Each NBA team handles the preseason differently. Teams that have been together a while – the Spurs and the Warriors, for example – use the preseason as nothing more than a tuneup; a way to get their legs back under them.
This Timberwolves need the preseason for more than that. They return with a decent haul of last year’s roster, but the top-to-bottom changes made are too drastic to even take exhibition basketball lightly.
Thankfully, Tom Thibodeau is just the coach for that type of mindset. The man who is adding an intrasquad scrimmage, with full NBA quarters and rules, knows the importance of preparing for the season. When considering where they’re coming from, it makes even more sense.
Even if the roster turnover wasn’t top-heavy and extreme, the Timberwolves won just 31 games last season. Every step towards improvement in October should matter on that fact alone.
Adding three new starters, a couple new bench pieces, and a new superstar to the fold is going to bring growing pains, no matter how good the team looks on paper.
The question marks will be there for the Wolves, and the preseason is part of getting those questions answered quickly.
While on-court success is the top priority, getting the team out of Minnesota seemed to be one of Tom Thibodeau’s top musts when getting this new core together.
“We have been trying different things during our training camp in San Diego,” Thibodeau said during a conference call with Chinese media, as reported by ESPN. “We have a lot of new faces. The two games in China are a team bonding opportunity for us, and players will get to know each other more.”
As Thibodeau mentions, the Wolves spent their training camp in San Diego, played a preseason game in Anaheim, then spent the last week in China, where they played two more exhibition contests.
Training camp mostly keeps its doors closed, but the preseason gave viewers plenty of screen time of this new-look roster. The fun of a couple wins in a row was halted by a brutal loss in Shanghai by the defending champion Warriors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQvI6WZRBMk
Much of what we’ve seen so far is to be expected. Jimmy Butler, who never saw the floor for more than 28 minutes, has looked like a natural floor leader for this team.
Minute distribution was similar for budding stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, who had moments of both stardom and youth show up, often simultaneously. When the regular season hits, keeping the three of them out of the top 10 in minutes per game will be a challenge, but the critics will be silenced if they gel.
The three of them will require time to gain a real chemistry, but some of it is there already, at least offensively. Andrew Wiggins – who led the team in scoring in the final game of the preseason – has improved on cutting to the basket in each of his three years in the league.
He’s brand new to having Jimmy Butler as a teammate, but that cutting ability has made that arrangement easier initially. Butler has managed to find his young teammate on the cut more than once already, making for a potentially fun two-man game when they get really comfortable.
Butler’s ascension into NBA stardom has been a slow, steady one, and playmaking like this was the last step in his inauguration process. He led the Wolves in assists in the final game against the Warriors, all while dropping 15 points on 6 shots in just 28 minutes.
Towns has been the most overtly aggressive of the trio, taking more isolation plays than the other three in the small sample size. To be fair, this is probably for the best. Taking his man off the dribble often eliminates the opponent’s best rim protector, and KAT’s guard-like speed and handle disrupt the defense more than anyone else on the roster.
The three stars are good enough to figure out how to play together as it best fits them. Getting past the team’s star core is where it gets confusing.
Coming into the season, spacing was one of the biggest fears regarding the starting lineup. Is it possible Taj Gibson could help eradicate those fears?
The scrappy power forward, with 4 career threes to his name, hit three of them in three preseason games, and was fouled shooting an additional one. Time will tell if this can be a consistent look for him, but he looks comfortable right now.
This wasn’t even a thought for media members, who didn’t even think to ask Gibson about his perimeter shooting aspirations at media day. But as October has settled in, the idea of a Taj Gibson deep ball shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone anymore.
Other players showed individual prowess at different points in the preseason: Jeff Teague looked great in the first game, as did Shabazz Muhammad. Gorgui Dieng looked excellent in the second game, while Nemanja Bjelica had nice moments in the preseason’s closer. Even the training camp bodies – Melo Trimble, Amile Jefferson – got their chance to play in the final game.
Often times, individual success is all that gets recognized in the preseason. That’s because it’s hard to quantify success of a team in a game where the final score doesn’t truly matter.
A few things can be said about the team as a whole, though:
- They aren’t ready to compete for 48 minutes with the big dogs, yet. They handled the Lakers, yes. That is a team they should beat. They did their jobs there. Seeing how they do against inferior talent going forward will still be something to watch, but they’re off to a good start.
- But like any team with playoff hopes, it’s the title contenders they need to be worried about. They beat the Warriors in the first game, but the grudge match – where they outscored the Wolves 106-66 in quarters 2 through 4 – was a taste of what the Warriors can do when they turn it on. Of course, there’s no reason why they can’t beat some studs this season, but it’s going be tough right away.
- The bench will likely impress as often as it will disappoint. Gorgui Dieng will bring consistency off the bench, but past that, it’s up in the air. Between Jamal Crawford, Shabazz Muhammad, and Nemanja Bjelica, there is high potential for good scoring punch and high energy. But the odds of team implosion are at a similar percentage, if not higher.
- Tom Thibodeau will yell things like “ICE!” at various points in the game.
It’s hard to say how this team will start the season (we’ll have a season preview up in the coming days). Two of their first three games are against assumed top 4 teams in the West – San Antonio and Oklahoma City – on the road. It’s not going to be easy.
The hyperbole is coming. There will be horrible growing pains, and there will be moments where fans will wonder how many titles this team will rack up. But if the preseason has taught us anything, it’s that this team has something brewing, but needs time.
As long as they know their time is limited, that should be okay.
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