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It Takes More Than Talent

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First off, I am back. I was traveling for a month’s time and finally back in my groove. School is going to be intensified this semester, but will always look to continue contributing.

In my time away, the Wolves have struggled. I have followed from a distance. Excuses can’t be made like years past. The team is healthy, heck – even Nikola Pekovic is playing. A lot of the players have gotten minutes. And while a lot of guys have been able to showcase their talents, the Wolves have underwhelmed over half way through the season. The Wolves showed promise early on, starting the season 8-8 and the West has been weaker than most seasons. Somehow, the Wolves find themselves at 13-30 without many excuses.

Before Flip Saunders passed, he made an emphasis on building a winning culture. Flip wanted to bring in guys who wanted to win and change the identity of the franchise. He was very intentional about every guy he brought in to surround the young core. While it looked like the Wolves were headed in the right direction early, somewhere there was a collapse in that vision. There was a pivotal point in the season where the Wolves decided to have a ‘moment of truth’ type of meeting instead of practice. The veterans seemed to be blaming the young guys and the young guys pointed fingers at the head coach. The Wolves fan base has found an easy-out in blaming Sam Mitchell, and while it can be valid, the issue is bigger than that.

The Wolves have the talent. The Wolves have the assets. Yes, they are inexperienced, but this team can compete. But the culture hasn’t been established. And a valid concern is that the right personnel is not that to establish that culture. As learned in business school, ‘Culture eats Talent’. The Wolves are going through the necessary bumps and bruised to build a winning culture. But it will truly be how the Wolves franchise react to the adversity that defines the culture. The culture is in jeopardy as the Wolves now have the worst franchise winning percentage in the league.  Will the Wolves let that define them?

To get away from that, the Wolves need to leverage this experience this season. They need to get the most out of their talent now. The front office also needs to make decisions on who is a part of the future here and what part do they play in it? Once that is decided, the coaching staff needs to implement that vision in developing the players to get them in that role. From the looks of it, the coaching staff has failed at this or the front office has yet to determine these roles. Shabazz Muhammed is the best example of this as of late. Shabazz’s future may be as a 6th man, but isn’t a 6th man in the future more valuable if he has starting experience? The opportunity is there for him to start. Even if he doesn’t succeed as a starter, although it did last season, he will gain the necessary experience to become a player off the bench who plays like a starter while the first five are resting. The mishandling of Shabazz has been frustrating in that sense. But the same can be said about how most of the young players have been handled.

The Wolves need to also develop an identity. A brand of basketball. What will opponents think of the Wolves when they play them? It shouldn’t be automatic win or young players. The Wolves need to be good at something and be better than their opponents at it. Whether it be in the fast break or on the defensive end. It seems like the talent is there to be good at those things, but yet the Wolves still haven’t been able to be consistently good at them. There is plenty of time in the season to develop this, but it needs to be intentionally done.

The Wolves lost a big lead last night against the Pelicans and it just screamed to me that ‘it takes more than talent.’ The Wolves let Anthony Davis do what he wanted whenever he wanted. They didn’t play defense. And when the lead was gone, there was no question that the Wolves wouldn’t come back to reclaim it.

These are just my thoughts after a month of observing and not writing. The summer will likely bring in another young talented player, but it may mean nothing if that player is brought into talent. The Wolves need more guys with character. They need an identity. They need chemistry. Teams that try to win fast by acquiring talent really fast never win immediately. It takes more than talent.

The Timber Rebuilder on Bucksology Podcast

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In case you missed it, the Timber Rebuilder made its podcasting debut on the Bucksology podcast here.

The Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and as a featured guest, The Timber Rebuilder discussed the two teams with similar records and in similar positions. Minnesota and Wisconsin are natural rivals so Saturday’s game should be fun. 

The Wolves are coming off of a loss to the Pistons and the Bucks are coming off of a win against the Pacers. The Wolves are 12-21 and the Bucks are 13-21 going into Saturday. 

Take a listen and let us know your thoughts!

Pekovic is Coming Back: Where Does He Fit?

