After all that changed for the Timberwolves this offseason, and after all the chatter of other changes that might have happened, they settled into the start of this season with the same plan at point guard: D'Angelo Russell, for better or worse.
He finished last season on the bench, with Jordan McLaughlin playing crunch time minutes in a tight playoff elimination game against Memphis. Russell also willed the Wolves into that series with a dynamic play-in game against the Clippers.
Russell takes a maddening amount of contested jumpers and looks to be the hero late in games. Then again, he is one of the best in the league at making those crunch time shots.
As the Wolves have started 4-3 this season against what seemed to be a soft schedule — decent, expectedly clunky or ugly depending on how generous you feel — there is plenty of room for improvement in a lot of areas.
In a reversal from last season, when the Wolves' fortunes rose and fell with Russell's performance, they enter Tuesday's game at Phoenix with Russell having played significantly worse in wins than losses.
If we can acknowledge that Russell has his moments, seems to have some chemistry with new big man Rudy Gobert and at the very least is not the only concern for the Wolves to work through, it still leaves us with this:
How patient should the Wolves be with their current plan, and what are some options if they run out of patience?
Here are some things to ponder, as discussed on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast:
