Saturday, March 30, 2019

2019 Basketball Season Recap: Part 1: The Timberwolves

Well, the 2018-2019 Minnesota basketball season is almost over. Only the Minnesota Timberwolves are still playing but, being honest, their season is over. They're not playing for anything. They're out of the NBA playoffs, the die is cast, so it's not too early to recap. So, let's recap.

Timberwolves. And we'll begin with the Timberwolves. This was the Wolves' 30th year and for maybe the 28th time in those 30 years, 2019 can be described as a disappointment. At 34-41, they're not only out of the playoffs, they're a good 10 games out of the playoffs. On the other hand, they're 10th in the west and, aside from the 9 times that they've made the playoffs, they've only finished 10th or better twice--9th in 2005, and 10th in 2014. But neither of those seasons was a steppingstone to anything great.

And, then, there's the fact that early in the year, as Jimmy Butler wreaked havoc all over his team, the Timberwolves appeared so dispirited that I wouldn't have thought they'd win 34 games all year long. As it is, they've got 7 more chances to get to 35 or 36. And, yet, after Butler was dealt to Philly, the Wolves played so much better for awhile that a .500 season and maybe even a playoff berth seemed to be within reach. It was not to be. Why not?

1. Lousy 3-point game. The Wolves are #25 in the NBA in 3-pointers made and percent of points scored on 3-pointers, and #22 in 3-point shooting percentage (31.4%). Meanwhile, they're 30th and dead last in 3-point defense, giving up 38% to their opponents.

2. Andrew Wiggins' regression. The former #1 overall pick scored almost 24 ppg 2 years ago with 45% shooting and 36% 3-point shooting. This year: 18 ppg, 40% and 33%. In fact, among NBA players who have taken 1,000 shots this year, Andrew Wiggins has become the worst shooter in the entire NBA. Having anybody on your team who takes 1,000 shots and is the worst shooter in the entire league is one thing. When it's an overall #1 pick, this is not a recipe for success.

On the other hand, there has been progress: Tom Thibodeau is gone. Widely regarded as a throwback coach, he was the last coach in the league to play 2 posts and he didn't pay much attention to the 3-point game. But, when you've spent much of your history with people like Bob Stein and Glen Taylor and David Kahn and Tom Thibodeau making personnel decisions, it takes awhile to bounce back.

Clearly, the Wolves do not have enough talent to win a playoff series today. How are they going to reverse this? Once upon a time (a year or two ago) the Timberwolves had a young nucleus that (we thought) some great veteran would want to join. That veteran turned out to be the worst human being in all of sports. So, who next? What difference-maker is going to join Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins now? Who would possibly take Andrew Wiggins in trade now? The Wolves have 4 point guards. Does that mean they don't have a point guard who can win in the NBA? Can the right coach coax an extra 10 wins out of these guys? Who would that be?

Frankly, one might wish that this utterly inglorious season had gone a lot worse than it has. As it is, it is only going to get the Wolves an 11th pick in the draft. After 2 overall #1 picks and a momentary rush of hope, the Wolves now have more questions than answers and little or no reason to think 2020 will be any better. Moving Andrew Wiggins is not going to get you a difference-maker. Moving Karl Towns, maybe, if what you have in mind is to remake the Wolves into a completely different kind of team than they are today. That may be the only hope for immediate improvement.

And so, as we think about our 2019 season awards for Player, Team, Coach and Game of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns would have to be regarded as worthy of consideration. The rest of the Timberwolves and their season, not so much.

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