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Head coach Chris Finch seems exasperated with his team. Guard Anthony Edwards called the group "soft" after another ugly, lopsided defeat to the Knicks on Monday dropped the Wolves to 5-6.
It's fair to say it's too early to get into a full-blown panic as the Wolves look to incorporate Rudy Gobert into their lineup (albeit not in the last two games as he has sat out under COVID protocols), but it's equally fair to say things look ugly right now.
The lack of energy and cohesion is startling, particularly when contrasted with how the Wolves finished last season.
Progress starts with accountability, which I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
As Finch searches for lineup combinations that will put forth the required effort to sustain success, let's help him out by breaking down success and failure on an individual level.
Here are grades for the 10 Wolves players who have played the most minutes so far this season, plus Finch and GM Tim Connelly:
STARTERS
Anthony Edwards: C. He's the only starter with a positive net rating (per NBA.com), but the eye test shows a player too often disengaged and passive. On defense, he's getting lost on ball screens — leading to opponents attacking the rim and finishing or finding open shooters. If this is the year he is supposed to make a leap, Edwards is instead stalled.
Karl-Anthony Towns: B-minus. He had arguably the biggest adjustment to make after the Gobert trade, and he's handled it reasonably well. Towns' passing has been adept and he's figuring out his role on both ends. Still, this is Year 8. Towns is far from being a passenger on this ride. He needs to be a better leader on the court to keep negative momentum from snowballing.
Jaden McDaniels: C-minus. He seems like the perfect fit for this lineup as a long, rangy small forward. But McDaniels has been foul-prone (again) and invisible some nights. A move back to the bench might be smart.
D'Angelo Russell: D-minus. It's easy to pick on D-Lo, but it's warranted. He plays at a ponderous pace and has the worst net rating (minus-6.3) of any Wolves regular. Might Finch consider different energy in the starting lineup?
Rudy Gobert: C-plus. He's been about as advertised, though far from spectacular. The players around him need to adapt more than he does.
RESERVES
Jordan McLaughlin: A-minus. He immediately changes the energy when he comes into a game and has the best net rating on the team. The sample size is too small to draw hard conclusions, but a lineup with McLaughlin instead of Russell with the other four typical starters has been far more effective. I'd like to see it more often, including at the beginning and end of games, to see if McLaughlin is the catalyst that unlocks this team's potential.
Taurean Prince: B-plus. A steadying force and strong leader off the bench, with some hot shooting from deep to start the year. This would be the other logical candidate to move into the starting lineup in place of McDaniels.
Kyle Anderson: B. A nice offseason pickup, Anderson fits well into the second unit and can be a spot starter (as he is now with Gobert out). He plays the opposite of fast (hence the nickname Slow Mo), but with bench players that can get a little too sped up he's a nice complement.
Jaylen Nowell: B. A bargain and a useful bench scorer, but his efficiency needs to improve. If Nowell isn't making floaters (he's just 9 of 29 on shots between three and 10 feet this season), he can be a liability.
Naz Reid: B-plus. He's been buried on the depth chart at times with the additions of Gobert and Anderson, but Reid has the team's second-best net rating and should get regular minutes.
COACH/GM
Chris Finch: C-minus. Players play, and coaches can only do so much, but Finch hasn't pushed many of the right buttons yet. He gets some latitude after we watched last year's 4-9 start blossom into something much better, but his energy needs to improve, too.
Tim Connelly: Incomplete. I liked a lot of what Connelly did this offseason, including the big swing for Gobert and the moves to shore up the bench. But a lot of national media members disliked the Gobert trade and the idea of pairing Gobert with Towns, and so far they look smart. If things don't get better in the next 20 games or so, Connelly might have to make another big move or else risk his grade being worse than all the others.