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Nikola Pekovic has been officially cleared for full contact practice, meaning he should be returning soon. The bruising big man wears his ‘injury-prone’ tag proudly next to his ‘overpaid’ label. But fans still love Pek. He scares opponents with his size and his tattoos. While he doesn’t play defense, when healthy he is one of the more offensively-gifted centers in the game today. He has a nice post game and before he had his ankle issues, he developed something that looked like a jump shot.

Pekovic got injured a little bit after signing a 5-year, $60 million contract extension mainly because the Wolves wanted to secure the big man to play alongside Kevin Love. Flash forward and now Kevin Love is gone, Kevin Garnett is back, and the Wolves drafted one of the most talented players at the same position in Karl-Anthony Towns. Gorgui Dieng still remains as well, who was originally drafted to back up Pekovic to balance out defensively.

Pek finds himself potentially as the 3rd-string center on the team. He has too big of a contract and is injured too often to be traded at this point. So where does Pek fit in to the Wolves rotation? To preface what we think, we must note that Sam Mitchell will probably do exactly the opposite. Sam Mitchell’s rotations have been head-scratching at best and no one knows how he feels about Pekovic and how he will manage his injury/ playing time.

While things in Minnesota look bleak for Pekovic, he may actually be in an ideal situation. He was being overplayed before which caused him to keep getting injured. The Wolves no longer lack depth in their front court so seeing Pekovic play 10-15 minutes a night may be in the best interest of both parties. Pekovic matching up against opposing benches would also be in the Wolves’ favor as he may as well eat them alive while not having to worry much defensively.

Pekovic returning would mean the Wolves could see Gorgui Dieng get more minutes at the power forward position alongside KAT. Especially on Garnett rest days, Dieng and Towns could start alongside each other and Pekovic could take minutes at the 5 while rotating between the three big men. This would reduce minutes, hopefully, for Adrien Payne and the now struggling Bjelica. Even if Payne or Bjelica get time, both fit well with Pekovic offensively as they both like to spend time behind the 3-point line, opening up the paint for Pekovic. Pekovic will also work well on pick and rolls with LaVine and the emerging Tyus Jones.

In summary we should see rotations as such:

With Garnett (Minutes in parentheses)

C – Towns (28)/ Dieng (10)/ Pekovic (10)

PF – Garnett (15) / Dieng (14) / Bjelica (5) / Payne (4)

Without Garnett

C – Towns (33)/ Pekovic (12)/ Dieng (3)

PF – Dieng (30)/ Bjelica (9)/ Payne (9)

The entire Bjelica and Payne situation seems to be still in flux. Depending on the matchups and who is playing well, one or the other or both could play. But Dieng should spend more time at the 4 with Garnett out and Pekovic still can play around 10-12 minutes a game.

But where does Pekovic fit into the Wolves long-term? The Wolves obviously have Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng as their centerpieces in the front court. Trading Pekovic could be an option. There has been talks that the Bulls would be interested in trading Noah for Pekovic since Noah will be a free agent this summer. There is also the possibility that Pekovic retires early and his contract clears off of the Wolves’ books, but it seems unlikely. 

The Wolves will we’d to utilize him until either his contract expires or until he has some sort of trade bake.  He eventually (17-18 season) will be an expiring contract, in which he will have value in that sense. Trading an expiring contract of that size ($11.6 million) could add a nice piece to the roster, especially since it’ll be a time in which the Wolves should be competitive. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 

Let us know your thoughts on this. A healthy Pekovic regardless will be good for the Wolves. We hope he can remain healthy, even if he is never the same player again. 

Start a Team with Davis or Towns?

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For Karl-Anthony Towns, the present is absolutely a gift. When Towns was drafted, he was picked mostly on his IQ and potential instead of what he could immediately bring to a team. Many didn’t expect Towns to start, let alone be a front runner in the Rookie of the Year race. Now the internet is making arguments that Towns should maybe even be an All-Star.

KAT is producing at levels that puts him in line with Hall of Famers. Towns has a PER that should end up in the top 10 all time for a rookie here. Towns is doing this despite playing only a year in college whilst many others on this list played at least a couple years of college basketball before entering the NBA. To add to that, Towns is playing less than 30 minutes, much less than most of those on the previous Rookie PER list. Towns’ combination of potential due to his age and production is uncanny to what the league has seen before.

