Monthly Archives: October 2014

Forming Early Impressions of the 2014-15 Timberwolves

It was important to get a win last night. For one thing, the Wolves opened their season against at Memphis, where victory seemed nearly impossible and in fact the Wolves lost. They also have the Chicago Bulls coming to town on Saturday. Many expect Chicago to win this year’s East. Therefore, last night’s contest versus the Detroit Pistons was the only clear-cut winnable game of the first three.

For another thing, Flip Saunders and the Timberwolves were introducing their new players to the home crowd for the very first time. The #EyesOnTheRise crew and the entire roster were introduced out of the tunnel with a laser show and drum line. Clearly, Flip is channeling his inner 1970s Bill Musselman — a personal basketball mentor of his — in promoting this Wolves product with as much flair as he can get away with while also carrying out his duties as coach and front office boss.

So with these heightened stakes, the victory that the Wolves pulled out in the closing minutes of last night’s game — thanks to the huge run in the 3rd Quarter behind Pekovic’s work around the basket, and a string of Andrew Wiggins highlights — caused some excitement and perhaps some sense of relief. While the Wolves don’t — can’t — realistically expect to vie for a playoff spot, they do have hopes of being competitive. Beginning the season 0-2 with Chicago up next would’ve set things off on a shaky track.

The Pistons entirely closed what was a 19-point Wolves lead (70-51) when Caron Butler hit a three with 1:43 to play. Butler was out of his mind shooting the ball in the 2nd Half (finished with 24 points on 10-14 shooting) which led the Pistons comeback. But Thad Young immediately answered with his own three. From there, Mo Williams hit one more shot and the Wolves fouled Andre Drummond — a career 40% foul shooter — to help prevent anymore shooting silliness from Butler. A win was had.

It is difficult to watch this team right now and come away with conviction about much. There are just so many players who do so many different things; both good and bad. Flip played 11 different guys last night, and — in his postgame remarks — he naturally emphasized the struggle that he experiences trying to set a rotation that satisfies all of his players. He mentioned that Chase Budinger did not get into the game. He also mentioned that if they had lost the game, he would’ve second guessed himself for not subbing Wiggins back in to defend Caron Butler, who had heated up (putting it mildly). But as things played out, they hung on for the win and Flip was happy that Wiggins had left the game having played well, experiencing what Saunders referred to as “positive reinforcement.”

Last night’s game was not necessarily a pretty one. Both teams fouled too much. For the Wolves, Ricky Rubio and Mo Williams were reaching all night and combined for 10 fouls. For the Pistons, star center Andre Drummond had to check out in the 3rd Quarter having picked up his 4th foul. That one may have swung the game’s outcome. Drummond’s backup, Greg Monroe, was out serving a suspension.

Because there are so many players and so many different types of action with the Timberwolves in their season’s early moments, it’s almost easier to just rattle off the good and bad.

So here are a few things that I liked in last night’s game:

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Tonight’s loss at Memphis accentuated what many believe will be a season-long theme:

This Timberwolves team has a LOT of players.

Over the course of the season this will cause effects both positive and negative.

On the plus side, a deep rotation is insurance against injuries and excessive fatigue. If one player is struggling, maybe his replacement will get hot. There was some of this in tonight’s opening game.

On the negative side, it makes Flip Saunders’ job difficult. If certain players are taking over the game in the middle of the fourth quarter (all hypothetical of course:)) should he ride them to the finish? Or should he put the starters back in, with a predetermined plan to close with slightly-more savvy vets? There was also some of this in tonight’s game.

The game at Memphis was hard fought, with Memphis holding a single-digit lead, most of the way. Zach Randolph was a matchup nightmare for Thaddeus Young, who otherwise played fabulous basketball. Z-Bo finished with 25 points on 12-16 shooting, operating in the deep low post against Young. Thad had 26 of his own points, mixing square-up drives to the cup with perimeter jumpers and hustle-junk buckets around the hoop.

