2017 Training Camp

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Welcome to what might be Day 28 at training camp.

Just kidding. I think it’s actually the sixth day. The team will practice today and tomorrow before taking off for Anaheim where they take on the Lakers. And then it’s wheels up for China.

Trust me, I love predicting things and preseason projections. But with how much the team and the Western Conference has changed, I don’t think anyone has any idea. The Wolves are better than they were last season, on paper. That’s not really debatable. Jimmy Butler is one of the league’s top two-way players in the league. Just his addition alone is huge, and that's not factoring in Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford and Taj Gibson.

In the locker room, the guys aren’t talking about how far they want to go. Right now, it’s about learning to play together with about three weeks before the regular season starts.

The Wolves haven’t made the playoffs since 2003-04. I think the goal is to make the playoffs and go from there.

Titanic was playing. Of course, I watched it while I was on the elliptical for an hour. I couldn’t tell if my shirt was covered in tears or sweat. Of course, 45 minutes into my workout, a lady started working out next to me and noticed what I was watching. That was a weird moment.

Karl-Anthony Towns told me in Los Angeles last Friday that he was a big fan of the team’s statement jerseys. If I had to guess, most players are fans of the jerseys and new look overall. Much more modern and “hip,” as the kids might say.

Fun fact: The Timberwolves team store re-opens tomorrow in the skyway. There will be icon jerseys of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Jimmy Butler, and other jerseys, will be available in the coming months.

That’s what we call #contentcrosspromotion.

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Training Camp Mailbag | Expectations And Jersey Talk

Tough night for the Lynx last night in Game 3 against the Sparks at the STAPLES Center. Just one of those games where not really anything went right for Minnesota. 

It was a fun game with some great people. 

Now, here we are before the Wolves take on the Lakers in Anaheim in their first preseason game. We wrote a short little shootaround access piece you can read here. 

I had a salad I got from room service today. It was like $38. So yeah. Go Kyle and managing money!

We fly out immediately to China after the game, which means, I'm putting athletic shorts on ASAP after the game.

That's all I've got pregame. I'll check back in after the game. 

You may have noticed my location has changed. And that's because I've decided to head to the Lynx and Sparks Game 2 at the STAPLES Center tonight. I'm currently in my hotel writing. Last night, I was able to see an old friend who now works with the Lakers. He gave me a tour of the team's new practice facilities and offices, and let me tell you, they are pretty incredible. If I had to guess, the Wolves and Lakers probably have the two best practice facilities out there.

Today, we'll have a mailbag, training camp report (the team wraps up their last day of camp today in San Diego) and possibly more! 

Going to get a coffee. I'll chat with you guys soon. 

I need a coffee and food. So that's my next mission.

The Wolves practice this afternoon. We'll have a practice report up, so be on the lookout for that. And then one more practice before heading to Anaheim for the team's preseason game against the Lakers.

Good evening. Sorry on the lack of RoR posts today. Honestly, just not enough quality snacks to posts about today.

Practice was good, and I wrote about that here. We also have a mailbag and two videos up.

I'm going to read a bit. Lean In is a fantastic read. I took a bit of a break after reading the first 50 pages, but I'm back in. I think for anyone, it's an important thing to read. You have to know where you're at to know where you're going. We can do better. 

And then I'm going to watch last night's episode of This Is Us because why not cry before bed?

What a Lynx win last night. My goodness. I was watching in my hotel room with a bag of barbeque chips. Great start to the game via Lindsay Whalen. 

The Wolves are back at practice this afternoon. We'll have plenty of coverage from it, so be excited for that. I'll also be posting that feature story that I promised you yesterday. Sorry, transcribing isn't fun. 

I'm going to head to the gym (maybe yoga?) now, and then I'll be back for a mailbag before practice. Later peeps.

I just had some lunch. Two very good tacos. I posted them here because it's 2017 and that's what you do. 

Literally two people working here stared at me until I posted it on Instagram. They were so relieved after I finally posted. Almost like peeing for the first time after a four-hour flight. It was odd. 

We'll still have a feature story later on today. About what? I haven't decided. But what I do know it's Tuesday and we open basketball cards on Tuesday. So I'm going to get me some cards. 

