Sixers Guard Duo + Wolves without Anthony Edwards

Summary

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The Athletic NBA Daily

Episode: Sixers Guard Duo + Wolves without Anthony Edwards

Date: October 28, 2025

Hosts: Dave DuFour, Esfandiar "Es" Baraheni, guest John Krasinski

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into two major early trends in the NBA season:

• The dominant guard rotation fueling the Philadelphia 76ers’ surprising undefeated start
• The Minnesota Timberwolves’ prospects and adjustments following the injury to star Anthony Edwards

The hosts analyze standout rookie performances, evolving team identities, and tactical pivots for squads facing adversity. Plus, an on-site report from John Krasinski details Minnesota’s outlook in the West sans Edwards.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How the Sixers’ Guards Are Shaping the Early Season

(Starts ~02:13)

• Philadelphia’s Shocking Undefeated Start: Despite missing Paul George and Joel Embiid, the Sixers move to 3-0 after beating the Magic.

  “Somehow the Philadelphia 76ers are now 3-0, even though Orlando came to town ... It's just not a team you think should give the Magic a hard time. And yet, man, they struggled to score.”
  — Dave DeFore, [02:13]

• Emergence of the Sixers' Young Guard Core:

  • Tyrese Maxey (43 pts, 8 ast) set the tone with poise and evolving control.
  • VJ Edgecombe stands out as a star in the making, already near the top of historic rookie scoring lists.
  • Quentin Grimes and soon Jared McCain round out the rotation, giving Philly myriad options.

  “I love how they are providing space for all of them to explore different areas of their game, but also just maximizing them like crazy offensively.”
  — Es Baraheni, [02:54]

• Stat Watch: Edgecombe tallies 75 points in his first three games — only surpassed by Jerry Stackhouse since 1980.

  "Jerry Stackhouse has 76, Vijay Edgecombe has 75, Dominique Wilkins has 75, Michael Jordan has 74..."
  — Es Baraheni, [04:16]
  "He can score. I mean, 25-5-5 so far as a rookie in his first three games. This is not—that's not normal."
  — Dave DeFore, [04:48]

• Rookie Usage Philosophy:
  The Sixers are simplifying Edgecombe’s role, letting him “attack a closeout, work off ball, make stationary shots ... use his athleticism," instead of forcing heavy on-ball responsibilities (as the Mavericks are with Cooper Flagg).

  "They're not throwing him out there, you know, kind of the fire to the wind ... Like they're doing in Dallas with Cooper Flagg."
  — Es Baraheni, [05:26]

Notable Quote

"Tyrese Maxey goes off for 43 points and eight assists against this Magic defense ... the poise that he plays with now, the control that he uses, it’s like he can go from first gear to third gear really quickly and figure out how he can slow down as well."
— Es Baraheni, [03:38]

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2. Rookie Watch: Flagg, Edgecombe, Dylan Harper & More

(06:15–14:28)

• Cooper Flagg’s Rough Night:

  • The Mavericks rookie struggled (1-9 FG), best understood as a matter of workload and defensive attention.

  • Thunder defenders, especially Lu Dort, gave him a classic “Welcome to the NBA” experience.

    “When Lou Dort is in your grill, it's just ... Welcome to the NBA, buddy.”
    — Dave DeFore, [07:14]

• Development Approaches:

  • Big difference in letting rookies like Edgecombe thrive in easier roles vs. “throwing Flagg to the fire” as primary ballhandler.

  • The panel questions if the Mavs could be helping Flagg long-term by allowing a more contextualized role.

    "Developmentally, do you prefer throwing Cooper to the fire and forcing him to be the ball handler immediately, or do you want him to thrive in a context? This is sort of the VJ Edgecombe question..."
    — Es Baraheni, [07:45]

• Thunder Depth:

  • Chet Holmgren (18 pts, 4 blk) shined; AJ Mitchell is dubbed a Sixth Man of the Year favorite.

• Other Rookies to Watch:

  • Dylan Harper (Spurs): Off the bench, looks destined for a star slot and may force San Antonio's hand in endgame lineups.
  • Colin Murray-Boyles (Raptors): Had a "career night" in just his second game.

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3. Team Identity: Bulls, Spurs, Raptors

(09:00–15:26)

• Bulls:

  • Despite being a “bad team,” they win by maximizing their chaos and offensive pace (8 players in double figures vs. ATL).