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On Monday night we previewed the whole league. Now, I’m back to preview the Timberwolves season (that begins tonight in Memphis) in more detail.

I thought it made sense to organize this by three categories:

* Things that I’m excited to see

* Things that worry me

* Things that I expect — or do not expect — to happen

Let’s dig in, shall we?

Anticipation & Excitement

* Player that I’m most excited to watch –> Ricky Rubio

I’m most excited to watch Ricky Rubio play this year, for reasons that I and many others have written about ad nauseam. With Rick Adelman and Kevin Love gone, the Wolves will run a lot more ball screen action with Rubio. Gone is the high post-centric “Corner Offense” that Adelman learned from Princeton legend Pete Carril. In its stead will be… well, we’re not exactly sure yet. But anything different should be an improvement for Rubio, who was a terrible Princeton fit. Since most NBA teams run a lot of high ball screen action, it’s reasonable to assume the Wolves will do that, too.

The hope is that Ricky will look like a more-skilled version of his rookie-year self. That guy was the league’s most entertaining player and had his team playing over .500 ball at the time of his injury. Sure, they had Love playing at a high level and producing more than Rubio. But if you remember, that was also before Pekovic broke out as a good center, and it was with the wing positions filled by Luke Ridnour, Wesley Johnson, Mike Beasley, and a hobbling Martell Webster. Ricky was the initiator of offense, and good enough to lead–sometimes carry–them with his playmaking. I’m hoping to see that player again this year.

* Player whose development I’m most interested in following –> Andrew Wiggins Continue reading →

For the second and final time, the 2014-15 Timberwolves played in front of their home crowd, in a game that did not actually matter. Like their first preseason home game, the Wolves were victorious; this time convincingly so. Anthony Bennett and Ricky Rubio led a balanced scoring attack in the Wolves 107-89 win over the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers sat David West and Rodney Stuckey, and are notoriously without Paul George for an extended period of time. The Wolves sat Andrew Wiggins with, as Flip Saunders described it, a swollen butt. “He has a third butt,” Saunders explained. Wiggins apparently fell on his rear end in the recent loss against the Bucks. He’s likely to sit out of tomorrow night’s game as well.

But even with those key absences, there were some interesting takeaways.

First and foremost was the play of Bennett. The 2013 number one pick continues to show promise. Tonight he scored 17 points on 7-9 shooting, along with 5 rebounds in just under 17 minutes of action. He scored in a variety of ways around the basket: a tip-in, a cutting finish off a Pekovic hand off, and three buckets in the 4th Quarter off of Mo Williams assists. Also, and less impressively, he (appeared to) accidentally bank in a long jumper from the wing in the first quarter.

In the early part of the game, Bennett looked a little bit anxious, and –aside from that accidental bank — he wisely went about setting screens to get comfortable. When he caught a pass at the top of the key, he quickly swung it around to the other wing. As the game went on, he sought out more scoring opportunities. His jumper comes quick off the catch, with a high release. While he is rapidly developing chemistry with Williams and the second unit, he could form a nice 1-4 pairing with Rubio as well.

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Grantland’s Zach Lowe, to Pacers Coach Frank Vogel: “Who dribbles the ball into the paint for your team? How are you guys going to create offense this year? That has to be a concern. Your two best off-the-dribble guys are gone, and Rodney Stuckey is on the team, George Hill is talking about taking an increased role, but you’ve gotta… and you can penetrate the defense with the pass, which you guys do with post-ups, and stuff, but you’ve gotta be a little bit concerned about, ‘How are we driving and kicking? How are we getting into the teeth of a defense?'”

