With 2024 having come to a close, here are some resolutions we would like to see the Timberwolves adopt as the calendar turns over to 2025.
2024 has been a wild ride for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Wolves have been at the forefront of basketball discourse for much of the calendar year. From making their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2004 to Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert clashing in the Gold Medal game of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The massive Karl-Anthony Towns trade that shocked the world on the eve of training camp to the struggles of the slightly above .500 team that we have watched through the first 30+ games of the season.
Like any year as a sports fan, 2024 has been filled with superb triumphs to go along with grim defeats… and everything in between.
But, no matter if you are ready for it or not, time keeps moving and all we can do is look ahead to (hopefully) bigger and better things. Because of this, our staff at Canis decided to get together for the age-old tradition of New Year’s Resolutions: Wolves Edition.
Before we launch into everything we would like to see the Timberwolves rectify in 2025, our staff wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and give a huge thank you for all the support in 2024. On to the next!
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Clutch Time Kryptonite — Move the Ball!
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ clutch time offense this season has looked as if the multiple “Glue Girls” had succeeded in their mission when storming the court: Stuck. Too often when the game is close in the 4th quarter their possessions devolve into tons of dribbling, ending with a tough, contested, off-balance jumper. This is not the way to go blow-for-blow with the best in the league.
According to NBA.com, the Timberwolves are tied for the second most games played in the clutch with 21 and they are 10-11 in those games. Their offensive rating in these situations is 29th at 91.7, their defensive rating is 17th at 112.6 and their overall net rating is also 29th at -20.9. Of the players in the regular eight-man rotation, only Mike Conley has a positive net rating in the clutch at +7.8. Julius Randle is second on the team with a -16.0. Not great.
If you’ve watched the Wolves in clutch time this year, you know why this is the case: There is not nearly enough ball movement or structure that foster good shots when the game tightens up.
This is something that needs to be high on the list of the Wolves resolutions heading into the new year because it is clear that a lot of their games come down to the wire. While it can be easy to play the blame game and point fingers at Head Coach Chris Finch, or any of the players, I think it is a collective issue that should be addressed by everyone. Finch needs to get the lineups right in these situations and help make life easier for the offense by providing help for player spacing and body movement.
Anthony Edwards needs to find the right balance between not dribbling too much, making the correct read and still maintaining his ability to deliver the kill shot. Julius Randle (if he’s out there) needs to use his gravity and playmaking skills to create advantages on that end of the floor. Perhaps most importantly, the best way to help struggling offense in this time of the game is to be great defensively.
This is extremely easy for me to say, especially behind my computer screen, but it can be much harder to do in real life. It will be key if the Wolves want to rise higher in the standings.
— Benny Hughes
Photos by Darren Carroll/NBAE via Getty Images
Take the Training Wheels Off
The definition of “resolution” comes up as: A firm decision to do or not to do something. All SMUT aside, Finch has firmly made decisions to not play Wolves rookie, Rob Dillingham. We’ll always have that beautiful two-game stretch against the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, but that was (allegedly) sidetracked by an ankle injury that occurred during practice. It’s easy to look at his small stature, the mistakes he’s made that 99% of other rookies would make, and the negative plus-minus numbers, and deduce that Dillingham doesn’t deserve minutes for a team trying to figure out their identity and fighting for playoff seeding. However, at some point, Minnesota is going to realize that Mike Conley is not aging like LeBron James.
The play of the 37-year-old point guard has been one of the sadder storylines of the season. He’s shooting a career-worst 34.5% from the field which includes a 9% drop from distance compared to last season. Most telling is his 42.9% mark on shots from 0-3 feet, another career-low percentage. That’s the range where Conley shoots his signature shot: his off-hand floater. The drop in production is likely a combination of age, new teammates, and a nagging wrist injury, but all signs point to the end being nearer than we think.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo’s effectiveness has helped paper over the immediate burns of Conley’s shortcomings. As productive as they’ve been, the future backcourt of the franchise will still hinge on the development of Dillingham. Finch has to give him more leash and let him learn through mistakes. That or let him play 35 minutes a night for the Iowa Wolves. Letting him waste away on the bench and subtweet through IG stories can’t continue.