  “Bad teams find ways to win when they have an identity.”
  — Es Baraheni, [09:37]

• Spurs:

  • Now 4-0; notable because despite their historic pedigree, they've never started 5-0.

  • Victor Wembanyama: 24 pts, 15 reb, 4 ast, but fewer blocks as teams increasingly avoid challenging him at the rim.

  • Spurs’ size and positional versatility (Harper, Castle, Champagne, Johnson) are keys to their defensive success.

    "Teams don't want to shoot around him anymore ... Wemby may watch his block totals drop."
    — Dave DeFore, [11:42]

  • Wembanyama Showmanship: Each game reveals new facets (ball handling, off-ball movement, even a 360 layup and an alley-oop off a 360 cut).

    "Every game he shows something new ... Bringing the ball up, ball pressure. His ball handling has improved tremendously ... also he had a 360 layup driving in traffic."
    — Dave DeFore, [14:38]

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4. Minnesota Timberwolves: Life Without Anthony Edwards

(18:39–30:07)

Injury Update & Short-Term Outlook

• Anthony Edwards' hamstring injury expected to sideline him for about two weeks; described as "minor" but the team will be conservative to avoid aggravation.

  "He will be reevaluated in a week and then ... expects about two weeks for him to come back. One thing they do not want to happen is for him to come back too early ... he's just too important.”
  — John Krasinski, [25:40]

On-Court Adjustments

• First game without Edwards: Wolves lose to the Nuggets (first time since 2023 regular season); stayed competitive for three quarters before Denver pulled away.

• Offensive positives:

  • Ball movement and Jaden McDaniels off the dribble.
  • Julius Randle operating as a hub (akin to his New York role).
  • Nas Reid providing scoring punch after a slow start.

  “When you look at the versatility that they showed with the ball movement ... that was a nice little wrinkle.”
  — John Krasinski, [20:08]

• Defensive Worries:

  • Wolves have yet to recapture the defensive bite that defined last season—Edwards' absence at the point-of-attack versus Jamal Murray was sorely felt.

  "This Wolves team has not really shown any defensive identity yet this season. ... they're really missing some teeth there that they gotta somehow find, you know, over these next couple of weeks."
  — John Krasinski, [20:52]

• Defending Without Rudy Gobert:

  • Defensive rating plummets when Gobert sits; suggests experimenting with 18-year-old rookie Jon Berenjay as a rim protector, rather than relying on Randle/Reid frontcourt for defense.

  “That might just have to be an adjustment that has to be made here ... I don't know that all of a sudden Julius Randle and Naz Reid are just gonna find some sort of defensive reservoir that was as yet undiscovered.”
  — John Krasinski, [24:26]

Nuggets Spotlight

• Jamal Murray explodes for 43 points, particularly effective in the third quarter, highlighting his critical importance to Denver’s ceiling.

  "Jamal Murray ... absolutely carved the Wolves up today. Jaden McDaniels, one of the really good defenders in this league, couldn't do anything with him."
  — John Krasinski, [22:17]

Short-Term Development

• Upcoming schedule presents a “good time” for the Wolves to experiment with giving minutes to rookies (Rob Dillingham, Terence Shannon, Jalen Clark).

  "This is like a perfect time for an injury like this to happen ... maybe try some of those younger players, right?"
  — Es Baraheni, [26:32]

• Past stretches when the Wolves relied on youth due to injuries ultimately helped their rotation flexibility.

• Lineup Tweaks: Mike Conley started in Ant’s place for stability and Gobert chemistry; expect rotation flexibility.