Vogel: “If you bring two to the ball, if you screen appropriately, you bring two to the ball, and then you pass it, or you attack the help, I think anybody can get in the lane and we’ve got guys that are more than capable… George Hill, C.J. Watson at the point guard spot, are good penetrators. They can get in there off the bounce… Rodney Stuckey, that’s his specialty, and he’s gonna be a big-minutes guy for us this year. So he’ll be able to get in the lane, and then obviously you can attack with the pass. You know, bring two the ball, attack, draw help, share it, and then when you have a defense in rotation, you have them right where you want them, you can attack the paint at will. So it’s gonna be about bring two to the ball and forcing rotations to get where we want offensively, this year.”

Lowe: “So, pick-and-roll solves all problems. Screening solves all problems. You can generate it even if you don’t have a one-on-one…”

Vogel: “Well, we have to. And obviously for some teams, it’s easier. Some teams have players that can do it on their own. And some teams need to rely on ball movement, player movement, and screening, and that’s what we’re going to have to become.”

I had some scattered thoughts about last night’s preseason win over Philly when I listened to Lowe’s excellent podcast this morning. I thought it might help frame a discussion at a time when there are so many more questions than answers. The quoted back-and-forth gets to the heart of a fundamental challenge in basketball:

The offense trying to get defenders out of place, and the defense trying to stay true to its principles and prevent efficient shot attempts.

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The Timberwolves first preseason game could best be described as sloppy. This isn’t unexpected, given the fact that they were playing so many young guys. (Minutes for first and second-year players: Wiggins: 32; Dieng: 29; Muhammad: 25; LaVine: 25; Hummel: 23; Robinson III: 12; Heslip: 1.) But that excuse is partially removed by the fact that the starting unit — and some of the veteran players in particular — did not look good. They fell down by more than 20 at times, and ultimately lost 103-90.

Ricky Rubio’s unit looked out of sync for much of its time on the floor. Ricky shot 1-6 in 18 minutes. He had 4 assists and 3 turnovers and never had the space to operate that we would all hope to see, this year. Thaddeus Young came out hot and finished with a solid 12/4/2 in 18 of his own minutes, but was unable to stop the bleeding when the Pacers started to pour it on. Gorgui Dieng had 16 & 10 and looked very good at times, particularly in the second half. But the number one concern for him — his ability to hold his position on defense against big centers — was not put to rest by the way Roy Hibbert backed him down on the block in the first half.

The bright spot for the Timberwolves was Andrew Wiggins. The rookie looked more like a veteran than most of the veterans did. He put together an impressive stat line of 18 points (on 11 field goal attempts), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks, 1 steal and 0 turnovers in 32 minutes of action. Wiggins made multiple threes, and then made the rest of his living at the foul line, where he shot 8-10 for the game. Aggressive drives to the basket — even without the smoothest handle in the world — was my “thing I’d like to see” from Wiggins, in my last post. That’s what he delivered in Exhibition 1. At Kansas, despite some less-than-elite metrics, Wiggins shot 6.5 free throws per his 32.8 minutes per game. If that carries over quickly to the NBA, his transition will be made pretty easily.

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I don’t know if we’ll do any sort of formal “preview” of this upcoming Timberwolves and NBA season. We’ll probably come up with something, shortly before the regular season begins at the end of October. But for the next three weeks until that point comes, just about everything posted here can be considered previewy content.

Along those lines today, I felt like writing about each Timberwolves player and list one thing that I hope to see from him, this season. My only rule is that it has to be realistic. (No Pekovic 360 dunks, in other words, even though they would be cooler than anything that I list below.)

So with that for introduction, here goes, in reverse order of importance:

J.J. Barea: I’d like to see J.J. waived, bought out, traded for a future 2nd Rounder, or otherwise off of the roster, so that Glenn Robinson III can be one of the fifteen Timberwolves, this season. Barea has a place in the NBA, and that place is (Marcellus Wallace voice) “pretty f&*king far from” the role he would be asked to fill on this year’s Timberwolves roster; that being a mentor of young players who does not mind sitting out of games, sometimes in their entirety. So I would like the Wolves to get rid of J.J. (Sorry, @brianjacobson!) Continue reading →