Bored of the Regular Season? What Derailed the Wolves’ Playoff Run w/ Derek Long

It’s time to reset, reflect, and talk through some heavy feelings after the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season came crashing down in decisive fashion against the San Antonio Spurs. On this episode of the Splash City Basketball Podcast, host Steve Hartman is joined by Derek Long from the Sideline Vibes podcast to deliver a comprehensive postmortem on the Wolves' playoff run. 

We kick things off with some high-vibe personal news as Derek shares the incredible story of his newborn twins—including how a casual run-in with Joe Ingles and Mike Conley directly inspired his son's name. 

Then, we dive deep into the hardwood analytics and heavy truths, breaking down:

• Grading the Season: Was this year a true success, or did the team leave too much meat on the bone? 
• The Maturity Gap: Why the younger Spurs and Thunder rosters look more disciplined, and whether Chris Finch’s laid-back, player-friendly style clashes with the personality of the core roster. 
• Physicality in the Paint: How Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper vastly outplayed the Wolves' guards, and why Minnesota completely abandoned their game plan of attacking Victor Wembanyama after Game 1. 
• Defensive Philosophy: A couch-coaching critique on why the Wolves' current personnel isn't built for a high-press point-of-attack defense, and why they desperately miss the grit of Dante DiVincenzo. 
• The Offseason Outlook: What a potential Julius Randle trade could mean for moving Naz Reid into the starting lineup. 

Follow the Hosts:

• Steve Hartman – Splash City Basketball Podcast  
• Derek Long – Sideline Vibes Podcast  @Croonch on Instagram

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. 

Follow Splash City Basketball Podcast on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Bag in that back in that bag again. Whoa, whoa, bag.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Splash City Basketball Podcast. Your home for everything hoops related in the land of 10,000 likes. I am your host, Steve Hartman. And it's been a minute. I had to take a break, reset, reflect a little bit on this Timberwolves season. Things came crashing down in a pretty decisive fashion against the Spurs. But I needed someone to help me talk through my feelings here. And I wanted to go to someone who's always looking for the positive vibes. Derek Long, host of the Sideline Vibes podcast, is here with me. Derek, how are you, man?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

I'm you know, I'm doing great. That I mean, we had the same mindset with that. We'd big time to reflect, kind of like taking those exit interviews, which I love, um, and kind of see the temperature of what they think, how the season went, and kind of judge how you should how we should react as fans to the season. I don't know. It's just nice to nice to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, not everybody does that, so it's kind of it's kind of cool. Yeah. Um, I think we last spoke. Uh I looked, I had to look it up because it feels like a long time ago. Yeah. Uh the wolves were up 2-1 on the nuggets. It was about a month ago. Vibes were high. Um, but uh obviously things have changed for the wolves, but more importantly, things have changed for you. Congratulations on becoming a father.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah. So yeah, we had uh my wife and I had our twins just recently during this playoff, during the beginning of the Spurs series, basically. Um, and uh they're everyone's doing great, but it's been definitely a big adjustment. Uh-huh. I think a a fun, a fun thing. Uh it's I have boy and a girl twins, so it's been yeah, I mean, as father, you get it, like the the the first couple weeks you're like, what is going on? And then twins is like a whole nother like it's great, it's case chaos, but it's great. It works out, it worked out well. Um what's fun, uh little Timberwolves background, if I may tell this little story here. Uh our son's name is Conley. So Mike, Mike Conley. And people are like, Have you did you name your kid after Mike Conley? And it's like, well, here's the story. So we went to the member party. Uh the if any if anyone's ever gone to those, like you just kind of photo opt meet and greet kind of thing, uh, for Timberwolves uh season ticket holders. And uh how this kind of works is there's players kind of like situated in stations around, and you kind of pick a line and you go and take a picture, meet and greet kind of thing. And uh originally we were in the line for my wife is really good at scouting it out. She's like, that's the main photographer, he's always in the line with aunt. It's like, oh, we gotta get a picture and meet aunt, that's gotta be that's gonna be fun. Um, and so they kind of reveal it after you people have been standing in lines forever, and they reveal it and it's Joe and Mike Conley. And it's like, oh great, Mike's back, like uh it's aunt couldn't make it, that's fine. Um, but like, perfect, two dads. Like, I we gotta we because we're having a hard time figuring out a boy name, and like Bailey, we should just ask them, ask him what uh what would they think for boy names? Like give us some suggestions, and so we get there, and first thing uh can I swear on this pod, guess? Sure, yeah, yeah. Because it's so fitting. We get uh we get into the like rate when we're about to like whatever meet a dab him up, whatever, and Joe Ingalls sees my wife and goes, Holy shit, and it's like Australian accent because he sees sees this her belly going on. Very yeah, yeah, very at that point, and so uh yeah, probably left that part out. That that was a little confusing, but uh, and so she's like, Yeah, and that's twins, and he has twins, and so we talked a little bit quickly about that. And um my wife's just like, Do you guys have any name suggestions? We're having a hard time with our boy, and Joe right away is like Joe. I'm like, Okay, funny, probably not Joe. So we laughed about that, and then Conley's like, Connie, Conley would be good, and we we laughed again, we're like, Okay, funny, and like they just picked like their names, it's funny. But we walked away and we're like, Man, that kind of sounds that kind of would be a cool name. Um, Mike Conley's just such a great guy, and we're like nah, whatever. And so a couple weeks go on, and we're just like we keep seeing it all over the place, like Conley, like in those name TikTok recommendations of names, and and we're like, Man, Conley, that that'd be so fun. And so we ended up deciding on Conley. That's okay. And so he he is named by Mike Conley, like not just named after him, he was kind of named by him. So, again, look probably a little bit too crazy of Timberwolf fan fandom, but um, but anyways, long story short, we're we're diehards here in this household for life.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

That's amazing. I mean, I feel like that entitles you to some sort of like hanging out when he retires, if he's still living here, or even if he's playing next year. Like I feel like you're gonna have to bring that up and be like, remember that, remember that? And he'll be like, All right, let me hook you up with that suite or something, you know, club level access.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I'm working on a little uh piece here, like end of the season kind of vibe, vibe thing that I'm gonna write and hopefully put out soon. Um, because I like to do I did this last year where I picked the top five things that like will I will remember the season for and positive things, fun things. Um, obviously that's gonna be a big part of that. So um and it kind of goes with the the theme of that was like this team is made up of just some great, great people um off the court, and so it's it's tough because of like how they play on the court sometimes could be really frustrating for fans, and I think sometimes we had to separate that at the end of the year and be a little bit more perspective, like these guys are great people, and yeah, they they do a lot for our community, and they're like just awesome people that you want to be role models for, or you want like your kids to be role, like look up to, yeah. And it's just it's funny how it kind of goes and how it how like a season ends, and you could be so frustrated and be like, man, or you have the Denver Nuggets people telling and telling us that they're bad apples or something. That's just like that's just not that's just not true, and so I don't know. I I think that's just kind of a fun, fun perspective on it, but we gotta obviously talk about the basketball side of things because that's big part of it.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

