2017–18 NBA Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves
Amidst the howling of the infernal and biting winds of the unholy winter that descends upon the upper Midwest each winter, enshrouding it in the blackest of darkness, can be heard the single most guttural shriek of the sleepless wraith, the master of the Minnesota Timberwolves — the hellish cries are those of Tom Thibodeau.
The lord of all crushing, northern basketball darkness prowls his sideline, ever watchful, ever demanding.
It has been said that when J.R.R. Tolkein wrote The Lord of the Rings, he was inspired to write about the Uruk-hai and their master only after watching practice film of Thibodeau barking at the musclebound Wolf known as Jimmy Butler.
Black metal. Winter. Basketball. These are all things that are embraced in Minnesota (and Wisconsin).
If you think the analogies are a bit all over the shop, you’re right. It’s also fitting. Thibodeau is entering his second season in charge and his team is mostly inherited and full of young players that are still defining themselves and what kind of players they will become.
Andrew Wiggins still isn’t anywhere near the player that a lot of people think he could be on either end of the floor, but particularly on defense.
Karl-Anthony Towns is an amazing player, both younger and healthier than the hyped Joel Embiid. He has been all the things that it was hoped Wiggins would be since his first day on the team, but in his second season, it wasn’t a step forward, more of a sophomore slump. Are the Tim Duncan comparisons accurate or is he just not that player?
Towns is likely that player, and Wiggins is probably set to take strides to become a more complete player under the demanding, watchful eye of Thibodeau.
There are some players that are gone, too.
Out is Ricky Rubio, sent to the Utah Jazz. Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn are out, both shipped to the most unlikely of places — the Chicago Bulls. Yes, the most trve, most cvlt coach in the entire NBA assailed his former team with an unrelenting and merciless blast beat of trades, pummeling the small brains of Gar Forman and John Paxson until they thought it was a good idea to trade Jimmy Butler for LaVine, Dunn and the distinguished honor of drafting a young man who has back spasms. It may not be a church, but in this trade Thibs might just as well have burned the House that Michael Built right to the ground.
To achieve true brutality, Thibs acquired Butler, one of the 15 best players in the NBA last season who dragged the equivalent of a 10-win team into the playoffs and two wins over the №1 seed Boston Celtics. He also went out and got Taj Gibson. Thibs must truly wish to bathe in the great biting teeth of Minnesota’s winter winds. If he adds Kirk Hinrich at any point, it’s safe to assume the Thibs will transform into full wraith and release two cassettes of pulverizing, shrill unholy noise (music) before ending up in jail for being too evil and loving winter too much.
A lot of people thought that adding a new coach was going to be enough to push the Timberwolves into the upper tier of the Western Conference. That was far from the truth. Minnesota finished the season 31–51 and that wasn’t good enough. Not for fans to stay excited, not for Thibodeau to be patient. The hype is real again this season. With the additions of Butler and Gibson, who has been hitting corner 3-pointers this preseason, two players who already understand playing under the demanding, ever-pacing coach will join his Wolves project.
Floor spacing is the one glaring weakness. In the modern NBA, they don’t have anything to make teams spread out their defenses. That’s probably the defense for why the angel that is Rubio was sent away. Despite being an elite passer, and a positive presence, standing like a lone church bell in the frozen tundric winds in the north, Ricky was a poor shooter, despite his best efforts. By replacing him with a shooting point guard in Jeff Teague, they take away some facilitation, but try to create more scoring in the backcourt that takes some of the defensive focus away from Towns and Wiggins. That might be enough to help trigger growth.
Minnesota’s over-under is 48.5 this season. That’s a staggering 17.5 wins more than they achieved last year. I love their new jerseys, I love Butler, I love Towns, but 17 (or 18) wins is a lot of wins. The Timberwolves have the longest playoff drought in the entire league — 13 seasons — and that should end this year. I’d be more comfortable saying that they get over .500 this year, but would stop short of saying that 49–50 wins is likely.
There are several things you can count on from Minnesota: Cold winters, basketball, and hopefully they can add winning to that list so Thibs can finally rest.
