You will probably think of a few things when you look back at the Minnesota Timberwolves’ breakout 2021-22 season. They made their second playoff appearance in two decades. Patrick Beverley brought energy and passion to the team, and Anthony Edwards became more comfortable in the league while looking like a future star. And, unfortunately, the forgettable Memphis Grizzlies playoff series.
While those are all memorable, one thing stands out to me about that team. Their ability to shoot the ball from three not only frequently but within the flow of the offense.
In 2021-22, the Wolves shot 41.3 threes a game, which ranked 1st in the NBA. They set a franchise record with 3,386 attempts. Edwards led them with 8.4 three-point attempts a night. Malik Beasley had 8.1, D’Angelo Russell shot 8.0, and Karl-Anthony Towns attempted 4.9. Even role players like Patrick Beverley (4.2), Jaden McDaniels (3.6), Taurean Prince (3.3), Jaylen Nowell (2.6), and Naz Reid (2.2) let it fly from deep.
The 2021-22 team was scrappy defensively and forced turnovers, but their ability to score from three became their signature trait. They sat 9th in the league in offensive rating (ORTG), which drove their success.
There is a lot the current Wolves team could adopt from what they were doing two seasons ago. They do not need to change their ways completely, but they could learn from the 2021-22 team’s success and attempt more threes.
Much of it comes from the vital ability that a movement shooter can bring to Chris Finch’s offense. Malik Beasley drove offense with his ability to come off screens and spot up off the ball for more open looks. Nickeil Alexander-Walker often replicates Beasley’s spot-up ability, but he’s not the shooter that Malik was in Minnesota. Beasley’s simple pindown screens and actions not only kept the offense free-flowing but added a level of tempo:
The Wolves have made drastic changes this year. Acquiring Rudy Gobert has changed the offense. Gobert isn’t a perimeter threat, but Jarred Vanderbilt played significant minutes in 2021-22 without shooting threes. Russell offered more shooting versatility than Mike Conley, and the Wolves don’t have a bench shooter like Beasley, which has limited the sets. But what has ultimately hampered the Wolves from finding more ways to work toward league average in three-point attempts?
The Wolves find themselves 28th in the league in three-point attempts per game, attempting 30.2 per contest. They sit middle of the pack at 14th in percentage, converting on 36.2% of those attempts. By comparison, they finished 15th in attempts with 33.3 last year, making 36.5% of those shots. Therefore, they underwent a similar transition in their first year with Gobert.
Structurally, the Wolves have enough to keep the defense honest as a team through Edwards and Towns, their offensive engines. KAT’s ability to shoot at an elite level as a 7-footer puts pressure on the defense every time he is on the floor. But things get shaky with the rest of the roster, especially with the bench and spot-up shooting.
Shake Milton is off to a slow start with the Timberwolves, mainly because he’s not offering much from beyond the arc. Shake has hovered around league average as a career three-point shooter with a percentage of 36% over his first 5 seasons. This season, he has shot 25% from three and 30% on catch-and-shoot opportunities, which has not helped Minnesota’s cause. Their other free agency acquisition, Troy Brown Jr., hasn’t been able to find his shot either. Shooting 1 for 10 on the season in 75 minutes played.
In the offseason, the Wolves let Taurean Prince leave in free agency by not retaining the non-guaranteed option on Prince, who eventually signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Minnesota signed Shake and TBJ to replace him, but that plan hasn’t worked out. Prince is shooting 15/57 (26.3%) in LA, but TP offered more of a consistent track record as a shooting threat than Milton or Brown.
Kyle Anderson is the staple of the bench and its engine. However, SloMo has been more hesitant to hoist up threes, shooting only 10 threes in 350 minutes this year. Anderson is coming off what is looking to be an outlier season, topping his prior season high of 37.5% in 2016-17 by making 41% of his threes in 2022-23.
Minnesota’s recent game in New Orleans perfectly encapsulated their three-point shooting issue. KAT picked up his 4th foul two minutes into the third quarter, and Ant picked up his 4th six minutes in, forcing them both to sit. That created a problematic situation for the Wolves. They had to scrape up a viable lineup while still resting Rudy, Jaden, and Conley enough for the 4th quarter. In the 3rd quarter, Chris Finch played Anderson for 6 minutes, Naz Reid for 6 minutes, Shake for 5 minutes, and Rudy for 5 minutes. That created a mess that nearly cost them the game, increasing the Pelicans lead from 3 to 10.
My thread below depicts all of the 3rd-quarter half-court possessions Minnesota had after sitting Towns and Edwards:
The Timberwolves didn’t convert on a single three-point make during this 6-minute stint, only attempting 2. The Pelicans compacted their defense into the paint, opening up more space for the Wolves to work with on the perimeter. However, they still remained reluctant to put up shots. This 6-minute segment would have been a much larger talking point if the Wolves lost a tight game against the Pelicans. However, they won 121-120 on KAT’s game-winner.
These lineups that lack shooting puts a lot of pressure upon higher volume players in Ant, Conley, NAW, and Naz to get their shots up frequently from downtown and knock them down. This grouping is responsible for 24.3 of Minnesota’s 30.5 total attempts. They need to find more ways to give this core more looks from beyond the arc and make them feel more comfortable forcing the issue to avoid offensive stagnation. The Wolves are a bit handcuffed for now due to their personnel. However, finding more creative ways to use Rudy Gobert more effectively as a screener can only open things up for the offense to operate.
Tim Connelly and Co. should be active in the trade market to find another shooter to bolster the bench and try to fill this role, even if the player is deficient defensively. A better shooting threat will only open up more for others offensively. The defense probably won’t take too much of a hit because of how well they have operated as a unit on that side of the ball. Clearly, the bench unit could benefit immensely from more help from beyond the arc, and the team could benefit from finding more ways to increase their three-point volume.