I mean, it's good to keep it in perspective. That's one thing I like about doing some of these, uh, you know, with you or with a Andrew Dukowitz, uh, is just like there's a human side to it, you know, and I think when you're around the team, that helps. Otherwise, you're just kind of like you think of them as chess pieces and whatever, and it's like, you know, there is there is some of that. And um, but yeah, let's get to the game. Or it's the team. Um, okay, so after having about a week off here now to think about it, how would you how do you grade this season? Maybe not a plus, like, do you feel like this was a successful season in terms of uh where their expectations were, how it finished? It it is it incomplete because of what you know, some of the injuries. How do you kind of view it as a whole?

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Um gosh, see, I'm such a I'm not as like Britt talks about like the championship or bus culture. I'm like kind of I agree with him 100% on that, where you can still have a successful season um even without um winning at all. I would say this one maybe not as successful as last year, obviously. You go farther and what you want to get to a final four. Final four is great for for for me. Good, like obviously you want to win a championship, one team wins it every year. You can't be too upset about that. I would say this year was still a success because you you won a first round series against your rival, um, and then you competed for the most part, barring some injuries um to a team that could potentially win it all. Um so if you look a couple weeks from now or months from now, if the Spurs are raising that trophy up, um you look at this like, man, we lost to the champ, just like we kind of lost to Denver that one the one season that they won. Um it makes sense. OK last year. OKC last year, like we haven't lost to a Mavs. The Mavs, that was a tough one. But anyways, like it I still look at it as a success in in the whole picture, but I would think there's there's still a lot of meat on the bone. Um Finch kind of talked about that in his post or his postseason thing. Like they they left a lot on the table, um and something that they gotta work on. So yeah, I don't know. I kind of agree with McDaniel, like McDaniel's what he said, like still a success, but kind of um the end of the year was successful, but too many bumps in the road that kind of derailed what could have been, I'd say.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Yeah, but I I think uh I think of it kind of as uh ascension or or are you ascending or are you descending? Sure. Um, and I think last year was a little bit of fool's gold in the playoffs because the Lakers weren't a great three seed, and um then the the Warriors were beat up. And so you kind of get to that point, which is basically where they got to in the second round this year, playing a team on that caliber. Um, I think the way I kind of viewed the season was the promises, the expectations, this this maturity that they keep talking about, this championship habits they keep talking about it. Um, when is it gonna show up? Because you're getting close to the prime years now of some of your core guys. Um, you know, this was kind of the whole reason they had Mike and Joel around, and Slow-Mo and Rudy are supposed to be these professionals, but you're not seeing that. And so I look at the team like the Spurs and OKC, and they have that with younger guys. So I'm starting to feel like you just either have that mentality of we don't take days off in January, we just come out and compete. Um, because that is a habit that now we have in the playoffs where we just play hard. Um, so I I I don't know. I'm I'm kind of I I think winning a playoff series is great. I think if Ant and Io and Dante are all healthy, do we have a chance for sure? Um, so it's a little bit incomplete for my end. I'm just disappointed that they haven't seemed to mature in that in that effort level, consistent effort level that um I think you need. You're gonna need to beat these other two teams in the West. Like they just play at another level and another intensity level all year or most of the year, and they're ready when it when it matters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

