Wheeler-dealer Tim Connelly has made Timberwolves not just successful but fascinating

“Carpe Diem Tim” is becoming the most interesting man in Minnesota.

Tim Connelly, the Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations, isn’t pushing all of his chips to the center of the table — he’s buying the table and repurposing it for roulette.

Connelly has run three drafts for the Wolves, and has made trades in each, one of which set up his megadeal for center Rudy Gobert.

For Connelly, impatience is a virtue.

He took over a team that had made the playoffs and immediately reconstructed it. He took his team to the Western Conference finals, then entered an offseason in which he would be able to do little maneuvering because of the salary cap and luxury tax.

Or that’s what we thought, until he made another bold move, trading future draft considerations for the eighth pick in the draft.

With that pick, Connelly chose Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham. With the 27th pick, he chose Illinois scorer Terrence Shannon, Jr.

The Wolves had two obvious needs entering the draft — a backup point guard who could score and an offensive-minded wing. Connelly got them both without trading away a key player.

Matt Lloyd, the Wolves senior vice president of basketball operations, called Connelly’s moves “savagery.” He compared Connelly’s ability to gather information to the famous meme from the movie “A Beautiful Mind.”

Lloyd even said Connelly’s moves in this draft will create a template for cash-strapped teams trying to improve without adding salary or free agents.

“The guy was a complete monster the last few days, putting us in a position to add to the team with limited resources,” Lloyd said.

With his top seven or eight players returning, Connelly could have slept through this draft and hoped Anthony Edwards’ maturation process and team cohesiveness would improve the Wolves.

Think about all the times the general manager of your favorite team has adopted waiting and hoping as their core philosophy. Sometimes that even works. The Vikings have had Randy Moss, Percy Harvin, Stefon Diggs and Justin Jefferson fall to them in the draft.

Why is Connelly so comfortable with risk? In his words, the Wolves are at the “big boy” table and should do everything they can to win a title with their current roster.

He’s right.

Shortly after his trade for Gobert, a high-ranking team executive explained the Wolves’ aggressiveness succinctly, saying, “It’s time.”

Connelly’s approach is that simple, even if executing such a plan is difficult.

He could have been satisfied with slow, incremental growth and kept players like Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. Instead, he built a team to complement star Anthony Edwards — a team that could lead the league in defensive rating.

Now he’s adding offense.

What makes Connelly interesting beyond his methodology is his personality. He likes beer. He calls himself a low-key foodie, meaning he craves comfort food more than foie gras.

He’s incessantly social, gathering peers and employees for outings or inviting them to his house. During two playoff series against the Nuggets the last two years, he constantly sought out Nuggets employees who used to work for him.

Connelly runs a table tennis charity event to raise funds for worthy causes. Last year’s recipient was Project for Pride in Living.

The longer he stays, the more open, blunt and funny he becomes in interviews, needling beat writers and himself.

We’ve had a few down-to-earth, gregarious, relaxed sports bosses in town in recent years. Former Vikings general manager Jeff Diamond once invited me to his house for dinner to resolve our philosophical differences. Terry Ryan and Flip Saunders set industry standards for accessibility and humility.

Connelly and Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey have become friends, and they’re reminiscent of Saunders and Ryan in gregariousness, if not approach.

If he keeps wheeling, dealing and winning, Carpe Diem Tim has a chance to become a modern-day folk hero around here.