MINNEAPOLIS — Four days after the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season came to a humbling conclusion in a 30-point loss to San Antonio, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly used his assessment of coach Chris Finch as a window into his view of the season as a whole.He began with the Wolves’ stirring first-round victory over the Denver Nuggets, marveling at Finch’s ability to guide a short-handed roster to a decisive victory over a bitter rival. He did not hide his disappointment with how the season ended, acknowledging that the Wolves have been uncompetitive in their final game of the year in each of the last three seasons. But it did not change his belief in how Finch and the Wolves have consistently battled to be in Western Conference contention during that time.“It’s not an easy job,” Connelly said on Tuesday. “He was masterful, I think, in the Denver series. We’re not here without Finchy. The playoff success we’ve had. I’m just thankful that he’s a partner and thankful that he’s our head coach.”Finch has been the target of criticism from some corners of the Timberwolves fan base for an inability to get over the hump in the playoffs. The Timberwolves made it to back-to-back conference finals in the previous two seasons and set a goal of making the NBA Finals this year. But they stagnated this season, winning the same number of games (49) and finishing with the same playoff seed (sixth) as they did in 2024-25 despite bringing almost everyone back from the team that lost to Oklahoma City in the conference finals. In their 4-2 conference semifinal loss to the Spurs, three of the losses were blowouts.Connelly has backed Finch the whole way. He has the best winning percentage (.572) and has won more playoff games (27) and series (five) than any coach in Timberwolves history. He arrived in Minnesota in the middle of the 2020-21 season, taking over a team that had been at the bottom of the West, winning 42 games total over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, then led the Wolves to the playoffs in each of his five full seasons. They were underdogs in four of their five series victories, including this year’s triumph over Denver, despite losing Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo in Game 4.But Connelly didn’t shy away from the disappointment he saw in the team this season as well. The Wolves never really found a groove in the regular season and described themselves as a moody group that often got caught up in individual concerns over the health of the team.“I think way more good than bad, but look, we were an inconsistent team,” Connelly said. “I think our emotional maturity has continued to be a thing that we have to get better at.”During his exit interview on Saturday, Naz Reid pointed to the team’s temperament as the biggest separator between it and the two top teams in the West — the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.“I think we have more than enough talent, think we have more than enough guys bringing to the table and compete at a high level,” Reid said. “But just being less moody, I think that’s just the name of the game for us. Just being less moody and more selfless, and then just carrying ourselves with championship aspirations like we’ve done before.”As the Timberwolves go into a summer that is starting before any of them wanted, Connelly said all options are on the table as they look to close the gap with the Spurs and Thunder. They can be proud of making it to the second round for the third straight season. They can feel good about taking the Spurs to six games while DiVincenzo was out with a torn Achilles tendon, Edwards was operating at around 70 percent on an injured left knee and Ayo Dosunmu was limited by calf and heel injuries that kept him out of Game 1.This is the golden age of Timberwolves basketball. A franchise that by 2021 had the lowest winning percentage in men’s major American professional sports when Finch was hired has turned into a perennially relevant team with a superstar inching toward his prime. The Wolves had advanced out of the first round once in team history before Finch and Edwards. Now it is considered a disappointment when they “only” make it to the second round.“We have a lot of confidence in our guys. But it would be disingenuous to sit in front of this group and say we’re happy with the sixth seed, we’re happy with not being a homecourt playoff team, we’re happy that our last three closeout games have been lopsided,” Connelly said. “We have to be realistic about what we have, which is way more good than bad, but know that we’re not good enough right now.”Finch was blunt in his own critique of the season. He was pleased at the leap Jaden McDaniels made in his sixth season. He thought the move to put DiVincenzo in the starting lineup, while coming too late before the start of the season, got the best out of him in his second year in Minnesota. He was thrilled with how a team that was uninspiring in the regular season banded together to defeat the Nuggets in the playoffs. But …“Offensively, we were outside the top 10, which is not really acceptable for us. Defensively, outside the top five, also not really acceptable for us,” Finch said on Saturday. “So it’s a mixed bag right now.”Finch spoke about tweaking the offense to fit his personnel, finding ways to relieve some of the ballhandling duties from Edwards and prioritizing the building of championship habits during the regular season so they are more locked into the game plans during the playoffs.“I think that’s on us. It’s on me,” Finch said. “We’ve got to meet these standards better.”Connelly put it on himself as well. He did not talk specifically about his plans to change the roster over the summer, but he has been aggressive in dealmaking since he took over the front office four years ago. In that time, he has traded for Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Julius Randle and DiVincenzo. His draft-night trade for Rob Dillingham in 2024 did not pan out, but he quickly pivoted to land Dosunmu in February. He has also tried to trade for Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.The Timberwolves could revisit talks with the Milwaukee Bucks about Antetokounmpo or look elsewhere for shooting and ballhandling help in the backcourt, a big need considering DiVincenzo is expected to miss at least the majority of next season. If they do make a significant move, breaking up the frontcourt trio of Gobert, Randle and Reid in some form or fashion would be a way to help facilitate it.Trading for a 31-year-old Antetokounmpo or a 34-year-old Kyrie Irving coming off a torn ACL could be considered risky, but that isn’t how Connelly looks at it.“I’d rather get fired for trying than sit here and just do the job in survival mode,” Connelly said. “So risky, I think, is if you’re a championship-level team and make a huge trade. I don’t know what level of risk there is when you’re bounced in the second round. I think we’re open to it. Certainly, we’re not driven by it.”On the home front, Dosunmu and Mike Conley are both unrestricted free agents. Connelly said he is optimistic they would get a deal done for Dosunmu. The team holds Dosunmu’s Bird Rights, meaning it can pay him beyond the mid-level exception next season.“Ayo’s our most important free agent,” Connelly said. “He’s a guy we thought we knew pretty well, and we liked him from afar. Now seeing him day to day, we love him. I think he fits in not just on the court but off the court. I think his best basketball is in front of him.”Connelly also only has one year left on his contract. Owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez recruited him to Minnesota and want to retain him for the long haul. Connelly did not want to discuss specifics of his deal, but did say he likes where he is at.“I go to work happy every day, got great partners,” Connelly said. “It’s been awesome. Just keep trying to get better. At some point, we want to have this press conference after a (championship) parade … But it’s a great place to work. I just want to get better. It’s unfair to sit up here and be critical of players and how can we add. I need to do a better job for this organization.”Together, Connelly and Finch have ushered in an era of unprecedented success in Minnesota. Target Center is packed most nights after being empty not all that long ago. The Timberwolves have a young core of Edwards, McDaniels and Reid that has gotten better every season. They also have a 7-foot-4 mountain to climb if they want the good ol’ days to stay.“Our goal to start the season was to be a home playoff team. We weren’t,” Connelly said. “Our goal was to get further than we did last year. We didn’t. So those things kind of demand action, and we’ll see how those things take shape. We want to win more than we won this year.”Get ready for a busy summer.