— Leo Sun
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Time to Let Go of 2024
The last calendar year was one of, if not the best calendar year in the history of the Timberwolves. They started the year with the best record in the Western Conference, finishing the season with 56 wins, the second most in the history of the franchise.
They followed that up with a playoff run that will not soon be forgotten in Minnesota, sweeping Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns before defeating the defending champion Denver Nuggets in a 20-point Game 7 comeback for the ages.
largest halftime comeback in a Game 7 in @NBA history.
down 18 at the half, down 20 overall. IYKYK.#BESTofNBA pic.twitter.com/acWTsf1Gvw
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) September 11, 2024
There were also low moments for the Timberwolves fans in 2024. On September 27, just a few days before the start of training camp, the Wolves traded nine-year franchise pillar Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round pick.
The Wolves started the season 8-10 with many fans blaming the trade as the reason for the slow start to the season. Those frustrations were only made worse when in his return to Target Center, Towns scored 32 points on 10-12 shooting including making all five of his 3-pointers in a 133-107 Knicks rout of the Timberwolves.
Collectively, while 2024 was a year Wolves fans will not soon forget, a key to 2025 and beyond will be letting the memories of the past stay in the past. The constant comparisons of this year’s team to the one that went to the Western Conference Finals only serve to haunt the current Wolves roster and their fan base.
While 2024 was possibly the greatest year in the history of the Wolves, it is time to move on and let the 2025 Timberwolves succeed or fail without the looming expectations from a year ago.
— Ryan Eichten
Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images
Put Julius Randle in a Position To Succeed
The trade deadline is nearing one month away (February 7). The Timberwolves are starting to figure things out and pull the right strings to gut out close games. They have won five of their last eight games, all of which have been against teams above or at .500 (all opponents are above .500 except for the San Antonito Spurs, who are at 16-16).
However, Minnesota’s starting lineup entering New Year’s Eve has a -11.7 net rating, which is barely ahead of the 5-28 New Orleans Pelicans (-11.8) for the worst net rating of lineups that have played over 100 minutes together.
Conley, Edwards, McDaniels, Randle, and Gobert continuously start games with no juice. The ball doesn’t move, and far too many possessions end in pointless isolation sequences for Edwards or Randle. There has been more than enough evidence to make the claim that the Wolves should mix up their starting lineup (moving either McDaniels or Randle, for example) to find a piece or pieces that will fix the starters’ woes and set the team up better for the future. We haven’t heard any reputable report stating that the Wolves are looking for a big move at the deadline, but that can certainly change within a month.
In the meantime — or if the Wolves keep their starting unit intact past the deadline — continuing to put Randle in positions to succeed will be of the utmost importance.
“It’s different,” explained Julius Randle when Dane Moore asked him about playing with the bench group after Sunday’s win over the Spurs. “Our pace is really up in that group. We have multiple guys who can push the ball. Everybody can run the floor and shoot. We cut and move a lot. For me, I am almost like a point forward in that unit. The floor is spread, so I can get downhill, attack, get in the paint, create for myself and create for others, and initiate early offense in transition … It’s a fun lineup to play in, for sure.”
The Wolves have tweaked their rotation to lean into playing Julius Randle with The Bench 3 of late — with Minott or Edwards as the 5th.
That Randle + Reid + Alexander-Walker + DiVincenzo foursome has now outscored opponents by 15 points per 100 possessions this season.… pic.twitter.com/JuGIjZeaq2
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 30, 2024
The Wolves have begun experimenting more with Randle playing alongside the bench, mostly with lineups that do not feature a natural point guard — promoting him to take the ball up the floor and quickly initiate the offense his way.
The results have been tremendous.
- Wolves with Randle at the four, playing with the starters: +3 point diff. | 113.8 pts/poss.
- Wolves with Randle, DiVincenzo, and Alexander-Walker ON: +11.2 point diff. | 123 pts/poss.
Boiling it down even further, Randle’s success with the bench group largely stems from his chemistry with DiVincenzo, who was with Julius in New York last season.
When Finch turns to his Edwards, DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker, Randle, and Reid lineup, the Wolves are outscoring their opponents by 24.8 points through 215 possessions together. That lineup also averages 131.6 points per possession.
