The Timberwolves will look to improve their depth on the wing this offseason, head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau told reporters today. As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets, Thibodeau indicated that acquiring wing players who can shoot three-pointers and guard multiple positions is Minnesota’s top priority during the offseason.
Most of the Wolves’ top contributors – including Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford, and Nemanja Bjelica – shot a little from the outside in 2017/18, but no player on the roster made more than 1.5 threes per game. As a team, the Wolves made 8.0 three-pointers per contest, which ranked dead last in the NBA.
By comparison, Minnesota’s first-round opponent – the let-it-fly Rockets – led the league with 15.3 threes per game and had six players who knocked down at least two per game. So it’s no surprise that adding more three-point shooting on the wing will be a key focus for the Wolves this offseason.
Here’s more out of Minnesota:
- Krawczynski and Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune (Twitter link) both interpreted Thibodeau’s comments today as good news for Derrick Rose‘s potential return to the team. Thibodeau called Rose – who is an unrestricted free agent this summer – a “terrific addition,” Zgoda notes.
- Timberwolves GM Scott Layden suggested there will be a lot of activity around the draft, acknowledging that the club could explore trading its first-round pick, tweets Krawczynski. Zgoda expands on Layden’s comments, tweeting that the GM believes that first-rounder represents a chance to “get in the game” when it comes to making a trade offer for an impact player. However, Layden did say Minnesota would be happy to use the pick if there’s a player on the board who can “help us now.”
- Layden expressed some regret that he wasn’t more active at the trade deadline, indicating he expects to be more aggressive this summer (Twitter link via Krawczynski).
- Thibodeau anticipates Wiggins will have a good offseason entering the 2018/19 campaign, since he won’t have to deal with the distraction of working out a contract extension this time around, like he did a year ago (Twitter link via Krawczynski).
- Butler was just dealing with general soreness in his right knee at the end of the season, and won’t require any additional procedures on that knee, Thibodeau said today (Twitter link via Zgoda).
Exactly. This is what I’ve been saying for a while now. You need wings.
Lack of wings is what finished off Portland, and quality wings is what Toronto Lacks. I can’t even name a single wing guy on Toronto. Is demarre Carroll still on the team? Serge Ibaka? He’s a 611 big guy.
They’ve got two Great All Star guards and then what? Side note I think Minnesota had better Wings than a lot of teams with Wiggins Jamal Crawford. But oh yeah I forgot Wiggins can’t shoot outside 16 ft.
Toronto has OG Anunoby, CJ Miles, Delon Wright and Norman Powell, and Pascam Siakam and DeRozan sometimes play on the wing…
“I know everything but can’t remember if demarre is in Toronto”
Me too !!
Wings that can shoot is what every team wants or needs. There is a shortage. Remember when there was a shortage of PGs now the entire league has a capable PG outside NYK. Most of your wings now are role players like Covington and even Otto Porter. There are fewer legit 3s like LBJ, PG13 and Greek Freak. Hayward, Kawhi, and Gallinari all hurt, yes Gallinari like a top SF, so you see how bad it is. Never has been a truly deep position at any given time. KD playe more 4 now too.
No surprise there…They need Wiggins to significantly improve. He needs to get better defensively, and he needs to consistently play harder. They also need a wing shooter, and a wing defender, and obviously they know it. They should keep Derrick Rose. They seemed to play well with him in a few lineups, including multiple guard lineups. They also need KAT to play with more defensive effort on a consistent basis.
Needs to significantly improve, that’s sad since he got a Max contract.
Dude needs to learn how to work and play hard consistently. Hopefully Butler runs off on him in that regard. Otherwise, he will be a wasted talent. He is too good to put out the kind of effort he does at times. Defense should be better, with his size and athleticism
If Derrick rose can learn to pass maybe. Anyone can score if they’re taking all the shots. There were so many times KAT, taj or wigs were wide open and rose dribbled around for 20 seconds.
Bjelica is one heck of a shooter and Thibs never gave him the run he deserved.
Wiggins has always been more effective inside. Meanwhile, Towns shot 42% from 3 on 3.5 attempts pg.
Maybe the wolves need to put their square pegs in the square holes and round pegs in round holes.