The Dane Moore NBA Podcast

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Kyle Theige from SKORNorth to discuss the Wolves peaking at a perfect time to save their season. With consecutive wins over New York, Atlanta, Golden State and now Sacramento the Wolves appear to have an identity coming together that makes you believe they’re in the mix as any team of the Western Conference’s large middle class. Topics discussed by Dane and Kyle today include...— An identity coming together before it’s too late— Did the Mike Conley trade save the Wolves ability to meet expectations this season?— The value of consistently playing in close games— The best season of Kyle Anderson’s career— Finch intentional about going to McDaniels early and often— Naz Reid a core piece of the roster?— Player comparisons for Naz Reid— Riffing on Rudy GobertSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Wolves beat writer Chris Hine from The Star Tribune to discuss the Wolves’ biggest win of the season, a 3-point Sunday night win over the Golden State Warriors. The focus of today’s episode is on how the Wolves used a high-level defense performance to beat the Warriors, fueled offensively by Naz Reid, who led the Wolves in scoring for the second consecutive game. Topics today include...— No longer needing to “hide” anyone on defense— Rudy Gobert inching closer towards his old, defensive player of the year self— Naz Reid, bench bucket-getter— Wolves are now 2-for-2 in making the double-big thing work— Anthony Edwards not looking 100 percent— Jaden McDaniels foul trouble, and how Chris Finch can, now, maybe better accommodate thatSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Britt Robson from MinnPost to recap a wild week in Wolves World. From the Anthony Edwards injury in Chicago to the return of Karl-Anthony Towns and the Wolves apparent commitment to thinking big. Topics for today’s show include...— How Finch is thinking “big” more than he ever has— The importance of Kyle Anderson and Mike Conley as safety blankets— How Naz Reid proving to be in the rotation changes not only the rotation but the identity of the team— What do we now think a Naz Reid extension might look like— If the season started today, how many wins would we predict?— Factoring in the fact that Mike Conley wasn’t here during the early season look at KAT-Gobert— The Warriors matchup as a stress testSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Kyle Theige from SKORNorth to discuss the return of Karl-Anthony Towns and how the Wolves went big to beat Atlanta on Wednesday night. The focus of today’s episode is on KAT, not only in how he looked individually but in the grand scheme of the Wolves’ new roster. Topics today include...— What stood out from KAT individually— How playing this personnel should change the attention KAT receives defensively— Naz Reid plays, drops 26 and “needs to be in the rotation”— What is it going to take to have a “big” identity?— One of Finch’s best coaching games— Mike Conley acclimating to Finch’s “random” offensive system— Three days off coming and the potential for the standings to shift.Sign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Wolves beat writer Jace Frederick from the Pioneer Press to discuss what we are looking for in Karl-Anthony Towns’s return to play on Wednesday night and going forward. Dane and Jace rattle off five things they’re specifically looking to track in KAT’s return to play. Topics today include...— First, will both KAT and Ant play on Wednesday?— What will transition defense and offense look like once the two centers are back on the floor— How much will offensive and defensive rebounding improve with KAT back in the mix?— Will Naz Reid play?— Can they maintain a strong defensive identity with KAT in at power forward?— What does the rotation look like back at full-strength?— Can KAT and Gobert effectively punish small-ball lineups on offense?Sign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Kyle Theige from SKORNorth to discuss one of the Wolves more impressive wins of the season, in New York on Monday night. After recapping what stood out in the Wolves Ant and KAT-less win, Dane and Kyle discuss the imminent return of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns (probably on Wednesday) and what that could mean for the Wolves’s positioning in the Western Conference standings. Topics today include...— Taurean Prince’s insane shooting performance, bouncing back from a costly turnover on Friday in Chicago— Mike Conley running the show and boosting his scoring in Ant’s absence— Julius Randle’s 57 points, but also what went into his quiet fourth quarter— The Wolves’s growing effectiveness in the clutch— How many wins the rest of the way will it take to get the 6 seed, 7 seed, 8 seed, etc?Sign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Chris Hine from the StarTribune to discuss Anthony Edwards’s injury and how the Wolves are going about replacing his production in the meantime. The Wolves have now lost their last three games and five of their six, so Dane and Chris also get into the impact this skid is having on momentum with just 10 games left in the season. Topics today include...— The Anthony Edwards and when we think he might return— Getting the chance to see Jaden McDaniels do more offensively in Ant’s absence— What can Mike Conley give the Wolves offensively with, now, there being a greater need on that side of the ball— Losing momentum at the time of the season they were supposed to be peaking— What would the benefit of going to be a playoff series be?— Our thoughts on the voting process for the MVP reward, which Chris compares to Taylor Swift winning her third album of the year at The GrammysSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Britt Robson from MinnPost to discuss Britt’s most-recent column on the reffing disaster against Boston on Wednesday, the consistently-.500 Wolves and Rudy Gobert’s play of late. Discussion today starts with the Boston game but extends to really a big picture discussion of the Wolves 70 games into the season. Topics include...— How the refs lost control of the Boston game— Rudy Gobert’s play of late, and how the ways they use Gobert is constantly evolving— The differences between how Utah defended 5-out offense with Gobert versus how Minnesota is defending that offensive look— The vastly different natures of when Rudy Gobert is on the floor versus when Naz Reid is on the floor— Mike Conley as a guidance counselor— Difference between Conley and D’Angelo RussellSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Wolves beat writer Jace Frederick from the Pioneer Press to discuss Kyle Anderson and what went into the Wolves’ 21-point win in Atlanta on Monday night. Dane and Jace discuss Anderson’s second triple-double of the season and how Anderson has become an invaluable part of this Wolves team. Additional topics today include...— Does Kyle Anderson still close games once KAT is back?— No longer being able to hide bad defenders on Jaden McDaniels— The Wolves having great offense against bad defenses since the trade (and vice a versa)— Will the Wolves bring Luka Garza back next season?— The biggest issues remain: Transition defense, defensive rebounding and finishing games once they get a leadSign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today’s show, Dane is joined by Wolves beat writer Chris Hine from the Star Tribune, who is in Atlanta for Wolves-Hawks on Monday. Dane and Chris get into the Wolves’ maddening relationship with being consistently inconsistent and how it feel like that lack of consistency needs to die to salvage the opportunity for this season to not feel like a let down. As always, the specter of the return of Karl-Anthony Towns weighs in large here, so Dane and Chris give their latest thoughts on timetables and what we’ve seen from KAT of late. Topics today include:— The consistently inconsistent nature of this season’s Wolves— This week of games against Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Toronto feeling like the Wolves’ last stand— How Ant’s play contributes to the consistency or lack there of— The idea that KAT’s return will initially slow this team down not really making sense— How much of Gobert’s better offensive play of late was coming with or without the addition of Mike Conley?Sign up today for a 14-day free trial of Aura’s digital security at Aura.com/Dane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices