MINNEAPOLIS -- The message to the Minnesota Timberwolves from the championship tier of the NBA has been delivered clearly and forcefully with their elimination from the playoffs three straight times: You're not there yet.
Nobody was listening more carefully than Tim Connelly.
"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 home-court playoff team, we're happy that our last three closeout games have been lopsided," the Timberwolves president of basketball operations said Tuesday during his season-ending news conference. "We have to be realistic about what we have, which is way more good than bad, but we know that we're not good enough right now."