Timberwolves’ Josh Minott finds success by overcoming his fear of failure

CHICAGO – One reason the Timberwolves made the trade to send Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks was to make them deeper with the addition of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

That move had ripple effects up and down the roster. Since the Wolves added two players to their rotation in exchange for one, those on the fringes of receiving playing time likely saw their chances of minutes decrease.

But the handful of Wolves preseason games clarified that if one team member might emerge from the end of the bench to playing time, it’s likely third-year forward Josh Minott. The second-round pick from the 2022 draft has played in 47 games in his career, but with an impressive summer he has pushed coach Chris Finch to consider him for the first regular playing time of his career.

With Naz Reid out because of a shoulder impingement — Finch said the injury was not serious and that the team rested Reid out of caution — Minott came off the bench as the Wolves’ presumed starting lineup took the floor for the first time in Minnesota’s 125-123 preseason loss to the Bulls on Wednesday. He got run with the second unit as he has throughout the preseason, entering the game ahead of veteran Joe Ingles and scoring 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting that included making three of four three-pointers.

Minott credits his growth this summer to a new attitude: He has learned to live with failure, to live with missing shots. That has freed his mind and his game.

“I’d probably say three-fourths into last year I switched my mental. I used to fear a lot,” Minott said. “Coming into the league, I was scared of messing up, scared of making mistakes. I wanted to be the perfect player. I wanted to impress the coach and all this other stuff. And now it’s just like not only was that not healthy mentally but it wasn’t helping me to stress like that.”

Finch said Minott has been “connective tissue” for the Wolves on offense. That means he has done the little things well, spacing the floor, knowing when to cut, how to play without the ball in his hands. He’s also adept at rebounding on both ends.

“He’s always been a bit of an X-factor,” Finch said. “You throw him in the game, he’ll get a steal, get a lob in transition, he’ll get an offensive rebound. He has this knack of like, something happens around him, sometimes it was bad and sometimes it was good, and now it’s more good than bad.”

Minott averaged 13.3 points in three preseason games before Wednesday and was shooting 50% from three-point range entering the game. His new mental approach has enabled his shot to look better than it ever has.

“Most importantly, it’s my mentality. I don’t even care about missing anymore,” Minott said. “It’s not something I fear. I used to fear, ‘Oh, if I miss this shot, then this domino effect happens.’ Or, ‘Oh, I’m going to hurt the team.’ Now it’s like, every time I shoot the ball, it’s one of two things — I’m going to make it or miss it. I don’t really care too much. And when I stop caring, it goes in.”

This also became apparent to Finch, who raved about how Minott was developing over the summer.

“Not living and dying with all the results of every play out there, it just kind of tempered his emotions a bit,” Finch said. “It was probably most kind of obvious in his shot. His shot looks good. He’s making it at a high level. He’s taking it with no hesitation.”

When asked how he dealt with bench duty for most of the first two seasons of his NBA career, Minott smiled and said, “Hakuna matata.” No worries has been Minott’s motto, and now that he’s stopped worrying so much about it, significant playing time has never been closer. Just how much of it will there be once the season begins Tuesday?

“Just staying patient, staying ready. Whatever’s supposed to happen will happen,” Minott said. “Trusting in God’s plan. It hasn’t led me astray yet.”