The Timberwolves amassed 2.43 grade point average in their first season progress report. Their lowest since the first progress report of the Rudy Gobert era.
How quickly things change! Just a week ago, it looked like the season was just about over for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now it looks like the season is just beginning! Our polls opened after the victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and closed just before the same whooping put on the Los Angeles Clippers. This edition, we had 34 voters chime in.
Let’s see how Canis Pulsus Vol. 38 – Quarterly Report 1 (‘24-’25) grade out!
(Note: Canis Pulsus Vol. 38 data was collected through 12/4)
Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images
Anthony Edwards
B+ (35.3%)
36.4 min, 26.2 pts, 5.5 reb, 3.7 ast, 1.4 stl, 0.6 blk, 3.0 tov, 44.3% fg, 42.3% 3p, 80.0% ft
Much was made about Ant’s early season three-point shooting numbers, and for good reason. However, though it’s only tailed off by a little bit, he’s currently in a bit of a shooting funk. Edwards has still been the leader of the pack and usually when he has a good game, the Wolves win.
Full voting results:
Rudy Gobert
B+ / B (24.2% each)
34 min, 10.6 pts, 11.1 reb, 2.1 ast, 0.7 stl, 1.5 blk, 1.6 tov, 65.9% fg, 78.9% ft
Rudy continues to be an easy target both for warranted and unwarranted reasons. That said, despite a slow start and adjustment period with his new teammates, he has found his mojo as of late. The Wolves defense will go as far as he takes it.
Full voting results:
Photo by Vaughn Ridley/NBAE via Getty Images
Julius Randle
B- (24.2%)
33.4 min, 21 pts, 6.7 reb, 4 ast, 0.8 stl, 0 blk, 2.7 tov, 50.0% fg, 35.6% 3p, 81.3% ft
Randle was someone who had a hot offensive start to the season. It may not have been aesthetically pleasing, but the results mostly counter-balanced his defensive lapses. Unfortunately, as his offense fell behind, he mostly became unplayable. There’s been some signs of life with his defensive effort lately, so hopefully that keep trending in the right direction.
Full voting results:
Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images
Jaden McDaniels
D+ (21.1%)
29.8 min, 9.9 pts, 3.7 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.1 stl, 0.8 blk, 1.1 tov, 44.4% fg, 30.0% 3p, 69.2% ft
It’s been a rough season for the 24-year-old. Jaden has continued to struggle with foul trouble and despite a few good offensive performances, he has had one of his worst seasons on that side of the ball. Most notably has been his inability to knock down wide open three pointers, contributing to the team woes.
Full voting results:
Mike Conley
B- / C- (21.9% each)
25.5 min, 8.6 pts, 2.9 reb, 4.5 ast, 1.5 stl, 0.2 blk, 1.4 tov, 35.4% fg, 36.4% 3p, 89.3% ft
The 37-year-old vet looked like he was ready for retirement to start the season. He was nursing a wrist injury, then tacked on a toe injury, all likely factors for why he was so slow out of the gates. However, Conley has returned to the court and shown flashes of his old self recently.
Full voting results:
Photo by Mark Blinch/NBAE via Getty Images
Donte DiVincenzo
C- (30.3%)
25.5 min, 8.8 pts, 3 reb, 3.5 ast, 1.3 stl, 0.2 blk, 1.8 tov, 35.6% fg, 33.1% 3p, 75% ft
It feels like fans (and likely his teammates) have been waiting for the DiVincenzo that was advertised to show up. We’ve seen multiple glimpses of his hustle defense, playmaking, and perimeter shooting, but the lack of consistency has made him tough to rely on. Hopefully time will solve this issue.
Full voting results:
Naz Reid
B- (34.4%)
24.5 min, 13 pts, 5 reb, 1.5 ast, 0.8 stl, 0.7 blk, 1.2 tov, 48.1% fg, 36.8% 3p, 90% ft
Naz Reid has put up similar production to what we’ve been used to getting from him. However, without Karl-Anthony Towns to share the responsibility as the backup center, Naz has really struggled defensively. For so long, he was asked to play closer to a forward/wing, and now he’s being asked to play closer to a center.
