GAME 5 Playoffs 2024: Dallas Mavericks (3-1) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-3)

[Jmaciscool]

Yeah, I go back-and-forth between two extremes on Minnesota.

Part of me just doesn’t buy KAT at all as a player. Sometimes I think he is just too soft and too mentally weak to ever be what they need him to be. They could trade him and reinvent themselves somewhat that way, but it would still be basically what they are now, just hopefully a better version of it.

But the other part of me just doesn’t know if they will ever be able to win with the ball in Edwards’ hands while Gobert is on the floor. I think Jason Timpf nailed it last night. Because Gobert does not have utility on the offensive end the way lively does, He is literally, and I mean quite literally, in Edwards’ way. I’m not sure if they could even move him at his current salary, but if they could, and they played KAT at center, They could easily create enough space for Edwards to get downhill anytime he wanted against damn near any defensive scheme out there. At that point, if the paint was taken away from Edwards, KAT could literally just play horse. I am 100% positive this would have a negative impact on Minnesota’s defense, but I also feel like Edwards might win the next three scoring titles that way.

Thinking about all of that, and then mixing in the obvious second apron issues they are up against, I would say Minnesota is at a bit of a cross roads.

Very curious to see what Minnesota does.  Their best option may just be to run it all back next year and see what happens now that they've had some playoff experience.  But eventually they're going to have to make a tough decision and it'll be very interesting to see what it is.