Timberwolves mid-season report
Las Vegas sports books set the Minnesota Timberwolves over/under season win total at 41.5. The T-Wolves are falling woefully short of that clip as they reached the halfway mark of the NBA season with a record of 14 wins and 27 losses.
Is it possible for the Timberwolves to be better NOW? Are they in touch with reality? Who are the five most efficient at each position? And, which players have defensive ratings better than the team defrtg? These are the questions we will answer in our Hoop Obsession mid-season report.
Karl-Anthony Towns is a superstar in the making.
New coach and GM, Tom Thibadeau is trying to figure out how to win with three 21 year-olds that play the most minutes. While some would think the T-Wolves are grossly under achieving, we think they are among the few teams that are doing a rebuild correctly.
Winning in the NBA is not likely without experience. In Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota has three palyers who just this year became eligible to play Blackjack in Las Vegas.
Towns, and LaVine are ahead of schedule in our opinion. Wiggins is continuing to make strides but his present overall efficiency per-minute rivals other small forwards in the NBA with names like: Maurice Harkless, Joe Ingles, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas.
One way Minnesota could be better is to find an efficient stretch four. Gorgui Dieng (31.6% 3-pt.), is not accurate enough as a deep shooter to have the respect of the opposing defense.
Nemanja Bjelica continues to improve and a team could do much worse than having him out there as their stretch four. But Bjelica is not quite starter material in the NBA yet.
Are the T-Wolves in touch with their reality?
Yes. Another year in the lottery is only likely to strengthen Minnesota for the long term. They have their own first round pick in the 2017 NBA Draft but their second round pick is headed to Boston.
The T-Wolves have three point guards that are serviceable. Perhaps a tweak via trade of one of the three could speed up the process toward winning. Tyus Jones is slightly more efficient than Ricky Rubio but Rubio is the better defender among the two. Kris Dunn, a 22 year-old rookie, is the least efficient of the three presently but he is by far the best defender.
Five most efficient by position
PG - Tyus Jones .475, SG - Zach LaVine .450, SF - Andrew Wiggins .420, *PF - Gorgui Dieng .496, C Karl-Anthony Towns .737
* Dieng does not shoot the three-ball well enough (31% 3-pt. FG) to be a modern-day NBA four. Dieng is more of a pivot.
Which players have defensive ratings better than the team defrtg? (players w/ 300 minutes played minimum)
The T-Wolves TEAM defensive rating is 109.8 (23rd of 30). The players with defensive ratings better than the team average: Cole Aldrich 104, Karl-Anthony Towns 107, Kris Dunn 107, Gorgui Dieng 108,
Conclusions
- Minnesota needs to continue to be patient.
- Trading one of their point guards makes sense.
NBA related. Trade targets.
- Zach LaVine will become a free agent at the end of the 2017-18 season. He is making peanuts by NBA standards ($2.2 million this year, $3.2 million next year). It seems very unlikely that Minnesota would want to part with LaVine but that is a guy all teams should be trying to get.