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Dane Moore: Asked Bones Hyland about the increasingly green light he's been given to be aggressive in Minnesota. "Obviously there's a lot more opportunity out there just to step in. Honestly for me, just goin with the flow of the game. My teammates finding me, making the game easy for me. Finding me in the flow, getting the 3s rolling, get downhill. Like you said, the green light but don't let it be too much of it. Getting everybody involved too."
Charlie Walton: FINAL: Wolves 127, Clippers 101 That is exactly what this team needed — a beatdown on the front end of a back-to-back. Minnesota shot 53% on FGs and had 32 asts to 11 T/Os. Great production up and down the roster. A fun performance. Record: 4-2 Next up: @ Spurs, tomorrow
Dane Moore: Bones Hyland when asked about Minnesota playing without Anthony Edwards. "We loaded, bro. We got a lot of talent on the team, lotta guys who can step in. Last year when we played the Nuggets, guys sat out from injuries and we stepped up."
Anthony Slater: Yaxel Lendeborg is questionable for tomorrow's game in Minnesota. Left foot inflammation. He was icing it postgame in Denver last night. All the other Warriors veterans are cleared.
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His new home arena erupted. His new teammates leaped out of their seats and strutted down the sideline, unable to contain their excitement. And Ball brushed his right arm off, letting the entire place know that he was feeling the magic just as much as they were. “I feel like I’m always feeling myself,” Ball said after Minnesota’s first 3-0 start since 2019. “As long as we winning, I’m feeling myself more.”
Alan Horton: Kawhi Leonard has been ruled OUT for tonight's game vs. Wolves with left knee effusion/swelling.
Dane Moore: Jonathan Kuminga talked today about feeling comfortable in Minnesota and what's contributed to him acclimating quickly. "I think I'm very comfortable. I think part of it for me is just being around these guys everyday. I think if it was stuck people, stuck up personalities, I wouldn't be that comfortable. But I feel like everybody's personality is very open and welcoming."
NBABase: Julius Randle was "one of the culprits" behind Minnesota’s moody locker room last season, per @JonKrawczynski “Everyone immediately looks at Julius Randle and he is certainly one of the culprits... They could be every once in a while... Julius certainly was a part of that when his name got brought up in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talks. He didn't really like that at all and he wears his heart on his sleeve, so you could see that.” “But Naz Reid could get moody, Jaden McDaniels could get moody. Like, there's a lot of quiet, brooding personalities that were in the locker room last year. You bring LaMelo Ball in here and he's much more upbeat and energetic, so there's definitely been a vibe shift.” (Via @bballilluminati)
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NBA Trade Machine: De'Aaron Fox was part of 6.3% of the trades built on HoopsMatic over the past 24 hours. Of those trades, his top destinations were Detroit (10.3%), Minnesota (10.3%), and Chicago (10.3%). The most common players sent back for him were Cade Cunningham (10.3%), Anthony Edwards (10.3%), and Nicolas Claxton (10.3%).
Minnesota finished last season ranked 11th in pace and 14th in offensive efficiency, half-court points per possession and transition frequency. With Ball under center, Finch wants his group to play faster, much faster. As the game has evolved, both the analytics and eye test show that some of the best shots come earlier in the shot clock before opposing defenses can be set up.
The conversation that followed with The Athletic was 11 years in the making. From the moment he arrived in Minnesota as the No. 1 pick in 2015, Towns had spoken about what winning a championship would mean to him and his family. He endured slander and accrued scars along the way. That only made the triumph more satisfying. “The ability to celebrate and rejoice and have that joy of a kid without being judged,” Towns told The Athletic. “And also just the freedom of being able to really talk your s— for real, like being able to say you’re the champion and no one being like, well, this or that, whatever. “It was a much more freeing experience now being an adult and being in that situation than I think I would have ever realized when I was young.”
Jon Krawczynski: Ayo Dosunmu said he envisions starting a family in Minnesota. Mentioned the highly rated public schools as one reason he wanted to stay here. That's long-term thinking. "I felt at home. That was the most important part."