The Timberwolves might have hit rock bottom on New Year's Eve with their sixth consecutive loss — this one at home to the woeful, rebuilding Pistons — but you never know for sure until you start to ascend again.

It's a place of familiarity for this franchise, and calling that 116-104 defeat to the Pistons the worst the team has had is simply disrespectful to past dysfunction.

Players met and talked about their problems after the most recent loss. Head coach Chris Finch addressed the media as well. Very few specifics were unveiled at the time, which is probably for the best.

Words mean nothing based on what we have seen from this 16-21 team so far this season. Action is the only thing that matters. And we will know everything about their self-diagnosis of the root problems by 1) who plays Monday against Denver and 2) how they play Monday against Denver, something I talked about on the Daily Delivery podcast with Patrick Reusse.

For evidence, let's examine two quotes:

  1. "We know why. And, I'm gonna kinda keep that in house. But we know why. That's why I said I feel like we can change this. We know we can change it." — Wolves center Naz Reid.
  2. "Try to up the accountability, and maybe I need to think differently about who plays when and how. Maybe I've just got to shuffle it up totally different." — Finch.

If the Wolves think this is a problem of effort and accountability — which leads to things such as hideous transition defense and woebegone rebounding — we should expect to see one of two things Monday (and perhaps both).

  • New lineup combinations, which Finch alluded to, that address some of those issues. I would start by diminishing Jaden McDaniels' role and perhaps eliminating D'Angelo Russell from the floor (34 minutes and zero rebounds Saturday for D-Lo spoke volumes). Jalen Nowell is a defensive liability, but I'm not sure who else would take his minutes until the bench gets healthier.
  • Some sort of increased level of effort, leadership and communication coming from within while rotations remain more or less intact. The problem with this approach is that we've been waiting 37 games to see it, and there have been very few consistent signs of those traits.

The nice thing is that we will know soon enough what the Wolves think of themselves. They don't have to tell us anything. The evidence will be there in front of our eyes.