Since before the season and carrying on into the start of it, Timberwolves President Gersson Rosas and coach Ryan Saunders have preached patience with the current roster, that there would be growing pains and players would need time to develop and find chemistry.
That sounds like an easy thing to do when they aren't playing games.
But it's harder to keep that patience and keep that long-term perspective in mind after nights like Wednesday's 118-107 loss to Memphis.
A winnable game and a double-digit lead slipped through the Wolves' hands in the fourth quarter. It's one thing to take the long-term view and say Wednesday is just another bump in the road, but when the Wolves are sitting with a 3-8 record that should be 4-7, it's going to take time for the sting to wear off.
"It's never easy losing games, especially when you feel you played well and did enough to win for a majority of the basketball game," Saunders said. "You talk of patience, but you also need to talk of urgency, too. We didn't have a sense of urgency."
Before practice Thursday, Saunders made a plea for the Wolves to get tougher in situations like the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies made their push and the Wolves couldn't resist.
"Every team around the league has those same excuses, or similar excuses, if they want to use them," Saunders said. "At the end of the day, they don't check your pay stub, they don't check your birth certificate when you step out on the floor. Your toughness will always be checked, though. And I think sometimes with young groups, that is a learning experience. When things do get tough, what happens? Are you somebody that is able to fight through it?"
That's the same message an upset Karl-Anthony Towns delivered after Wednesday's loss.