I went to a gift shop today to get some gifts for my people. The only problem with gift shops is that nothing is really authentic. So, I'll look somewhere else on this trip. Hey, four days down. Like 15 to go. 

I'll check in later tonight. Get ready for some basketball cards. 

I'm chugging an iced coffee and I'm feeling good. Gym is already done, I wrote a mailbag and I ate some Fruit Loops. I'm not sure if it gets much better than this.

I have a top-secret project that I'm working on in about 45 minutes. You'll see stuff from that soon, but if I told you what I was doing I'd have to send Liam Neeson after you and I don't want to do that.

After that, I'll probably write some sort of feature story. No practice today. A scheduled day off for the Wolves.

I am looking for somewhere to watch Game 2 of the WNBA Finals tonight, though. Any suggestions?

I didn't update this blog after my workout and before practice. I'M SORRY! I was busy uploading videos for you peeps to watch because I care about you and love you as basketball fans. 

But I'm here now and that's all that matters. 

I'm currently writing in my hotel bar because being stuck my hotel room is about as fun as a flat football. 

Timberwolves practice is over for the day. Kind of an uneventful day, but not all days are fun and exciting. I was able to see Dave Benz, the team's TV play-by-play announcer. We talked about polo shirt sizes. So that was a nice talk. Jamal Crawford had very nice things to say about coach Tom Thibodeau and Nemanja Bjelica seemed pumped to be back practicing. 

I'm guessing the team will have a day off soon. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see. 

I'll check in tomorrow. Much love from the Emerald City. 

I went to be before 9 p.m. last night and I'm eating animal crackers right now. 

The Wolves will be back at practice today around 1 p.m. Plenty of content to come after, including a practice report, videos, a training camp mailbag and hopefully a feature of sorts.

The Lynx lost Game 1 yesterday, which stinks, but after coming back from 28-2, I'd argue the Lynx have the momentum heading into Tuesday's Game 2. 

I'm going to head to the gym and grab some coffee. I'll check back in before practice. 

It's colder here than I thought it would be. I mean, it's nice. But I had to wear a pullover. I heard it's like 97 degrees in Minnesota.

Regardless, it's been a busy day here. Practice, followed by a few articles. As far as Ratke on the Road stuff goes, I mean . . . I ate a bunch of animal crackers and there's a 67 percent chance I get room-service french fries at some point tonight. 

I'm currently watching Sunday Night Football and it's 7:13 p.m. Normally I'm not awake for this. What a time. Live your best life. Some kids outside my room are playing Jenga or something. Darn kids. 

I'm sorry I'm boring. I'll check back in tomorrow peeps. You're all awesome. 

What a day it's already been. Gym. Laundry. Tan.

Just kidding. I did. You probably went out with your friends because you're young, wild and free. I'm old and I had Raisin Bran for breakfast this morning. #Raisins4Life. While we're at it, oatmeal raisin cookies are the best.

I'll be in my hotel room for the majority of the day watching football and then the Lynx game. This whole two hours early business here is really throwing me off. 

Practice availability is at 1:30 for me, 3:30 for you. We'll have plenty of coverage from that, just like we did yesterday because that's my job.

Welcome to what will end up being the longest-lasting Ratke on the Road blog ever. Some say it could never be done. Some doubted us. One person even changed my account information to post on Timberwolves.com.

Day 1 in San Diego for the team’s training camp. I’ll be here with the team through training camp and then through the trip to China.

“Kyle has a cat. We think that’s his best friend which is somewhat weird, but let’s move along. He plays video games. His diet consists of dry cereal, Red Bull and Cheese-Its. We don't particularly like him at work. He doesn't wear socks. Plus, we’ve already asked eight people to go and they said no. This sounds like a great road trip for him!’

Okay, that’s not true. I do wear socks. They are just no-show socks. It's 2017. People don't need to see your socks.

Twenty days or 19 days or whatever is a long time. But a my friend (not my cat) told me this morning how lucky I am to be on this trip and how I’ll look back and be like, “Man, I’m lucky.” So yeah, I feel good about this.

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's hammer through this quick.

Ten non-basketball highlights from this trip so far:

I’m going to go crush some animal crackers.

