Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Keita Bates-Diop spoke for the first time to Minnesota media since being traded
On Thursday morning at Target Center, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and Keita Bates-Diop were introduced as the newest members of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization.
With the trade finally finalized Wednesday morning, it gave the three newest Wolves, alongside President Tim Connelly, the chance to speak about the trade, their expectations about coming to the Wolves, and where they see themselves fitting in with their new squad.
Connelly was the first to speak, tough on the motivation to make this trade, and what it took from a talent standpoint to get the deal done.
These guys bring special on-court skills, they bring toughness. I think depth’s increasingly important, whether it’s the CBA, it’s kind of evolved the last couple years. You know, we don’t trade a person like Kat Lightly. We were very specific with what it would take. And quite frankly, the asking price was very high when you see what these guys accomplished last year.
Connelly also spoke about bringing a championship mentality, specifically from DiVincenzo, that was an important factor with bringing in these specific players in return for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Dante’s is the only guy in the building now that’s won an NBA championship. We talked about an NBA championship, he actually knows what it looks like feels like. So the combination of people and player made it pretty hard to pass up. We’re super excited to bring all three guys to the team and our guys are chomping at the bit to try to win the ring this year.
The next set of questions went to Randle who, before spending five seasons with the New York Knicks, played a season with the New Orleans Pelicans where current Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was the associated head coach.
Randle spoke glowingly about his time with Finch and how he’s excited to be back working with a coach that put him in spots to succeed previously in his career.
I’m extremely excited. You know, when I left Finch in New Orleans, I wanted him in New York, with me. He’s such a great coach. I’ve always thought he was a genius. He’s a great communicator, and he knows how to get the best out of his players. I remember playing for him there and I always felt like super prepared for the games. Knowing what was gonna happen, where I was gonna get my shots from, what he needed from me. I just felt like he just opened up my game and I became a really versatile player. All this, like playing there, even still to this point, that was the easiest my game ever felt playing under Finch.
It is a bit surprising to hear a player speak so highly of a coach, especially one who was only an assistant the previous time they worked together. Every player in a press conference setting is going to speak well of their coach, but Randle took that a step further, praising the level of coach he believes Finch to be.
Randle also spoke about his emotions about leaving New York and coming to Minnesota.
Yeah, it was a lot of emotion. You spend a certain amount of time in a place, in New York, going there five years ago, having a goal to accomplish. A lot of great things and a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into that organization in uniform. Initially, it’s always gonna be a shock. But for me, afterwards, I woke up the next morning and I was just really, really excited. It was a breath of fresh air. I’m excited to bring everything that I learned here over the past five years and help these guys out.
DiVincenzo was next to receive questions, one of which was about where his confidence is at coming off the second half of last season and the playoffs where Donte had one of the best stretches of his career.
All-time high. My confidence this last year just continued to grow. My role continued to grow. I just took full advantage of the opportunity. Whatever this season may bring, my confidence is on top of my teammates, my coaches, they all have confidence in me. That just keeps you going when you’re missing shots.
The wolves had tried to sign DiVincenzo last summer before beating beat out by the New York. The now-former Knick spoke about how it feels good to be traded to a team that previously had interest in signing him.
Yeah, I mean, it’s a good feeling when you know that the team that traded for me was a team that you were looking at last summer. I think when you look at the big picture, my mind wasn’t on what teams are interested in me when I was in New York. I was fully there. I wanted to be there. And then as this kind of picked up, I realized there was an opportunity.
Lastly, Bates-Diop, who was drafted by the Wolves in 2018 and spent a season and a half with the organization, talked about his feelings about returning to the team where his NBA career began.
Not really that strange because of some familiar faces that you have around the crowd. Most of you guys were here when I got drafted. So it feels a little bit different. Obviously, winning a little bit more than last time I was here. But still a winning culture.
While some of the faces in the media have remained the same in Minnesota, the roster has nearly completely turned over since Bates-Diop was traded to Denver in February of 2020. Only Naz Reid remains on the roster from that time with Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels drafted the following summer.
All three players seemed comfortable coming with coming to Minnesota and playing for the Wolves. Like many others, it took many days to come to grips with the magnitude of the trade that took place last Friday, but it seems everyone is looking forward to getting to work and building on the success of last season.