthony Black, but both under league average three point. Like, it doesn’t make any sense at all. So, why would you? And and and on top of all that, he actually is going to get paid more than Rob Dillingham. He’s a year ahead, so you’ve got to worry about what happens next a year earlier than you do with Rob Dillingham. It doesn’t make sense any way you slice it. And I have been hard on Rob Dillingham. I’m a little bit I I I would say he still has the ceiling. Like he has the ceiling of an all-star. I truly believe that about Rob Dillingham. What’s the likelihood he gets there? I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s great. Like it just isn’t. It It’s always hard to for somebody to become an all-star. I worry about his lack of size and the decision-m that that it hasn’t we haven’t seen much of an improvement there. I think the most realistic best case scenario for Rob Dillingham, and hear me when I say this, I’m not saying he can’t be an all-star, and I’m not saying he can’t and won’t be a starter. I think the realistic best case for a good team for Rob Dillingham is to have him as a six-man Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams type scorer off the bench, which is a really nice player, a valuable player in his prime. Absolutely worth what he’s going to get paid, worth the draft slot, all the above. I think that’s a realistic thing for Rob Dillingham to become in the next couple of years. It means you probably need another guard next year after Mike Connley leaves. You got to find somebody on a mid-level or whatever. That’s another thing. But it’s not Anthony Black. It’s just it’s just not like that profile of a guard does not fit what the Timberwolves need to be trying to do next to Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. You have to have someone else who can attack off the dribble, who can keep teams honest for loading up on Anthony Edwards. And from everything we’ve seen with guys teams not guarding Mike Connley when the when he has the ball essentially, right? Like they’re they’re they know he wants to pass, not attack. That would be the same thing with Anthony Black minus the shooting. So off the ball, what happens? Ant’s got the ball in his hands. There’s not a single other shooter on the floor and so everyone’s going to load up on Anthony Edwards. I it just it it doesn’t make any sense to me at all. Um, and I I really I get back on the soap box on this, you know, as we see more fake trades come through or whatever, but I I truly believe the best option for the Wolves is recreating the Alexander Walker production in the aggregate depending on the matchups, the game, the hot hand. You you play around with those three guys and you find the right fit depending on the night and you hope Rob Dillingham shows you enough to believe that he’s the guy next year. You bring in another veteran. You allow them to split some time next year. Dill before Dillingham takes the reigns, unless he does take the reigns. That’s your best case scenario. What’s the best case with Anthony Black? I don’t know. I don’t think he’s got an All-Star ceiling. And maybe he does, but it’s going to be defense first and it’s not necessarily going to fit what the Wolves necessarily going to fit what the Wolves need next to Anthony Edwards. I want to close today by talking Western Conference. There’s some power rankings on NBA.com. We’ll talk a couple of Wolves notes. We’ll do all that here next to close out the show. All right, I do want to talk more about the Anthony Edwards uh you know point guard of the future thing next to Ant uh at a future future show, maybe even Friday. But a couple things I want to get to here still today. And this is also something else that I may touch on Friday. Uh my favorite power rankings all the time are at NBA.com. John Schuman does a fantastic job with these and he released first Eastern Conference power rankings last week. Uh actually I think two weeks ago and then middle of last week he put out his Western Conference power rankings and I didn’t get a chance to talk about him. So real quickly he’s got OKC first of course Denver second which I’m fine with. Houston third which I complained about this when I talked about the ESPN ones. I think putting Houston ahead of Minnesota is strange. Um, I understand that Houston finished the regular season as the what, two seed and Minnesota was the six seed. I get it. Yes. However, remember how close all those teams were in the West. I think just saying, “Oh, they were the two seed and they got Kevin Durant is a pretty surface level way to evaluate their off season.” Um, I they yes, Dorian Finny Smith is good. Clint Capella is a luxury for the deal they got him in the minutes he’ll play. Absolutely. Addition by subtraction with Jaylen Green. Maybe they also lost Dylan Brooks, who I think matters. And I do think Emo um Odoka is a good coach, a really good coach actually, and Durant’s still a fantastic offensive player. I just I still wonder about if he’s the best player on that team, and we saw what happened when he was the best player on the Suns last couple of years. Uh and yeah, I’d argue he’s still a better all-around player than Bradley Beal. Sorry. Obviously Bradley Beal that Devin Booker and Bradley Bill plenty of guys are better than Bradley Bill at this point. Um I I just I still wonder like is it Shenon? Is he like is he he’s not a top 15 guy. I just really struggle with putting them ahead of Minnesota kind of automatically in the West which is what everyone seems to be doing. In theory, if everybody plays to their to to to their best, like that could be expected, they should be better than Minnesota, but I’m not really convinced about it. Also got a lot of guys that are hurt a bunch. I mean, Durant’s banged up a lot. Van Vleet’s hurt quite a bit. Uh I just I don’t know. Um I think they’ll be good. I think they’ll win 50 plus games again. I don’t know that I would put them ahead of Minnesota. Minnesota, remember, and this is actually pointed out by Jim John Schuman. Minnesota’s fourth in these rankings last season. The Timberwolves had 46 games within five points in the last five minutes. Schuman says they were 20 and 26 in those clutch games. It was by far the most in the league and 29 and seven in all non-clutch games which is an 800 winning pres percentage. Their point differential was that of a 55 win team and they only won 49 games. Remember two years ago they won 56 games. I thought last year