With the preseason underway for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the countdown to the real thing has begun. To usher in the in the 2017-2018 season, there will be a breakdown of every position on the Timberwolves roster, along with a grade to see how the team stacks up on an in-depth scale.
However, these will not be the traditional positions that are listed on a roster sheet. Basketball is becoming more position-less by the year, and the previews here will adopt to that way of thinking. Instead of the traditional one through 5 positions, these previews will be broken into three main position groups: Ball handlers, wings and big men. We open with the ball handlers, or point guards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwGEE-d38Ic
Timberwolves Ball Handlers: Jeff Teague, Tyus Jones, Aaron Brooks, Melo Trimble
Point Guard Breakdown – The Timberwolves bringing in Teague after his down year with Indiana was one of the most underrated moves of the summer. On a roster with legitimate offensive talent, and Jimmy Butler now involved, adding a point guard that needs the ball in his hands and 15 shots a night would have put a wrench in the scheme. This is why Teague is perfect.
In his Atlanta days, Teague played with All-Star talent like Kyle Korver, Al Horford, and Paul Millsap. He knows how to get the ball to other stars and can be very productive off the ball. He averaged 1.7 steals and seven assists in 2014-2015, the year Hawks had 60 wins.
Even though he was primarily a distributor for those teams, he still averaged 15.9 points per game. He was able to get his, within the flow of the offense, all while making his teammates around him better. Teague should be a great point guard to compliment the team, however, the bench at the point is thin.
Tyus Jones is still developing as an NBA player, with his growth mildly stunted by sharing minutes last season with Kris Dunn and only averaging 13.9 minutes per game in his two seasons. While Teague is the plug and play guard, Jones is the engineer running the show. He’s good on the catch-and-shoot, but is most useful as a primary ball handler on the pick and roll. This is the season he needs to make the jump to the next level in growth and give the Timberwolves depth and versatility at point guard.
As far as the rest of the talent pool, Melo Trimble is a stash and develop project while Aaron Brooks is padding the bench depth.
It could be argued Trimble stuck at Maryland too long. Following up a solid sophomore run where he averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 assists per game, his junior year took a hit. While he was a better scorer at 16.8 points, the offense was no longer run through him after some questionable decisions as the primary ball handler. This was not a great look for the star Maryland guard, which led to his falling out of a stacked draft. He has potential, and is a good shooter, but needs to work on his court vision to keep from dribbling himself into turnovers.
As for Brooks, he is there as a veteran to help guide the young talent, and is good enough to put legitimate pressure on Jones to step up his game this season. As of right now, it doesn’t seem as though there is a battle for the backup job, but Brooks – a former Most Improved Player winner – has the chops to make it interesting.
Overall: While these players fall in the ball handler criteria, most of them have no trouble playing off the ball. The offense should be able to run through the point guard, but this team is full of distributors and shot-creators at several positions. As we breakdown each group of players on the roster, you will find the real strength in the Timberwolves is the players’ diversity of skill to mold into a situation – not position – playing where they are needed, when they are needed.
Grade: A
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