Four Takeaways from Timberwolves Pre-Season
1. The Timberwolves at least superficially were not very good with 1 win and 4 losses against NBA opponents. I say “superficially” because there are plenty of people who will say the preseason doesn’t mean a thing, and especially not in terms of wins and losses. And surely that’s true to a certain extent. The final game at Philadelphia last Friday night is of course a case in point. Among players who are expected to be a part of the Wolves’ regular season rotation, only point guard Rob Dillingham saw action. 8 of the top 9 players—Conley, DiVincenzo, Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels, Randle, Reid and Shannon—all sat out. And across 6 preseason games*, the Big 7 only averaged (the above 8 minus Shannon) just 19 minutes per game apiece. The Timberwolves were not trying to win preseason games, they were trying to get ready for the regular season, right?
And, so, if you’re going to count that last game against Philly as a loss, then you might as well count the other, non-NBA exhibition game. It was against a Chinese team, and the Wolves won that game easily, 134-74, with the top 7 again sitting out. So they really finished 2-4. Still meaningless.
2. So, if the point was to get ready for the regular season, did the Wolves accomplish getting ready for the regular season? Well, I must repeat that superficially, things didn’t really go all that well, at least in certain respects. In other words, it looks like Conley, DiVincenzo, Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels and Reid, collectively, are ready to go. The 6 of them, again, collectively, were +76 points when they were on the floor against NBA opponents.
But a person’s gotta ask: Are Randle, Dillingham and Shannon ready to go? Randle only played in 3 games, not that that’s problem. He averaged 23 minutes and scored 18 points. But while the rest of the Big 7 was +76, Randle was -9. Can the Wolves afford to start the season with Randle playing the loose caboose like he did for the 1st half of last year?
Then there’s this. Shannon was -16 against NBA opposition. Dillingham was -46.
3. The Wolves remain woefully lacking in depth. Maybe the preseason doesn’t mean diddley, because we already knew (or suspected) that the Wolves are lacking in depth. That’s what I said in my NBA preview a couple of weeks back, and it looks like I was right. Not only do Randle, as a part of the collective, and also Conley, individually, appear to be unready. Conley played in only 2 games, averaging 17 minutes and 2 points per game.
But the effort to expand the Wolves’ rotation from 7 to 9 seems to have gone quite wrong.
• Shannon played in 5 of 6 preseason games, average 23 minutes, 12 points and 4 rebounds. He was -16.
• And Dillingham. The whole preseason was geared to bringing Dillingham along or proving that he’s not ready. He alone (among the Big 9) played in all 6 games (along with Joan Beringer and Bones Hyland). He averaged a team high of 24 minutes and posted a (superficially) respectable 12 ppg and 6 assists. But then there’s that thing in the punch bowl, that -46. The Wolves were outscored by 46 points in the 5 NBA games when Dillingham was on the floor. While Conley, DiVincenzo, Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels and Reid were +76 (in an average of just 19 ppg), well, that’s how you squander those 76 points and lose 4 of 5.
Well, Dillingham didn’t do that by himself. Again, Shannon was -16 and, more to the point, Beringer was -46, Leonard Miller was -31, Tristan Newton was -15, Hyland and Enrique Freeman were -10, and so on. Outside of the Big 7, only Rocky Zikarasky, Alize Johnson and Zyon Pullin were above water at +5, +6 and +1. In other words, the Big 9 is all there is and, well, maybe there’s not even 9.
4. So, again, are the Wolves ready? And, ready means that the Big 7 is gonna pull a ton of minutes. Are they ready? Well, first there’s the question—there’s always the question of injuries. 8 of the Big 9 are currently listed as Day-to-Day. So there’s that. Secondly, Randle doesn’t look like he’s in synch yet. Last year it took until February. And, Edwards played just 3 games and, as I said, scored 20 ppg. But he was just +4.
The Wolves open Wednesday night at Portland and, of course, opening night is not what you’d call a “must win.” “Nice to win,” maybe. Not a must win for Portland either, but since they’re coming off a pretty bad season last year, it’s probably a little nicer for them to win than it is for the Wolves to win. So, well, Portland played their Big 7 an average of 21 minutes per man per game in the preseason and lost 3 of 4. Sounds familiar. They were +59 (our Big 7 was +67: +76 for the Big 6 and -9 for Randle). Sounds kinda familiar. And their bench was a collective -105, while ours was a collective -111. Sounds really familiar.
So basically in preseason we were pretty much interchangeable with Portland. Of course, somebody will break that tie on Wednesday night and if all of the pundits are right, it will be the Timberwolves, comfortably. Still, there’s something uncomfortable about the Wolves numbers being such a good match for Portland’s. I mean, Portland was 21-61 last year.
Portland 3 returning forwards (Avdija, Grant, Camara) 42 ppg-17 reb-8 asts, 42%
Wolves 3 returning forwards (McDaniels, Randle, Reid) 45 ppg-19 reb-9 asts, 47%
And while veteran point guard Mike Conley scored 2 ppg in the preseason with about one assist, Portland’s veteran point guard Jrue Holiday scored 11 with 4 assists. Who’s ready?
Interestingly, Portland’s 2 youngest players are 7-2 and 7-1 posts Donovan Clingan and Yao Hanson, while the Wolves youngest players are 6-11 and 7-2 posts Joan Beringer and Rocky Zikarsky. Clingan and Hanson scored 15 ppg with 14 rebounds between them in the preseason. They were -23 and they are in the Blazers rotation. Beringer and Zikarsky averaged 15 J and 11 reb between them, and they were a combined -38. Again, sounds familiar, but they’re nowhere near the Wolves rotation. I guess that’s the difference between a team that’s building and a team that’s contending.
OK, so call me a worry wart. People out there in the blogosphere are saying that Anthony Edwards is going to lead the NBA in scoring and/or he’s going to be the MVP. All will be well. Well, all I can say is he better be.