This week has been hell.
Not just because of the Timberwolves either. Life happens outside of basketball, and this past week has been one of those reminders. I have not been posting much because I have just been exhausted. My grandmother died. I have been extremely sick. I have been sleep deprived from staying up for these ridiculously late games. Usually in these winter months, basketball is my escape. It is the thing I throw on for a couple hours to get out of my own head.
Lately, the Timberwolves have made that escape exhausting too.
They have been unserious, infuriating, and draining to watch.
Losing happens. Bad nights happen. Blowout losses happen. The problem is the way the Wolves keep losing. This team has not learned the same lessons that keep punching them in the face over and over again.
The Timberwolves have real talent. Enough talent to beat good teams. Enough talent to make noise in the playoffs. Enough talent that fans should not be sitting here wondering why basic offensive structure still looks so difficult.
This is not a team losing because it has no chance. This is a team losing because it keeps getting in its own way. The turnovers pile up. The offense gets sticky. The ball stops moving. Defensive effort disappears for long stretches. Players drift away from the game plan and start playing their own version of basketball. A winnable game turns into another mess where everyone is staring at each other while the other team gets whatever it wants.
Chris Finch has made it pretty clear lately, even without fully calling guys out by name, that the Wolves know what they want their offense to be. They want to play through Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert. No Duh. The problem is the team is not executing it the way Finch wants.
Finch said on the Ryen Russillo Show this week that for this team to really work, Ant and Julius need to combine for double digit assists. The Wolves do not just need buckets from those two. They need them to organize the offense, create easy looks, and get other people involved.
Over this recent stretch, they have not done that.
Julius in particular has been a major part of the problem. Over the last three games, his assist totals are 4, 2, and 1. For a player Finch apparently wants helping run offense from the post, that is nowhere near good enough. The bigger issue is how it looks on the floor. Julius is not consistently making the easy pass that keeps the ball moving. He is not consistently rewarding cutters, rollers, or quick seals. Too many possessions with him turn into slow, clogged, hold the ball, stare at the defense, then maybe decide what happens next basketball.
It kills rhythm. It kills trust. It makes the whole offense feel heavier than it should.
Finch has also pointed to feeding Rudy as a team focus. In theory, that makes sense. Rudy has been getting more interior looks, and there is real value in rewarding him when he has a deep seal, a roll, or a cut with advantage. The problem is twofold. Rudy has fumbled too many of those chances, and Julius has also flat out looked him off far too often.
Call it what it is. This has been happening in plain sight. Rudy gets position and Julius does not throw it. Rudy rolls and Julius does not throw it. Rudy runs the floor and Julius does not throw it.
Ant deserves blame too. This is not just dump on Julius hour. Finch’s point about double digit combined assists applies to both of them. Ant is the star. He is good enough to score whenever he wants against a lot of defenders, but this team reaches another level when he is forcing rotations and making simple reads instead of drifting into hero ball or letting possessions get sloppy. When Ant plays with force and control, the whole team breathes easier. When he does not, everything starts to feel rushed and unstable.
That is why the Wolves are exhausting right now. They are not just losing. They are making basketball feel harder than it has to be.
This team does not need a total identity change. It needs accountability and discipline. It needs players to actually follow the game plan. It needs coaches willing to punish selfish basketball and mental mistakes instead of just talking about them after another ugly loss. It needs somebody to draw a line and say enough.
That means sitting players if they are not following what the staff is asking for.
These are grown professional players. Follow the game plan. Make the right read. Trust your teammates. Stop hijacking possessions. Stop playing like every game is something to survive instead of something to control. If they cannot do this sit them like like the childish play they are giving deserves.
The Wolves keep talking like they know what is wrong. At some point just freaking fix it.
I am tired. A lot of people are. Life has been heavy this week, and basketball has done the opposite of helping. Instead of being the release, the Timberwolves have added to the frustration.
Tonight we play the Warriors. They have no Steph or Jimmy it should be an easy win. Nothing less than pure domination is acceptable. We’ll see what happens.
But one win will not erase this. One hot shooting night will not erase this either. The Wolves need to start looking like a team that is serious about cleaning up its mess.
Less dumb basketball.
Less selfish basketball.
Less chaos.
More structure.
More trust.
More actual commitment to the plan.
The Timberwolves are exhausting.
They do not need another speech.
They need to fix their issues.
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