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Ratke On The Road | San Diego Training Camp Edition

We are just one day away from seeing these new-look Wolves take on the Lakers. Man, that offseason went by fast. More questions. Here we go.

I would doubt it. Thibs told us this week that he doesn’t envision regular minutes for his players in the first game. With the team flying to China right after Saturday’s game, it’s kind of a weird preseason game with so many things for the team to look forward to. I would look for Thibs to distribute the minutes as you’d think a coach would for the first preseason game.

But it is a good point and one we wrote about yesterday, the team does only have three preseason games. Although, the coach said the team will try to do some sort of team scrimmage to act like a fourth preseason game before the season kicks off on Oct. 18 in San Antonio.

The team already has Anthony Brown under a two-way contract.

I think guys to watch for that are Amile Jefferson, Melo Trimble and Marcus Georges-Hunt.

For Thibs, I don’t necessarily if he has “camp bodies.” When he invites these players in, he does for a reason. For Brown it’s his shooting. For Jefferson, it’s the way he conducts himself and works. For Trimble it’s the fact he can play both guard spots. And for Georges-Hunt, it’s that he’s a defensive-minded wing.

We’ll get a better idea of who is “leading” this race after Saturday’s preseason game against the Lakers.

Not yet. The team will leave after Saturday night’s game. The Wolves play in Shenzhen on Oct. 5 with a CT tipoff of 12:30 a.m. The team then plays Oct. 8 in Shanghai at 5:30 a.m. CT. before departing back for Minnesota. 

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Training Camp Mailbag | One Day Until Preseason

9 p.m. CT, Honda Center, AnaheimWhere to Watch: NBA TV, FOX Sports North Plus

The Wolves open their 2017 preseason in Anaheim to face off against the up-and-coming Lakers.

The Wolves last faced the Lakers on April 9 last season. Los Angeles came away with a 110-109 win at home, thanks to six players scoring 10 or more points. Tyler Ennis led the way with 20 points. Jordan Clarkson added 17, while D’Angelo Russell (now with Nets) scored 16. Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Larry Nance Jr. had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Both Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins went off, both hitting 40 points. Towns had 40 points and 21 rebounds while shooting 17-for-23 from the field. Wiggins had 41 points and shot 13-for-14 from the free-throw line.

Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad scored 12 points each.

Both are very talented centers offensively.

Towns is coming off of a season in which he averaged 25.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from the 3-point line. You friendly reminder that Towns entered last season at 21 years old.

Lopez, entering his 10th season, averaging 20.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season while shooting a career-high 34.6 percent from the line on 5.2 attempts per game. Prior to that, he had never shot more than 0.2 threes per game.

Lakers: PG – Ball, SG – Caldwell-Pope, SF – Ingram, PF – Randle, C – Lopez

Minnesota: PG – Teague, SG – Wiggins, SF – Butler, PF – Dieng, C - Towns

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Preseason Scouting Report | Wolves vs. Lakers

The Wolves have a challenging preseason for more than one reason.

The first, of course, is that they are going halfway around the world to play two preseason games against the Warriors.

The second is that the Wolves are playing in just three preseason games, which is less than ideal considering the Wolves have so many new faces on their team.

“We probably would have liked to play another game or two,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said after Thursday’s practice. “ . . . It is a challenge, but everyone’s playing less. Over the years, it sort of went back to seven and then to six . . . The only thing is the conditioning is a little bit more important in August and September.”

The challenge for the Wolves will be for the core of the team to get some time together. Obviously you want to keep the players fresh for the regular season, but you also want to see what rotations and lineups look like.

“We’ll sort of get a feel for it. We’d like to get some sort of rotation down,” Thibodeau said. “ . . . Certainly the first game won’t be like a regular season game.”

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Training Camp Report | A Challenging Preseason Schedule

The Timberwolves have more talent on their roster than they have in quite some time. Possibly ever.

And while talent certainly helps, egos need to be checked at the door in the NBA on talented teams.

Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau is no stranger to that.

In his first season as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, the team acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett before the season to star alongside Paul Pierce.

That’s great, in theory, but all players had to sacrifice a bit after being “the guy” on their former teams. Of course, that worked out well and the team won the championship.

