The Minnesota Timberwolves have plenty of reason to run back the same roster after reaching the Western Conference finals for the second straight time.

But that was their initial assessment last year, too, before the big trade went down right before the beginning of training camp. Not many moves can be ruled out, particularly in this era of the NBA that never seems far from the next surprising swap involving star players.

"We feel very happy with the core we have. We don't feel like there's tremendous pressure to do much," president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said. "But until you're raising the trophy, you've got to be as active and as creative as possible to get to the point where you're the final team."

Connelly later added: "Those organizations that can show patience ten

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