The Wolves may be eliminated from playoff contention, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on winning. For the rest of the season the Wolves are focused on continuing to build a positive culture, winning games and experimenting with new ways to put the best possible product out on the floor.
In their win in Memphis on Saturday night, that mission was a success. The Wolves played the best basketball they had in a while and got a solid team win. While Minnesota would rather be fighting for a playoff spot right now, they have a good group of players that have remained committed to doing everything they can to win.
“You ask guys to continue to be professional about everything in terms of your approach and in terms of, if you’re able to contribute we want everybody contributing in one way or another,” said Interim Head Coach Ryan Saunders. “We want to rally and be positive and one, get some wins, and feel good, and also improve, that’s really important.”
The team has a crazy stretch of games coming up and they’ll need to bring everything they have to build off their win in Memphis. Whatever happens, though, the team will fight through it together—that’s the way Saunders wants the team to function. Saunders brought back the “We Over Me” t-shirts that originated under Flip Saunders, and many of the players were wearing them at practice today.
“You saw that early on when Ryan took over, each day he’s trying to build the culture the right way how he wants it, and guys are buying in more and more every day, so it’s been fun,” said Tyus Jones.
For Saunders, it’s about making sure that the team remains focused on winning for the remainder of the season.
“We’re competing,” said Saunders. “That’s our primary goal. That’s how you pick up good habits.”
If you ask Jones, it’s working.
“We’re still approaching it to try to win every game,” he said. “We know these opponents are coming in with something to fight for—their seeding, home-court advantage, things like that. We know they’re not going to take us easy, take us light, and we got to be ready to play.”
Headed into the final games of the season, Saunders has an opportunity to try some new sets out. He mentioned moving Keita Bates-Diop around to see what positions he can play, and putting the ball in Wiggins’ hands more, as well as trying out Wiggins guarding stretch fours. That positional flexibility in two guys that will be around next year could come in handy down the line.
However, Saunders isn’t going to put any experimentation in front of winning and the players recognize that anything he has them try is to give them a better chance to win games.
“You can say it’s a good time to experiment for next year and the future, and finishing out the year strong, that’s mainly it. We want to do whatever we need to do to win, whatever works,” said Andrew Wiggins.