I agree with I agree with that 100%. I think the biggest thing that they need to just improve on is that maturity aspect of it. And they talked about it this last couple weeks or the week, this last week here. And you look at you look at the Spurs in the Thunder, and they're younger. Spurs are significantly younger than the wolves, and people go, okay, well, how are they more mature with handling things? But you gotta kind of look at their like info infrastructure that they have too. It's like Popovich is still like around after game one. They talked about how Pop came in and just kind of ripped him apart in the film session. Like he has his f he still has his fingerprints on everything, and he helps Johnson a lot. Um they have a good, they just have a great, they just have that Spurs culture. And we don't have uh a wolves culture, if that makes sense. Like I love Finch as a coach, I think he um he does an incredible job. But the thing that's tough though, and and I think maybe it's not uh taken into effect um or like thought about is the fact that like sometimes your personalities don't really match and work out, if that makes sense. So like Finch, very laid back. He's a player's coach, he but during the games it's very laid back. Like you're gonna I'm gonna give you your opportunities. Like, I'm not gonna I'm gonna let you kind of fail on your own. I'm not gonna sit here and like berage you on the sideline, rip you. I'm sure there's times that definitely it definitely happens, but like he doesn't seem like a coach that's like a Steve Kerr, where is like fiery um getting after it, or even Johnson who has a very different demeanor. Um very chill, laid back, with the expectations like you guys need to be professionals. Where and then our our core group of guys are also very chill and laid back, and so it could lead to like a bad combo where you'd we have letdown situations like that. It could be a combination of that, and also just like the fact that we've we've made it to two straight Western Conference finals, and they told us all year that they could just do it again when they're bored of the regular season. They said that all year board of the regular season, flip the switch, they lied about it. Yeah, um, then they realized, oh man, the Spurs are actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Right. That's the thing, right? Like, if you're the three seed or the six seed, doesn't matter. Like you you're gonna run up to the same team anyway. Um, so I in some ways I get that, but I also think um, you know, I culture is a part of it. I like I like that you mentioned that because I think that's real. I think there is like some chatter about like why is KG not at these games? Look at all these Spurs, the Duncan's that's still there, and David Robinson still comes. So, like, there's some of that too. I think the other part is they draft, they have three guys drafted in the top four, you know, Harper, Castle, and Wemby are all-time talents. Um, we don't but I don't think it's a talent issue. Um, but I think part of it is the guys. So, like, if your leadership is Ant and Jaden and Nas, you know, that's Julius was not a leader on this team in in a positive way. It didn't appear to be. And Rudy, I don't think they take him seriously enough because of his struggles offensively. You know, I I just don't think they look at him as like we're gonna follow his lead because he is the one that to pick typically would be like professional on plays defense kind of consistently, is always in the right spot. He doesn't really take time off on defense, but I just don't know that these guys look at him as like uh, oh yeah, we should follow what Rudy's doing because he's doing it so well at a high level, you know. So they're just they're kind of missing that. I I don't, you know, I my kind of you know, we can talk about this later, but like I'm thinking next year you'll probably try to trade Randall and Nas slides into the starting role, but then you're still in the same the same group that hasn't quite figured out this quote unquote maturity, this championship habit type thing, and I I don't know where that's gonna come from.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah. I think it's something that's just like you gotta just do it, and if you don't do it, like if you don't grow up and mature, I hate to use the word grow up because it's like they're grown men, like it's right, but it really is like handling your business and taking care of business and like taking your job more seriously in the fact that the product of work throughout the season. I love that Ant said it right away because that kind of sets the tone for the entire offseason. Whereas last year it was much seemed like I just we just have to work on skill stuff to get better, and they did those things, and so every year Ant says, This is what I want to work on. So is this what they're gonna be working on this this offseason? And like Nas touched on it and the fact that he said like I can't remember the exact quote, but he said something about how they're they're they're moodiness, but it's like they can't, they don't feel like they can kind of hold each other accountable, like they they kind of just kind of like become a shell. And like in the coach in my coaching experience, I've we've had teams like that in the past, and there's nothing it feels helpless because you're like, man, like you just want to bring them into a room and just be like, all right, let's all hash this out, like just talk about it. But like I don't know if those things have happened where they still probably have a lot of things that bug each other about each other, but they're still friends, so they're nice, they're so nice, and they're they're good guys, and so that it maybe it's hard for them to like bring up those things that kind of have bothered them, um, and it impacts their effort effort level when things are going bad, they go real bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Um right. Well, I mean, you know, like the best leadership on a team is the the players. Like you have to have if you're coaching high school, you need high school kids to lead. Like the coach can set the tone, and and sometimes they take the personality of the coach, but a lot of times, like if you don't have primarily seniors, it doesn't have to be seniors, but older kids who are holding the others accountable in the locker room, on the court, off the court, it's gonna be a struggle. And I think that's what I'm getting at with the wolves is is ant holding people accountable? Probably not, because he doesn't even hold himself accountable half the time, no, uh, you know, defensively. So who is that? And again, I go back to like uh your your namesake here with your with your kid, Conley, but like I thought kind of that was the whole point was like he was gonna be saying, you guys need to tighten this up, like we can't play like this, and it just nothing seemed to matter. And and then I look at like Dylan Harper, who played at Rutgers, so no winning, no NCAA tournament experience, and he just comes in the in the league and just looks like he's ready to play at the biggest stage because he just does those winning things, and yeah, so uh some of it can be learned, but I'm also kind of starting to think that this group just doesn't have that, although I will say Dante does have that, and that's huge underrated loss for that.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

I know they talked about that, but yeah, yeah, he he was a cold, he's kind of that culture grit center, sorry, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

No, yeah, no, you're right. Uh-huh. Makes the shots, little plays, like does a lot of that. So um, I wanted to quickly talk about something that I know a lot of people were kind of hating out of Rudy and Julius in that series, and rightly so, like Julius was basically a no-show. Rudy just couldn't find any footing offensively or defensively. But I I want to get your opinion on something because I took away from that series that De'Aaron Fox, Stefan Castle, and Dylan Harper vastly outplayed Ant, Jaden, and Io. And so if that's the group running it back next year, will we be in any better position against OKC or San Antonio? Um, I was I was kind of thinking like, okay, we'll be okay there. Wemby is the one that's gonna kill us. And he had his moment, but I thought their guards were more physical, more active, tougher. Um, just a lot of things that kind of concern me. And again, I know a couple of those guys might have been hurt, but it's the playoffs, and if you're in the game, I'm assuming you're gonna produce.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

