The Timberwolves went big this summer.
They also added Rudy Gobert.
Before trading for one of the league's best centers and defenders, the Wolves did something even more unusual. They built out their organization, turning a wartime rambler into a McMansion.
At the end of the 2021-2022 season, the Wolves looked promising. They won 46 games. They developed young players like Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, and could have argued that maturity itself would have led them down a productive path, with Sachin Gupta serving as a talented young general manager.
Then incoming owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez changed the Timberwolves, structurally and reputationally.
They hired renowned team-builder Tim Connelly from the Denver Nuggets. Connelly kept Gupta and added respected executives Dell Demps and Matt Lloyd.
The Timberwolves have never been this deep. Organizationally, or on the court.
Their chief executive officer, Ethan Casson, was chosen Most Admired CEO by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.