{"id":1003735,"date":"2026-08-16T04:14:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1003735\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T04:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:14:50","slug":"wolves-notes-edwards-christmas-game-gobert-simmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1003735\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolves Notes: Edwards, Christmas Game, Gobert, Simmons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>Timberwolves<\/strong> took a step backward in last season\u2019s playoffs \u2014 falling in the second round after two straight conference finals appearances \u2014 which led to major offseason changes. Star guard <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anthony Edwards<\/a><\/strong> understands that building chemistry is the first step for his new-look team before it can be viewed as a serious contender, writes <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/49617117\/anthony-edwards-backs-minnesota-timberwolves-beat-oklahoma-city-thunder-san-antonio-spurs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rob Andrew Dongiapon of ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would mean a lot (to win a championship) \u2026 But right now, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re thinking about winning the championship,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cIt\u2019s step by step. We got <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LaMelo (Ball)<\/a><\/strong>, a new player, and a bunch of new pieces. So, we are just trying to build it together and I think we\u2019re trying to gel it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Wolves, who have traditionally been built around size, changed the nature of their team in July by acquiring Ball in a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2026\/07\/wolves-hornets-nets-bulls-finalize-four-team-trade.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">four-team trade<\/a> that sent <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reidna01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Naz Reid<\/a><\/strong> to Charlotte and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/randlju01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Julius Randle<\/a><\/strong> to Brooklyn. Ball and Edwards will form one of the most exciting guard combinations in recent NBA history, but there\u2019s a shortage of big men outside of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rudy Gobert<\/a><\/strong> and second-year center <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/berinjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Joan Beringer<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The addition of Ball should take away the need for Edwards to serve as the team\u2019s primary playmaker as well as its leading scorer. However, he doesn\u2019t expect to alter his game much while playing alongside his new backcourt partner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the best part about me,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI will still be the same person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s more from Minnesota:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"longlis\">\n<li>Excitement over the Edwards-Ball pairing helped the Wolves land their first <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2026\/08\/nba-announces-opening-night-christmas-day-games.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Christmas Day home game<\/a> in franchise history, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/minnesota-timberwolves-schedule-2026-27-wolves-christmas-nba-games-emirates-cup\/601877270\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chris Hine of the Star-Tribune<\/a> states in a subscriber-only story. It\u2019s the third straight Christmas appearance for the team, which was also chosen to be part of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2026\/08\/and-ones-nba-schedule-extensions-rozier-case-more.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Martin Luther King Day schedule<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Gobert covered the expenses for all his teammates who joined him recently in Paris for workouts and other team-building activities, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JonKrawczynski\/status\/2088255469362053135\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>). Gobert <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rudygobert27\/status\/2087630772131733844\" rel=\"nofollow\">posted<\/a> a video with highlights from the experience.<\/li>\n<li>The Wolves have an obvious need for help at power forward, but that doesn\u2019t mean they should gamble on a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simmobe01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ben Simmons<\/a><\/strong> comeback, contends <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/minnesota-timberwolves-roster-nba-free-agency-options-anthony-edwards-lamelo-ball-ben-simmons-injury\/601877058\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">La Velle E. Neal III of The Star-Tribune<\/a> (subscriber link). Neal cautions that Simmons\u2019 persistent back issues make it unlikely that he could handle the workload that Minnesota would need him to, and his reluctance to shoot three-pointers makes him a bad fit on a team that wants to speed up the tempo to create open looks from beyond the arc. Neal views the recently signed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lylestr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-15_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trey Lyles<\/a><\/strong> as a better option because he\u2019s a 34.7% career shooter from three-point range.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Timberwolves took a step backward in last season\u2019s playoffs \u2014 falling in the second round after two&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1003736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[8613,29114,1260,17662,62,57177,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1003735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-ben-simmons","tag-nba","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-sports","tag-trey-lyles","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117103252409716855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}