Patrick Beverley ready to challenge his new Timberwolves teammates

Patrick Beverley said over the summer when he and the Clippers could not agree to an extension that they asked him where else he might like to play.

Beverley said he had Minnesota "in my top three, my top two I believe."

Part of that was his familiarity with Gersson Rosas, the now fired president of basketball operations, who scouted Beverley and helped bring him to the Houston organization. Even though Rosas is gone, Beverley also has a strong relationship with coach Chris Finch, who coached Beverley in the D-League (now G-League).

Beverley said he knew for weeks before the trade came down that he would be coming to Minnesota. Beverley was a Memphis Grizzly for a day before the Wolves swung a trade with the Grizzlies to essentially make it a three-team trade between the Clippers, Memphis and Minnesota that sent Juancho Hernangomez and Jarrett Culver to the Grizzlies.

Beverley has made his career on the defensive end of the floor and is in Minnesota to provide some needed experience there along with veteran leadership.

"I don't know how much one player can change a culture defensively, but Pat's certainly got all the right tools to do so," Finch said. "His leadership, he goes out and does it. He competes. But the biggest thing is he brings the experience to a relatively inexperienced team on defense and he helps them with where they should be at any given time."

So far, after missing a few days of practice for travel-related health and safety protocols, Beverley has had no regrets on his decision to push a trade to Minnesota.

"The intensity is there," Beverley said. "Playing hard, playing with passion, trying to get right. I think the small things that come with teams offensively and defensively, that takes time, and that's what we've been seeing. Obviously, age is a very young factor in this case, but at the same time, there's a lot of passion, a lot of hunger there."

Beverley, 33, had a few observations about some of his new teammates. When asked about Anthony Edwards, Beverley said, "He's a complete stud."

"I'm gonna challenge him," Beverley said. "I'm gonna challenge him the right way to get the best out of him."

Beverley said he's also going to take that same approach with D'Angelo Russell. It's something he has done everywhere he plays.

"Like I've challenged James Harden, I've challenged Paul George, I challenged Kawhi [Leonard]," Beverley said. "I'm going to challenge to get a lot out of him, and I think he's ready for it ..."

"The more pure [Russell and Edwards] can be, the best form they can be in consistently every day is better for the team."

Beverley has also been known to be a talker on the court and can be an irritant to opponents. He'll be suspended for the first game of the season stemming from a shove of Chris Paul late in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. He doesn't plan on changing that mentality.

"I think that's naturally who I am, unfortunately," Beverley said.