Anthony Edwards calls Minnesota Timberwolves 'soft' as struggles pile up

As the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to head into a downward spiral, Anthony Edwards calls out the team.

Just a few months ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves were considered one of the best young teams in the league. Led by Anthony Edwards, the Wolves were in the Western Conference Finals just last season. Looking to build off that postseason success, hope was at an all-time high for the franchise. However, over the past few months, that has quickly waned. It all started with an odd last-minute blockbuster trade of Karl-Anthony Towns and has continued into the season as the team continues to struggle to find an identity.

From opening night, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, nothing has looked quite right for the Timberwolves. All season long they've been pretty inconsistent and it seems that the struggles are hitting an all-time low with the way the team has performed over the last few weeks. In their last nine games, the Timberwolves are just 2-7 and have one of the worst offenses in the league over that span.

It's gotten to the point where Edwards (and probably much of the team) is fed up with the struggles. After the team's most recent loss, Edwards didn't hold back on the internal criticism, stating that the Timberwolves were "soft" and that they had to figure things out quickly.

"We soft as hell as a team, internally. Not to the other team, but internally, we soft. We can’t talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids. Just like we playing with a bunch of little kids. Everybody, the whole team. We just can’t talk to each other. And we’ve got to figure it out because we can’t go down this road."

- Anthony Edwards

The Minnesota Timberwolves and their struggles

It's hard to pinpoint where it all started going downhill for the Timberwolves. But if there's one biggest issue from last year to this season, it's probably the drop that this team has had on the defensive end of the floor. A huge part of the Timberwolves' success from a year ago was the fact that they led the league in defense. They were a dominant team on that end of the floor.

So far this season, that hasn't been the case. The Timberwolves went from being an elite defensive team to an average one, at best. I'm not exactly sure if that changed with the departure of KAT but there's at least something to that. It may not even be from a pure defensive talent standpoint. There's a scenario in which the lack of cohesiveness could be hurting the team's overall defense.

Then again, with the way Edwards criticized the team after their most recent loss, there could be another layer that the outside world doesn't even know about taking place inside that locker room. Either way, one thing is clear - the Timberwolves are teetering on disaster. Edwards has now put a voice to it.