While it may not be saying much, Towns in a short time-span has been the most productive player on the Wolves’ young team. All advanced statistics point towards him being the most valuable player on the floor for the Timberwolves. He has been consistent for the most part in this young season. He is second on the Wolves in scoring and leads the team in rebounds, blocks, and field goal %.

The cremé de la cremé of NBA prospects though happens to be Anthony Davis. Davis was in contention of the MVP award last season in only his third season. Davis put up monstrous numbers, putting up 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks a game while leading the Pelicans to the playoffs. The unibrow has been more exposed though this season as the team has struggled to gain traction and improve any. Davis is still managing to put up similar numbers nonetheless. Davis is an outstanding defender, incredible rim protector, and can score in multiple ways. Both guys are products of the University of Kentucky, in which their head coach John Calipari prepared both of them to carry NBA franchises.

So, if you had to build a team around one of these guys, Anthony Davis or Karl-Anthony Towns, who do you take?

A couple of things immediately. There isn’t a right answer to this question. Both are incredible assets. There are many variables to the ‘starting a franchise’ question. What is your team’s strategy? When do you want to win? Who are the players around this specific player? Many more. Just have fun with the debate.

The obvious choice is Davis. Anthony Davis has a few things that edge Towns right away. Davis is a better player now. He is a better scorer. Better rebounder. Better shot blocker. He is a sure thing. To mitigate risk, the easy choice is Davis. He is still very young at only 22 years old. He has tons of potential still. He is developing a jump shot and can safely put the ball on the floor for a big man. He is also a freak athlete, which can be a gift and a curse as his career progresses.

Towns has a couple things going for him, but nothing that truly gives him a great advantage over Davis today. The case for Towns is heavily dependent on his potential on both ends of the floor. Towns could be about as good a defensive anchor as Davis. Towns’ offense game though is more versatile as he could be better at creating his own shot already. Towns also has a jump shot that demands respect and extends over the 3-point line. Towns being a defensive presence that can shoot is one of the most unique combinations a player at his position can possibly be.

While many would end the debate there, there should be a case made for Towns even over simply his potential. As mentioned before, the dependence on Davis’ athleticism can sometimes be a hinderance later in his career. Seeing the drastic drop off in athletic big men’s games like Dwight Howard, Amar’e Stoudemire, or even Kevin Garnett, can be alarming. Towns have less dependence on his athletic ability and more so on his basketball IQ suggests that his game could have the longevity in his career similar to that of Tim Duncan and Dirk. A lot of times athletic players are forced to reinvent their games midway through their careers while more IQ reliant players seem to have more consistency in the long run.

Most GM’s in the NBA would probably take Davis because it is safe. But a more bold, forward-thinking GM would probably build around Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns is a more high risk, high reward choice. I would imagine that more than 1/4 of General Managers by next season will want to start a franchise with Towns over Davis.

 

9th NBA Arena: Verizon Center ✔️

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If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ve probably seen our bucket list to visit all NBA arenas in which we had previously visited 8 arenas. The 8 arenas were the Target Center, Madison Square Garden, the Rose Garden, Staples Center, TD Garden, Phillips Arena, the Amway Center,  and the United Center. Today, we got to visit the Verizon Center in DC.

Arena 9: Verizon Center, Wizards vs Kings, 2015, Washington D.C.

The venue was definitely lit and exciting. Fans were really engaged and supportive of the Wizards. We sat around a good amount of season ticket holders and they were cheering like the team was still good. They seem quite knowledgable about the game. They were excited to see some DC-products in Rudy Gay and Caron ‘Tuff Juice’ Butler come home and play, both went to UCONN. The chairs in the stadium were roomy and the stadium crew was constantly playing great background music. It also helped that there was a Dunkin Donuts in the stadium as my wife and I were fairly tired heading to the arena.

The NBA-wide marketing scheme of giving out something free in the fourth quarter if an opposing team player misses two consecutive free is pure genius. Just admiring it from a business-perspective. Fans definitely go crazy for some free Chic-Fil-A.

