Following a fourth straight loss against the Sacramento Kings, frustrated Anthony Edwards discussed the locker room problems that plague the Minnesota Timberwolves. This was the second time this season that Ant talked about how the players have to be more responsible and give more effort.
Anthony Edwards Says the Timberwolves Have Locker Room Problems
After their loss against the Kings, Edwards was sitting in the locker room and ready to answer questions. He even started the postgame by asking reporters if they want to know why the team isn’t good. From there, he continued venting on his team. Ant said,
“Right now, our team’s identity is that we are soft as hell internally. Not against the other team, but amongst ourselves. We are soft. We can’t talk to each other. It’s like we’re playing with a bunch of little kids. The whole team. And we have to figure it out because we can’t keep going down this path.”
In the explosive post-game interview, Ant said that the whole team cannot talk to each other. He also talked about how during the game they do not talk. He said,
“We look like frontrunners. We’re down, and no one says anything. We get up, and everyone is excited. We go back down, and no one opens their mouth. That’s the definition of a frontrunner. As a team, including myself, we were all frontrunners tonight.”
The loss to the Kings highlighted the issues within the Timberwolves. They cannot rally in key moments, and whether that is because of disrupted chemistry following the Karl-Anthony Towns trade or something else, they have to figure it out. Ant talked about it, saying,
“However many of us it is, all 15, we go into our own shell and we’re just growing away from each other. It’s obvious. We can see it. I can see it, the team can see it, the coaches can see it. The fans f—–g booing us. That (stuff) is crazy, man. We’re getting booed in our home arena. That’s so f—–g disrespectful, it’s crazy.”
Timberwolves Have Been Here Before
This was not the first time that Ant criticized the team’s effort and communication. Only two weeks ago, after losing to the Portland Trail Blazers for the second consecutive night, the shooting guard talked about how the team has to mature and work together as a unit. At the time, the Timberwolves were 6-6, and Ant said,
“We got the answers. The coaches give us … the answers. We are just not doing it as a team, one through 15. They give us the answers every night. We come in here at 35 [minutes] on the night, and they tell us what we need to do to win the game, and somehow we don’t do it every night. We got to get back to it. We got to mature, man.”
Last season, Minnesota reached the Western Conference Finals and the team was hoping to build on that. Now, however, it seems that the team has lost its cohesion following the departure of Karl-Anthony Towns.
Is Defense Really the Issue?
Many people point to Towns and say that he is not a good defender. Yet, somehow, the Timberwolves have lost their defensive identity after his departure. Last year, the team was first in defensive rating, allowing 108.4 points per 100 possessions.
This year, they have fallen down to the 12th spot, allowing 112.1 points per 100 possessions. Other defensive stats are down, for example, the percentage of defensive rebounds from 72.5% to 70.4%. Blocks are down from 6.1 to 4.7 per game, and opponents second-chance points from 12.7 to 14. All the small numbers pile up and the result is they are 8-10. As of November 28th, they are 12th in the Western Conference, a loss away from the first play-in spot.
The Mike Conley Problem
One of the big problems for the Timberwolves this season is they do not have a true backup point guard. Coming into the season, the team considered their rookie Rob Dillingham to fill that role for 10 to 15 minutes. Yet, so far, he has appeared in just 11 games at 8.4 minutes per outing.
On top of that, Mike Conley has missed a few games with an injury, and that only deepened their point guard problems. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle can take some of the playmaking responsibilities, but creating for others is not exactly their strength.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Donte DiVincenzo have also received minutes as the backup point guard, but their roles do not ask them to be playmakers. Donte is best served as a spot-up shooter spreading the floor, not a playmaker.