  "Chris Finch loves Mike Conley, believes in Mike Conley, trusts him ... They have had a hard time ... trying to get Rudy Gobert involved in the offense, and Mike Conley is somebody who can do ... I do think Finch could be flexible in that spot over these next two weeks."
  — John Krasinski, [28:25]

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Notable Quotes

On VJ Edgecombe:

“Vijay Edgecombe is very clearly going to be a star level player, all star, potentially superstar, eventually.”
— Es Baraheni, [04:04]

On Rookie Roles:

“They’re not making him create too much ... giving him certain moments and doses ... They’re not throwing him out there, you know, kind of the fire to the wind, you know what I mean? Like they’re doing in Dallas with Cooper Flagg.”
— Es Baraheni, [05:26]

On The Bulls’ Identity:

“Bad teams find ways to win when they have an identity. And I think that’s a big difference between the Bulls and the Raptors ... The Bulls, meanwhile, are like, cool, we’re going to run. We don’t care about defense. We’re playing hard.”
— Es Baraheni, [09:37]

On Wembanyama’s Defensive Impact:

“Teams don’t want to shoot around him anymore ... Wemby may watch his block totals drop ... We have to find a defensive metric for being terrified of taking shots at the basket.”
— Dave DeFore & Es Baraheni, [11:42–11:55]

On Wolves’ Defensive Options:

“When Rudy is on the floor ... they are a top two, three defense ... but then when he comes off ... that just has not worked at all defensively. ... I really do wonder when Chris Finch will look at playing the 18 year old rookie Jon Berenjay.”
— John Krasinski, [23:49]

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Key Timestamps

• 02:13 – Sixers’ surprising win over Magic, new guard rotation analysis
• 03:38 – Maxey and Edgecombe’s performance, historic rookie stat
• 05:26 – The contrast of rookie roles: Edgecombe vs. Flagg
• 07:14 – Cooper Flagg’s rough night vs Thunder
• 09:37 – Bulls’ identity and offensive explosion vs Hawks
• 11:42 – Spurs undefeated, Wembanyama’s deterrence effect
• 14:38 – Wemby’s evolving skillset (ball-handling, 360 move)
• 18:39 – Timberwolves’ adjustments after Edwards injury; Nuggets-Wolves game recap
• 20:08 – Wolves offense without Edwards, defense struggles
• 22:17 – Jamal Murray’s importance to Nuggets’ ceiling
• 24:26 – Wolves’ rim-protection dilemma sans Gobert
• 25:40 – Edwards injury update and timetable
• 26:32 – Wolves' chance to develop rookies during Edwards’ absence
• 28:25 – Mike Conley’s role, lineup flexibility

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Summary

This episode expertly weaves together analysis of precocious NBA rookies, evolving team identities, and the tactical chess moves coaches must make on the fly amid the season’s earliest shifts.

• Philly’s new guard core and rookies are electrifying and effective—even with stars sidelined.
• The Spurs are big, versatile, and led by a Wembanyama who is literally warping shot selection.
• The Bulls prove chaos can be an identity, while the Wolves face their first real test of depth and adaptability without their star.
• Denver lives and dies by Jamal Murray’s rhythm, as highlighted in their win against Minnesota.

Whether you want storylines for water cooler talk or need the strategic trends behind the standings, this episode is a must-listen for keeping pace with the quickly-shifting NBA landscape.

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Transcript

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[Dave DeFore]

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by eBay. I'm Dave DeFore here with Esperaheni. Coming up, we are a week into the NBA season and we only have four undefeated teams. We're going to talk about them a little bit. Also scoring is up. Lowry Marketing.

[John Krasinski]

Wow.

[Dave DeFore]

And we've got John Krasinski to talk about the Timberwolves losing. Anthony Edwards for a couple weeks asked that the Blue Jays win.

[Esperaheni]

I hope so.

[Dave DeFore]

Good morning, everybody. Good morning. As we're recording while that baseball game.

[Esperaheni]

Is still going on, that's how late it is. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Yes. Yeah. Hey. Another fun night. Our first big Monday night in the NBA with a bunch of games and you know, unlikely scenario where Somehow the Philadelphia 76ers are now 3 and oh, even though the Orlando Magic came to town, you know, we, we talked a little bit on yesterday's show as about the Magic, about how they're struggling a little bit trying to figure out how to incorporate Desmond Bain. I mean they lose this game to the Sixers. Sixers still don't have Paul George, don't have Joel Embiid out there. It's just not a team that you think should. Should give the Magic a hard time. And yet, man, they really struggled to score with those guys.

