We are not sure of the Sixth Man of the Year, but it has its effect: this Friday, Austin Rivers signed up for a season with the Timberwolves. The five major no longer really needs touch-ups, this signing adds a little pep to the Minneapolis bench. The pack is still growing, it will roar loudly in the West (worst way to end a chapô).
“Without a collective, the individual goes nowhere” : a saying increasingly mastered in Minnesota. From the moment Rudy Gobert set his feet on the tarmac at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, on July 6, Wolves’ prospects for success have changed. A new qualification in the Playoffs? This is now the bare minimum. And to achieve this, Tim Connelly – General Manager of the Timberwolves – bosses a policy aimed at obtaining immediate results. You have to shake the beauty as long as she gives Skittles fruity candies: Rudy has 30 banks and crosses his prime, it would be strange to bring him in just to surround him with inexperienced rookies. The goal is the title. And without a complete team – made up of a certain balance between the major five and its bench – pipe wanted, these ambitions fly away. After the arrivals of Bryn Forbes and Kyle Anderson, as well as the extension of Taurean Prince, Austin Rivers signed up for a year with Wolves. The amount of his contract remains unknown but, unless it is 40 million over two years, the deal is good. At 29, the back still has some good minutes to give in a role of blaster. What is a blaster? A little one who releases quickly, runs everywhere and sometimes does anything. It can work really well, like jamming the whole engine.
Free agent guard Austin Rivers has agreed on a one-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, his agents Dave Spahn and Aaron Mintz of CAA Sports tell ESPN. Rivers played 67 games for Denver a year ago, where new president Tim Connelly signed him in consecutive seasons.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 15, 2022
This season, in Denver, Austin Rivers has not reinvented his statistical line: 6 points at 42% shooting including 34% from 3-pointers, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. These numbers, however, camouflage what the Wolves went after for the Doc’s son. Several times, Mike Malone has sent him on the big opposing attackers. Several times, Austin Rivers responded. In Colorado, he has forged a reputation as a very nervous bulldog, the complete opposite of the Pat Beverley prototype: more in substance than in appearance. And yet, on April 20, 2021, Rivers only signed a ten-day contract with the Nuggets. We thought he was finite, but he was able to reinvent himself in a new register much appreciated by franchises contenders. With the absences of Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray, his profile secured what there was to secure around Nikola Jokic. It didn’t pass the first round, but the foundations are still there. The Nuggets finished 15th in regular defense which, considering the roster sent to the coal, is a small miracle. Thanks to Austin for his work.
Another good recruit in Chris Finch’s cauldron. More and more select in the choice of its members, the pack now attracts small role players that matter in a title campaign. It changes years of scarcity, and next April, the Wolves will not play the dinette (worst way to finish a paper).