Early returns on new-look Wolves reflect vision of Rosas

Gersson Rosas said last week that he knew the Minnesota Timberwolves needed to revamp their roster on May 1 — the day he was hired as the president of basketball operations.

It took nine months, but Rosas got his wish.

A start, at least.

Andrew Wiggins, Robert Covington, Jeff Teague and six other players were shipped out the door before last Thursday’s trade deadline, as Rosas brought in a talented scorer in D’Angelo Russell along with an army of young talent in Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez, among others.

The Timberwolves rewarded Rosas for his vision immediately.

Minnesota shattered a franchise record by nailing 26 3-pointers in Saturday’s blowout win over the Los Angeles Clippers (besting the previous mark of 23), and followed it up with another 18 makes from downtown Monday in Toronto. The combined 44 3-pointers are the most in a two-game span by any team in 2019-20.

Rewrite the record books.

The @Timberwolves have nailed a franchise-record 2️⃣4️⃣ 3-pointers (and counting!) pic.twitter.com/ZVvrEdTP4x

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) February 9, 2020

Dallas is second with 42 in a two-game span back in November.

The Timberwolves’ previous franchise high for 3-pointers over two consecutive games was 35.

Leading Minnesota’s charge from deep was Beasley, who set a new career mark with seven 3-pointers against the Clippers and added two more Monday. Towns had six and Hernangomez and Naz Reid drained five apiece in two games combined.

Russell’s career in Minnesota got off to a good start, too. While he sat out Saturday night, Russell sunk 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range on Monday night. He looks to be the perfect pair with Towns, especially on the pick-and-roll.

Setting a new 3-point mark wasn’t the only franchise record the Wolves have reset lately. Minnesota has scored 120+ points in three straight games for the first time in team history.

Russell and the Wolves will try to keep it going Wednesday night against Charlotte, a team that is 6-20 over its last 26 contests.

It all gets started with a special one-hour Wolves Live on FOX Sports North, beginning at 6 p.m. from the Target Center.

Statistics courtesy Sportradar, basketball-reference.com