Jarred Vanderbilt began his fourth season in the NBA on an absolute heater. Before he turned 23, Vando had already dunked on the local media, starred in a commercial, been compared to Dennis Rodman by everyone on basketball Twitter, and anchored a top-10 defense with a real chance to get consideration for an all-defensive team. He and Patrick Beverley were the engines that drove the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defensive resurgence this season.
However, all great things have an expiration date, especially in professional sports. V8 hasn’t been his usual energetic self down the stretch, and the Timberwolves have suffered due to his struggles. With one game left in the regular season and a date with the Los Angeles Clippers in the play-in tournament, Vanderbilt and the Wolves need to regain their spark to finish off a successful season.
Vanderbilt was legitimately on an All-Defensive trajectory at the beginning of the season. He was a heat-seeking missile wreaking havoc on opposing players. Not only was Vando among the leaders in several hustle stats, and he was also one of the most versatile defenders in the league, with the ability to attack ballhandlers at the point of attack and scramble back to the paint to protect the rim. At 6’9” and a wiry 214 lbs., Vanderbilt was the power forward the Timberwolves have been looking for for years. He can lock up 1-4 on the court and has enough skill on offense to run the break and finish cuts at the rim.
Before the All-Star break, Vanderbilt averaged 7.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and one block per game. The Timberwolves were figuring out what it’s like being a defense-first team for the first time in 18 years, and things were copasetic in Minneapolis. Even though the Wolves went on a major run after the All-Star break, Vanderbilt has faded into the background. His once-stellar play has tailed off recently.
Vanderbilt is down to just seven rebounds, one steal, and 0.4 blocks per game in his last 10 contests. Consequently, the Wolves were a meager 5-5 in those games, and their defense fell off dramatically, ranking 24th in that span. Vanderbilt’s biggest attribute, his rebounding, dropped off from an 18.1 percent rebound rate to 14.6 percent in the last 10 games. It doesn’t seem like a massive drop-off, but his biggest attribute is slowly moving towards average, which should alarm even the biggest Vanderbilt stans (i.e., me).
There are plenty of reasons for Vanderbilt’s recent struggles, but the major issue seems to be lingering injuries. Because of his high-flying, fast-paced play, Vanderbilt has taken a beating this season. He’s landed hard on his tailbone after finishing inside. He’s been nursing a shoulder injury and missed three games in March with a quad injury. For a player who relies on his mobility and athleticism to help fuel his motor, injuries can completely derail the once-promising season.
Another reason for Vando’s slight regression to the mean is the relaxation of Chris Finch’s defensive schemes. At the outset of the season, Finch had the Wolves running one of the NBA’s most aggressive defensive attack schemes. Vanderbilt would be deployed on the perimeter to harass ballhandlers into making mistakes and committing the most turnovers in the NBA, while the Timberwolves are third in steals per game.
However, Finch and Co. have relaxed back into a more familiar and much-maligned drop coverage, which takes away a lot of Vanderbilt’s value as a perimeter defender. The Wolves are gasping for air on defense and have given up more than 130 points in four of the past five games. They gave up 125 in the other game. Things need to change if the Wolves want to get back on track and finish their most successful non-Kevin Garnett season in franchise history. The best way to do that is to unleash Vanderbilt on unsuspecting opponents and reap the benefits of having one of the most intimidating young defenders we’ve seen around these parts in years.
The Timberwolves have one game left in the regular season scheduled for Sunday against the Chicago Bulls, after which they will roll right into the play-in tournament that begins on Tuesday. There is no time to rest for Vanderbilt and the young Wolves, who will have to rely on youth and hunger to cement themselves as a playoff darkhorse to get them through the next few games and weeks.
Jarred Vanderbilt has improved exponentially since he was part of the 2020 trade with the Denver Nuggets that landed Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangómez in Minnesota. He’s the centerpiece of Gersson Rosas’ biggest move. But to launch the Wolves into the stratosphere, Vanderbilt needs to get back to his borderline All-Defensive self.
As a Patrick Beverley disciple, Vanderbilt already has Timberwolves fans’ hearts, but he must keep pushing and running around like a lunatic to remain the fan-favorite he is. Anthony Edwards was adamant that Vando was “first team” all-defense early on in the season. But if he wants to stay on that trajectory, Vanderbilt needs to tap into his early-season mojo that made him V8 in the first place.
