Dont be surprised about the Timberwolves hot start. They certainly arent

Maybe Rudy Gobert is right.

Maybe, as the Minnesota Timberwolves big man argued so vehemently during our discussion about his team’s surprise start last week, we should have seen all this coming.

The 9-3 start, good for first in the West (by percentage points) and a game and a half behind the Boston Celtics for the league’s best record. A defense that has been the league’s stingiest for most of this season, only recently dipping to second in defensive rating (the Wolves were 10th last season). The league’s sixth-best net rating. More importantly, the kind of harmony inside a locker room that did not appear to be there when it mattered most last season.

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“I think the people on the outside didn’t get to see what was happening within our team,” Gobert proclaimed. “It’s the fact that we never give up. The second half of the schedule was really tough last year, but we kept fighting and were about to get to the playoffs. And then some more adversity came.”

Did it ever. And that, coupled with the curious way they had come together in the first place, is why there was so much skepticism surrounding their group.

There was the roster construction that was so confusing to most, with three centers — Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid — slated to make a combined $90 million this season. The chemistry seemed off early, with young phenom Anthony Edwards struggling to find lanes to take flight amid all that size down low.

Then there were the fireworks at last season’s end, when Gobert was suspended for a Play-In game (an overtime loss to the Lakers) because he punched teammate Kyle Anderson in the chest during the regular-season finale. As if that wasn’t enough for one awful night at the office, their best wing defender, Jaden McDaniels, punched a wall in frustration during that same game against the Pelicans and was lost for the season with a broken hand.

It was … a lot.

Yet as Gobert sees it, the Timberwolves’ performance against the Denver Nuggets in the first round should have changed the minds of the masses. They lost in five games, but three of the four losses were by single digits.

“I thought we gave Denver a good run,” he continued. “If you ask (Nuggets star Nikola) Jokić and those guys, they will tell you. But I thought we did a great job. We were this close from taking one game, taking another game in Minny, and then you go to six, go to seven (games), and who knows what happens. But I thought it was a great experience for us.”

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That last part is undeniably true.

These high-priced Timberwolves, now being built by the very man who was the primary architect of the Nuggets’ title team – president of basketball operations Tim Connelly — gave Denver the kind of challenge worthy of closer examination. Only the Phoenix Suns, who fell to Denver in six games in the second round, pushed them harder. And now that there appears to be serious momentum from that experience, fascinating questions emerge.

Is there any chance Connelly’s controversial choice to trade for Gobert two summers ago, in that deal with the Utah Jazz that some have posited was one of the most lopsided deals of all time, might lead to something special? And is it possible, even with the luxury-tax ramifications that are hanging over their organization like a big green anvil, that the choice to go so big so soon in this Anthony Edwards era wasn’t ill-fated after all? That much remains to be seen.

This much we know: The outcome of this season will have everything to do with what comes next. If these Timberwolves are for real, then soon-to-be majority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore will have difficult choices to make about their bloated payroll after this season. As every team is well aware these days, the consequences that come with the second apron loom large. But if this group doesn’t elevate among the elite, as the players themselves are painfully aware, then changes very likely will be coming. Conversely, Timberwolves officials insist this incoming ownership group would be willing to exist in the tax if the team proved to be worthy of that kind of commitment.

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In an attempt to understand this team that has surprised so many early on, I spoke to their core players during Minnesota’s visit to San Francisco last week. All of the following interviews are exclusive to The Athletic.

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Growth through struggle

For a team that only had a puncher’s chance of making postseason noise to begin with, the combination of the Gobert-Anderson incident and McDaniels’ season-ending right cross served as brutal blows. But to Gobert’s overall point, not all of Minnesota’s setbacks were self-inflicted.

Towns, who missed significant time and lost quite a bit of weight in training camp with a non-COVID illness, got off to a slow start in those early regular-season days under second-year coach Chris Finch that were so crucial playing alongside Gobert for the first time. The Edwards-Towns-Gobert trio played together in 19 of Minnesota’s first 21 games, going 9-10 in that span. Then came Towns’ calf injury, suffered in late November, that would keep him out until late March.

To hear the Timberwolves tell it, all of this necessary context was overlooked last season when so many fans and reporters seemed to decide this group had no future together.

“I think the media missed it,” said one Timberwolves official, who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely.

Gobert, whose pedigree as a three-time Defensive Player of the Year was a driving force behind the Timberwolves’ desire to bring him to Minnesota, agrees.

“We believe in ourselves, but great things don’t happen overnight,” he said. “There is a process of everything, of me and KAT playing together, me joining this group, the new coaching staff, new organization, trying to be me, being able to help this team take another step and be a top defense in this league, which is my No. 1 goal.

