The Minnesota Timberwolves front office added several savvy veterans to their roster throughout the offseason, including Kyle Anderson, Austin Rivers, and Bryn Forbes. None of these veterans are big names, but they are all accomplished NBA journeymen ready to contribute to winning now and want to join a team that would allow them to play in the playoffs.
Chris Finch has expressed that he sees Jaylen Nowell as a big part of Minnesota’s young core along with Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, and thus we can assume that Nowell will have a chance to play big minutes throughout the season. However, adding the free agent veterans means that Nowell will have more competition for playing time. Thus, he will be more pressured to improve his game to earn his role on the team. Specifically, he will have to prove he deserves to be the first shooting guard off the bench over veterans Forbes and Rivers, who have proven to be solid rotation players on playoff teams.
Nowell is fully capable and perhaps likely to win this role early on in the season. He has much more potential for stardom at this point in his career than any of the veterans. Still, Nowell will have to turn that potential into positive play on the court to earn more minutes in an ultra-competitive NBA landscape that has more talent than playing time available. Thus, it seems important to look at the skill sets of Nowell’s competitors to see how he can set himself apart from the crowd and how the competition may help Nowell improve.
Nowell’s Competition
Forbes is an elite three-point shooter, having shot 41.3% for his career on an average of 4.2 attempts per game. In his peak season, when he won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, Forbes shot 45.2% from three on nearly 5 attempts per game. Unfortunately, Forbes is not a great defender. He’s also 6’2″, which is relatively short for a shooting guard. That has prevented him from getting the type of contract that shooters of his caliber, like Malik Beasley or Duncan Robinson, usually do. Regardless, Forbes will be a valuable rotation player for the Wolves, especially against teams like the Memphis Grizzlies or the Milwaukee Bucks. They like to pack the paint and dare opponents to beat them by shooting threes.
Rivers is a brilliant player who, as the son of NBA legend Doc Rivers, has been around professional basketball his entire life. While Austin doesn’t have one elite skill that sets him apart, he is a very versatile player. He has proven to be a solid defender, guarding Steph Curry in the playoffs last year with an injury-riddled Denver Nuggets team. At Timberwolves media day, Rivers pointed out that while he and Patrick Beverley are very different people, they both embody the same philosophies on the court. Namely, he brings intensity on defense every game and leads teammates by example.
Nowell’s defense is the primary thing he will have to improve to officially establish himself above Rivers and Forbes in the team’s rotations. Nowell is already a much more well-rounded offensive player than either Rivers or Forbes. Unlike the other two, Nowell can score efficiently at all three levels, make his own opportunities, and handle the ball well in pick-and-roll. Forbes may be a better three-point shooter, statistically. But he can’t take people off the dribble and finish acrobatically at the rim that Nowell does, which makes him more predictable for defenders to guard. Rivers is a similar level of athlete to Nowell, but he’s not as good of a pure shooter. That will give Nowell the initial advantage over his competitors.
We have seen Finch bench Nowell due to his lack of defensive ability, though. If he doesn’t improve his defense, that will likely happen again this season. Finch may want to give Rivers more minutes in games that require prioritizing defense. Or he could play him more all the time if Nowell’s defensive shortcomings outweigh his incredible offensive abilities. Similarly, Forbes could get the nod over Nowell as the scorer-off-the-bench if Nowell doesn’t establish himself as the clear better defender. They both provide valuable offensive skills, but if they have equal defensive abilities, Forbes may be the better option in situations where the Wolves need a floor-spacer to shoot threes as efficiently as possible.
Alternatively, Nowell could become such a good offensive player that they can’t justify taking him off the court. Nowell hit 39.4% of his three-point shots last year, up 6.1% from the previous year. If he can maintain that efficiency, or even improve it, there will be almost no reason to take him off the court in favor of Forbes. Additionally, suppose Nowell improves as a distributor and can run some bench units as the primary ball handler. In that case, we could see him become an elite 6th man who can cut into some backup minutes at the 1 added to his minutes at the 2.
Why Competition Is Important
There’s a ton of value in having veterans compete with young players for playing time. It provides them with mentors who can help improve their game in practices, and it also creates an environment that encourages them to work hard to improve because they know their minutes are not guaranteed. Of course, it’s not good to create a scarcity mentality. You want young players to develop their skills with the coaching staff and trainers and trust that they have the time to mold their game to an NBA level. However, you also don’t want players to get complacent and stop developing their skills. Competition can provide motivation, and that motivation can be important in pushing people to perform at the highest level.
For example, Andrew Wiggins seemed to become somewhat complacent on the Wolves after several years of uncompetitive basketball without many strong veteran leaders. However, after Minnesota traded Wiggins to the Golden State Warriors, a team full of strong veteran leadership, his game dramatically improved. Suddenly, he was doing in-game dirty work like boxing out and rebounding. Andre Iguodala seemed to have significantly influenced this change, pulling Wiggins aside during games to tell him to work harder and challenging him to use his natural talents to reach his full potential.
Whether or not the competition motivates Nowell, it will be exciting to watch him get the opportunity to take on a more significant role this year and showcase his skills. The Timberwolves now have the attention of the entire league. Suppose Nowell improves in the areas he needs to. In that case, he will embolden the team’s championship hopes, establish himself as a vital part of the Timberwolves core, and earn a sweet paycheck when he hits free agency at the end of the season.
