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Despite all their drama, Timberwolves believe they can be good

MINNEAPOLIS — An offseason filled with discontent, a massive contract extension and a high-profile, hyper-public trade request officially comes to an end for the Timberwolves on Wednesday night, Oct. 17, when they open the 2018-19 season in San Antonio.

And Jimmy Butler is slated to be there for it.

Minnesota ended a playoff drought last spring that weighed the franchise down for the better part of 14 years, but the Wolves are saddled with so much more baggage this fall. This drama doesn’t figure to end when the Wolves finally play a game that counts, but rather flips to the next chapter in what feels like a never-ending saga.

The question is whether the Wolves’ undeniable talent will be enough to outweigh the disdain and distractions present in and around the franchise as the team embarks on another 82-game journey.

It certainly wasn’t in the preseason, an exhibition campaign in which the Wolves won just one game and rarely looked competitive as players fielded as many questions regarding Butler’s trade situation as anything they did on the court.

“It’s awfully tough to have situations like they are having right now and not allow it to impact your team,” ESPN analyst and former NBA coach Mark Jackson said on a conference call. “So that’s the concern. They’re still talented enough to win games, but it wears on you.”

Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau has downplayed the effects of any such distractions in training camp, but that’s no surprise.

“It’s rare to get a reaction out of him,” guard Derrick Rose said. “With him, he’s been calm. We haven’t talked about it, it don’t seem like it’s bothering him much.”

Not much usually does, besides a question from a reporter Tuesday asking Thibodeau about discrepancies between accounts of exactly when the All-NBA guard asked to be traded. Thibodeau said it was just before training camp; Butler told ESPN it was days after last season ended.

“We’re not going to keep getting into that. We’re going to talk about the Spurs, that’s what we’re going to talk about,” Thibodeau said. “I mean, you guys want to keep the drama going. We’re not going there.”

Thibodeau’s plan seems simple: Put your head down, keep working and charge forward. Will it work? It has to if Minnesota is to keep pace in the high-powered Western Conference. The truth is the Wolves’ chances of doing just that are better with Butler on the roster, regardless of any distractions that may come with his presence.

The team has vowed to continue to look for a trade for Butler, but until then, the Wolves have their leader back on the floor, which is probably a positive for their short-term prospects.

“I want to help everybody be better,” Butler said Sunday. “I want y’all to win games. My name is still attached to this thing, I’m still here, so we better win.”

Thibodeau said he’s sure Butler will give the team everything he has while he’s in a Wolves’ uniform. Teammate Anthony Tolliver isn’t sure Butler is capable of anything less.

“It’s not in his DNA to slack,” Tolliver said. “He only knows one way. No matter what’s going on off the court, whatever, once he’s between the lines and has our jersey on, he’s going to play and everything is going to be about winning and that’s it.”

Butler’s mere presence figures to help raise the Wolves’ play from their anemic preseason performance. Tolliver said the Wolves didn’t take the preseason as seriously as they should have — an inexcusable mentality for a team that has still accomplished so little. But Butler’s energy and intensity is a likely antidote for the lifelessness the Wolves put on display for most of the exhibition season.

As for the team’s current chemistry, which was questioned for much of last season and highlighted this summer, Rose said there’s “room for growth.”

“We don’t even have an identity of how we’re going to play offensively and defensively. So you’ve just got to build those things along the way,” Rose said. “We all know it’s going to take some time. It’s going to take all of us being on the same team and fighting through the hard times together.”

The situation Minnesota finds itself in appears to be an uphill battle, but the Wolves remain confident they’re a better team than what they’ve shown to this point.

“I think we’ve came and we’ve made some adjustments, we’ve fixed some things and we’ve been able to work on ourselves more,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I feel very confident.”

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