Timberwolves must get this one thing right — and they're doing it, so far

The best thing about these Timberwolves is that they are not Minnesota Nice.

Minnesota Nice, if you just moved here from anywhere else, is the practice of smiling politely at an acquaintance while looking over their shoulder for someone with whom you went to high school.

Five games into a pressurized season, these Wolves have displayed flaws all over the court while learning to play with a new center, a revised bench and an altered pecking order.

While their play hasn't been brilliant, what they have displayed is an unselfishness that could lead to offensive excellence.

They're not Minnesota Nice. They've proven to be munificently nice, in terms of ball-sharing and team-building.

After sheer talent, unselfishness might be the most important attribute an NBA team can possess. That's probably why Wolves coach Chris Finch has made this point numerous times:

Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the best-shooting big men in NBA history, and he has made it a point to feed the ball to new center Rudy Gobert. "I'll say it again,'' Finch said Wednesday night. "We're asking an all-NBA player to move over and share the floor.''

"I think this is where we can really punish teams. It's really important that we keep working on it. The fact that he can pass and he's willing to pass has made him even more of a threat.''

Wednesday, in the Wolves' 134-122 victory over San Antonio that improved their record to 3-2, they scored 50 points before Towns earned his first.

His unselfishness is an indication that the Wolves' record may not be as important early in the season as the methodology of developing an offense that will be difficult to stop in the postseason.

Towns and Anthony Edwards are the Wolves' two primary offensive stars on a team that has a wealth of options.

Wednesday night, Edwards took 21 shots and scored 34 points. He also managed nine assists.

Edwards is far ahead of that curve. In the first game of the season, following an offseason in which he was routinely praised for improving his strength and offensive arsenal, he had seven assists and just 11 points.

Wednesday, D'Angelo Russell tied Edwards for the team high with nine assists. Many of Russell's assists were simple passes that set up three-point shots. They were also the kind of passes that are required in Finch's free-flowing offense.

Russell might be in the most delicate situation of any Wolf. He is looking for a new contract as a shooting point guard on a team with plenty of other offensive options.

He's an excellent passer, but he played poorly in the playoffs last season, is a suspect on-the-ball defender, and too often in the past has produced high-volume, low-production shooting nights.

Through five games this season, he's averaging 17.2 points and a team-best 6.2 assists per game.

What has come across in virtually every player interview since the beginning of training camp is that there is none of the tension, linked to shots, money and ego, that can plague talented NBA teams.

Tonight, the Wolves will play the Lakers, who feature three superstar talents: LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers are 0-4 and averaging a league-low 102.3 points per game. You can see tension on their faces on the court and in interviews. For once, the Lakers must be looking at the Timberwolves in envy.