A season ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves experienced a season with many ups and, even more often, many downs.
Minnesota was one of the youngest teams in the NBA. And while it’s not a great excuse, you anticipate some of those bumps in the road occurring when the roster is filled with guys in their early 20s.
That frustrating learning curve that the young Wolves presented sparked Tom Thibodeau to go out and make some moves entering his second season at the helm of the Wolves. Adding the veteran likes of (now MVP candidate) Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford, Minnesota hoped it could try and speed up that learning process for its youth.
After shipping out Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn to Chicago in exchange for Butler, two main pieces remain within the Wolves’ youth movement: Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Tyus Jones could be thrown in as another in that group, having been a pleasant surprise this season for Minnesota.
While things started off a bit slow this season, with Wiggins and Towns noticeably struggling in areas we’ve seen before and carrying many of those inconsistent tendencies over from last year, everything seems to be starting to come together for the young guys in Minnesota.
It’s safe to say that the Wolves’ youth is finally starting to grow up. And that progress has and will continue to benefit Minnesota in many ways.
“Those guys … They’ve sacrificed, but they’ve made it better for everyone,” Thibodeau said in his postgame press conference following Minnesota’s win over Oklahoma City on Jan. 10. “Winning is the most important statistic. And they are impacting winning now.”
Andrew Wiggins getting back on track
For about as long as Wiggins has been in the league, he’s been credited for his offensive abilities.
Whether that includes creating his shot in ways that not many players are able to or being the Wolves’ primary go-to scoring threat for the first three years of his career, offense is an area Wiggins hasn’t had to worry about.
That was until about a month into this season, where he hit a serious slump and those struggles became very obvious early on. His defense was starting to come around, but the offense wasn’t consistently there, something we’ve never really seen from the fourth-year wing.
“His skillset is so desirable and rare, but I didn’t know two years ago who Wiggins will be as a player and I still don’t know now,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst told Zone Coverage. “Andrew Wiggins is a challenging player to judge.”
In the first 30 games of the season, Wiggins’ shooting percentage hovered around 40 percent, while also tallying career-worsts in 3-point percentage (29.4 percent) and free throw percentage (63 percent).
When Butler arrived in Minnesota, Wiggins knew he was getting pushed to the third option, thus sacrifices would need to be made and statistics would take a hit. But these struggles weren’t about taking a back seat to Butler and Towns. Something mechanically was up with Wiggins and, in return, his shot and his performances displayed that.
The video below is an example of a quick dribble pull-up jumper that we’ve seen Wiggins hit hundreds of times. But in this case, his form and really his shot in general just looked out of funk.
Around Christmas, though, most notably during Minnesota’s game against Phoenix on Dec. 23, Wiggins seemed to find his game again. Along with his improved defense, he was making shots he normally makes, looking to have also regained his confidence.
“Andrew is really doing a lot of things out there for us,” Thibodeau said following Minnesota’s blowout win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 8. “His rebounding has improved, his playmaking, his scoring, the energy, he’s doing a lot of really good things. That’s been key for us.”
A big reason for his recent improvement is Wiggins’ quick starts in opening each half. Wiggins is one of the only players on Minnesota’s roster to play basically the entirety of the first and third quarters. And, in return, his numbers are great in those two quarters.
Wiggins currently leads the team in first- and third-quarter scoring, combining to average 11.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.9 steals in 23.5 minutes in those two quarters. He’s recording 66 percent of his scoring and 65 percent of his playing time in those quarters alone.
|
Quarter |
Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals |
|
First |
11.9 | 6.0 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
|
Second |
6.0 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
0.2 |
|
Third |
11.6 | 5.7 | 1.5 | 0.6 |
0.4 |
| Fourth | 6.5 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
0.1 |
In the last 15 games, that trend has continued, as Wiggins is averaging a combined 12.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 steals in those two quarters. Most notably, his 3-point shooting has jumped from 29.4 percent in the first 30 games, to 37.9 percent in the last 15 games.
Whether the Wolves have figured out how to better incorporate Wiggins into the rotation or the wing is just taking advantage of opportunities early on in the half, Wiggins appears to have figured things out after going through a long slump. And that’s nothing but good news for Minnesota.
“The scoring has always been there, he’s a very gifted scorer. It’s all the other things that are starting to come,” Thibodeau said. “He’s doing a lot of things that are impacting winning. That’s the most important thing.”
Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive turnaround
Much like Wiggins, the adjustment of the offseason additions impacted Towns in ways that the big man probably wasn’t prepared for.
As someone who was the primary target on the Wolves a year ago, it took some time to co-exist with almost an entirely new starting lineup this season.
The biggest blemish in Towns’ game was constant to start the year, something that everyone expected to improve almost immediately under Thibodeau: his defense.
Really for his entire NBA career to this point, Towns has struggled in that side of the ball, and that continued to be the case even with the additions of defensive-dominant players such as Butler and Gibson.
The offensive numbers have always been there for Towns, which is just one of the things that makes him so valuable on the floor. But early on in the season, he became a liability on defense and it didn’t look like it was improving, often looking lost in rotations and allowing easy buckets at or near the rim.
But, much like Wiggins, Towns has turned things around this season. Most importantly on defense, as our guy, Tim Faklis, recently wrote about. In fact, his defensive numbers have improved every month this season, getting him to the point where he is recording the best defensive statistics of his career.
|
Month |
Minutes | Def. rating | Net rating |
|
Oct. (7 games) |
34.9 | 115.6 |
-1.4 |
|
Nov. (15 games) |
34.1 | 106.4 |
0.8 |
|
Dec. (15 games) |
38.0 | 104.5 |
12.3 |
| Jan. (11 games) | 35.0 | 100.8 |
15.9 |
“For the Wolves to reach their potential, they need Towns to be an All-Star,” ESPN writer Brian Windhorst said in a phone interview. “Karl is a great player, but that guy needs to be an MVP candidate.”
There’s a lot of season left to play and as we’ve seen already this season, slumps happen and things can change quickly in the NBA, for better and for worse.
But what the Wolves have been able to do as of late is impressive. They head into Monday’s Western Conference contest against the Los Angeles Clippers as one of the top teams in the league over the past month or so, having won in six of their last eight and 14 of their last 20 games.
And perhaps what has been more important during that stretch and is adding to the success is that Minnesota’s youth, led by Wiggins and Towns, is growing up before our eyes.
“Karl has really grown and is playing some good defense and Andrew is really coming on also. When your young guys develop and get better, it helps everybody,” Thibodeau said after Minnesota’s win over OKC on Jan. 10. “The young guys, if they keep working the way they are working, they are going to continue to get better and better.”
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