The Timberwolves have been, countless times in their organizational trajectory, where the Oklahoma City Thunder are: Rebuilding around youth, hoping that a plan sticks, finding glimmers of hope along the way but mostly losing in the process.
Timberwolves game Friday vs. Utah, Rudy Gobert's old team, will bring trade into better focus
An organization that appears to be on the rise will face reminders of their less optimistic past.
October 20, 2022 at 4:54PM
OKC won 24 games a season ago and didn't exactly seem to know what to do after turning a double-digit halftime deficit into an 87-81 lead against the Wolves late in the third quarter during Wednesday's opener.
The Thunder are years away, not days away, from prevailing in the majority of those situations. The Wolves are ready to win those games right now, as they did by grinding out a 115-108 victory — a game I talked about extensively on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast.
The Timberwolves have been, multiple times in their organizational trajectory, where their Game 2 opponent is as well: Remaking themselves on the fly, hoping that the sum of new parts is greater than larger pieces.
What makes Friday particularly interesting, of course, is that the opponent is Utah — the Wolves' trade partner in the summer blockbuster that sent several players and picks to the Jazz for center Rudy Gobert.
The trade won't be judged on one outcome, of course. But the game will bring into sharper focus just where the Wolves' organizational trajectory appears to be.
In short, this is unfamiliar territory for the Wolves and their fans.
With the exception of 2017-18, when the Wolves traded for Jimmy Butler in a deal that sacrificed the future for the present, Minnesota's plan has tended to be one of regrouping, rebuilding or — in one extreme case — re-re-re-re-building.
Rarely has the plan reached the stage it did last year, when faith in the future paid off in a 46-win season and a playoff berth.
And rarely have the Wolves been in a spot to go all-in with a push to not just make the playoffs but to be a true contender.
The Gobert trade, which sent out established rotation players Jarred Vanderbilt, Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley as well as 2022 first-round pick Walker Kessler and a bevy of future picks, signaled an arrival of a moment. (Vanderbilt, Beasley and Kessler, by the way, all had productive first games in Utah's blowout win over Denver, while Beverley of course is now with the Lakers).
The Wolves are no longer trying to go from dysfunctional to functional, from bad to OK, or even from OK to good. They're trying to go from good to great.
That might prove to be the toughest task, but it's a refreshing change from the alternatives.
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