The Minnesota Timberwolves started their preseason last night against the Lakers without Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. The Lakers played without LeBron James and Anthony Davis but the Lakers looked like their team last season that’s because they didn’t make any offseason moves and decided to run it back with the exact play-in team they were. Oh, they fired Darvin Ham and replaced him with JJ Redick that’s going to improve the team’s contribution on the court. Other than that the team didn’t change at all yes it’s preseason but oh well most of the time what you do in preseason correlates to the regular season, especially in basketball. The Lakers started off going down Twenty points and their offense looked like the exact same offense prior. It was nothing but dribble drives and ISO basketball there was no ball movement or player movement.
The Lakers prized draft pick showed he can score Dalton Knecht fell to the Lakers at pick number 17 he just flows well with what the Lakers want him to do on offense. He scored 16 points 7-13 from the field. He could become a 4th scorer on the team once the season starts and potentially move himself into the starting lineup. But the Fans clearly came to see LeBron James Jr cheering when he entered the game and scoring in the last minute of the game last night. He got two blocks on Dillingham both of dribble drive layups but he just floats in the corner on offense and doesn’t implement himself in the offense. He could become better if he gets more touches on offense he’s a point guard so he could run the offense he has his dad on the team also it’s going to be tough love he went 1-6 from the field and just looks uncomfortable out there at times.
The Timberwolves on the other hand looked like they didn’t miss any beat from last season the only difference this year. You won’t be seeing Karl Anthony Towns in the starting lineup anymore for the Wolves. They traded him on September 27th to the New York Knicks for Dontè DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, and First round pick ( That’s from the Pistons). Last night we didn’t get to see Randle play but we got to see DiVencenzo light up the three-point line something the Wolves were missing Perimeter shooting last season. They did have NAZ REID and Kat but that wasn’t enough to push them past the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Dontè ended the night going perfectly from the field 3-3 at the three-point line and a nice up-and-over layup. The Timberwolves offense looked more fluid there wasn’t anyone stopping the motion of the offense so he could get his shots up the ball was moving and players were moving.
Insert Rob Dillingham in the Second Quarter and play the rest of the game. The prized pick for the Wolves on draft night the Spurs drafted him with the 8th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Then traded him to the Timberwolves yes it is preseason but he showed he can play can create space within the offense something the Wolves needed in their offense alongside Anthony Edwards. Going 9-20 from the field with 21 points 3-6 from the three-point line. Dillingham isn’t a great defender but the Wolves are a good defensive team they won’t need him to play defense they rotate great defense. Dillingham will learn from behind Mike Conley on how to put himself in the right position on defense to rank up steals.
Once they started putting in their bench you could see why they were deep in the bench rotation except for Minot he could possibly contribute more to the team because he scored during the second half and played defense. But the team almost allowed the Lakers bench players to come and win from 20 points but Dillingham and Minot were just what the rotation players needed to close it out.