So I'm gonna I was super impressed by Castle. Uh Fox, obviously, he's just he's fun to watch in his own way. Um, but m more importantly, I'm just impressed with Castle and Harper. Those guys are absolute dogs, and they're so physical. And you watch in that game, even game one. I know I keep talking about this Thunder Spurs thing, but it's kind of it it kind of proves that it's like, okay, it's not just the wolves that were getting punked. It's like these guys are going at Caruso Dort right into their chest, two foot. If you're a high school basketball player, I'm look at the camera now. High school basketball player, you should the entire summer be watching Castle and Harper footwork paint film all day long. They're the two best I've seen all probably all postseason. Brunson's really good too, if you want, like, but for different ways. But, anyways, I was super impressed with them. But I gotta say this like if I think we all are forgetting game one of that that series, and the fact that the Spurs had to change their entire defense because they couldn't stop, they couldn't stop us. I know that's a different side of the ball here, but when when they made that change and started just completely double teaming ant, and they're just like, Alright, well, we're hoping that you guys just miss open shots, and then get and we got moody because we were like, man, we're missing open shots, we're maybe not getting enough looks, and it one thing and just snowballed from there. But they became more physical and like going in the transition, um, those like secondary transitions where they just have the leverage and they just they realize like, oh, I can I can they something unlocked with them in that series um that's carried over into this this thunder series already. But I'm I was very impressed with them, but also I feel like we had we had something, but we just kind of lost it. I don't know. I that's just that's just where I landed on it, but I was clearly the better the better team um won that series. So I'm not saying the wolves would win if they didn't double team, but you you kind of you kind of have to look back at that and think, man, what could have been?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Um but yeah, I mean I I I there was a couple plays where I think it was Harper mostly, but maybe Castle too, but they would get into Jaden's body, and you could tell like they were just moving him out of the way, and they did the same to Julius a couple times. And I thought that is something that Jade Jaden is great on Booker and Murray. And why? Because they're jump shooters, they're not overly physical, they're not big and strong, they don't want to get downhill. Um, and and that seemed to really bother Jaden's uh defensively, like he just couldn't use his length against them because they're not coming off pin downs looking to shoot or you know, kind of playing like the Murray Jokic pick and roll where where Jaden just knows that so well. So I'll be curious like, will he make an adjustment next year in those matchups uh on those guys specifically? Um, I think you brought up this this as well. Attack in the paint, right? Like the Wolves game one, they left game one saying we're gonna continue to do it, we're not gonna stop. Wemby's gonna have to block that mate, and they did. They completely stopped. Yeah, and I didn't understand it, and I'm still mad about it because I just I felt like we let Wemby off the hook by doing that because it took a lot out of him. You're not getting him in foul trouble, and there is a emotional thing that happens. I think Randall might have had one in game six where he dunked it on Wemby or somebody did. Io maybe Io, it was off the double, Io straight line drive, and he dunked it. And I'm like, more of that, please. Like you cannot you cannot pull up on an eight or ten-foot floater and shoot it over Wemby. You were either dunking it and breaking his hand on the rim, or you're kicking it out. Yeah, but those are the options, and I just never understood why they just completely got uh intimidated by that because I mean I know why they did, because you blocked so many shots, but they're what they said after game one never happened again.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Uh yeah, and you could see Finch in that game, that that last game. He about I've I I've I've never seen a coach close enough to just walking off the court completely because he was so frustrated. Stop shooting those floaters, it's low percentage, and like we don't we don't shoot those. Like, what why are we not following the game plan? I talked about it afterwards. We just gotta listen to the coaches. It's like as a coach that drives you crazy because you're like, um, yes, now we now we have to wait an entire summer to get after it again because we we didn't give our put our best foot forward and we didn't listen. But like I don't know, I don't know why. It just like it's I I think I know why, because it's it hurts like driving into the paint and going full speed into those guys, they're so physical. Um, and they just kind of they they kind of wore us down that way. And it's impressive that a young team would like that's that's credit to Harper and Castle, like kind of like we said with Jaden. I I completely didn't even answer your question. With they were just more physical when they got in the paint, and we just got done playing the nuggets, which were not physical in the paint. And so we used our physicality to try to bully them, and then they just didn't react to it. They like Castle's awesome because he's just like Jade McDaniels, but a different font, which is does I'm not gonna react to it, and I'm just gonna keep coming at you, I keep coming at you, and they're like, Man, this is wearing us down on this end. Now we're gonna do it on the other end. Now I'm a little now my body's banged up. It's like you can't just keep doing that over and over and over again. They took a gamble on that, and it was a good gamble. Um, but yeah, the f the physicality part of it. I did say this, I I think I tweeted this in the last this is one thing that's drew I hate to be critical of coaching because it's like everyone has their own philosophy thing, and the NBA coach is incredible. Finch is an incredible coach, incredible mind, a million times smarter than I am. And so this is gonna sound like I am coaching from the couch, but I think our team is not set up like we don't have the personnel to do what they w are trying to do, where they want to be like a strong point of attack defense, pick them up at half court, maybe even past half court a little bit, pick them up in the the backcourt, and like really get up and try to challenge versus and then deny everywhere else, kind of. We did we don't give up a lot of threes, uh, unless it's like a guy that gets really deep and then we have to over help and then it's a kick out three. Um and so like we give up too many straight line drives because we're so up and guarding, and if they get past us, then it's just like a they can get wherever they want. I would love to see the wolves try like a kind of because we have so much length, we have so much length and athleticism in that way, but we're we're not a very like shifty dynamic team that side to side, if that makes sense. Like Jaden's our best defender, but he's not a like shifty side to side guy, he's just like a super physical, like I'm gonna cut you off athletic, right, length guy. Um so it'd be interesting to see if they kind of changed that in the summer. Um, but I think Finch is pretty like adamant because he probably watched the Pacers and who's their team that we need to beat, Thunder. Okay, what do the Pacers do? They get up and guard the crap out of you, but they have a lot more guys that can like kind of do that. I don't know. I tell me if I'm wrong, or like again, I I I'm throwing it out there that I that's just one thing that that's bugged me about the wolves. Yeah, um, this whole season.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

No, I think you're right. I I think there's more of that kind of just I don't know, he likes the big long wings, you know, TJ is like that, right? But you know, this is just gonna be me, I feel like uh stereotyping on who it is. But it's like Jose Alvarado, it's TJ McConnell, it's yeah, you need a bench guy. I would love Alex Caruso, man. Give me Alex Caruso any day of the week. I want that guy on my team, and he is that guy at like championship, you know, pedigree and does little things and won't bitch and moan if he doesn't get the ball or get shots. He's guarding Wemby. Um, you're talking about coaching things, like Hartenstein hardly played. Hartenstein did the Rudy thing right in game one. I know we could probably just do a pot on game one of the Spurs game because it was so amazing. So awesome. But like they went super small, guarded Wemby with Caruso and Dort and those guys, and and pulled shooting, right? And Caruso hits a bunch of threes. And like, so this whole Randall Gobert experiment, as much as Tim Connolly says he didn't build the team to to beat the Nuggets, that's why Rudy's there. Yeah, and now there's this whole other beast, and that root Randall Gobert pairing, I don't think will work going forward. I don't know what they can do financially and with the roster, but um I I just feel like the these quicker, smaller. I mean, what was their largest um player besides Cornette and Wemby was 6'7, Carter Bryant, right? Champagne's not big. I mean, they're all like 6'4 to 6'7. Yeah, super athletic, strong. Yeah, um, can you know, mostly like can do multiple things, get to the rim and shoot. Um, so they just have this like collection of dudes like that. Um, and I think you're right, like we definitely were not Jaden will pick up Jamal Murray full court all day long. He wants, he will wear him out, and he couldn't do that against Castle. Io didn't seem to be able to. I don't know if it was health or if he just isn't, you know, he's just I I like Io. I I want him, I'd like him to be the starting point guard next year. But um, these guys were just a little bit, they just got a little more juice that than we did. And it we they got downhill. There was also a couple talking about coaching things. I don't know if this is coaching or execution, but we were like chasing over screens by half court, and I'm like, why are we doing that? We we do that that that's kind of that's a hundred percent what I've been talking.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Like, that was kind of what I've been talking about. I've seen it all year, it drives me crazy because Jaden, it's a coaching thing where it's like this is we want to go over every screen. I'm guessing it is because Jaden does go over every single screen, no matter what. And unless it's just Jaden doing his own thing, he when he picks up at half court and they set a screen and he goes over it, it just becomes a two-on-one downhill, yeah, and you have to over help, and it's a kick out, and it's just dominoes going downhill. And it's if you have a castle and a harper who are super physical and they play off a two feet in the paint, it's game over. You don't there's nothing you could do. You're it's gonna be an open shot or it's gonna be like a three-foot shot, and that's just what happened over and over again. But part of part of it too is like our poor offensive finishing led to transition defense, and they were just incredible in transition. And it's just like if we're not gonna figure out that offensive side, like you're doing uphill battle. And it's funny, I like that you mentioned the Hardenstein thing because it's I think a lot of people who are pretty hard on Rudy should look at what happened to Hardenstein, he doesn't have a chance against Wemby. Like he he's not like at least Gobert like had a chance, and he wasn't giving up 40 points to to to Wemby and how he did what he did. Yeah, and like you could it it if the Thunder had Gobert, he'd be playing at the end of that game, at least in little pockets where where you need to, but but the fact that we'd get so far down because our offensive structure was so bad, or not sorry, not our structure, our offensive finishing was so bad, we need points, and that's where that Randall Gobert conundrum is like we mentioned. Those two are just not a good pair together at all. And we've learned that after two seasons, where even if we made it to the Western Conference Finals, it was still an uphill battle with those two.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Um cat made more sense, right? Because Kat could stretch the floor, and he's uh self-titled greatest shooting big man of all time. So um until Wemby showed up apparently. Yeah. Um, but yeah, like what do you think going into the offseason, you know, if you had to, you know, make hard make the hard decisions, and what roster changes do you think need to be made to to you know battle these two Western juggernauts?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