[Esperaheni]

Yeah, they couldn't keep up with the guard rotation of the Sixers. And I think that's becoming a very prevalent storyline for the Sixers team throughout the year. It's just how do you contain the guards in Tyrese Maxey, in VJ Edgecomb, in Quentin Grimes, and then once he gets healthy, Jared McCain because he's kind of a fourth guy in this equation that we haven't seen yet. And look, these guys dominated this game. They were absolutely dynamite. I love how they are providing space for all of them to explore different areas of their game, but also just maximizing them like crazy offensively. So Tyrese Maxey goes off for 43 points and eight assists against this Magic defense. We should. The Magic defense, by the way, is becoming a little bit of a question on top of what their offense has been. But Maxi was great. I don't know if you noticed this, but, like, the poise that he plays with now, the control that he uses, like, it's like he can go from first gear to third gear really quickly and figure out how he can slow down as well. That's one of the coolest parts about figuring out how quick and how slow he can go. So that that part is great. And then on top of that, man, Vijay Edgecombe is very clearly going to be a star level player, all star, potentially superstar, eventually. I got this crazy stat for you. They showed it on the broadcast. But since 1980, most points in the first three years or three games of a career. Jerry Stackhouse has 76, Vijay Edgecombe has 75, Dominique Wilkins has 75, Michael Jordan has 74, and Isaiah Thomas has 74.

[Dave DeFore]

So clearly Austin Reeves has 92 in the last two days. That's crazy. Scoring is VJ Edgecombe. Tony Jones said it on the show. He said he's a superstar. He said he just has everything. And in his first three games, he certainly seems like one he can score. I mean, he.25.5 and 5 so far as a rookie in his first three games. This is not. That's not normal.

[Esperaheni]

Yeah, the Rookie of the Year conversation is interesting now because he's performing the.

[Dave DeFore]

Way he is unanimously. We all thought, hey, Cooper, flag. He's going to be the guy, he's got the most attention. He's going to have the most opportunity, blah, blah, blah. And, and so far we'll get to Cooper in a second. But man, so far, I mean, there's a lot of people, but I think Vijay Edgecombe, probably the front runner through three games if we want to already do that.

[Esperaheni]

Absolutely. And look on the Edgecomb front, I think the Sixers have done a great job of making his life easy. So it's like you're attacking a closeout, you're working off ball and you're going to make this stationary shot for us and you're going to use your athleticism, but you're going to use it in transition or you're going to use it to burst through a seam. Defensively, they're not making him create too much. They're not making him be an on ball creator. They'll give him certain moments and doses throughout the game to knock down a pull up three or operate in a pick and roll, but they're not throwing him out there, you know, kind of the fire to the wind, you know what I mean? Like. Like they're like they're doing in Dallas with Cooper Flag. It's a different story in terms of contextualizing how they're like the success of both of these rookies, which is really interesting, I think. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And by the way, Edgecomb guards too. He had a really nice block in the game last night. Let's go ahead and talk about Cooper Flag, the Thunder, they. They beat the Magic or the Maverick. Excuse me. In a game that I thought the Thunder were going to run away with. Mavs made a nice comeback late. And it's notable as they made the comeback with Cooper Flag on the bench. And look, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna come out here and say he got benched. That's not what happened. I think they just went on a run and Jason Kidd likes to stick with the hot hand, but this was a really bad game for Cooper Flag. One for nine from the field, over three from three, two points. That's just. That's rough. Yeah.

[Esperaheni]

Especially after the game he had against the Raptors where he looks simply dominant.

[Dave DeFore]

I think he night and day defense, though, man, the Thunder coming in your town and blowing. The response is so different because the Raptors just look confused defensively compared 100%.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

When Lou Dort is in your grill, it's just. Welcome to the NBA, buddy.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

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Yeah.

[Esperaheni]

It's a little bit different than Jamal Shed being in your grill. Yeah, I agree. So like, I, I agree with you in that front and look, it was a rude awakening for Cooper, especially at the point of attack, dealing with those ball handler. Just like dealing as a ball handler in general again, I thought the Mavs made their comeback when d' Angelo Russell was on the floor, when Jaden Hardy was on the floor. Ball handling seems to be important. And I'm not saying those guys were like monumental. They changed the game. They didn't.

[Unidentified Guest]

D'.

