The Minnesota Timberwolves, to the surprise of many around the league, started off this season strong. They won 8 of their first 16 games, and their schedule wasn’t too easy either. It was starting to look like the young team could be good enough to slip into the playoffs. Then, they fell back to earth. The Timberwolves have now lost 7 of their last 8 games, topped off by an embarrassing 10-point loss in Philadelphia.
How did the Timberwolves respond to their most recent loss? They talked it out. From ESPN:
The day after the Minnesota Timberwolves’ most embarrassing performance of the season, the reeling group gathered at their practice facility ready to get back to work.
Only they didn’t practice at all. Instead, interim coach Sam Mitchell brought the team together at center court for 90 minutes of talk and soul searching, giving each player the opportunity to offer his view on what wasn’t working and what had to change going forward.
…
“I think it was good for us, for our young guys to hear what they think of each other and what they expect from each other,” Mitchell said. “It was all positive. But everybody was just honest with each other, with the expectations of each other, what we need to give, from each other, to make our team more complete.”
Sounds like it was a productive meeting. Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns reffered to the meeting as “probably the best practice” that the team had had all year, and called it a “therapeutic session.”
Hopefully this meeting helped the Wolves work out their kinks. The main priority for this team isn’t winning, it’s developing their young players. But winning is nice, and if they can win enough games to make the playoffs, that would be a fantastic learning experience for their young players.
