The Timberwolves are .500 and searching for an identity, but what if this is it?

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DETROIT — It wasn’t hidden, the long faces, the wayward looks carried by the Minnesota Timberwolves as they slipped back to the .500 mark with a loss to the surging Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.

There’s no shame in losing to these Pistons, who are a game within the .500 mark, winners in six of their last seven, and already surpassed last season’s 14-win mark. But it’s the way the Timberwolves showed up that night and too many nights this season.

There’s an acknowledgement they are a totally different team, swapping out Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle in a shocking pre-training camp move. An adjustment was expected, with the team no longer having Towns’ spacing from the 3-point line to clear out room for Anthony Edwards. But this has been rough.

The chemistry on the floor has been, to put it kindly, off — and nobody’s really denying it. Randle’s style is clunky, as it always has been. While it’s worked at other points of his career, he’s not a strong fit on this roster. Getting off Towns’ long contract to get under the restrictive second apron was the motivation for the Randle deal, and the basketball is suffering.

What makes matters worse is Towns’ seamless transition to the Knicks, where he looks like a borderline MVP candidate with a starting five unit that ranks among the most productive in the league — and Randle wasn’t a great fit in New York, either, after Jalen Brunson’s ascension.

Julius Randle doesn’t appear to be a great fit on Minnesota’s roster. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

It’s not to dump on Randle; he’s having his best shooting season from 3 since the 2020-21 season — the year there were hardly any fans in arenas — and overall, shooting 48 percent from the field, his best since 2018-19.

But it certainly doesn’t look smooth, and his defensive lapses come into focus when he broods. It doesn’t feel like anyone is exempt, and the book is out on the scouting report.

They’re 10th in the West, at the final play-in spot, a game ahead of the Sacramento Kings and 1.5 ahead of the Phoenix Suns — two teams who’ve underwhelmed and discussed or made…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/the-timberwolves-are-500-and-searching-for-an-identity-but-what-if-this-is-it-183718364.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-06 18:37:00

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