Full voting results:
Photos by Cooper Neill/NBAE via Getty Images
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
A (28.1%)
24.3 min, 9.4 pts, 2.8 reb, 2.6 ast, 1 stl, 0.4 blk, 1.5 tov, 50.4% fg, 43.8% 3p, 77.8% ft
NAW rightfully earned the highest grade of all his teammates. He has struggled as a “backup point guard,” but once he was asked to readjust to being more of the three-and-D role player in which he thrived in previously, he has exploded as a star in his role.
Full voting results:
Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
Rob Dillingham
Incomplete (27.3%)
8.4 min, 3.8 pts, 0.8 reb, 1.5 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1.1 tov, 50% fg, 50% 3p
Over a quarter of participants gave the rookie an incomplete grade, but another 24.2% of you gave him a B grade. His opportunities have been few and far between, and though he’s made some rookie mistakes on both ends of the floor, Dillingham has really shown flashes of why Tim Connelly invested into the 19-year-old.
Full voting results:
Josh Minott, Luka Garza, PJ Dozier, Terrence Shannon Jr., Joe Ingles
Incomplete
The large majority of voters graded the final group of players who averaged less than eight minutes per game as “Incomplete.” Fair enough, as none of these five have really played meaningful minutes in most of the games thus far. If Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers was any indication, we may see a lengthier rotation soon.
Photo by Kevin Sousa/Getty Images
Coaching staff
C (31.3%)
Only three voters gave the coaching staff a grade below a C-. They’re still trying to figure out which buttons to press to get the Wolves functioning at a high level, but we’re beginning to see some results. It may have taken longer than expected, but they get a plain C for now.
Full voting results:
Front office
B (25.0%)
This was one of the only questions that garnered a vote for every grade available. The top three received grades were a B, C, and A-. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it appears the masses have felt pleased with their moves thus far.
Full voting results:
Ownership
F (26.5%)
The owners may vary in the amount they meddle with the team operations, but at the bare minimum, their job should be to just own the team. And they’re failing at that right now. There hasn’t been any notable news on the arbitration recently, but don’t expect to see any in the near future either.
Full voting results:
Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images
Will the Wolves make the play-in tournament?
Yes (41.2%)
Only 5 of 34 voters felt the Wolves would completely miss out on the play-in tournament, with the rest splitting opinions on if they’d end up in the play-in or be seeded high enough to avoid having to participate.
Full voting results:
Will the Wolves make the playoffs?
Yes (85.3%)
There’s still faith among the Canis faithful that the Wolves will battle through the Western Conference standings and emerge as one of the top eight teams.
Full voting results:
Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images
What do you hope the Timberwolves accomplish during the next quarter of the season the most?
Play defense & find consistency (51.7%)
The vast majority of voters shared that they want the Wolves to up their defense and play with more consistency. Hard to argue that, considering the amount of seesawing they do even within individual games. Here’s also two longer answers that we’ll share, not because it compliments one of our writers:
Couple of things here. First as for now, the Knicks won the trade. New York keeps winning and KAT is a beast. Trade Randle. Props to my guy Leo Sun, for hating the Flakers. On the side note: I don’t think we or the Knicks, will win the Chip in the future couple of seasons. Simply because the Knicks and the Wolves are copycats. They are build to win of the best of either championship. The two teams must make their own identity. Last year, I swear, when Minny, beat the Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs. And everyone celebrated, cause they beat the Nuggets. And thought that the Mavs would be an easy ride to the finals. I kind of knew, that, THAT series, wouldn’t be, walk in the park. It reminded me of when the Heatles, beat Boston and got destroyed against Dallas (the freaking Mavs). I know right. As, always, keep up the great work. And Finch should play more Rob Dilly. P.S.: Also, don’t know, if you know, or if you mean, something to you, but, I am from Makedonija, in the Balkan peninsula. And I know, couple of people, who are Timberwolves fans. And appreciate this site (and Dunkin’ with the Wolves). Because they are specialized with the topics from our favorite team.
With 1/4 of the regular season over, my feelings on the direction of the Timberwolves are…
Slightly pessimistic (38.2%)
Preseason: Very optimistic (56.9%)
Almost half of the votes were split between “Slightly pessimistic” and “Slightly optimistic.” That’s a fair assessment considering the seesaw nature of the season thus far. This is also one of the first times that the majority vote was anything less than optimistic.
Full voting results:
A 2.43 grade point average is one of the worst marks we’ve seen in a while for a Wolves. But you know what that means? There’s plenty of room to improve! We’ll see you here again for the first semester report card after 41 games.