I love I always love this question. My wife and I talk about this all the time, and I've learned this, I've actually learned this um from watching or from watching sports because my wife's a Packers fan. And so as I've started dating her, I know it's unfortunate, but dating her, like I'm like, how are you so like just calm about like decisions that are being made and whatever, and like not she's like, Well, it like I'm not gonna speculate things, and it's whatever happens, happens. And I'm like, man, that's a good perspective on things. And so I've taken that approach to watch like the my like all my sports watching, and it's made it enjoyable. Now, the reason I say this is because like I'm not a huge like person who like speculates like who we should go get. Like, I should we go get Giannis? Should we go get I need to like see them to like see it on the court for me to be like, oh, that makes sense. I get it. Um, but if I if I have to answer this and give some of my thoughts, I don't I'm not I don't think the Giannis thing would work. No, my I agree. I think the the perfect person to fit next to an Anthony Edwards would just be more either more shooting or more guards, kind of like a Dante, kind of like a like uh um like an Io. Those kind of players I think would just fit nicer. Um like Reeves would be awesome fit, I think, personally, um for for the Wolves in that regard. Like you need a second guy who I'm not gonna say I don't think you need I'm kind of like I don't think it's a traditional point guard. One, I don't think it exists anymore. Um and two, if you do have those guys, so like a Fred Van Vliet, they're just they just get hunted in the playoffs, like you just get you know, I know they won it he won a championship, so it's like but that was a whole different con that's a whole different time. Um but you Harper and uh Castle are just gonna hunt the crap out of if we have Kyrie, if we have um a smaller guard, they're they're gonna do what they did to Mike Conley, who's that traditional point guard. Um I think we just need a guy, a second, a second fiddle who's just like able to score at all three levels. Um can Jaden be that guy? I I think he can. You saw glimpses of it. It just that that moodiness got in the way of a lot of things. So one thing's for sure, I just don't think I think if they have an opportunity to move from Randall, I bet that's gonna happen. Again, I'm not I I hate to like I hate to be like this guy needs to be traded because he's a nice guy, and he's not gonna see this, but obviously, but or maybe well we could. Um like like I'm not saying he's like a bad person. Julius Randle just slid in my DMs, yeah. Like, what the heck? He doesn't say anything about anyone else's comments on him, but he just point goes at the splash city pod. Uh yeah, but like we would love to interview Julius on the code. Yeah, I would love, I would, yeah, I would yeah, I would love to talk to Julius Randle about anything. Yeah, um yeah, no, it's a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I mean, yeah, it it's more fit, right? Like it's not like this specific player, but like I I agree. Like, I think that pairing doesn't work. I think Nas is ready. Like, I I don't know if Finch wasn't quite ready to let him start, but I think to me, he was our second best player in the playoffs, and he isn't he wasn't 100%. And I loved his effort. He's and his shot making is crazy. So now there's more floor spacing again um that you need. Plus, it's from a guy who's 6'10 or 6'11, whatever Nas is. I mean, he's um so like defensively, yeah, maybe that's a challenge at times when you haven't to guard Chet or you know, certain guys, but um I think the the hope is that I agree, like Rudy has more value now, you could get more from him, but I Randall is to me the and I don't want to go down this road either because I I have heard he's he's a great person, but like there just wasn't a fit personality-wise with this team and him. And I think Nas, Jaden, Ant, if you're gonna hit your wagon to him, you gotta let them start and you gotta see how these next couple, probably two or three years, go. And those are your guys, and you build around that. I think Io could slide into the point guard spot for now. I like that he gets downhill and he isn't doesn't need volume shots, like he can be a facilitator, he's big enough. Um, but I think when you bring Nas uh into the starting lineup, now your bench gets thin. And so my my thing is I'm looking for lunch pail guys, dirty work, power forwards that can come in and play a four or five. Like my I keep going back to this, but I I look at Mitchell Robinson from the Knicks, right? Like that's a guy. Can you get 10 and 8 from him? If and maybe not eight, but six, like on a regular basis, and he's just always doing the right thing. Um, the other one is like you mentioned point guard. Um, I would love to see them go kind of what you were saying, like somebody who can pressure the ball more full court, and that ain't bones. Uh, I think bones is uh a free agent, so it's like, do you bring him back? I mean, he provided some some highlight moments. Yeah. Uh but like there's just there's so much wing guard depth in these elite western conference teams that are strong and physical, and bones just I don't know. I mean, there's a reason he didn't play in that Spurs series, right? And so can you can you really get past them if that's your seventh or eighth guy? Um, you know, TJ Shannon will probably be in the mix, which he fits, right? He's 6'7 wing, who's strong. Like he's he can would probably like to see more of him, honestly, in that in the Spurs series. But um, and then Berenger, you know, Berenger, you gotta hit on that. Like he's gotta become you know, we'll learn under Rudy, spend another year getting better, and like maybe he's he's playing. So I guess when I look at the roster, I'm like, can you get 20 and 10 from Berenge and whatever power forward you bring in? You know, because that there's your bench production on the inside, and then you just gotta figure out the backup guard, which Conley made it sound like Dante is gonna be back sometime next year, but yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

