On a night that seemed to have everything to do with Jimmy Butler, the play that sealed the Minnesota Timberwolves 131-123 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers had nothing to do with Butler. As Karl-Anthony Towns screamed and flexed after rejecting Kevin Love’s shot with 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Butler — the martyr of this month of mania in Minnesota — looked rather disinterested in the result. After all, it was a game in which Butler played with a certain swagger that said, it’s all about me — and if it’s not about me, let’s move on.
Unlike Butler, Derrick Rose recognized Towns’ emotion after the block and sprinted over — from the bench — to dap up the big fella. From Rose, it was a gesture that said I feel you and I’m here with you.
Now, maybe Butler was just tired. After all, he was undoubtedly the best player on a team that does clearly “f—ing need” him to win. Yes, Towns’ block may have sealed the game, but Butler’s barrage of haymakers in the final quarter is what left the Cavaliers woozy for Towns’ knockout blow.
The possession immediately preceding Towns’ roar was Butler’s most direct shot of the night.
So sure, the Wolves need Butler to win. What they don’t need is his embrace of the antagonist role. But that seems to be a corner that Butler will not surrender.
“Y’all don’t realize I love to be the villain,” Butler said in the locker room after the game.
While Butler does seem fully-committed to winning with the team that he has begrudgingly rejoined, support and leadership are boxes that now appear optional in his eyes. This leaves a leadership void.
Thus: A new veteran leader has emerged. Rose, who is only 340 days older than Butler, cannot fill the very large shoes of Butler’s production, but he does appear willing to be a vet who wants to check those empty boxes.
“I just feel like he’s comfortable,” said Taj Gibson of Rose from his locker after Friday’s victory. “I feel like [Derrick is] having fun. Every day we talk, every day I see him, he’s having fun. He’s smiling. He’s enjoying the process of coming in to practice because he’s around familiar faces. And we don’t put any pressure on him. We understand the things he can do.”
One of those “things” on this team is leadership and Rose has started to do it in his own sort of way. He allows his playing and the work do the talking. While Rose may not be the guy breaking down the huddle or holding court in the locker room — that will remain Butler’s mantle until he is traded — he does seem to be earnestly committed to the greater cause.
Really, Rose is the inverse of Butler, in terms of personality and in terms of profile. The former phenom, that media used to clamor around in locker rooms in Chicago, is now consistently the first out of the Timberwolves locker room after games.
Tom Thibodeau seems to also have resigned to the notion that he has lost Butler the leader but a compromise is embracing another one of “his guys,” in Rose, to take on some of that role.
“I think his teammates know that he’s been around,” said Thibodeau at the podium after praising the work Rose did with the second unit on Friday. “[As a leader,] he’s no different today than he was as the MVP. He’s a real humble guy. I think the more time everyone spends around him, the more you can see that.
“And he’s very unique in the sense that, obviously, when he was the MVP he had a lot of points but he was always happiest when we won and his teammates did well. There were a lot of games where he may have had like 10 points, 10 assists and someone else had 25 and he’d be thrilled for that person and for the team. That’s who he is.”
In the home opener, that’s who Rose was. He led the Wolves with eight assists in only 23 minutes and was clearly the straw that stirred the second unit’s drink. Rose brought a different pace to the game that allowed shooters like Anthony Tolliver to get off seven 3s (and an 8th that he drew a foul on), while also creating lanes for a player like Gorgui Dieng to finish easy bunnies in.
“You can see it when he’s racing the ball up the floor,” said Thibodeau of how the game changed once Rose took the helm. “He can get a defense back on their heels and he can force people to collapse. I think people underestimate him at times.”
While Thibodeau is right in pointing out the notion of Rose being completely washed is false, he also plays with a double-edged sword when it comes to Rose. If the prevailing notion is underestimation with Rose, Thibodeau has the tendency to overestimate the former MVP. While it was great to see Rose run free Friday, that freedom has also bit the Wolves.
In the season opener in San Antonio on Wednesday, Thibodeau opted to roll with Rose to close the game. And it was an example of an over-extension of the leash because Rose only has one speed. That bullishness can get in the way, as it did against the Spurs when Rose took it upon himself to isolate for a wild, fading drive with the game on the line.
It will become critical for Thibodeau to discern when and where to utilize Rose because the former MVP has been so classically conditioned to extend himself. Rose will never be shy, even if the situation calls for tepidness. This is on the coach to manage.
The good news, and possibly the most exciting development in relation to Rose since he signed with the Wolves last March is that he appears to be able to provide an off-court value even when the sword is stabbing him.
While Butler may still be here in his presence (and production), it’s clear that his leadership is destined to be far more self-serving this season. If Rose can bridge that gap and Thibodeau can effectively manage the madness, the Wolves may have found something unique on the scrap heap.
Stellar Second Unit
Let’s take a look at three more things that stuck out from the Wolves impressive home opener. All three Derrick Rose played a part in.
Butler With The Second Unit
At shootaround prior to the Wolves opener in San Antonio, Thibodeau said that Butler would “play in shorter stints” in an effort to cover up some of his conditioning shortcomings from missing training camp and all five preseason games.
These short stints did, in fact, take effect in both of the Wolves’ first two games. Both games Butler was the first to sub out in the first and third quarter. This caused a chain reaction in the rotation:
- Rose checks in for Butler at the six-minute mark of the quarter.
- The rest of the starters — other than Wiggins — trickle out for their backups prior to the quarter ending.
- Butler checks back in for Wiggins at the start of the second quarter to lead the second-unit of Tyus Jones, Rose, Butler, Tolliver and Dieng.
This is a deviation from the preseason where this 10th spot was given to Josh Okogie — who is currently out of the regular season rotation. While Okogie impressed during the time he received in the preseason, he is no Butler. This second-unit, flanked by Butler, looks to be dangerous and plenty able to beat up on opposing backups — like the brutal Cleveland second string.
On Friday night, this group was flying.
Playing With Pace
Jeff Teague is a lead ball-handler who prefers to read the floor to discern the action. Rose is the opposite. When Rose is directing traffic, he simply hits the gas and allows that speed to instigate the action. It’s not as if Rose is a clearly superior option to Teague, but the additional pace can be a welcome changeup. It was Friday.
“We’re just playing free,” said Anthony Tolliver of the second-unit. “Guys are just trying to share the ball and get guys in the right position. You know, just playing free.”
A season ago, the Wolves bench was the eighth least effective in the league in terms of net-rating, per NBA.com/stats. This unit seems a safe bet to depart from that dysfunction through their freedom.
Getting Dieng Going
Two seasons ago, the Wolves rotation often staggered in a way that left Gorgui Dieng and Zach LaVine initiating much of the offensive flow for the second group. With LaVine’s departure, Dieng — a player who thrives in rhythm and crumbles without it — struggled to find ways to get going.
Two games into this season, Dieng appears to have recaptured some of that comfort. This second-unit is putting him in offensive spots to get the shots he wants to be taking.
When Dieng gets going on offense, he tends to be a more fluid player defensively. Friday night his drop coverage in the pick-and-roll was consistently on-point and he reminded viewers (and Sam Dekker) that he can be a dynamic shot blocker.
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