“I think you learn from all your experiences and I think the biggest takeaway from that was their willingness to sacrifice for each other,” Thibodeau said of that group after Wednesday’s training camp practice. “When you look at Kevin, Paul and Ray, they were all coming from teams in which they scored a lot of points. They were all in the mid-20s . . . If they weren’t willing to (sacrifice), (the championship) never would have happened.”

Garnett went from averaging 22.4 to averaging 18.8 points.

Allen went from averaging 26.4 to 17.4 points.

And Pierce went from averaging 25 to 19.6 points.

For the Wolves to have success in 2017-18, they’ll likely need similar sacrifices from their “Big 3” in Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. But so far in camp, it appears as if the three are playing well with each other.

“We do a three-on-two drill and when you have Karl, Andrew and Jimmy going down at you. You kind of look and say ‘Man, I don’t know how I’m going to stop these guys,’” Aldrich said. “They look good. They look real good. They’re comfortable with each other.”

We will get our first look at the new Wolves on Saturday in preseason action against the Lakers in Anaheim. And while that’s exciting, it’s probably important to realize that everything won’t click right away for this group.

“It’s going to take longer than the preseason, I’ll tell you that,” point guard Jeff Teague said on the team hitting full stride. “It’s going to be good for us to get a game under our belt out there. It’s going to take some time.”

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Training Camp Report | For The Greater Good Of The Team

Day 5 here in San Diego for Timberwolves training camp. Plenty of questions have been submitted. I regret making the rule that only three can be featured in each mailbag. But rules are rules. There’s nothing I can do about it.

It will probably alternate. Both players have similar builds. It probably comes down to defense. Butler will likely guard the opposing teams best wing, while Wiggins will guard the other wing. For example, if the Wolves play the Rockets, I would guess Butler would guard James Harden and Wiggins would take Ariza.

Of course, the way the NBA is now with small lineups and what not, positions are starting not to matter. There’s a good chance we could see Butler play four or five positions and Wiggins play three.

I think both players have their different strengths. Dieng is more talented offensively, and Gibson has the ability to guard multiple positions, something Tom Thibodeau loves.

I don’t think a decision will be made on who starts and who comes off the bench anytime soon, but as far as player minutes go, I don’t know if that will matter. I’d be surprised if either of the two didn’t play somewhere around 25 or more minutes. Gibson has played 25.1 minutes per game throughout this career, while Dieng has played 26.5. 

Players are very excited. We’ll have a feature on this soon. But Jamal Crawford has been there more than once with the Clippers. He told us a story at media day about forgetting a suit and having to buy one in China with Grant Hill. It was less than $90.

Obviously with training camp in San Diego and preseason in China, it’s a long time to be away from home, but for a team with so many new faces, it will be good for team building and chemistry.

That’s all for today. Later, friends. 

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Training Camp Mailbag | Does It Matter Who Plays SG Or SF?

Mailbag number three. I’m currently writing this in my hotel coffee shop while watching the local news on mute. Get into sports writing. It’s fun, they said.

So far today, it’s only 9:10 a.m., I’ve had a handful of chocolate covered almonds and a handful of Fruit Loops. I’m currently drinking an iced coffee.

I took down my bag of animal crackers yesterday. Other snacks I have in my room currently are chips and salsa, along with crackers and cheese. And as my great grandpa Fred always said, it’s never too early to sit on your couch and eat some crackers and cheese with someone who makes you really happy. Or by yourself at a San Diego hotel. Either or. 

I think it’s kind of an open competition between Tyus Jones and Aaron Brooks. Thibs told us Sunday that as far as all position battles, he’ll kind of let the players work that out on the court. I would anticipate both players will get plenty of opportunities to prove themselves throughout camp and preseason.

What I will say is that I feel comfortable with both players. Jones continues to proves he’s prepared whenever he gets an opportunity, and Brooks has experience, having spent nearly a decade in the league.

I’m not with the players or anything besides practice, but I know Towns and Jimmy Butler hung out a lot this summer in Los Angeles. I also know that Towns has talked to Jeff Teague about playing in the pick and roll and where Towns likes the ball. So far, so good.

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Training Camp Mailbag | Team Chemistry, Backup PG And Snacks

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