Off-season discussion: The Timberwolves who passed the trade

49 wins and 33 losses, sixth in the West, this is the result of the Timberwolves this season. Judging from the team's trajectory, they are still on the road to actively strengthening and striving for the championship.

According to common sense, they should focus on strengthening the lineup's shortcomings in the offseason, but the reality is just the opposite. Connery, who has a long-term business route, chose the opposite path, continued the slow progress last year, and is still forming the lineup step by step.

From the perspective of team demand, there are many reasons for the Timberwolves' failure this season. The main defender Conley is old and weak, and his offensive ability has declined significantly. Randall, who is not mainly attacking the periphery, is difficult to break through the Thunder's defense line. The limitations of Divinchenzo and Walker make the Thunder's success without adjusting their defense.

Especially considering that last year's newcomer Dillingham did not get enough trust from Finch, most Wolves fans would hope that the management can use the assets after the Towns transaction case to maximize value and be able to add a ball-holder who has both ball-holder and off-ball on draft night. After renewing Reed and Randall, the Timberwolves directly skipped Walton Clayton Jr. and Casparas in the first round draft, and instead chose the French big man João Bellinger. In the second round, considering the sufficient combat power in the frontcourt, he chose to trade future assets with the Suns, and selected Australian big man Roko Zikarski.

Judging from subsequent reports, Bellinger's trial in Chicago made Connery very satisfied, and he can also see his talent as a modern big man during the summer league. Unlike Gobert who relies on static talent and defensive defense, Bellinger's height and mobility give him the ability to switch defense guards, he also has qualified control skills at the offensive end, and has excellent sense of offensive rebounds. If he can be successfully trained, he will be able to take over Bengor Bell's defensive banner and become a more modern defensive insider.

Of course, Bellinger's flaws are also obvious, and many of the techniques are too awkward, resulting in ups and downs in performance. He may have been in the top franchise-protecting inside with 7 blocks and 2 fouls in the last two games, and only played 20 minutes into the last two games. Not to mention the lack of pick-and-roll running awareness at this stage, it is very easy to miss points due to position mistakes, etc., all skills that Bellinger must focus on improving at this stage.

Although Finch had previously stated in Summer United that he would have a long rotation of 9-10 players next season, the team's frontcourt competition is still quite fierce, and it is still quite difficult for Bellinger to get a stable chance to play. How it can develop in the end may not be clear until the new season begins.

As for Rokko Zikarski in the second round, he is more of a newcomer to the Development League. Although he has excellent static talent, it will take a long time for his growth. In addition to the draft, in the free market, the Timberwolves' main topic this summer is to decide whether Walker, Reed and Randall will stay or stay. Considering that Divinchenzo, Shannon Jr., Clark and others can all be swingers of No. 2 and 3, Walker became the most likely person to be given up.

Although it is a pity to lose this high-quality 3D, it is better to see him gain greater recognition from other teams. From the perspective of Wolves fans, you should still send blessings. Although Reed declined slightly in the playoffs, as a binder player of the Double Towers, although he gave up his higher salary, it is also a big opportunity to be able to stand in the starting position. Annual salary of 25 million may be a little expensive as a substitute, but close to the starting time and the candidate for the subsequent starter when the inside player is absent, at least this price is not a premium for the 26-year-old center.

, contrary to Reed, Randall also showed the value of a panacea forward in the final stage of the season, and also performed efficiently in the playoffs, only slightly restricted when facing the league's No. 1 Thunder defense. Although I personally believe that Randall is not Edwards' best partner, considering that the team's current strength is mostly achieved through the trading market. Leaving Randall is at least the best choice to continue to find qualified external ball-holding points while ensuring competitiveness. After concentrating salary in the frontcourt, the Timberwolves did not try to win the free-market substitute point guard option with a mini-middle class, but left last year's spiritual leader Ingles, leaving a player space list.

Although there are qualified backcourts such as Brogodon and Morris in the market, looking at Connery's trading ideas in recent years, it seems hard to imagine that he will use the mini middle class to fill the gap in the bench guards, basically putting the responsibility of the substitute number one position on Dillingham, retaining the salary room for mid-season lineup adjustments.

From a long-term perspective, the risk of doing this is still relatively high. After all, Conley has basically completely lost the ability to finish the penalty area. Even if he is broken through, his opponent only needs to pay attention to his pass. Dillingham still has two doubts at present. One is that he has obviously lacked the awareness of changing defenses and supplementing defense last season, which has led to him not being trusted by the coach. When there is no major change in the coaching team, it is difficult to believe that Finch will give him more opportunities in the new season.

The second point is that compared with the team's lack of shooter who has both ball-related abilities, Dillingham is more like a double-athed guard who mainly uses ball-holding and unstable offense without balls. From Xia Lian's perspective, his passing vision is not top-notch, and he cannot create shooting opportunities in a stable manner when facing Xia Lian's level defense.

And after missing the draft, is this team ready to grow with Dillingham? In the Western Conference where the arms race is further escalating, how much impact will such a wait have on the final record? These questions will give people a lot of questions about the Timberwolves next season.

Considering that the Timberwolves still have a place in the roster of players, it means that their signing plan has not been completely over yet, but it can be clear that even if the team has achieved an unexpected result, the management will continue last year's route and hope to slow down a little after the new team takes over to wait for the opportunity to reach the sky.

It is a pity to miss out on draft night to win the backcourt potential, but being able to stay Reed with a long contract while avoiding the second-level hard upper limit is enough to give the Timberwolves a passing score for offseason trading. The only question now depends on who the remaining player will be given to the team.