Here we are, just a day away from the start of Timberwolves 2019 preseason.
Where in the world does time go?
The Wolves travel to play the Suns in Phoenix on Tuesday night. Before that, however, they practiced at Mayo Clinic Square on Monday morning.
We all want to see what the team will look like in preseason play. We’re antsy. I’m right there with you. But what we see in preseason play won’t necessarily be what we see in the regular season. Coach Ryan Saunders isn’t going to want to show some of his schemes, and truth be told, some of those schemes might not be ready for games yet. The same goes for rotations. We don’t really know who the team’s 10-man (or potentially 11-man) rotation will be to start the season.
On Tuesday night, Saunders said that he’s expecting to play somewhere between 10-12 players. As the regular season approaches, he hopes that his decision to give players playing time will be a tough decision. That will mean there’s high competition throughout this process, including these preseason games.
“The players determine (their playing time),” Saunders said. “I want to have a hard decision where you could say there are 15 guys that can play, but we can’t dress all of these guys. I want to have that hard decision. These guys do make it hard the way they compete. We’ll see a number of different lineups through the exhibition season.”
It’s been well-documented that practices have been upbeat for the Timberwolves, and we’ll get to this in a longer piece, but having music and playing fast has helped players focus more in practice, and it’s made training camp fun for the players. Normally these practices are something that has players itching for games to start. Instead, the Wolves are actually enjoying themselves during long practices.
Credit Saunders for changing the mood of these practices.
KAT, The Professor
Not all of us know everything about basketball. I’ve been watching for the majority of my life, and I realize the more and more I watch the game, the less and less I think I know.
When players, who are actually playing the game, not just writing about it or watching it, actually open up and describe the game, it’s a remarkable thing.
We were lucky enough to be able to see Karl-Anthony Towns do that on Monday. Towns is expected to be more of a facilitator from the top of the key this season, compared to from the block (although, I would imagine we'll see him plenty from the block as well).
He asked about the differences between passing from the top of the key and passing from the block. His response was awesome and makes us all smarter.
Big ups to Towns for opening up. Not many players do.
Quick Hits
- Jordan Bell will miss Tuesday’s game and Thursday’s game against the Warriors with a strained calf.
- Gorgui Dieng said that this is the fastest a team has tried to play since he’s been a member of the Wolves. It’s also worth noting that the team can’t play fast all the time. Dieng is aware of that. “I’m doing the same thing. The shot clock never changed, so it doesn’t matter how fast you’re going to play, at some point, you’re going to slow it down. You can only go fast in transition and stuff, but when the defense is set, there’s nothing you can do.” With Bell out, we could see more of Dieng in these next two games.
- Tipoff on Tuesday night is set for 9 p.m. CT. Unfortunately, it won’t be on TV or radio. Stay updated on our website and social channels.