Donte DiVincenzo gives amusingly blunt assessment of his season debut

When asked to assess his season debut against the Trail Blazers, Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo gave an amusing one-word answer: "Ass."

"But it's game one. There's a lot of games to get better from and watch the film and we're fine," he added . "We're ready for tonight."

DiVincenzo was moved into the starting lineup in place of Mike Conley for Wednesday's season opener in Portland. He began the game nicely, hitting a three and scoring on a breakway layup for the first two baskets of Minnesota's season.

And then it went downhill quickly. DiVincenzo made an ill-advised jump pass under the basket for a turnover. After a steal on the ensuing possession, his awkward inbounds pass for Rudy Gobert resulted in a second turnover in a 23-second span.

Conley came in for DiVincenzo with four minutes left in the opening quarter. Donte then re-entered the game to begin the second quarter — and his night got even worse. He had a lazy pass stolen by Matisse Thybulle. He got stripped by Jrue Holiday. He got the ball poked away from him in the backcourt by Blake Wesley, who pressed up on DiVincenzo as soon as he caught the inbounds pass. Having committed three more turnovers in a span of just over three minutes, he was pulled from the game, with Anthony Edwards coming back in earlier than Chris Finch perhaps hoped.

Early in the third quarter, DiVincenzo flat-out mishandled the ball while bringing it up the court, resulting in an uncontested breakaway dunk for Holiday. It was his sixth turnover — to go with seven points — in 20 minutes of action. With 7:30 left in the quarter, DiVincenzo took a seat on the bench and did not return to the game the rest of the way. Finch elected to go with reserve guard Bones Hyland in the fourth quarter, then closed the game with Terrence Shannon Jr. on the floor alongside the other four starters. Edwards played hero with 41 points, including 10 in clutch time, in a 118-114 win.

Donte DiVincenzo on the ground after an unforced turnover in Portland. | FanDuel Sports Network North

"Couple times, just trying to make a pass that wasn't there," Finch said of DiVincenzo afterwards. "They were up on him. We all gotta be a little cleaner with the ball there."

The good news, as DiVincenzo said, is that this was the first of 82 games. It's far too early to overreact. In 10 games as a starter last season, DiVincenzo averaged 14.6 points, 4.1 assists, and 2.1 turnovers per game while shooting 42.5 percent from deep on high volume. This was his 471st NBA game, playoffs included, and the first time he'd ever had six turnovers in a contest. It's worth noting that the Blazers might be one of the best, most tenacious defensive teams in the league this year.

At the same time, the reality is that DiVincenzo is a shooting guard who is capable of handling the ball when necessary. He's not a point guard. So if the Wolves are going to move forward with him in the starting lineup, we might see more of Edwards — or even Jaden McDaniels or Julius Randle — bringing the ball up the floor to initiate offense.

It'll be interesting to see how Finch handles Minnesota's glaring point guard question moving forward. On Wednesday, DiVincenzo played 20 minutes, Conley played 13, and Hyland played 8. Second-year PG Rob Dillingham did not see the floor.

DiVincenzo's first opportunity to bounce back comes on Friday night in Los Angeles. It's a 9:00 p.m. CT game between the 1-0 Timberwolves and the 0-1 Lakers, televised nationally on Prime Video. Kevin Harlan, Dwyane Wade, and Candace Parker will be on the call.

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