“Last year, it was adversity, adversity, adversity, then the playoffs. And in our mind, we were going there to beat Denver. It didn’t happen, but then we told each other that we’ve gotta come back next year and have a great training camp. From Day 1 of training camp, have more maturity, build the habits of a winning team, of a championship team.”

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In this latest offseason, everything was different. Edwards (USA), Gobert (France) and Towns (Dominican Republic) played in the FIBA World Cup tournament in the Philippines, meaning they all came to training camp in peak physical shape. The messaging, as Gobert shared, had changed as well.

“It was never a problem with talent,” said Gobert, who is averaging 11.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks so far this season. “All we needed was to build good habits, hold each other accountable, have each other’s back but be able to be honest with one another. And I came back this year in training camp with the mindset of being the best defensive player in the world and making this team the best defense in the NBA and really put my main focus on that. The guys have been incredible. The coaching staff has been great. So we’ve still got a long ways to go, but it’s exciting to see that all of that is paying off.”

For Gobert’s purposes — and the Timberwolves at large, really — the February swap of D’Angelo Russell for Mike Conley in a three-team deal with the Lakers and Utah has worked wonders for the collective comfort level. The 36-year-old, who spent three seasons in Utah with Gobert, has the kind of chemistry with the big man that was never there with Russell, whose on-court frustration with Gobert last season was widely known within the organization.

“Well it definitely feels like there’s been a huge buy-in to our goals and what we want to do on a daily basis,” said Conley, who is averaging 10.5 points, 5.1 assists 3.1 rebounds and 28.7 minutes. “And it started in the summertime. You saw guys’ work ethic and how hard guys were preparing for the season. It felt like the energy was different. So the early part of the year, our defense is something we want to create our identity off of, and I think we’ve done that to start. We’ve made some noise on that end of the floor.

“Offensively, there’s still a lot of things that we need to do to get better, but I think defense is one thing where we all just said, ‘That’s the one thing that we’re going to try and do great.’ That’s really carried us early in the year.”

Towns’ grace playing a pivotal part

With all due respect to Gobert, the 22-year-old Edwards is the actual center of the Timberwolves’ universe. His is talent, competitive fabric and ability to routinely play like a future Hall of Famer on both ends of the floor is the driving force behind all of Minnesota’s recent moves.

All of which makes one wonder: How might the 28-year-old Towns be feeling about the youngster supplanting him atop the organization’s priority chart?

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While Towns and I didn’t discuss that specific topic, it spoke volumes that he was in good spirits. Like, really good spirits.

Our conversation took place not long after he had 33 points and 11 rebounds in a win over the Golden State Warriors, so it only made sense that he was pleasant. But from Finch on down, the general consensus in the locker room is that Towns has been buying into this version of the Timberwolves program as much as the rest of them.

His offensive talents have always been unmistakable, but Towns has routinely been credited lately by Finch for doing the little things. Attacking the glass. Defending, as best he can, out on the perimeter. Setting screens. Playing, in essence, ego-less basketball.

In terms of shot distribution — that age-old indicator of which player is at the top of the proverbial totem pole — Edwards is leading the team with 20.3 shots per game while Towns is second at 16.5 (Reid is third at 8.7).

“I think we’ve got a good mentality,” Towns said. “It’s the mindset. And when you’ve got those kinds of things, when you have standards in the foundation that you believe in and keep building off of, then when things go bad you fall back on that. That allows us to do what we’re doing right now.”

The rumors are always there, though, especially when it comes to the Timberwolves’ opponent on Monday night. Minnesota plays at the New York Knicks, who are known to be monitoring Towns’ situation as they plot out their next steps toward title contention. Towns, as much as anyone, surely knows there is a widespread belief around the league that one of Minnesota’s three bigs will have to go at some point. Unless, that is, they win so much that the narrative changes.

“I just do what I can every day to contribute to winning and to contribute to the success of this team,” he said when asked about the noise. “So I just come in every day with a mindset of doing whatever it takes to help us get a win, and whatever those stats are or whatever the game presents itself to be, I just try to do my best to be my best in that situation.

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“I think we’re all learning together how to keep winning at a high level. But that’s the fun part. That’s the fun part, is having a chance to win at the highest level and compete at the highest level. We come with a business approach and get the job done. So I’m really happy that the energy is really about winning.”

As our Jon Krawczynski wrote on Saturday, all this winning means the pundits should “pump the brakes” on the idea that this group is bound to be broken up. Especially if Towns keeps playing like this.

