Minnesota Timberwolves: A 3-step plan to contention in the West
By Nick Alvarez
Minnesota Timberwolves build around, step 1: Put the “D” in 3-and-D
The Timberwolves’ offense has shown that it is a force to be reckoned with in the league, but their defense is a completely different story. Even though it has improved from years past, the Timberwolves still have the 21st ranked defense in the NBA and that just won’t be good enough to contend.
Recent history has shown to be an NBA champion a team needs a top 10 defense to do so and that should mean that going into this offseason defense should be the top priority because the Wolves can continue to have a top 10 offense, but it will mean nothing if the team continues to allow the third-most points in the NBA like they did this year.
What improving Timberwolves need to improve their defense is two-fold. First, the team needs to see jumps out of the players that are already on their roster. This starts with the team’s stars, D’Angelo Russell needs to become at least a serviceable defender against guards because as we have seen with other contenders you can mask defensive defectiveness in a point guard. Then, the team needs to see more out of Karl-Anthony Towns who at times has flashed the ability to be a solid paint defender.
From there seeing growth from the rest of Minnesota’s young roster in players like Beasley, Jarrett Culver, and Josh Okogie will also help as most of the time it takes a bit for young players to grow into strong defenders. The second step is then to use the space they will have in free agency to acquire defensively focused veteran players.
Players like Andre Roberson, Garrett Temple, and Jerami Grant are all players available who could give Minnesota the defensive upgrade they need. Veteran players can give valuable defensive minutes to the team while also being mentors to the youthful roster. This is what Tom Thibodeau tried to do with the team but brought in the wrong supporting cast to do it, this time around the results could be different. There’s another way the team can improve as well which leads us to step 2.