However, unlike what we’ve seen over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again from the Timberwolves in recent years, Karl Anthony Towns and a wave of veteran Wolves refused to lose… In another reality, it would’ve been fun to watch.

But last night wasn’t fun. It was frustrating. Very frustrating.

First, why the fuck weren’t we playing these veterans more often when the season mattered? And don’t blame Thibs. I know that’s everyone’s go-to (and he did his fair share of damage) but I NEVER saw anyone calling for more minutes out of Luol Deng or Derrick Rose when he was coaching.

Let’s take a moment to remember why those two even play on this team… But now, everyone is so impressed by Ryan Saunders’ eye for talent. Being able to find that guy who wasn’t quite ready to scab up and die…. what an amazing coach.

Since Luol Deng became a part of the Wolves rotation on January 12th, he’s played 19 mpg in 13 contests.

Per-36 min, he’s putting up 16/7/1 on .53/.39/.75 shooting splits.

The Wolves have been 6.5 points per-100 possessions better with Deng on the floor. What a revaluation.

— Charlie Johnson (@cjohnsNBA) February 12, 2019

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I dunno if Luol Deng has hit “fan favorite” status, but he's definitely becoming a favorite of mine. https://t.co/BfMUrHDs34

— Tim Faklis (@timfaklis) February 12, 2019

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Where are the calls for more Anthony Tolliver minutes? What about the rookie Keita Beits-Diop? What happened to needing more minutes for a perfect off-the-bench big man and a promising young talent? Imagine what would have been said (no matter the outcome of the game) if Thibs would have played Luol Deng 38 minutes while Tolliver and Diop rotted on the bench…

Actually, let’s just take a look at what everyone said when Deng was named the starter last night before the game…

This is the kind of forward thinking we talked about

— RandBall (@RandBall) February 11, 2019

Luol Deng is still in the league?? Lol

— Nick (@MrPapagiorgio90) February 12, 2019

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In all of this Ryan Saunders helmet touching and Luol Deng fanfair, the Timberwolves and their fanbase have again forgotten the current state of their team and what is best for the future. 

After losing 4-in-a-row and 6 of their last 7, the Wolves had slumped to 13th in the Western Conference and the tank was again in sight.

CLICK HERE FOR WHY TANKING > WINNING FOR WOLVES

Instead, we stayed stagnant at the trade deadline and kept veterans (like Deng, Teague, Rose, Gibson, Tolliver) on the roster. Guys who can help us win right now. That means we might miss the 8-seed by a few less games, meanwhile dropping 5-10 picks in the NBA draft. How is this a good strategy for a mediocre-bad team like the Wolves?

Please tell me if you can think of ANYTHING that winning now does to help the Timberwolves build a contending team for the future. Please…. go ahead. 

And don’t give me that confidence bullshit. Nothing the Timberwolves do right now on the confidence meter is going to carry over to a completely rebuilt roster in 2020 and beyond…. The chances of making the playoffs are slim to none at this point, and even if we do make it, why are we so happy to get swept by Golden State or Denver in the first round? 

If the NBA season were to end right now (according to tankathon.com), the Wolves would sit in 12th place for the lottery draw, holding a 1.7% chance of getting the #1 pick and just an 8% chance at top-4. Add 3 more losses to the season and we’d drop to 6th in the lottery and jump up to a 9% chance at the #1 pick (37% CHANCE AT TOP-4).

If only Twitter and local media cared as much about our future as they did about getting Tom Thibodeau fired, Glen Taylor might realize that he again has no fucking idea what he’s doing. But, we don’t care about winning here. We only care that we all can hold hands and that everyone loves Ryan Saunders. We just want to see KAT, Wiggins and the new coach singing songs and laughing together. 

ahhhh soooo heartwarming, who needs winning.

Thibs could’ve won 60 games and everyone would’ve called for his head.

Ryan Saunders continues to lose and the franchise is spiraling but more and more call for his full-time hire.

In MN, we’re ok with losing as long as it’s on our terms.

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 8, 2019

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

After news last week that the Timberwolves were going to ramp up their pursuit of the recently waived Luol Deng, the Wolves are finalizing a deal today to add Deng to their bench unit.

Wolves Twitter seems less than pleased with this development. But if you look at it, minus the history these two have going back to Chicago, adding a veteran wing with strong locker room presence makes a ton of sense for this roster.

Here are some highlights from Deng’s career stats:

-Deng is a career 33% shooter from 3. Including 35% and 34% his 2 most recent seasons as a full-time starter.

-Deng has averaged 1 steal per game throughout his career. This speaks to his ability defensively which will help the Wolves when he is in the game.

-Deng has averaged 6.1 rebounds per game throughout his career. He’s active on the glass, can defend well, and can hit some shots from 3.

In addition to helping this Wolves team on the court, Deng can mentor both Keita Bates-Diop and Josh Okogie as they begin their first seasons in the NBA. So yes, the Wolves added another former Bull to the roster. But even if he hadn’t been a former Bulls player, the move still would have made a ton of sense. So yes, more “TimberBulls” but also more good (or at least helpful) bench options.

Seth Toupal @sethtoups

Minnesota Sports Fan

Let’s see everyone’s SHOCKED FACE Timberwolves’ fans….

The Wolves have launched their planned pursuit of @LuolDeng9, league sources say, after the veteran forward became a free agent by clearing waivers earlier this week

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 5, 2018

Luol Deng would be a great veteran presence and someone you could depend on to take a good amount of minutes off of the bench (also – on this team). As has been well-documented, Thibs has trust issues with his bench and Deng is a guy that would avoid all of that nonsense.. if he is healthy.

Nonetheless, I’m sure Twitter is already raging with the #Timberbulls hashtag, seeing as that platform has really grown a nice disdain for Thibs, I can’t see too many positive things being said…

However, I was pleasantly surprised with the reaction to his draft earlier this summer.

Well, now that I may have talked myself out of my own Twitter negativity, let’s take a peak under the hood after Marc Stein’s report today:

Clockwork. https://t.co/ff2ZvjFmFI

— Travis Lyle Czech (@TravLyleCzech) September 5, 2018

I can think of a lot of worse ways to spend a minimum salary than on Luol Deng, but we’ll see how it goes

— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) September 5, 2018

Alright… not too bad so far…

At this point it’s just comical #TimberBulls https://t.co/OGuWrplnsL

— Bat Flip Sports (@BatFlipSports) September 5, 2018

There we go…

Don’t sign the extension @KarlTowns https://t.co/6nmZv9w2VC

— Trill Withers (@TylerIAm) September 5, 2018

As a Wolves fan, don’t sign it. Let Thibs blow this team up so we can just send the team to Seattle

— Burner 3of3 (@CarrabisIntern) September 5, 2018

We have another elite young talent with Towns, he needs to be our main focus and keeping him happy. That should be Glen Taylor’s only goal if he wants to keep this damn team. Keep KAT happy, bring him in the office and say besides 188 million how can we keep u happy

— Nic Dressen (@mnsports3) September 5, 2018

I literally went through my entire timeline and these are what I found. I tried to have a little faith…

Keyword: tried…

Ignore the noise and remember that we need Butler (and Thibs because they are likely a package deal) to make this work and become a team over the next handful of years that can compete for a title. I’ve written about it here, here, and here if you aren’t sure why we need those guys. It’s a money thing….

So, to recap… Thibs still likes his old guys because he clearly has trust issues… AND… Twitter is still the same-old Twitter…

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan (@RealMNSportsFan)