Three big takeaways from Timberwolves schedule release

Part of me thinks paying attention to schedule releases is ridiculous.

Sports leagues, after all, use a specific formula to determine how many times, and in which locations, teams will be playing different opponents. All that happens when a schedule is released is that those games are given a specific order.

And yet: That order matters. It's not just manufactured hype from the NBA, for instance, that leads us to be interested in the release of Thursday's league-wide 2023-24 schedule

It helps the story of a season begin to take shape. We had the facts already, the basic outline. Now we have at least an initial narrative.

That's how I see it anyway. And in the context of the Timberwolves schedule, as I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast, there were three main takeaways.

*The Wolves have 10 games that are nationally televised this season — five on NBATV and five combined on ESPN and TNT. That is a large amount compared to a lot of the last, say, 15 seasons. But it is significantly fewer than last season, when the Wolves had 16 nationally televised games, including 10 combined on ESPN and TNT.

The upshot? The Wolves' national profile, which was rising at this time last year after a 46-win season, a competitive playoff series against Memphis and the blockbuster Rudy Gobert trade has now come down after a disappointing 42-win season and quick playoff exit.

*Last year's schedule was very soft at the beginning, but the Wolves didn't take advantage of it. Even after having nine of their first 12 at Target Center, many against rebuilding teams, the Wolves started just 5-7. They chased those missed games all year, and underachieving against subpar teams became part of last year's narrative.

This year, the Wolves have five of their first seven at Target Center. But overall their early schedule is much harder. If they are going to start fast, they will need to earn it. Conversely, if they start slowly there will be a better chance to improve as the year goes on.

*There are a lot of long road trips and home stands. The Wolves have five road trips of at least four games. They also have big home stretches, including seven in a row at Target Center immediately after the All-Star break in February.

In all, 17 of their final 27 games are at home. But the trade deadline will come right before that relatively favorable stretch. How they perform against a tougher slate of more road than home games could determine how busy they will be at the deadline.

Here are four other things to know today:

*Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of the foul tip that changed the course of Twins history. Joe Mauer, playing catcher at the time, was concussed by the foul ball. It ended his season — Mauer was hitting .324 with an .880 OPS at the time — and when he came back in 2014 he was a first baseman and his career as a hitter was never the same again.

La Velle E. Neal III and I talked about that moment on Friday's podcast, and La Velle is writing about it this weekend.

*What the Twins do with Byron Buxton if and when he's healthy enough to return to the lineup is just one of the interesting questions raised in this piece by Bobby Nightengale.

*Greg Joseph missed 13 kicks last season with the Vikings, but he has generally made the biggest ones. He is primed to be the Vikings' kicker for the third straight year after the sudden release of his chief competitor Thursday.

*The Lions have been hit by a wave of injuries at wide receiver lately.