they’d take a slight step back because they had some pretty good luck and really good health luck two years ago when they won 56 games and were the three seed in the Western Conference Conference Finals lost to Dallas all that. I thought last year my prediction was that they would win I think it was 53 games is my prediction. They ended up winning 49 and their point differential was still that of a 55 win team. I think they’re somewhere in between that this year. I’m not giving a final prediction, but I believe if I remember right at the overunder over at FanDuel’s 50 and a half wins. I I would take the slight over. I think they win 52 games this year. I’, you know, again, not a final prediction, but they’re going to be in the 51 to 53 range, I believe. I’d say 52. So, Schuman’s point is there was some bad luck there. Also, they weren’t great in the clutch. A lot of that is luck, but not all of it. And, uh, he goes on to list some other stuff. The starting lineup was great. The bench wasn’t in general. Um and uh or sorry the starting lineup was great in the playoffs. The bench wasn’t necessarily. He talks a bit about like there’s a whole section on is Dillingham ready? How will they fill Alexander Walker’s minutes which we’ve talked about adnauseium on the show and he seems to think a lot’s going to hinge on Rob Dillingham and I agree with that. I just I’m still surprised he’s got Minnesota below Houston and we will see how this all shakes out. I think they’ll probably both be in that same you know range of wins in the West after Minnesota. Incidentally, he’s got both LA teams. Clippers at five, Lakers at 6, Warriors at 7, Dallas at 8, Memphis 9, Spurs 10, Portland 11, Sacramento 12, Phoenix 13. I think I mostly agree with the rest of this. New Orleans 14, and Utah 15. Um, that feels about right. I would flip Minnesota and Houston. I would. All right. Uh, let’s see what else. The Timberwolves, couple quick things. the Christmas Day schedule we talked about the other day. Minnesota plays the finale on Christmas Day at Denver 9:30 tip on Christmas night. Um, and that is on I believe that one is on ABC. Oh yeah, that one’s on ABC ESPN. We don’t know yet which that is on, but Minnesota also has a Peacock exclusive, the first full week of NBA auction this year. That’s Monday, October 27th. A double header that Peacock will have. Of course, NBA returning to NBC and Peacock. Um, or returning to NBC and then also on Peacock. Cleveland at Detroit at six o’clock on that Monday the 27th. Minnesota will play host to Denver at 8:30 Central on Monday, October 27th. So, that will be fun. Get ready to hear Round Ball Rock a ton, which we all already have, but you’re going to hear a lot more. And then the other uh I guess final notes are the Timberwolves did hire a new coach for the Iowa Wolves of the G-League. Um, I’m blanking on his first name, but Newton went to I think Memphis, Houston. I forget where their GL team, Gile coach went, but they hired uh Mhhammed Abdul Fata. And I I think I said that right. Mhhammed Abdul Fata as their head coach of their G-League team. He previously was the head coach of the Sydney Kings in Australia. So, head coach of uh, you know, Australia. That’s a good a good league in Australia. And then also, he’s going to be an assistant on the uh, America Cup qualifying team for USA basketball, which is interesting. Leads me to my next quick note, which is that Leonard Miller from the Timberwolves, of course, is on the Canadian basketball roster for the qualifying tournament. And then also related to Australian basketball, Jesse Edwards, who the Wolves have not officially announced has been waved, is is going to sign with Melbourne United. So not the same team that um the Timberwolves do G-League head coach coached last year, but in that same Australian National Basketball League, Jesse Edwards has signed a contract to play there. That team has announced it. The Wolves have not yet announced, as of this recording, that Edwards has been waved. But we talked about this uh last week, I believe, when it was reported that the Wolves would be signing Enrique Freeman to a two-way slot. We already knew that they’d signed Rockco Zakarsski, this year’s second round pick, to a two-year two-way deal. And Tristan Newton was reportedly back after signing his qualifying offer following summer league. So Edwards will be waved. Jesse Edwards will be waved, to be clear, will go play professionally in Australia after he had a pretty good year last year for the Iowa Wolves. And then Enrique Freeman will take on that two-way slot. So, a lot of kind of movement here in the fringes. Still nothing on the final roster spots for the Wolves. Still nothing on any like forures on those on a couple of those two ways, but uh notable nonetheless. There’s also some coaching moves to be made on the on the Timberwolves bench as well because of a couple guys that we know have moved on already we’ve talked about on past shows. So, a lot still to come there. Of course, uh throughout the month of August, we’re doing three to four shows a week. The plan this week is to be back on Friday with another show. So, no show tomorrow, but back on Friday. A big thank you for making Lockdown 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. And you can also watch on the Lockdown Sports Minnesota app on both Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Of course, the Lockdown Wolves podcast is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. A reminder that for your second listen, you can check out the Lockdown NBA podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts. That includes YouTube. Doug, Matt, and Hayes do an awesome job throughout the offseason. So, go check that out. Of course, both this show and the Lockdown NBA show are part of the Lockdown Network, your local experts on all the biggest stories. Once again, I’m Ben Beacon. This is the Lockdown Wolves podcast. We’ll catch you next time.

Is there any chance the Minnesota Timberwolves would trade Rob Dillingham to find a different succession plan at point guard? Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) confronts a fake trade that would bring Anthony Black to the Wolves and pokes holes in the idea of moving on from Dillingham at this stage + the case for a high-level shot-creator next to Anthony Edwards. Also, Western Conference power rankings and a handful of Wolves-related notes.

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