After making it to the Western Conference Finals last season, the Timberwolves seemed poised to run it back with the same core, tweak the roster slightly, and make it to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. However, they shockingly parted ways with Karl-Anthony Towns, trading him to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. The common consensus was it was a mistake and their 11-10 record proves that. Paul Pierce was among those who disapproved of the trade and is still upset about the team shooting themselves in the foot.
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On The Truth Lounge, the Hall of Famer called out the Timberwolves front office for breaking up a championship-caliber team and turning the team from contenders to play-in hopefuls. Pierce said,
“I’ve been disappointed in Minnesota for the most part. This early, through 20 games, they’re (around) .500. [Anthony Edwards] calling them soft out there. Everybody got their own agenda. That trade ain’t looking so good now huh?”
Pierce questioned why the team agreed to downgrade their roster by replacing Towns with Randle. However, his co-host Jason Crowe argued that talent isn’t the Timberwolves’ primary concern. He said,
“It’s not the trade. They’re lacking leadership at this point.”
He also believes Edwards shouldn’t have lashed out at his teammates and called them “soft.” While conventional wisdom suggests that’s a bad maneuver. However, it has worked out just fine for Minnesota.
Timberwolves have flipped the switch
After Edwards publicly called out his teammates, the team could have either crashed or buckled up and bounced back strongly. Fortunately for the Timberwolves, it was the latter.
Minnesota has won three straight games and has a defensive rating of 86.6 in that span, the best in the NBA by a considerable margin. Of course, this isn’t sustainable. This number would mark the best defensive rating in league history.
However, their spectacular form over the last week is an encouraging sign. Perhaps the team is finally learning to play without Towns and will continue to get better as the season progresses. But this could also be a temporary spike in form and another slump in form is just around the corner.
It remains to be seen in which direction the team goes. For now, Edwards’ comment has woken the team up and they are playing exceptional basketball.
