2017–18 NBA Season Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves
This offseason was a franchise-altering one for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They brought in an All-Star in Jimmy Butler via a draft day trade, finally moved on from longtime Point Guard Ricky Rubio, and signed his replacement to a big deal.
Offseason Moves
Re-signed: none
Added: Jimmy Butler (Trade), Justin Patton (Draft), Jeff Teague (Free Agency), Taj Gibson (Free Agency), Jamal Crawford (Free Agency)
Lost: Zach Lavine (Trade), Kris Dunn (Trade), Ricky Rubio (Trade), Omri Casspi (Free Agency), Brandon Rush (Free Agency), Adreian Payne (Free Agency), Shabazz Muhammad (Free Agency), Jordan Hill (Waived)
As you can see, the Wolves made some pretty drastic changes to their team this summer. And while flipping Lavine, Dunn and the seventh pick in exchange for Butler and the 16th pick was a no-brainer, what started off as a great offseason quickly became less successful. The Wolves made a few very notable signings, but they weren’t necessarily the right fits.
First off, replacing Ricky Rubio with Jeff Teague- Teague is a good player, but they should have gone after George Hill instead. Hill is a better shooter, a much better defender, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands to succeed. Teague is by no means a bad fit with the rest of the Wolves roster, but he isn’t a good one.
Taj Gibson is very good at rebounding and defending inside, but he is basically a non-factor on the offensive end, which is going to make life much more difficult for Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler, two wings who aren’t above-average shooters.
The Jamal Crawford signing seems to be universally appreciated, but take a look at the numbers — Crawford hasn’t shot above 41% from the field in five years. People remember what he used to be — a fantastic scorer — and overrate him now. Unfortunately, he isn’t anything close to the player he once was. If he can provide a spark for very brief periods of time he can be valuable, but he’s been a remarkably inefficient player for a while now.
The Key to Their Success
The key to Minnesota’s success isn’t hard to figure out when looking at the roster: shooting. Karl Anthony-Towns is the only player in their projected starting five who is an above-average shooter for their position. Teague is a fine shooter, Wiggins and Butler still aren’t good shooters, and Gibson can’t shoot at all. But if the trio of Teague, Wiggins and Butler all make major improvements when it comes to shooting from beyond the arc, this can be a scary team.
Player to Watch
This year is huge for Andrew Wiggins. He needs to show major improvement, specifically on defense. He came into the league billed as a supreme athlete with enormous upside on the defensive end. But his defensive production has been awful thus far. His shot does need work, yes, but his defense is most important. If he can’t become a good defender this season, it will be time for Wolves fans to be concerned.
Best and Worst Case Scenarios
Best case: Wiggins makes a huge jump on both sides of the ball, Towns becomes a better rim protecter, Teague and Gibson fill their roles perfectly, Butler plays like a superstar, and the Wolves make the Western Conference Finals.
Worst case: The lack of shooting causes serious problems, the team can’t defend well, and they end up just sneaking into the playoffs and becoming a round one exit.
Predicting Their Fate
The Wolves roster struggles to gel at first due to the lack of shooting, but they get it together and comfortably make the playoffs, possibly winning a playoff series.