The Wizards were without Gary Neal and Bradley Beal in this one, so they needed someone to step up. Those guys were Martin Gortat and Garrett Temple. Gortat was huge in the first quarter. Temple provided much needed three-point shooting and defense. Kris Humphries has definitely developed a three-point shot as well. As much as I dislike the former Minnesota Gopher, he has found a way to extend his career in the NBA. The rookie Kelly Oubre Jr filled in well for the struggling Otto Porter. John Wall was definitely impressive posting a career-high 19 assists in the game.

Former Timberwolves included: Gary Neal, Ramon Sessions, Ryan Hollins, Kosta Koufos, and head coach Randy Wittman. Did Martell Webster get released after his season ending injury? If not, add him to the list. All reminders of days that should be forgotten.

While at this game, the Wolves lost to the Celtics. Kevin Garnett did not play but received a standing ovation from the Boston fandom. Andrew Wiggins seemed to struggle early but had 26 points. The young Dream, Karl-Anthony Towns had a monster line: 25 points, 16 rebounds, & 3 blocks.

Reporting live from DC. The Timber Rebuilder.

Kevin Garnett’s Farewell Mini-Tour

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The 2015-2016 season has been overshadowed by the ‘Kobe Bryant Farewell Tour’ after announcing his retirement. While Kobe is all-deserving, there are many other players that don’t require the attention for their egos. The end is looming for future Hall-of-Famers like Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Garnett, as they represent the end of the Golden Age of the power forward position. Each player has revolutionized the position in their own ways and leaving their own legacies. Kevin Garnett’s road to the end is unique compared to the roads taken by Kobe, Duncan, and Dirk. Garnett is the only one of the four to play for more than one franchise.

While NBA team’s marketing departments capitalize on Kobe Bryant’s arrivals in their respective cities, Garnett’s unofficial tour is seemingly shorter and more intimate. Even though Garnett has  another year on his contract after this season and hasn’t made any indications of retiring, the number of games he has remaining seem more limited than that. Garnett also isn’t putting up the numbers that would infer that he could play beyond this season. KG isn’t going to advertise that the end is near, but seems like he would prefer his retirement party to be amongst those that are near and dear to him. We are calling it the Mini-tour not only because Mini-tour has ‘Minny’ in it (cue the drums), but because Garnett is visiting, maybe for the last time, the cities he spent time in that led him back home.

Garnett is going out of the league the way that he has led his entire career, selfless. KG is spending his final games investing in the future of the games’ of the young Timberwolves core. It’s clear the Wolves are not chasing a championship and Garnett seems fine with that. He isn’t spending the end of his career chasing rings like many other veterans. He is teaching, selflessly. He still plays with the same passion and grit that he always has played with. He still talks smack better than anyone. But what Garnett’s farewell tour represents is more romantic than cinematic.

The Masterminds in the NBA Front Office snuck in back-to-back games against Garnett’s former teams as the Wolves take a quick road trip out East. It didn’t make sense that the Wolves would play in New York one day, come back home, just to fly back to Brooklyn for their next game. There is deep wisdom in it all. The Wolves take on the Brooklyn Nets in an early matchup Sunday at 12pm CT. Then the Wolves take on the Celtics on Monday at 6:30pm. We all know KG rests on the backend of back-to-backs, but the way this is configured, we may see an exception.

First, most back-t0-back games occur with a start time about 24 hours within each other. This one has an added six hours for what it’s worth. The next thing to point out is the Wolves play the Nets first and then the Celtics. KG’s legacy with the Nets isn’t necessarily as historic as his with the Celtics, being that KG won his championship with the Celtics. So it would be odd if Garnett missed the backend game against the Celtics since he accomplished arguably more as a Celtic than as a Wolf, depending on how you measure accomplishments.

Regardless how you measure accomplishments, Garnett has definitely accomplished a lot. Garnett has become the all-time leader in defensive rebounds, a recent accomplishment. To KG’s versatility, he is the only player to ever have 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 blocks and 1,500 steals in their career. He is tied with the making the most NBA First Team All-Defense, being on that team 9 times. Looking at how consistent Garnett has been through his career, he is also the all-time leader in seasons played with 20.