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Additionally, DiVincenzo — who is finally on an upswing, shooting 48.9% from deep over his last six games — is shooting 18 of 42 (42.9%) from deep when Randle passes to him this season. Julius has passed to DiVincenzo 151 times, Randle’s third-most to any teammate. He has also assisted Donte 20 times, tied for Julius’ second-most to a teammate.
Randle has created 61 points this season off his assists to DiVincenzo.
“We played with each other last year,” Randle told reporters when asked about his chemistry with DiVincenzo. “We know where we like the ball and what each other is going to do. There is a little bit of a synergy there. It is easy to find him. I know he is always on the move, cutting and relocating in space. He’s my shooter, so I try to get him easy looks, good looks. Once we see a few go in, it opens the game up.”
Minnesota’s pace and fluidity are night and day better when Randle runs with the bench group than when he plays alongside the starters. Does that mean Finch should bring him off the bench and start Naz in his place? Perhaps, but I would not expect that to happen, if at all, until after the trade deadline.
Randle was nominated for Western Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 21.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists on 48.3% from the floor and 40% from deep over four games in Week 10. Big Ju has found some repeatable success lately, and a lot of that boils down to the lineups Finch is deploying around him.
The Wolves must continue to put Randle in positions to succeed for as long as he is on the team.
— Charlie Walton
Photo by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images
Believe the Reasons for Positivity
I have watched every minute of every game this season for playback.tv/canishoopus (shameless plug). It has made me so abominably jaded about Wolves basketball.
I hate that.
I come on here and preach about enjoying the sport of basketball constantly. I wrote about the love of dumb nicknames (shoutout “Seatbelt”) and the goofiness of the Naz Reid support. I loved every second of those moments. Yet, I have buried them as an analyst of the on-court performance, for better and for worse.
That ends now. My Canis Hoopus resolution for the year is to maintain and encourage the joy of basketball in myself that I have pushed down. Everyone else here has written about on-court switches for the Wolves, changes that I hope the coaching staff is taking into consideration, but I want to make a plea to fans like myself, fans who I see on social media, screaming that the sky is falling after every dumb turnover or defensive lapse.
Let’s love basketball this year. There’s a space for analysis. Let’s rediscover the place for childlike joy. That’s what I’m looking for in the remaining games of this season.
BONUS: I’d love to see the Wolves make some trade by buying low on young talent.
— Thilo Latrell Widder
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Just Have Fun
Hopefully, this acts as a double-sided resolution for both fans and the team in general. Whether it was showing on the floor, both on TV and in the locker room after games, the team wasn’t having fun.
It took just a quick scroll through Wolves social media to see that approximately zero fans were having fun.
All of that energy is contagious. It’s a two-way street. Looking like kicked dogs on the floor showed fans that the team had no confidence, so why should they? Booing the team at every single home game when a major deficit happened had the same effect.
I understand some of the things that go into that. Tickets aren’t necessarily cheap. Expectations aren’t necessarily low. The effort to meet them didn’t seem very high. However, at the end of the day, this is an 82-game season. If anything prior has taught us, the first thing about the NBA is that seasons are long. Things take time to happen. It’s not instantaneous, and oftentimes when you look back, there are seasons that happen within the season.
This stuff is supposed to be fun.
Remember when the Wolves were winning 17 games and everyone was just happy that Naz Reid played 20 minutes? It would be awesome to see this newfound joy from the team continue moving forward. Ant looks like he wants to play on a night-to-night basis. Julius Randle ceased the pattern of moping that many had become used to seeing. Rudy Gobert without the sauntering away when he doesn’t get the ball on offense. Donte DiVincenzo is happy to be in Minnesota.
The kneejerk “trade everyone, fire Finch” is becoming less frequent after losses while the celebration after fun wins increases. That’s what it’s all about. It makes the online collectivism about a team a cool thing to keep a pulse on.
Maybe, just maybe? *ducks*
— Andrew Carlson
More important than our writing staff’s resolutions, we want to hear from you. What is your personal resolution for 2025, Wolves-related or not? Or what would you like to see the Wolves achieve this next calendar year? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.