Five keys to the season as Timberwolves open NBA slate tonight in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. − There are a lot of familiar faces on the Timberwolves this season — they return seven of their top eight rotation players from last year — but there is still uncertainty for the future of the franchise.

Just how good will they be? Did last season’s team hit its ceiling? How much room is there for their core players to improve? How long will it take the younger players to grow?

As a guide to some of those questions, here are a few keys to the Wolves’ season:

The Wolves had the sixth-best defensive rating in the NBA a season ago. A lot of teams would take that, but for the Wolves it was backsliding on the No. 1 defense they had two seasons ago.

If there’s a player who controls the fate of the team’s defense in his hands, it’s likely Anthony Edwards. An engaged Edwards on that end of the floor could set a tone for the entire team. If he’s inconsistent, the defense will still likely be very good, just not at the elite level that it could be.

The Wolves could still end up back in the Western Conference finals, but if they do so without Rob Dillingham being a part of the rotation by season’s end, it will feel pyrrhic, because his development is one of the keys to the team’s future at point guard.

Flip that around and say the Wolves might not make it as far as they did last season, but Dillingham makes significant progress in Year 2, and the season will be a success in that way. Just how much leeway he gets to run the show, make decisions, screw up and learn from those mistakes is one of the biggest questions when it comes to coach Chris Finch’s rotation for the duration of the season.

The Wolves were near the bottom in terms of transition opportunities. They have made a commitment to playing more with pace during the preseason, and while Finch said they’re not going to transform into a fast team overnight, he believes they can be at least middle of the pack.

This is important because more transition opportunities lead to more efficient offense overall, and if the Wolves are going to have a shot against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, they’ll need different ways to beat them instead of allowing the Thunder to grind them down in the half court.

Rudy Gobert is 33 years old and Mike Conley is 38, and because big men tend to regress faster than guards or forwards, it’s natural to wonder how much Gobert and Conley have left. There might be plenty of skill and talent left, but will their health also hold up through an 82-game season?

Conley played 71 games last regular season, and Gobert played 72. The Wolves needed them on the floor as much as possible. Conley provided a steady hand guiding the offense once he got over a slow start, and he’s one of the Wolves’ most underrated defenders. The defense falls apart without Gobert. How much longer can they stave off the effects of time?

The Wolves are banking a lot on internal improvement, and that includes some players who have been here a while in Naz Reid, entering his seventh season, and Jaden McDaniels, who is in his sixth. Can they become more consistent offensive weapons?