Garnett playing 20 seasons is quite incredible. For many ’80’s babies’, especially Timberwolves fans, Garnett was one of the most influential players to play the game in their generations. Garnett continues to make an deep impact today, regardless of his age and regardless of the stage in his career. While a return to Brooklyn doesn’t seem to be too crazy for Garnett being that he spent a year and a half there, his impact anywhere is something that demands respect. The Wolves still present Garnett last in player introductions, usually reserved for the team’s best player. And while KG doesn’t have the knees to goal-tend shots that come after a whistle from opposing teams, his pre-game rituals have lasted the test of time and are nostalgic.

So will Garnett play both games in the back-to-back? Although we are proclaiming this to be the ‘Kevin Garnett Farewell Mini-Tour’, we have to believe Garnett is thinking about this stretch of games just as much. Well maybe not. But the game to consider the most is definitely the Celtics game. Boston fans love Garnett almost as much as Wolves fans do. There sure will be a lot of encouragement for him to play under the circumstances that Wolves only visit Eastern Conference teams once.

While we want to use Garnett’s quote “Anything is Possible!’ to say he could play the two games on Sunday and Monday, he has missed meaningful games before. Many Wolves fans remember Garnett missing his first game against Minnesota with the Celtics due to an abdominal strain. The game was a sellout and the Timberwolves Organization was forced to send tickets to the fans in attendance to compensate for the disappointment. Garnett isn’t married to the idea that he needs to play in what could be his last time in Brooklyn or Boston. He does what he wants and probably could retire knowing he missed this game for his health.

We will definitely be watching closely. Both cities will likely host tributes for Garnett when they play the Wolves. If he doesn’t play in Boston, it is at least a reminder to appreciate the last few games Garnett will play, in light of all the craziness surrounding this season. It’s a good idea to step back and think what the game may look like without Garnett suiting up again and hitting his head against the basket pads. The game will likely never be the same, so enjoy.

News & Notes

  • While the Wolves have gone 2-8 over the last 10 games, one thing we haven’t discussed in a while is Ricky Rubio’s health. Rubio has played 20 games this season while only playing 22 last year. That is a positive. So Wolves fans, as Ricky says: Change your face, be happy. Enjoy!
  • Andrew Wiggins had 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists in the win over the Kings. Wiggins is the youngest player in Timberwolves history to have 30 points, 10 boards, and 5 assists. Yes he did it younger than Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, and even Ndudi Ebi.
  • Wolves fans voted that the Kings would beat the Wolves in our Twitter poll ( @Timberrebuilder), a first where the homer-Wolves fans didn’t believe we would win.
  • Couple of tweets we liked from other people that are worth sharing:

Big fan of Brad Stevens, head coach of the Celtics. Will take that compliment.

Karl-Anthony Towns is amazing. #NBAvote

The Timber (re)Builder

 

Why The Wolves Have Struggled

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The Wolves have dropped eight of the last nine games after being at .500 at 8-8. The Wolves now find themselves at 9-16 a few games over the quarter mark of the season. The last eight losses have come to the Clippers and Nuggets twice each, Magic, Blazers, Suns, and Knicks. The lone win was against the Lakers in overtime. All the losses were winnable games where the biggest margin of loss was 12, the rest all within 10 points. Some games were games the Wolves held strong leads and lost them. Other games the Wolves found ways to fight back into them and get semi-close towards the end.

A couple things we want to do is examine what has changed after starting 8-8. We wanted to answer, what isn’t working? What are the problems? What can we point out? There is a heavy emphasis on plus/ minus in these game stats. We do this because we want to see the difference a player is making on the court vs their opponents. Lineups are important to this, but plus/ minus seems to be a good way to analyze what that player has done while on the floor.

