D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards mingle with Rudy Gobert, who was famously added to the fold this July (@Timberwolves/Instagram).

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After their 2021-22 season ended with a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Minnesota Timberwolves retooled by trading for three-time NBA Defensive Player of Year Rudy Gobert, in what many called the most surprising and impactful move of the offseason. They also re-emphasized their commitment to franchise cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns by offering him a super-max contract extension worth $224 million. To help us assess how Minnesota will fare in the crowded Western Conference, we’ve enlisted the help of Derek James, former Timberwolves beat reporter for various outlets and writer of the By Derek James Substack. He’ll take us through those two aforementioned seismic front-office moves, the continued growth of Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, and much, much more.

6:26-8:11: “It definitely struck me as a lot when the Gobert trade first went down and seeing all those picks [be sent to Utah] and then hearing Tim Connelly talk about how he feels like they probably maxed out their ceiling last year. … How are you getting even better and taking the next step there? I think that is really where this trade has pushed the Timberwolves. You could see them reasonably having home-court [advantage], at least in the first round. … A big, determining factor in where they finish is probably going to be how many nights does Jamal Murray get off in Denver, is Michael Porter gonna be healthy, or with the Clippers, are Kawhi and PG gonna be getting regular rest nights? … So I do think there are potentially some opportunities within the West there for them to steal some depending on how other teams operate. There’s a range of possibilities. … Other factors in this, too, could just be Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, some of these younger guys, also improving like we think they should.”

10:43-11:55: “I think with the Tom Thibodeau regime and the veterans that he would bring in…they were probably on the back ends of their primes, to put it generously. … Kyle Anderson can still contribute. Taurean Prince can contribute. I think even with Austin Rivers, we saw in the preseason where teams tried to post him up with other guards, and he defended it well. And you don’t really need much more from your fifth, sixth guard than that, just a veteran who came in and just knows where to be and what to do, but is still young enough to be a useful player. … This is the first time this team has actually developed players.”

12:30-13:45: “That’s the thing with Anthony Edwards: I have no idea what his ceiling could be. … I remember, his rookie year, Jarred Vanderbilt pointing to spots on the floor where he needed to go on defense and [him] just being completely lost. He had never played team defense before, I’m pretty sure. So just to see him become even just a playmaker on defense is big, and not to be a liability like that. … Out of the box, he was fearless in getting to the rim. He knew he was built like a tight end going to the basket. That was never a problem, but I think it was really just getting that shot consistent. And if that gets more and more consistent, I don’t really know what his limits are.”

20:55-21:22: “The biggest thing we saw last year was Karl-Anthony Towns just at times could not stay out of foul trouble. He could not stay on the floor, and this team needs Karl-Anthony Towns on the floor. So what it says to me is Tim Connelly got in there, was like, ‘All right, we’re going to stop trying to make this guy a defensive center and we’re going to go get a guy [Gobert] who we know can play how we need someone at that position to play.’ I don’t think it’s that we don’t like Karl. I think it’s, ‘We think he is best used in other ways.'”

23:05-23:25: “Russell is going to have a great lob target [in Rudy Gobert], maybe somewhat like Jarrett Allen in Brooklyn, only a little better. So I think he’ll make D’Angelo Russell look better, and I think there’ll just be this effect on teams in the pick and roll, where they have all these different looks they can throw at defenses now.”

29:40-30:12: “What was always kind of impressive [about Jaden McDaniels] that even at 19, 20 years old is just how strong he was, even with his frame, and it looks like he’s continued to improve and work hard and just continue to get stronger there. He also provides that threat from the outside where he can shoot pretty consistently now. … It definitely seems like they envision him being that lengthy 3-and-D forward.  There’s real value in that guy who can at least defend all the frontcourt positions and even hit the 3 too.”

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Music: “Who Likes to Party” by Kevin MacLeod.