Tim Connelly sounded far more confident in his media session ahead of the Timberwolves’ playoff series with with the Denver Nuggets this week than he did a year ago.

There’s no hiding the expectations the president of basketball operations, or anyone else in the organization, has for this Wolves team and this run at the moment.

“I think we’re a contender now. We have to believe it. We’re entering the second round with an unblemished playoff record,” Connelly said. “This room certainly thinks we’re a contender.”

That’s a giant leap from where Minnesota was 12 months ago. The Timberwolves staggered into the NBA playoffs last season before being bounced in the first round in five games — albeit a competitive five games — by the Nuggets.

But everything has come together for the Wolves since then. Rudy Gobert returned to form as the NBA’s top defensive player. Anthony Edwards continued his ascension toward becoming one of the game’s top players. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid are two of the best bench players in the NBA. Karl-Anthony Towns has found his role on this talented roster. and Mike Conley has helped meld all the pieces together.

Now the Wolves sport a top-three roster in terms of depth and high-end talent. The plan Connelly put together when he took over two years ago has come together beautifully. Or something like that.

“I could tell you we have these one, three and five-year plans … it’d be a lie,” he said. “(In) the NBA, there’s fluidity and things you didn’t expect to happen.”

Even with building the Nuggets before moving over to the Wolves, Connelly said they were lucky to trade for Aaron Gordon and there were other players they tried to keep that got away, and it all ended up working out for the best.

In Minnesota, had another team realized Alexander-Walker’s potential this offseason, he could have been had in free agency. Instead, the Wolves are the beneficiary of an insanely team-friendly deal for an elite three-and-D wing who perfectly rounds out an otherwise expensive roster.

“Every day, especially around the draft or trade deadline and free agency, things change dramatically,” Connelly said. “We’re really lucky to have these unbelievable talented core pieces and try to build around them and support them. To say that we had some well-laid plans would be disingenuous.”

But it’s not all fortune. Minnesota can look at the Gobert trade and currently say it was right. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch has made the big-ball experiment work. With Gobert as the anchor, the Wolves have sported the best defense all season.

Not only was Connelly and Co. apparently correct about trading for Gobert, but they also appear wise for “running it back” after a disappointing first run at it last season.

“I dunno if it’s validation. Again, it’s just hypothesis. I’m just guessing. You never know. You make a trade, you sign somebody, you draft somebody, you hope it works. So I dunno, validation would probably give our group too much credit,” Connelly said. “But we felt pretty convicted that we had the cultural DNA to be a good team. We thought we had the talent, we knew we had an elite coaching staff. Could we grow up a little bit around the edges? Could we not expose ourselves to so many self faults and unforced errors? I think we’ve done that for the most part all season.”

The Wolves have exceeded external expectations. They’re in the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history, after winning the second-most regular-season games (56) in franchise history.

Connelly said the Wolves wanted to be a top-four seed to net home-court advantage in Round 1. They did that, and took advantage of it.

Job finished? Not by a long shot.

“We haven’t accomplished all the goals, but certainly we set these goals we thought were reachable. We thought we could have been a home-court playoff team in the previous season if we would have performed better against teams that were struggling. We think to be a viable contender, you gotta be a home-court playoff team,” Connelly said. “Our goal was not to be a first-round-and-out team. We’ve had a heck of a regular season.

“We were in first place for much of the season. Our division was brutal with Oklahoma City and Denver. You can see those guys are already in the second round. But you gotta believe. We have to believe that we can make a real run. We’ve set these additional goals, but really, this room thinks they can win a championship. So why not us?”

Such a run could determine this franchise’s immediate future.

How this series against Denver plays out could have an impact on the current core, most likely relating to the future of Towns in Minnesota. The current roster would carry a hefty luxury tax bill into next season.

Teams are happy to pay that if it comes with a championship ring. If not, there could be more trepidation.

“Relative to what the offseason looks like, it would be unfair to answer those questions prior to our conclusion (of the season),” Connelly said, “and we hope not to conclude for a long time.”

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