[Esperaheni]

Angelo. Russ Russell didn't even have a very effective game scoring the ball. He was 3 of 14. But you still need a ball handler to set guys up. And I think, I don't know, maybe we could talk about this a little bit. But developmentally, do you prefer throwing Cooper to the fire and forcing him to be the ball handler immediately, or do you want him to thrive in a context? This is sort of the VJ Edgecomb question we were talking about earlier, too.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean, I think it'd be better if he was playing something more like what he's going to do for the rest of his career. And ball handling is important and he's a decent ball handler, but he, he can't handle the sort of ball pressure that NBA guards are going to come put on him. Yeah, not for 30 minutes. No, no, no. It's too taxing. And he, I mean, frankly, like, he's a big wing. Find a point guard, figure out how to get involved. We should talk about the Thunder a little bit. Chad had a monster game, by the way. Four blocks, 18 points. They are just really good. AJ Mitchell, 6 Man of the year. I'm just gonna call it right now. It came off the bench. 17 again. I mean, this just. They're just good. They keep finding guys.

[Esperaheni]

They are. I mean, if we're gonna go look at the undefeated teams, which are the Sixers.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, they are the best undefeated team.

[Esperaheni]

They are the best undefeated team because.

[Dave DeFore]

One of those undefeated teams s the Bulls. And they are not good. Okay, The Chicago Bulls are not good. But you got to give them credit because they found a way to win another game. They beat the Hawks 128, 123. And look, Josh Giddey, when you watch him play basketball, it is an experience, right? It's a roller coaster. And because he will do something that looks like someone who's never touched a basketball in their lives before on one possession. And then he'll come back and he'll get like the game saving offensive rebound.

[Esperaheni]

Yeah, it was.

[Dave DeFore]

It was.

[Esperaheni]

Look, the Bulls are a fun experience. Anytime you watch the Bulls, by the way, probably top five league pass team this season just because of how fast they play, how entertaining they are, how much they do not care at all about defense, and how they are just relentless in terms of we're going to run, we're going to shoot a bunch of shots, we're going to juice our offensive numbers as much as possible. Josh Giddey is the head of the snake in that department. And by the way, there is no better team to juice your offense against right now than the Atlanta Hawks. Because the Bulls had eight guys score in double figures. They basically could get anything they wanted to offensively, which is part of the Bull scheme. I actually to your point about them being a bad team. Bad teams find ways to win when they have an identity. And I think that's a big difference between the Bulls and the Raptors, who lost to the San Antonio spurs tonight and they do not have an identity right now. The Bulls, meanwhile, are like, cool, we're going to run. We don't care about defense. We're playing hard.

[Dave DeFore]

They're the play in. They're the play in. Play hard team. Right. Like, that is who they are. That's who they're going to be. Billy Donovan seems to be that coach. And I mean, their games are fun.

[Unidentified Guest]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Let's.

[Dave DeFore]

Let's talk about the Raptors a little bit. Actually. We're going to talk about the Spurs. The spurs beat the Raptors. They're now four and. Oh, this is the fourth four and O start in spurs history. And S, we found out they've never been five, zero, which just seems.

[Esperaheni]

It seems absurd. Crazy for the level of talent that has been on the spurs for the last 25 years.

[Unidentified Guest]

Yes.

[Esperaheni]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dave DeFore]

WEMBY, 24, 15 rebounds, four assists, didn't get a block till late. And. Yeah, I. This isn't. This is going to be a trend. We're going to be first on this. We're not really first on it. Wemby. Wemby may watch his block totals drop. He was averaging six blocks a game. Right. Coming into this one.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Teams don't want to shoot around him anymore. S and like the message.

[Esperaheni]

They're terrified of it.

[Dave DeFore]

Don't come inside.

[Esperaheni]

We have to find a defensive metric for being terrified of taking shots at the basket.

[Unidentified Guest]

Right.

[Esperaheni]

Like there is. There's the defensive field goal percentage of shots at the basket and how well some guy protects the rim. Rudy Gobert is great at that. Honestly.

[Dave DeFore]

We need a new macro something. We're going to figure this out. Yeah, look, Rudy was great for years at this. And Rudy, you know his block numbers were suppressed because of it. You know, he didn't have opportunities. I do believe that's going to happen to Wemby. You know, we've kind of. We've been talking about the rookies a lot so far this week. We would be remiss if we didn't talk about Dylan Harper, who once again has a nice game for them off the bench.