  • Starters not competing: The Wolves starting lineup is not competing with other teams. The Net +/- in every loss has been massively negative. The starts have a Net average +/- of -24.875 in the eight losses, while the bench has an average of -2.625. The bench is surprisingly keeping the Wolves in the game, mostly thanks to the strong play of LaVine and Dieng. In the one win, the Wolves starters demolished the Lakers starters. I would like to believe this would be a simple change of moving LaVine into the starting lineup.
  • Wiggins’ Net +/- : it’s -59 in the eight losses the Wolves have suffered recently, which is the worst on the team. He has also had a negative +/- in each of the last 9 games. Wiggins needs to work on getting his teammates involved so that the overall team does better when he is on the floor. To Wiggins’ defense he has one of the highest usages on the team (LaVine has surpassed him) and logs the most minutes so it’s hard to keep these numbers respectable when he is in the game when the Wolves lose most of their leads. Outside of that, Wiggins is going to have to start finishing around the basket at the same rate as he was before all of the losses.
  • Bjelica is struggling: Bjelica was a big reason why the Wolves’ bench was one of the best in the league. He was consistently coming in to the game and nailing threes. In the eight losses, Bjelica has averaged less than 4 points. His shot has struggled in this stretch of games: Screen Shot 2015-12-17 at 12.56.01 PMAs you can see above, Bjelica is only scoring from the outside or near the basket. The shots outside the arc have not been falling for him. Ever since he went out with a knee injury, he hasn’t quite been the same.  With Bjelica not able to knock down as many threes, and quite honestly passing up on a lot of open ones, the spacing on the floor is bad. When the spacing is bad, more shots are contested. When more shots are contested, your field goal percentage dips. When your field goal percentage dips, you typically lose games. So if you are catching the drift here, a struggling Bjelica is not helping the cause.
  • Defense: The Wolves defense has assisted in the resurrection of careers for Randy Foye and Aaron Afflalo. The team is not defending by any stretch of the imagination. Teams are getting wide open looks from three. Ball movement collapses the Wolves on D almost exactly as it should. This is where Prince did help in the starting lineup almost where Martin has made the Wolves less reputable in that category. If the Wolves want to win, they have to defend. In the eight losses, the Wolves have allowed a higher FG% than they have shot in all but one game.
  • Kevin Martin: The replacement of Martin into the starting lineup has been the most obvious thing that has changed. The Wolves won 3 straight after they put Martin in the starting lineup, but it could not be credited to Martin. The Wolves faced the winless Sixers, Cousin-less Kings, and a Hawks team that should’ve been a loss. Martin has scored well, but has done it in a very inconsistent fashion. On three occasions, he has scored 2 points or less. He has struggled defensively, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. It probably doesn’t help either that trade rumors are swirling around him. Main point is, he probably should be in the starting lineup let alone on the roster at this point.
  • Prince less, Bazz more: In the eight losses, Shabazz Muhammad has had a net +/- of 1, where Prince has a -34. Yet, Bazz is only averaging less than two minutes more a game than Prince. Prince is not the player he once was at all. In this stretch of games he has averaged 1 point and a little over a rebound a game. His now average, if not below average, defense is not worth his poor effort on offense. The Wolves should see Shabazz in games more than Prince period. This is the influence behind all of our #FreeShabazz tweets.

The Wolves are approaching an inflection point, similar to previous years. We enter the year thinking we can compete and then we realize, ‘dang, we aren’t that good.’ Mitchell has mentioned that playing the veterans more would help the team win an 8th seed, and I have to respectfully disagree. The veterans on this team should continue to be used more so as mentors than rotation players.

There is time to turn the season around if the Wolves can put the right players together. Sam Mitchell’s recent comments about playing veterans 28 minutes and that development doesn’t happen during the season are not encouraging. First step will be a starting lineup that competes and defends. I don’t think the Wolves have the personnel to do that though and would require some trades. The Wolves need to pursue a 3 and D guy to help on the perimeter and take Kevin Martin’s minutes. But the Wolves entered this slew of games with an amazing opportunity, a sequence of winnable games. They were able to measure themselves against teams with more or less similar records. Unfortunately, they’ve lost nearly all of them.

The Wolves are still figuring things out. They are still trying to understand how to incorporate Karl Towns into the offense. Ricky Rubio’s jump shot remains inconsistent. Sam Mitchell seems to always be defensive when approached by the media about his rotations. These things are season long issues and not necessarily the cause of the losses at this point. But above is what has changed over the last 9 games. The Wolves are no longer a great defensive team. Their starters seem to not be clicking. And members of their bench are not as reliable as they once were.