I yeah, I I just think we need to get a little bit more, like you said, lunch pale guys, physical guys. Like if I'm just if Dante is playing in this series, you put Dante right where right on that like wing area, and they're they can't double because he's just gonna catch and shoot all day or catch an attack and make the right decision. Like Io had his health like he just wasn't 100%. If he was a hundred percent, would you I don't know what would happen. At least you at least go maybe one more game. I but like like you said, it's gonna be interesting to see kind of how how I like I like Jaden at the four sometimes too. Like, even if you don't even if you can't find that like power forward, that kind of like the that lunch pill guy that that we need, I 100% agree with you. They need I just think that's kind of the fit around there. I'm not the big like we need like a another physical, like where is the this physical Mike Conley version type of person out there? And I think like that's been kind of misunderstood is like we need this traditional point guard who's just gonna run the run the offense so ant's off the ball and not getting the ball. I think it kind of defeats the purpose of like ant's so good because she can get the ball and start your whole offense, and the whole defense has to set up to stop him. Like the Spurs literally had to be like, we have one of the best defenses in the league, and we cannot stop this guy. We need to double him every time down the floor and make it so everybody else has to beat us, and it worked out perfectly for them. But like, yeah, so sliding glass doors. You don't have if you have Dante in that series, like that strategy doesn't work, and it would it would look a lot, honestly, it would look a lot like that Thunder Spurs game one. Um, if you just have one or two more guys who can just kind of kind of add so I don't know. I'm I right there's a lot more smart. This is again I hate speculating. I don't know all the guys have forgotten more than I've learned about basketball who are making these decisions, so they're gonna make the right decisions, and if not, then it's just a reset. And I don't think we should go full reset though. So I like the core that we have, the young guys. I'm excited about Yon. Um Tej made a huge jump in this playoffs, obviously. Um I like his work ethic. He's a great kid. Um yeah, I don't know. I I think you just kind of you kind of take what you can and see what you can kind of kind of build from there, but they they kind of made it seem Conla Connelly kind of made it seem like um they they don't want to blow it up, which is which is um I like that because I like this group.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

I also don't think they can like like the way they they they don't have any picks, they don't have any kind of flexibility really, you know. That's where it's like can you flip Julius for someone who's maybe not a starter but gonna be a better fit, and then can you get a another pick down the road or something just to try to find something? Um on the point guard thing, um I agree, like Ant's greatest thing is has he has the ball, right? But I felt like that defense that the Spurs played against him and the Nuggets tried to, but OKC would do the same thing. They don't we don't move the ball quick enough when he does get off of it. And so like I kept thinking, like, why don't they have someone else bring the ball up and get Ant coming on pin downs and getting then they tried to do some like zoom actions where he's kind of coming from the wing, and I think that's where like do you trust someone else to bring the ball up, facilitate, and get get that action where he's still getting the ball first? It's just that he doesn't have to expend the energy bringing the ball up because he's in my mind, he's a shooting guard, like he's a two guard, he is not a guy. I think I forget it, it might have been Dame Moore's podcast. I was listening to his he started technically as point guard all year and his assists went down from last season. Yeah, and I don't think that's what anybody wants. Like, he's just not the guy that's gonna distribute a lot. He'll get off the double team and he makes that decision pretty well, I think, you know, for the most part. Um, but like when teams do that to us, we're we weren't making them pay enough. And I don't know if that's so much him off the ball, you know, or like, yeah, sure, you want to invite double teams, right? Like the NBA has always been like Shaq. We got Shaq, so everyone's gonna have double team, and now everything's easier for everyone else. But I don't know that it really felt easier for us, and maybe that's more because we made it look harder than it was, in my opinion. You had two guys who could couldn't really do anything, um, you know, with the ball in their hands, Rudy and Julius out there a lot, and that's why the offense looks so much better when Nas was out there. But yeah, to your point, like Dante's out there, maybe it's a completely different thing. I just um I felt like a lot of times that's why I brought up that IO play where he cut down through the lane and dunked. Because I'm like, that's that's the play that if you're doing this to the Spurs or the Fender, that's what they do. Yeah, Jalen J Dub would would hammer that thing. Yeah, and we were kind of like, well, we're just gonna shoot threes and hope that things work out. And I and I kept waiting for them to like drive it off the double, drive it and then pitch it out versus just kind of stand and and um so I don't know. It's it's there is no traditional point guard anymore, but no, I feel like there's gotta be somebody else that can kind of get us. I mean, Mike Conley had great minutes in the series. I mean, I know you love uh Mike Conley, so yeah, uh, I don't have to tell you, but but like the balls in the whole play when he's exactly he was awesome, because he's unselfish and he moves the ball, yeah, and he will he will take an open three and and hit it, and that's all we really need, more of guys like that. So I'm hopeful that IO can be that though next year.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

I think a couple things. One thing is really telling this game one against the Thunder. I don't know, they might make an adjustment, but they never they never double teamed sh SGA like. They did ant. So what what is that what does that tell what does that tell us? That they it could be a combination of things. They don't they they are their two through whatever is better or they are more s they were more unable to stop what ant was going to do versus what SGA is going to do, if that makes sense. The Spurs kind of do what uh I think a lot of teams have not done against the Thunder, and it's just like let them shoot these open threes. Like statistically, they're not gonna be able to keep up versus like trying to do too much and they get backdoor cuts and all this stuff, and SGA just goes to the line a bunch of times, just like play the gaps really hard on SGA, make him kick it out every single time, and they're just gonna go from there. And they have the guys to do it because they're they're very athletic and strong. I think with Ant and the the the assist thing, we actually made a video about this earlier in the year. Um a lot of his uh like passing, he this is I think his best playmaking year, which it sounds crazy because hockey assists and stuff, those hockey assists like he makes the right decision every single time down the court because he's seen every single coverage, and if teams are gonna send hard double, he's just gonna find the open guy, and it's like hopefully from there. Our guys who would get the ball were not making the right decision every single time, and so that was I think that was the biggest problem, and I think why why it has become a conversation, it's like we need somebody who can facilitate things. Okay, but what is what is that gonna look like? It's gonna be Ant coming off of a down like a zoom action, still like he's still gonna get the ball, he was still doing they were still doing those things. It's just that I think this is just my subliminal mind thinking. I think he just hates the fact that okay, every time down the court, I'm just gonna get double nagging out to pass the ball, and so he's like, I want somebody who's gonna be able to bring the ball up the floor so I don't have to do that, and I want to be able to score and it frustrates him because he wants to be able to score and make an impact, but even though he's making the right decision, because he's mentioned this before this before, it's like I don't want to have to do that every single time, but if you do that, you we get an open shit, we get we got open shots literally every possession because they would just double and we just throw to them, but they have an alien in the paint that made it difficult for us to score even open shots, and so right I as a basketball mind like I as basketball thinking, it's like okay, their processes there. Do we just we probably just don't have the right mindset and the right uh um maybe skill level person personnel outside of that to to do to do that? So I don't know. If we just had Ant off the ball the entire series, he wouldn't he wouldn't get the ball. He'd be using so much energy to like come off of these screens and they're physical with him grabbing them, and they run that free throw pin action where he's just getting bear hugged because they just don't call that in the playoffs, which is fine. And he has to use so much energy to get off the ball. And at that point, okay, what's happening there? We have a pick and roll coming. Yeah, what are they gonna do off the pick and roll? They're gonna double. What is Ant not gonna do? He's not gonna throw it to Rudy because he just refuses to throw it to Rudy Gobert. And if you just threw it to Rudy Gobert, it you you probably have a little bit more success, but he just doesn't do it. But I don't know, that's a whole different conversation, right?

