Minnesota Timberwolves: October player grades

The Minnesota Timberwolves ended October with a 4-4 record after Derrick Rose‘s inspiring performance Wednesday night. The month on the whole wasn’t all positive, however.

The Halloween spectacle that Derrick Rose put on in the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ victory over the Utah Jazz was a nice end to October, but we shouldn’t forget the general dysfunction that has been the main focus of the team so far this season.

The past few days have seen more fuel added to the fire, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski initially reported Jimmy Butler would sit out Wednesday’s game to segue into an extended absence designed to force Minnesota into trading him.

Butler claimed the report was bogus and that he sat out of Wednesday’s game only as precautionary rest. Now, per ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, the Jimmy Butler Whisperer, it seems Butler will play Friday night against the Golden State Warriors while Minnesota continues to scout out deals.

Amidst all that behind-the-scenes drama, the Wolves rallied around Rose’s magical 50-point performance. To clarify, a single game, even a great one, isn’t going to heal and unite this Timberwolves team for the 82-game marathon, but they sure did look considerably happier and more vocal throughout with Butler nowhere in sight.

Even without Butler, the Minnesota Timberwolves have enough talent to compete every night; they won’t be a 50-win team without him, but if they play hard and together like they did on Halloween, we won’t see the Wolves get demolished by a gazillion points like they did last Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Here’s a breakdown of how all the rotation players performed in October.