Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop aim to help Wolves ‘win a championship’

When Julius Randle signed with the New York Knicks after one season with the New Orleans Pelicans, there was a particular assistant coach from New Orleans that Randle wanted to bring with him to New York. 

That was current Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, whom Randle has been reunited with following a blockbuster trade that brings him, Donte DiVincenzo and Keita Bates-Diop to Minneapolis for longtime franchise staple Karl-Anthony Towns. That’s a reunion that Randle is excited about, knowing what he was able to accomplish with Finch the first go-around. 

“I’ve always thought (Finch) was a genius and a great communicator, knows how to get the best out of his players,” Randle said at his introductory press conference on Thursday. “I remember playing for him, and I always felt like super prepared for the games, knowing what was going to happen, where I was going to get my shots from, what he needed from me.

“I just felt like he just opened up my game, and I became a really versatile player. Always say, like playing there and even still to this point, that was the easiest my game had ever felt, playing under Finch. Just because he’s just really good. I think he’s just that good of a coach.” 

Randle had the best season of his career — to that point — with the Pelicans in 2018-19 under the guidance of Finch. He played a then-career-high 30.6 minutes per game and averaged a then-career-best 21.4 points as well as 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Randle has continued to develop and improve as his career has gone on, and he’s coming off a season in which he averaged 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for a 50-win Knicks team.

Randle has become a more well-rounded player since his days in New Orleans, but it’s clear he still believes Finch can get the best out of him. It’s clear the Wolves believe that, too, having taken the big risk of trading a franchise staple in Towns.

Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said trading Towns isn’t something the team took lightly coming off a Western Conference finals appearance last season. There’s a clear belief that Finch will be able to make the new pieces work. Connelly also touted the versatility — something the Wolves clearly value — of the incoming trio of players. 

“These guys bring special, certainly on-court skills, they bring toughness,” Connelly said. “I think depth is increasingly important as the CBA has kind of evolved the last couple years. We don’t trade a person like KAT lightly. We were very specific with what it would take, and quite frankly, the asking price is very high when you see what these guys accomplished last year.” 

Randle, a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection, and DiVincenzo were both key pieces of a Knicks team that won 50 games reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. Randle missed time down the stretch and had to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery — Randle said he feels good now and is ready to get to work. “My shoulder is fine. I feel healthy,” he said. — and the Knicks perhaps would have gone further had Randle been healthy.

DiVincenzo’s ascention also can’t be discounted as he was a key contributor to the Knicks’ success. DiVincenzo is coming off the best season of his career, playing 81 regular-season games and averaging a career-best 15.5 points per game while shooting a career-best 40.1% from 3-point range. While his exactly role with the Wolves will take some time to figure out, he doesn’t care, and he’ll certainly be featured as a floor spacer and knock-down shooter around Anthony Edwards.

“Whatever this season may bring, my confidence is at an all-time high,” DiVincenzo said. “My teammates, my coaches, they all have confidence in me, so that just keeps it going when you’re missing shots.” 

It’s a full-circle moment for Bates-Diop, whom the Timberwolves selected in the second round of the 2018 NBA draft. But times have changed since then, and he joins the Wolves in much different circumstances with a much different roster.

It feels a little bit different, obviously winning a little bit more than the last time I was here, but still a winning culture, there’s a goal in mind, happy to be a part of it,” Bates-Diop said. 

Ultimately, further building that winning roster and contending for a championship were the themes of the trade and are expected to be the themes for this Timberwolves season. While Towns is no longer with the team, the goal hasn’t changed. The expectation is to continue to build off last season’s Western Conference finals appearance.

“My only thing here is I just want to help,” Randle said. “I want to help (Edwards), I want to help Rudy (Gobert), Naz (Reid), all those guys, and I want to help win a championship. So that’s the only thing that matters.”