SPEAKER_02 47:28

And so it's a person it's a personnel thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Yeah, watch a Jared Allen last night or for Cleveland the last couple games, too. I'm just like, this guy can catch the ball, he can make free throws, and he's still a rim protector. Like, I don't he's not as good as Rudy, but he's pretty good. Um, yeah, yeah, like I guess just to kind of put a bow on it, I think what what what I'm thinking about with with that is like Caruso, I think he took 13 threes last night, yeah, or maybe more than that, or two nights ago. Yeah, how come Caruso is so open all the time and we can't get like Nas got a lot of shots and was shooting over 40% from three, I think, in the playoffs this year. Like, so is that just their ability to move the ball quicker? Is it the guys on that first pass making the bet a better read quicker? Because I I I think there was some double teaming of Shea. It might have stopped though because Caruso was just lighting them up. And I'm like, yeah, how is he getting so open and getting all these great looks? And we, you know, Nas would get six of them. They were just leaving. Right. I I think they were just dorking them. Oh well, I I that's what I think. I mean, the Spurs, as much as we're talking about how good they are, they were really close uh to losing game one, and we'd be saying the op we'd be saying this about the funders. So I think this series is so even, but um I think they're both just flexible. I talked about that a lot with our roster this year. Was like, we're really flexible. We could play a lot of different ways. We can go big, we can go small, we have you know, we can play with speed. I think that was the other thing is like we kept talking about how we had to push pace, and you had Ant and Julius, who neither of them want to do that ever. And so, how do you you leverage your speed and your athleticism with Nas and Jaden and TJ when your guys who are getting the outlets or rebounding, not you know, doing that? And I think what I saw later in the year was when Rudy would get rebounds, he would pitch it to IO like as he was rebounding, like he wouldn't even come to the ground and he was outletting to IO, and then you're getting some pace, and so there's like that's the other point of the quote unquote point guard that you can leverage, but when two of your five guys on the court don't want to do it, it makes it really hard. So, yeah, and it almost feels like they don't know who they are at times offensively, you know.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Well, that was the that was that's again goes back to that conundrum of the the the I just don't think what Randall they brought in Randall because okay, what was Kat not doing that Randall would do better? And if you watched Randall the first, like what he does really well is he's his ability to like kind of facilitate in the middle in the paint and kick out and do kick outs and things like that. But what the Spurs were doing was like we're just gonna be super physical with you, we're not doubling, we're not gonna overhelp, we're gonna take all the passes away, and we're gonna let you try to go one-on-one in the paint all game long, um, in every single game. Even against a smaller guy like Castle and still couldn't do it, and still couldn't do it, and that's a credit to Castle, and it's a credit to uh like how hard he worked there, and maybe Randall the combination of him just not having a good mental approach, I think, in this this series and getting frustrated and kind of just shutting down. Um, but like that is too that's a completely different offense than what we want to run with Ant, where it's like the high pick and roll heart, like kind of like that Phoenix uh I like what we call it Phoenix in uh for our kids, um, where it's just a high ball screen, uh Dan Tony action where it's just like going downhill, kick out if it's open, we're going from there, attacking from there. That's just that's the basis of the ant offense. Well, Randall doesn't fit into that. He's uh the low get it to the elbow, we're operating from there, uh read and react type of thing, which is just completely different. And like Finch Finch said this in his uh XA interview. He was hoping that those two would be able to run like kind of like a Murray and Jokic kind of two-man game, but they just don't they just don't operate well together there. Like there was they got they went away from their one action that worked really well against Denver where they run this like ghost screen pick and pop action, even though Randall wasn't hitting a bunch of shots. He would get it and they would go downhill. I don't know why why they went away with that. I don't know. Like I think Randall saw that Castle was on him, he wanted the ball. He's like, I have a smaller guy on me, I'm gonna post him up. And he just was getting frustrated, and then everybody got frustrated. I don't know. It's I'm speculating a lot, but this is my perspective of like yeah, like I it it's a it's a it's just doesn't those two if they're gonna play like that, it's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

If they're yeah, but well, and okay, so next year, let's just throw this out there. Uh hypothetical, and that's ant and Nas instead. And you pick and pop with him, and you have Rudy at the in the dunker spot. That is a completely different dynamic right there than what they currently have.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

That works that works every time. That's that's that'd be terrifying. Um it you saw like the the the lineups that were Randall, sorry, um when Reed and Gobert were on the floor together were the best lineups that we had. I wonder if I can look it up. I don't have I I won't be able to do it in time. But if you look up their like lineup configuration, and that's one of our better lineups on the season. You go, okay, well, how can he make that work? Well, he has the shooting, which just opens everything up. He has the ability to catch and drive, which is part of that ant like style offense where it's like if they're gonna over help, I'm kicking it to you. You can either catch and shoot, catch and drive, and catch and drive and kick out. Those are your options. Um, where or swing it right away. Reed would do that versus Randall catches, and now it's like, all right, now it's my time to go one-on-one and try to try to operate there. So it's just it doesn't, it doesn't, it's two different styles of isolation players that just don't run the kind of the same thing, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, agreed, agreed. So um anything else? Uh like high-level thoughts on the Wolves season, both either like playoff run or looking at next year, because I I I'm not overly like negative, it may sound like that from the podcast, but I I do I don't think we're like terribly far away, like six games against the Spurs. Yeah, I know Wemby got tossed for one of those, but that that's a thing that happened, and we didn't have Dante. And um I I think you know, Tim Connolly, a lot of people are like, oh, he's amazing. I'm not as like super high on Tim Connolly, like this draft picks have not been great. This Randall thing has it was okay, you know, whatever. I just feel like our roster construction is pretty weird right now. Um, but you know, like give us some optimism uh as you see it uh for for next year's Wolf Squad.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