Wolves Week 7 T-Cap (Highlights)

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If you’ve been a Wolves fan for the last couple years, one of the more fun things to do is watch highlights of our individual prospects. Mainly because we love to see them perform well but also because the outcome of the game doesn’t seem to matter. Not to mention, Mondays and Youtube seem to be a wonderful mix. Its how you stay positive when your team is rebuilding. So I’ve decided moving forward, we will just highlight the Wolves results from the previous Monday through Sunday and any individual highlights you can rewatch here. It’ll be a weekly segment that we will call your T-cap. Enjoy!

Monday, December 7th: Clippers 110 Timberwolves 106 – L

Zach LaVine: 21 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjIxkTkr9Ms

Karl-Anthony Towns: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks

 

Wednesday, December 9th: Lakers 122 Timberwolves 123 OT – W

Karl-Anthony Towns: 26 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D37D_Gi2hjI

Andrew Wiggins: 19 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iL562q6Bx4

 

Friday, December 11th: Wolves 108 Nuggets 111 OT – L

Andrew Wiggins: 22 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZlUA_YCuSw

Karl-Anthony Towns: 14 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLrU8P6FlGg

 

Sunday, December 13th: Wolves 101, Suns 108 – L

Zach LaVine: 28 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMOaB4TWCJA

 

Wolves Record: 1-3 (9-14 Overall)

BONUS!

Tyus Jones: 27 points & 8 assists in NBDL Debut for the Idaho Stampede

Upcoming Schedule

Dec. 15th vs Nuggets

Dec. 16th @ Knicks

Dec. 18th vs Kings

Dec. 20th @ Nets

Recap: Overall, Wolves drop 3 of 4 games in the last week. They stay close in most games, taking two of them to overtime. Wolves are able to keep close but are not able to compete at this point. This week’s schedule looks light, but predicted a 2-2 split.

 

Is Wiggins Too Comfortable?

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When Andrew Wiggins was brought in as the main part of the Kevin Love-trade, he served as the official face of the Timberwolves’ new re-re-rebuilding phase (a major influence to the name of the blog). The first phase started with Al Jefferson first in the Kevin Garnett departure. Then Kevin Love and to a lesser extent Ricky Rubio served as the poster boys for the next phase when Jefferson was traded. With minimal pressure to win now, Wiggins finally got away from a lot of the pressure that has chased him around in his pre-NBA career. Wiggins came in with one expectation: develop.

Last year, by definition was a success as there were no set expectations to compete or win games necessarily. Wiggins was 2nd in the league in minutes played with 2969 minutes, just behind James Harden. He started and played in every game, maybe not by choice, but he got the experience needed to satisfy fans. He showed flashes of greatness and won Rookie of the Year, mainly because he got the playing time due to opportunity and injuries. The Wolves ended up being the worst team in the NBA due to their reliance on rookies like Wiggins, but it seemed to be something that would be beneficial for the development of the team.

Compared to last season, Wiggins has emerged as the vocal point of the offense this year. Mitchell runs the offense through Wiggins in which last season the game had to come to him most times. Wiggins is scoring more and has a higher usage % (22.6 to 28.5 this season) all while averaging one minute less a game. Wiggins is averaging 21 points this season while he averaged 16.9 last season. His assists and rebounds have also increased slightly, but not to where you would like for a player that has a 28.5% usage on the court. One thing that Wiggins has truly improved though has been his free throw shooting. Wiggins is currently 10th in the NBA with 7.6 free throw attempts. Although he could definitely be a better free throw shooter, he is attacking the basket more which opens up his game.

That said, his advanced stats have suffered even though the team’s performance has improved. Andrew’s Win Share has dropped from 2.1 last season to 1.1 this season and box plus/minus from -2.3 last to this -2.5 this season. Wiggins is constantly finding himself in the negative in the Plus/ Minus categories and you have to begin to wonder, should he be on the floor as much? It’s hard to face this reality when it comes to a franchise cornerstone. But the motivation to produce on the floor is important from the guy who spends the most time on the court for your team. But as Wiggins goes, the Wolves go. In losses, Wiggins has a -12.6 and in wins he has a +10.6.