[Esperaheni]

I don't.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't even know what to say about this guy beyond just that he looks like a guy who's going to be a perennial all Star once he gets himself into the rotation. I mean, is there any chance, like, can they work it out so that when Fox comes back? I mean, I think that the idea is Harper's going to come off the bench all year. Yeah, but I just don't know how you keep this guy from closing games with Fox and Castle. I mean, that's. That's a lot of ball handling. It's a lot of rim pressure.

[Esperaheni]

The pretty crazy thing about Harper is that he's also a good defender right now because he's big. Like he's like 67 or 68 or something like that, but he's. He's wider, and that's what helps him get to the basket so much. He's a walking paint touch offensively, but like good rebounder, good defender, guy who can kind of like positionally size himself anywhere. And I think that's part of what's intriguing for San Antonio, where, like, Stefan Castle, big guard, Dylan Harper, big guard, even Julian Champagne, like, bigger wing, you know what I mean? Keldon Johnson, bigger player. So they have. They don't even have Victor when big center. Yeah, Victor, women, Yama, big center. They're a big team, so they succeed defensively even outside of Wemby. I think. And to Harper's point, it's like he is now another player who is going to enter the Rookie of the Year conversation. I remember when we were talking, we said, hey, it might be hard for him to enter the conversation just because of minutes, just because of opportunity. He's forcing their hand. I also, I'd be remiss to not mention that there was another rookie in this game that did well. Raptors rookie Colin Murray. Boyles, who had a career night in his second game. Just want to mention it. Just want to briefly bring it up because he's also another guy that might force his hand and force playing time for the Raptors.

[Dave DeFore]

Do you want to mention the multiple times that he was pressuring Wemby and Wemby was just whipping the ball around his back.

[Esperaheni]

Hey, do you want to mention them? Okay, I'll throw catch.

[Dave DeFore]

This is like a real thing. I want to talk about wimy real quick for another second because every game he shows something new.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Bringing the ball up, ball pressure. His ball handling has improved tremendously between last season and this season. You know, obviously he ended his season early, but also he had a 360 layup driving in traffic.

[Esperaheni]

He had a 360. He was.

[Dave DeFore]

I thought he was going to dunk. It s. That's where we've gotten with Victor Womenyama.

[John Krasinski]

He.

[Esperaheni]

He had a 360 cut late in the game where he basically just. He spun off a defender and caught it in mid air and. And grabbed it for an alley oop. It's just every single game new things happen for Victor. We have the balance of basketball. Doesn't make sense.

[Dave DeFore]

I wonder if he's been watching Steph Curry in his off ball movement stuff because that's who he's starting to look like. The give and go stuff. I mean a guy.

[Unidentified Guest]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know. Anyway, guys, stick around. After the break, we got John Krasinski to talk about the wolves and what they're going to do without Anthony Edwards.

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[Dave DeFore]

Man Minnesota Sports having some poor injury luck this week. We got the news yesterday ahead of game time that Anthony Edwards was going to miss a couple weeks dealing with the hamstring issue that saw him exit the game the other night early. John Krasinski covers the Wolves for us. He was there to watch him. The shorthanded Wolves, they, they lost a game to the Nuggets for the first time since the 2023 regular season.

[Esperaheni]

Crazy.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. John, how's it going?

[John Krasinski]

It was good, guys. I mean, you know, given that they were missing ant, they're missing Jalen Clark. I still thought it was an entertaining game for three quarters, really. I mean, the, the Nuggets pulled away in the fourth and I think outlasted the Timberwolves. But I mean, it was back and forth. Not a whole lot of defense played on either side, but saw some really good performances from Jaden McDaniels and, you know, Jamal Murray and Jokic and Randall and Nazrid. So, you know, when you're, when you're looking for games early in the season, national televised and all that, like, I thought that this was pretty good, even if it ended kind of more with a whimper.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, especially if, look, the, the Timberwolves are a good team. Like, we know who they are and there's almost a certain amount of finding out who else can. Can step up that. That you need to do for. To get to the next level. And, you know, it's an opportunity is kind of what I'm getting at here. So what do you think about their first chance to. To show what they can be if Ant has to miss some time?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, I think that they showed some things offensively, guys. I mean, when you look at the versatility that they showed with the ball movement with Jaden McDaniels off the dribble that we haven't really seen a whole lot of, that was a nice little wrinkle. Julius Randle has done a really good job of kind of being a hub. He's done this before in New York and maybe kind of shifting back into more of a, you know, kind of go to center of the offense type of a guy. And then you have Nas Reed, that he started off the season a little slow, but really kind of gives some pop to this offense as well. So offensively, I think they feel pretty confident that they can find ways for, you know, two weeks to put up enough points to be competitive. It's just defensively that they've really struggled even before Ant went out, but certainly missed him a lot today. He always gets up to play Jamal Murray, and he always usually draws that assignment for quite a bit of a game. And Murray just had his way with everyone. And so this Wolves team has not really shown any defensive identity yet this season. And now that you lose Anthony Edwards, one of your kind of on ball, kind of physical guys, they're really missing some teeth there that they got to somehow find, you know, to over these next couple of weeks.

