During my anticipation for the start of the NBA regular season in October, I wrote about how the Minnesota Timberwolves should resist trading for Philadelphia 76ers point forward Ben Simmons. My reasoning was simple: The team already possessed a defensive-minded 4. He had an above-average ability to rebound and could potentially excel offensively when positioned primarily in the dunker’s spot next to franchise center Karl-Anthony Towns.
That player I was speaking of was none other than Jarred Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt is having the best statistical year of his career. Averaging career highs in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks per game, Vando has more than proved to be an exceptional frontcourt partner for Towns. But individual stats of a player hardly tell the entire story of their team’s success. And with a subpar 12-15 record, Minnesota is on the verge of having another lottery-stricken offseason.
Vanderbilt has started 19 of Minnesota’s 27 regular-season games so far. The team’s record with Vanderbilt starting? 9-10.
Therefore, should Vanderbilt be Minnesota’s starting power forward indefinitely?
Look, I am a huge fan of everything that Vanderbilt offers. It is refreshing to see a player suited up in a Timberwolves uniform give a damn nearly every second that they are on the floor. He crashes the glass with purpose and defends like his life depends on it. But if Chris Finch continues to allow V8 to be the team’s starting power forward, he will have to sort out one glaring issue.
Coming into this season, I believed that the Timberwolves would have one of the best offensive ratings in the league. And with a starting lineup of three players who can take over a game at any given moment — D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Towns — it seemed reasonable to insert the ball-hawking Vanderbilt to help counter their lack of defensive efforts. But as the season moves further along, defense has not been the problem for this franchise.
It’s no secret that Vando’s game is far from complete. He’s a raw, athletic hustler who always seems ready to do whatever is needed of him to help secure his team a victory. But with his struggles to cleanly catch the ball, on top of a poor shooter’s touch from anywhere further than five feet from the rim, it’s not hard to see that V8’s horsepower seems to lose an immense amount of force when playing underneath his own team’s hoop.
Up until his last two games played, in which he notably shot 2-of-2 from three, Vanderbilt hadn’t precisely shown the aptitude to spread the floor for his teammates. And apart from keeping the offensive possession alive with his ability to rebound, Vando’s insufficient shooting isn’t exactly helping out Minnesota’s 24th-ranking offense. Vanderbilt sits 12th amongst all players in offensive rebounds per game with 3.0 per contest.
Until Vanderbilt becomes a somewhat reliable threat spotting up from three, teams will continue to utilize the “Utah Defense.” You know, the defense that teams such as the Los Angeles Clippers and, you guessed it, the Utah Jazz have used against Minnesota multiple times already this season. The opposing team’s center plays extended help defense, tasked with guarding Vanderbilt, a player not particularly known for providing efficient shooting from beyond the arc.
This allows the opposing defense to use their power forward, such as the Clippers’ Nicolas Batum or the Jazz’s Bojan Bogdanović on KAT. By doing so, Minnesota’s opponents force Towns to play 2-on-1 when posting up or attacking the rim. While Towns is being guarded by a power forward, the opponent’s actual center is lying in the weeds, ready to help their teammates prevent Towns from scoring close to the rim.
In most of the 19 games Vanderbilt has started, the team was without one if not both Russell and Patrick Beverley. Russell and Beverley have been some of the team’s biggest difference-makers this year. The Timberwolves are 7-2 when Finch and friends roll out the lineup of:
- G: D’Angelo Russell
- G: Patrick Beverley
- F: Anthony Edwards
- F: Jarred Vanderbilt
- C: Karl-Anthony Towns
Regardless of this lineup’s record thus far into the season, injuries to teams’ starting-caliber players are a regular occurrence. All five of these players cannot be expected to remain healthy until the end of the regular season — and, hopefully, the playoffs. This team can win more games than they lose with Vanderbilt as their primary option at the power forward. He brings the necessary passion and perseverance to help franchises win ball games.
However, if Vanderbilt’s recent perfect outings from three are nothing more than just a coincidence, this organization may need to pursue a 4 who can provide this team a bit more spacing on the court.