After struggling offensively in his first four games, Towns has averaged 24 points on 56 percent shooting overall, 41.3 percent from three-point range (5.8 attempts per game), 8.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the past eight games. His right-handed runner with 5.4 seconds left against New Orleans on Saturday was as meaningful as they get for this time of year, with Towns coming up clutch while Edwards was on the bench with foul trouble to complete the 121-120 win. He had 29 points on 10-of-11 shooting (2-of-2 from 3), nine assists and six rebounds in 33 minutes.

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Edwards’ two-way play is key

Everyone knows Edwards can score at will. We’ve all seen the Michael Jordan comparisons online — sacrilegious though they may be — and routinely enjoyed the high-flying highlights that make you wonder where this youngster’s ceiling might be. The stats speak for themselves as well: He’s averaging a team-high 26 points (11th in the league) while shooting 46.7 percent overall and 38.8 percent from long range (6.7 attempts per). His 5.1 assists per game pace is tied with Conley for the team lead.

But if the Timberwolves are going to make us all look so silly for predicting their demise, then Edwards’ ability to impact the game on the defensive end will be the most important factor of them all. His incredible defensive potential was on full display against Boston on Nov. 6, when Edwards was maniacal in his matchup against Celtics star Jayson Tatum in a Minnesota’s overtime win. Little by little, this sort of performance is becoming his new norm.

Gobert, for one, points to a game against Brooklyn last preseason as the first time he saw Edwards as a legitimate wing stopper. In a game that didn’t matter, and with the Timberwolves already down 18 points, Edwards guarded the great Kevin Durant on the left elbow and somehow managed to block the midrange jumper that had evaded defenders the vast majority of the previous 15 seasons. You can see the clip here. For Gobert, that play inspired him to become a defensive mentor of sorts for Edwards.

“When he was guarding a really good player, he was taking that challenge,” Gobert said. “But then when he was guarding another player that’s maybe not as much of a big name or not as much of a big threat, he would relax. He was on and off. I was trying to push him, telling him that it’s not easy. Everyone knows you can be really good. You can score 30 points a game and you will get paid and be an All-Star and all that, but if you want to be great and win a championship and be different than all of these guys, (you have to guard). … I made my focus on just holding him accountable on that end.

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“I thought to myself, ‘’Man, I’ve got to figure out a way to get him to have that mindset on everybody.’ And I told him, I said, ‘Bro, it’s tough.’ A lot of guys want to guard. But do they choose to just (focus) on offense? The average fan is not gonna care about you boxing out or you running back or chasing off a screen. They’re not gonna care about that, but (defense) is gonna make you a champion. And I want to be part of that. So yeah, we have a great relationship. I really love him. He’s a very honest guy, very genuine, and he wants to win.”

Conley, meanwhile, was only two games into his Timberwolves tenure before he learned of Edwards’ defensive capabilities. In a game against Dallas, which had added Kyrie Irving to become Luka Donćić’s co-star just days before, Edwards took the kind of defensive approach the veteran point guard had rarely seen.

“He’s like, ‘No, I got Kyrie; (McDaniels), you’ve got Luka; Let’s go win the game,’” Conley recalled about Edwards’ message. “Coach is like, ‘Should we foul? Should we foul?’ And (Edwards) says, ‘No, we’re gonna guard ’em.’ And I was like…”

His eyes are wide open now.

“Nobody says they’re gonna guard Kyrie or they’re gonna guard Luka,” Conley continued. “It just doesn’t happen. Mentally, it’s not a thing. But he went out there, and I think we ended up causing a turnover and winning the game and those two were spectacular. Just that kind of mindset has been different for him.”

From Edwards’ viewpoint, it’s far more simple than his teammates might make it.

“Don’t let my man score on me,” he said with a smile when asked about his defensive mindset.

Edwards’ foundation, though, was set somewhere along his path from Atlanta to the University of Georgia to this Timberwolves organization that has made him its own. If he pulls the alpha male card on Towns, or if he pushes back against the all-for-one-and-one-for-all message that Finch is trying to push, then this entire operation goes sideways.

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“You can’t do nothing without your teammates, so that’s just how I think about it,” said Edwards, who credits his older brother, Bubba, as his one and only influence when it comes to leadership. “I just know you can’t win without your teammates. As far as leadership-wise, that’s just how I am. I’m not even thinking about it like that.

“It’s fun, man. Just trying to find ways to get better. Every day is super fun for me because I love to go into the gym and work. So it’s fun, yeah.”

Early or not, this is the kind of start that just might change basketball lives.

“We’ve got a lot more games left, so I can’t really say what we’re gonna do or what’s going to happen,” Edwards said. “But as long as we continue to get better every day, and listen to Finch, then we’ll be all right.”

(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards: David Sherman Berding / Getty Images)

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