[Esperaheni]

Yeah, you mentioned Jamal Murray, so let's talk about him. I mean, 43 points for him, it's like the best he's ever looked to start a season for the Nuggets. Watching him live, what was your impression of a very important player for the Nuggets this year?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, I'll say. You know, one of the reasons the Timberwolves have dominated this rivalry matchup in the last couple of years is that they always make Jamal Murray either look really bad or just ordinary. You know, they.

[Robinhood Announcer]

We.

[John Krasinski]

We all remember the playoffs. Game two in the. In the Western Conference semifinals, and Nikhil Alexander Walker and Jaden McDaniels just like, swarming him and frustrating him and tearing him apart. And, And. And Murray's struggles in this matchup were a big reason why just the Wolves had such a foothold on. On them. And Tonight he just really got going. He played pretty well in the first half, but third quarter just exploded. Was getting to his spots, knocking down shots, hitting that tip, you know, that prototypical Jamal Murray turnaround, fade away jumper. You know, the kind of unguardable stuff that you know, you just, that you think about when you know he was helping them win a championship. Like that's the Jamal Murray that can make this Denver Nuggets team special. And that's also the Jamal Murray you know, when you, when you, when the Nuggets get the ordinary version of him, they're just not the same team. They're just not even close to as dangerous. And, and, and Murray just absolutely carved the Wolves up today. Jaden McDaniels, one of the really good defenders in this league, couldn't do anything with him and nobody had an answer for him. Shot making and drives and just everything about him looked like vintage championship level.

[Esperaheni]

Jamal Murray, their margin of error is so much wider when he is this type of player. I mean the way that he can just get them going offensively and survive the minutes without Nikola Jokic, right? So Jokic goes off the floor, it's jv, it's Murray. Those guys running their two man game and I think that was really successful tonight. I want to touch on this Wolves defense because I think we've seen how they try to win defensively with Rudy on the floor, but they are struggling to find a defensive identity when Rudy is off of the floor. How do they manage that moving forward? Especially with Gobert like obviously being at the age and point of his career that he's at.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, that's. It's the biggest issue that they're facing right now early in the season, guys, is that when Rudy is on the floor. Typically I don't, you know, tonight he wasn't very good, but typically he. They are a top two three defense in the league and last year when he was on the floor they were number one. The number one defensive rating as good as Oklahoma City's. But then when he comes off of the floor and they go to a Julius Randall, Nas Reed front court that just has not worked at all defensively. And so I really do wonder when Chris Finch will look at playing the 18 year old rookie Jon Baron. Jay, he is very, very raw. But one thing that they believe that he can do is block shots, be a rim deterrent and just get in there and rebound the ball a little bit. You know, that might just have to be an adjustment that has to be made here because I don't know that all of a sudden Julius Randall and Nazrid are just gonna find some sort of defensive reservoir that was as yet undiscovered. I think, you know, there's two ways to do it. Either you lean into them as just an offensive force and just try and outscore teams or you maybe look at bringing in a Berenjay and just seeing if he can be at least a little bit of a deterrent at the rim because they're just not getting any kind of rim protection with without Rudy Gobert out there on the floor.

