Chris Finch didn’t spend Timberwolves Media Day pretending last season went the way Minnesota wanted. He went right at the issue: the Wolves’ energy rose and fell too often, and that kind of team is asking for trouble over the grind of an NBA season.
“Some of that was related to just our frustrations and the personality of last year's team,” Finch said. “The team that had been together for a couple years and, at times, played bored, and we talked a lot about that.”
That was the story of a team that came back with continuity, then stalled out anyway. Minnesota had brought back seven of its top eight players, including all five starters, with hopes of building on a 49-win season and a sixth seed. Instead, the Wolves finished with the same 49 wins and the same sixth seed, and the season never really found the gear they wanted.
This time, Finch is dealing with a roster that looks very different. Julius Randle is gone, and so are veteran voices Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, and Kyle Anderson, each of whom signed elsewhere in the offseason.
In their place are LaMelo Ball, Jonathan Kuminga, and a wave of new faces. Altogether, the Wolves have five new players on the roster, plus Ayo Dosunmu, who will go through his first training camp in Minnesota after being acquired at last year’s trade deadline.
That kind of turnover changes the job in front of the coaching staff, and Finch made clear he sees camp as the place where the real work starts.
“We're going to go back to the beginning and a lot of the fundamentals,” Finch explained. “Stuff that we’ve been able to not ignore, but move through quicker, with so much continuity in the roster the last few years. Level-set some stuff-expectations and standards for those new guys.”
He also drew a straight line from training camp to the rest of the season. The foundation gets laid now, and the lessons carry forward into the regular season and then the playoffs. Skip steps, and high-level success usually slips away.
Finch pointed to 2023-24 as the model for how Minnesota can look when it’s clicking. That was the best Timberwolves team of the Anthony Edwards era, the one that won 56 games in the regular season and went 5-0 in the preseason. Finch said the early signs from this group have reminded him of that team.
“I think one of the best preseasons we had was a couple of years ago [in 2023-24]," Finch noted. "I think was the year we got off to a pretty hot start, like 17-4, and our team in the preseason gave me a little bit of the same vibes this season.”
That 2023-24 squad eventually fell to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, but it still stands as Minnesota’s closest run to the NBA Finals in 20 years. It also showed a level of adaptability the Wolves haven’t consistently carried elsewhere, including in the series win over the defending champion Denver Nuggets after dropping the middle three games.
Even with two straight uneven regular seasons, Minnesota has still been dangerous in the postseason. The Wolves have won three playoff series over the past two years, including two as significant underdogs. But when they’ve run into true title-level opponents with matchup problems they couldn’t solve, the endings have come quickly and badly.
Finch said the regular season has to do more than fill time.
“The regular season is where you find your identity, and your identity carries you almost most nights," Finch stated. "You also have to use the regular season to be able to figure out what you're good at and what you might need as a curveball come the playoffs.”
That curveball has been the missing piece. Minnesota has had talent and enough cohesion to win plenty of games with its best stuff, but not enough variety when a series turns and an opponent starts taking away Plan A. Finch’s point was simple: a team has to know itself well enough to adjust, and that understanding has to be built over the course of the season.
For the Wolves, that means this year is supposed to look different from the start - different roster, different tone, different level of urgency. Training camp begins Tuesday, and that’s where the new version of Minnesota starts trying to take shape.
In Other News...
Jonathan Kuminga Has A Real Chance To Earn His Wolves Future
Jonathan Kuminga arrived in Minnesota this offseason with a fresh start and a clear message: he wants to fit into a winning structure, not just fill a box score. For a Timberwolves team that has built its identity on effort, length and accountability, that mindset matters as much as any raw talent he brings. The next step is turning that promise into a nightly role that blends with what the Wolves already do well.
Kuminga is also on a one-plus-one deal, which gives this season a little extra weight even if the focus remains on the present. If he can establish himself as more than a scorer and show he can help in multiple ways, Minnesota could have a real decision to make when the contract picture comes back into view next offseason. For now, though, the opportunity is straightforward: play well, fit in and make it hard for the Wolves to imagine life without him. [Read more 🡒]
Tim Connelly Leaves A Big Timberwolves Question Hanging Over Opening Night
Media day in Minnesota brought the usual early-season optimism, with president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, coach Chris Finch and players all talking about a group that believes it can keep building on what it already has. Connelly said he is happy with the Timberwolves and focused on winning, but the broader backdrop around the team is hard to miss after the recent ownership changes and the questions they tend to bring with them.
Connelly also left one of the biggest questions untouched as opening night approaches. He has less than a year left on his contract and did not offer any long-term commitment to the Wolves, which naturally keeps attention on his future as much as on the roster. And because he has drawn interest for other top front-office jobs before, including in Washington and Dallas, the silence is likely to linger until there is something more concrete to read into. [Read more 🡒]
LaMelo Ball Could Unlock A Different Rudy Gobert In Minnesota
Rudy Gobert entered media day sounding upbeat about the possibilities of sharing the floor with LaMelo Ball, and it is easy to see why Minnesota would be intrigued. Gobert has long been valued for his rim protection and finishing around the basket, but his offensive game has always come with limits, which puts a premium on having a guard who can create easy looks and keep the defense occupied.
Ball brings exactly that kind of playmaking profile, with the vision and touch to feed a center in ways that can change how an offense functions. The Timberwolves are hoping that kind of connection can widen Goberts impact and make the group harder to defend, especially if Ball can translate the same kind of chemistry he has had with similar big men elsewhere into Minnesota. [Read more 🡒]