Uh well, I like I said earlier, I love the young core that we have. I love the the Nas and Jaden. I think Nas uh took a leap this postseason, um kind of being more of a leader. Um I think Jaden took the biggest leap throughout the whole season um from what from one year to the next. He's only gonna take a bigger leap next year if he's just going at that same rate where he just takes a big two year two or three years ago. We're like, if only he could shoot, and now he's like he had a rough postseason shooting, and that's just again his mental part of the game. Um that's gonna be the focus this summer, probably. Our young guys are like TJ, like we have Yon who hasn't even we haven't even like really seen his capabilities, but um, I I'm excited this core this young core is something to to build around and they kind of this like the two timeline thing, I hate to say that because it's like you look at the Warriors and they're trying to do they were trying to do that and it just didn't work out, is a little bit different because their two timelines, their best players were the older guys. Older lines we're finding we're trying to find these like bridge players that are going to help ant. You want this as a Wolves fan, you want to have a max like you want to be in the discussion every single year. And we've been in the discussion and we've extended our our timeline. Um and that's one thing I would say Connolly's done a great job of is extending that timeline. Whereas if we keep cat you might have to blow it all up after that, if after if you don't make it to that to another Western Conference finals, um, and that looks a lot different because you're gonna have to trade a lot more pieces. So I don't know. I my I'm very optimistic just because I I believe Anthony Edwards is top five player easily. And um I think I think if you just make a couple tweaks, you could still you could see yourself competing against we're not that far off. We're not like you said, not that far off from the Spurs and the Thunder. It might look like it, but um the things that they the things that they're far off are on are the things that they could easily fix, and it's their attitude and their effort and their focus. Those are three things that they can control.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Yeah, and and you know, Ant wasn't healthy, like that's a real thing. Like he didn't attack the rim like he used to, and you know, there was plays that Castle made where I'm like, man, I remember when Ant used to do that, and that's just reality of how this season ended.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

But yeah, if you have Dante, we're going at least seven games.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Yeah, probably. I mean, Io was hurt too. Like, we were just really in a bad spot going into that series, and so the fact that I went six, I was pretty pleased with. And you know, what do they say? Uh more bites at the apple. That's what the brass always says. Like, yeah, I mean, Wemby hits the deck a lot, and I don't want him to get hurt ever, but like he's seven four, and guys that size, Yao Ming had foot problems, like all the that kind of is a thing. So if next year he gets hurt, you you got an opportunity, and and you can't waste it because you're like, Well, we can't beat OKC and we can't beat San Antonio. You can. Just things need to fall like that. That just happens in the NBA playoffs. So um, we gotta stay close. As long as we have Ant, I think we're gonna be in that mix. That's what I would say. Certainly feel better than the Nuggets fans right now, don't we?

SPEAKER_01 57:51

I mean, like yeah, or Pistons fans, like you were one seed and you almost lost to the eighth seed, and then you just gotta be, yeah. It could be a lot of worse situations, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:00

So yeah, I I think we're all right. So um, well, I'm glad we could have this little vet session. Uh we can have a little decompress from the season. I appreciate you coming on again. Uh Derek, uh, you mentioned you have some some things you were gonna put out here in the next couple weeks. Uh tell everybody about that.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Yeah, so I I'm working on a little just a little piece where I do a like top five things that kind of I will remember from the season. I started doing this just kind of like a personal thing because I want to like look back when I'm older and be like, or if my my children are like, hey, tell us about the Timberwolves back in the day. And it's like that Vince Van Man, mean man, they're special. And it's like I want to look back and be like, oh, I wrote something about this, or I made a video about this, and you can watch it and be like, oh, this is what happened. Anyways, I'm working on that right now. Um, I'm gonna start dabbling into some links stuff too, because that's my okay. I I love basketball, and so I and I love watching the links because I just think they have such a good thing going there. And Cheryl Reeves, yeah, a boss. I love I love her approach to things, and so um yeah, I'll do a lot of that. Other than that, it's just kind of kind of taking care of. I'm taking a little break from from filming pods and stuff uh for a while here until things things settle down a little bit here, but I'll make occurrences sooner.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

That's a lot, that's a lot. Yeah, I appreciate you, man. Like is this the first pod you've been on since uh number one? Yeah, number one. Oh my god, what an honor. What an honor, dude. Yeah, thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Thanks for having me. It's I've been kind of stir crazy talking, talking. I was talking about pick and roll coverages to the kids, and they're like looking at me like some dad sing lullabies.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

Yeah. Uh Derek is breaking down the pick and roll coverage. Uh the Spurs did against uh the funder the other night. That's awesome, man. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you again. Uh, best of luck with those kiddos, and we'll stay in touch this summer, man. Thanks a lot.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me. Go wolves. Wolves back.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

All right, that's the pod for today. I appreciate you hanging out. I appreciate Derek Long, also known as Crunch, C-R-O-O-N-C-H on Instagram. Check out his stuff. Um, he does some writing for hitting the hardwood, and he has the podcast sideline vibes as well. Appreciate him and his insights. Fun conversation about those state of the wolves, kind of recap on the season. Um, in the coming weeks, we'll do a little bit of um, you know, some different topics. Uh, we'll do some pickup basketball topic. We'll probably get in the NBA draft as well, coming up in uh mid-June. I think it's like around the 22nd that weekend. And uh we'll also talk about like high school teams, like what kids are working on in the summer, what coaches think about um how they prioritize their summer program versus what they do in this in the uh winter season, um, and possibly get into some more AAU topics as well as that season, of course, is in full swing. Um, if you enjoyed today's conversation, if you've been enjoying the podcast, please give us a follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky. Subscribe on YouTube. All the episodes are on YouTube, as well as some clips here and there. And then, of course, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, follow, subscribe, leave a review, leave a comment. I appreciate everyone for taking the time and listening. Once again, I'm Steve Hartman, and this has been the Splash City Basketball Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

Begging in, begging in, bag again. Whoa, whoa, bag, yeah.