[Dave DeFore]

The nice things is both of those guys have shown that they can actually handle the ball with a big out there. And I mean Nas Reed was like running pick and roll with with Rudy Gobert tonight. So I think that that's probably worth a shot because the defense is the biggest problem that they're dealing with right now outside of the Anthony Edwards injury. Like I said, he's going to be out a couple of weeks. What's the latest on the hamstring?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, so basically he got an MRI today and I think it really revealed what a lot of the folks around here expected when he first got hurt is that it's on the more minor side of the scale when it, when it comes to severity. And so he will be reevaluated in a week and then after that everyone internally expects about two weeks for him to come back. I one thing that they do not want to happen is for him to come back too early and then all of a sudden you aggravated and then you're out for a month, you know, and so they are going to be conservative with him because he's just too important to what they're doing. But, but I, I it, it there's no indications that as of right now that injury is like a four week or a five or six week injury. It's just if they handle it right, if he rehabs the right way, he should be back on the court ready to go in a couple of weeks.

[Esperaheni]

I will say this is like a perfect time for an injury like this to happen from the Timberwolves, if you look at their schedule because they play the Lakers, who are an injured team right now, they play Brooklyn, Charlotte, the Jazz and Kings a couple of times. So it's maybe like this is the perfect opportunity to maybe try some of those younger players, right?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, exactly. And I think that's what I think a lot of Wolves fans have been looking for is they will to just see Rob Dillingham out there. You know, he Was good in stretches tonight and, and he struggled in, you know, in the second shift. But that's what rookies or that's what rookies and second year players do is they're going to be up and down, but they need to be out there playing. Terence Shannon needs to be playing. You know, Jalen Clark, he was out tonight. They missed his defense, but they need that, that kind of youth and that energy. And even if it means that they drop a couple of games right now, just getting those guys out there and playing and in the rotation and having a little experience and then building off of that, I think is really important for them. One of the biggest stretches last season for them was actually when Dante DiVincenzo and Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert were all hurt and they got, you know, they got dealing ham some minutes, they got Jalen Clark some run and also importantly Randall and even Chenzo got to look and watch these guys play and say, all right, we know how to do it coming back. So. So they need to, you know, really maximize this time without Edwards. And even if it means that they don't win a ton of games right now, they have to be productive in getting their guys on the same page and then getting those young guys some experience.

[Dave DeFore]

What'd you think about moving Conley back into the starting lineup versus maybe doing something like. Like in my opinion, I would have gone with Terrence Shannon maybe. I mean, you know, maintain that athleticism advantage that you're going to have against so many teams, the size advantage that you're going to have against so many teams, and also still have Conley coming off the bench. What do you think about that?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, there, you know, I was, I was mildly surprised, I guess, because I do think that, yeah, whether it's Shannon and especially against this Denver team, I think it would have been a good matchup. And the other thing is he's kind of. He's a sneaky, good playmaker. I mean, you saw some of the passes that he made tonight. Driving kick into the corners, like he can do that kind of thing. Is he a point guard? No, but like he, he can do some things that way to keep the ball moving. And so that was one option. I wondered if they would do a Bones Highland who has been playing more just as a prototypical guard. But Chris Finch loves Mike Conley, believes in Mike Conley, trusts him. And one of the things I think that he was trying to do with putting Mike Conley in the starting lineup is they have had a hard time so far this season trying to get Rudy Gobert involved in the offense at all. And, and Mike Conley is somebody who can do they have a good chemistry going back to Utah. And so I think it was a move to say let's get someone in there who is going to get the ball a little bit to Rudy. You know, the old Doc Rivers, Kendrick Perkins conundrum of you just give him a touch or two and then he'll play better defensively. And so I, I think that that was part of the calculus and Conley played solid tonight. He doesn't still doesn't give them a whole lot from a scoring standpoint or threat, threat wise. And so I do think that Chris Finch could be pretty flexible in that spot over these next two weeks. I don't think it necessarily means Conley is going to start there every game, but I think right away, first game out of the shoot without Ant against the division rival who's very, very good, I think he was just looking for a little more calm, steady presence out there and for the most part I think Conley gave it to him.

[Dave DeFore]

Yep. Well, I'll be watching those lineups for sure because again, I mean they did so much stuff, especially rotation wise in the playoffs last year. That was interesting. When the chips are down, they definitely get creative. John Krasinski something. Yeah, yeah, exactly. John Krasinski. Go and read him at the Athletic. He covers the Wolves for us there. That's going to do it for the show. Thank you John. Thanks to Esperahenny. I'm Dave Dufour. This has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.

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