Given how much turnover the Timberwolves‘ roster has undergone in recent months, the hiatus has at least provided president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders with an opportunity to pause and get familiar with their current players, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes.
“We’ve gotten to know our guys better than we had a month ago,” Rosas said. “Anything and everything that matters to them we’re trying to understand and we’re trying to build a commitment, we’re trying to build a community based on who individuals are and what they’re going through right now.”
According to Krawczynski, Saunders has made an effort to directly engage with his players since the hiatus began, reaching out to talk to them about their families and about basketball, and sending the message that the team cares about their well-being. As Krawczynski notes, it’s a part of the job that Saunders excels at and one that is more necessary than ever during this time.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Dealing with Jordan Clarkson‘s free agency, working out an extension for Donovan Mitchell, and figuring out a good use for their mid-level exception will be among the top items on the Jazz‘s to-do list this offseason, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic.
- Ryan Novozinsky of Daily Thunder makes the case that Thunder general manager Sam Presti deserves to win 2020’s Executive of the Year award, arguing that the GM’s “magic” is the reason why Oklahoma City was a playoff team this season while also setting itself up well for years to come.
- In case you missed it, a pair of general managers for Northwest teams – Arturas Karnisovas (Nuggets) and Justin Zanik (Jazz) – have interviewed for a top basketball operations position in the Bulls’ front office. Karnisovas is viewed as the current frontrunner. (Update: The Bulls are finalizing a deal to hire Karnisovas).
As a thunder fan presti continues to amaze me. He’s had his missteps (Harden, melo) but everytime he has been dealt a tough hand, he has made a move that at least shows he is trying to keep us competitive.
1) durant leaving last minute purposely leaving us few options but he gets oladipo and later flips him for PG13.
2) PG wants out after 2 years and flips him for what seems like 75 draft picks and pick trades, and getting SGA who will be at the very least a very good player in the near term. Also got gallo in that deal who we will likely sign and trade in the off-season.
3) flips Russ, who most of us hated to see go, for draft picks and pick trades and gets CP3 who has 1 less year of a bad contract that Russ does and ends up playing some of the best b-ball we have seen from him in 5 plus years.
4) everyone leaves okc for dead after Russ and PG13 depart and we end up as the 4-5th best seed in the west.
5) traded melo and a first for Dennis Schroeder who has turned into one of the best 6th men in the league for us. To get ANY value for melo was next to impossible…and giving up a late pick (likely) was little to part with since we have 47 picks or so over the next few drafts.
No gm is flawless and it is dam tough to get any player interested in coming to OKC if they’ve never been here outside of a couple games a year, but presti for the most part has kept the thunder relevant and competitive. He is just missing a championship to cement the legacy….gonna be haters I’m sure out there, but he has done one heck of a job…..outside of the harden deal….sighhhh……
If only we kept harden….
Have to agree he’s done a great job from getting stars for Russ once Harden and KD leave in Melo PG and stuff to doing the worlds quickest rebuild getting CP3, SGA and a bunch of picks plus keeping the team competitive.
Presti and Billy Donovan have done a great job