Wolves fans have pointed a lot of fingers for the blame of the poor play in recent games. The poorMany fingers have pointed to Sam Mitchell, a few to Ricky Rubio and his health, but not many to Andrew Wiggins. He is absolutely  still developing and still has a lot of room for improvement. But the Wolves need more from Wiggins if they are going to continue to improve. He seems to be in a position where his has a long leash with the coaching staff. He is able to play through mistakes, a privilege most if not all the young players on the Wolves don’t have.

Should the leash get shorter? The way Sam Mitchell approaches this is crucial. But Wiggins seems to be playing without a fire lit under him, unless it’s a close game of course. He still vanishes for minutes during the game. He also doesn’t seem much more than a scorer at this point and if he isn’t scoring, he is a liability on the floor. So should Sam Mitchell be playing other players in Wiggins’ place to get Wiggins to ‘earn’ his minutes?

This may drive Wolves fans even more crazy. But Mitchell and the coaching staff need to find a way to get more out of Wiggins on the floor. They need to find a way to have Wiggins become more efficient on the floor. They can’t afford to have Wiggins to be a one-dimensional player who takes inefficient shots. It may be time to send Wiggins a message to motivate him. His inconsistent play could be due to the back injury which plagued him earlier this season so cutting back his minutes may benefit him health-wise as well. Sam Mitchell, who handled another number 1 pick in Andrea Bargnani terribly, will need to proceed with caution on how he deals with Wiggins’ development.

What needs immediate improvement? First and foremost, he needs to focus defensively. He needs to be a two-player at least. He has all the intangibles but still seems to not be the lock down defender he was advertised to be. His defensive rating is a 108, which has a lot to do with team defense as well, but is too high for what he is capable of doing. Wiggins will then need to improve his ball-handing in order to expand his offensive game. He finds himself taking a lot of long 2-point shots simply because he isn’t able to handle the ball and pass his defender.

Second-tier improvements needed for Wiggins is his shooting. Wiggins needs to improve his 3-point shooting and free-throw shooting. He is shooting a terrible 26.8% from beyond the arc. The only player worse on the T-Wolves with more than 10 attempts this season? Ricky Rubio. He is shooting 73% from the free throw line as well, not really that good for a guy who gets to the line as much as he does. After shooting, the Wolves need Wiggins to get involved in other aspects of the game. They need him to rebound and assist more. As a forward, his 5.9% Total Rebound% is laughable this season. Wiggins draws a lot of double teams, which means his 8.6% Assist % could definitely improve if he were making the right passes. You would imagine Wiggins would have more assists having big men like Towns and Dieng down low.

We don’t want this to be a ‘this is all Wiggins’ fault’ type of post. Wiggins has done a lot well this season. As mentioned before, he is getting to the line more often and has been really clutch in close games. He is the Wolves best scorer. He is also one of the most valuable pieces on this Wolves roster. He is crazy athletic and is scoring in a lot more ways this season. He should be commended for his performance.

But after having Wiggins having a -17 +/- against the Suns, it has ignited some questions from fans. Wiggins does seem a little too comfortable on the floor. Wiggins does need to provide more on the floor. Wiggins does have to take control of the team. At this given moment, the numbers Zach LaVine has produced haven’t been too far off from Andrew Wiggins’. This could be a testament to LaVine’s performance or showing that Wiggins’ isn’t meeting his development expectations. Sam Mitchell has the incredible responsibility to harness Andrew Wiggins’ potential and turn it into production. While super stars like Kobe Bryant praise Wiggins, the numbers haven’t shown that he is a win-producer. This will need to change as the Wolves continue to build around him.

The Timber Rebuilder.

9 Reasons to Vote For Andrew Wiggins: 2016 NBA All-Star

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NBA All-Star voting opened up Thursday and its time to get the campaigns churning. Andrew Wiggins, the lone reason why Minnesotans #GetWiggy on Wednesdays, has a small chance of being an All-Star this season with his outstanding performance. We here at The Timber Rebuilder wanted to kick of the ‘Andrew Wiggins 2016 All-Star’ campaign with 9 reasons why you should vote for Andrew Wiggins. 

1) He Won Rookie Of the Year Last Year: Wiggins came into his rookie year with high expectations and he ultimately met them. The critics are still out on what kind of player Wiggins will become, but he took home the ROTY honors in a highly-touted draft class. That said, winning Rookie of the Year doesn’t constitute an All-Star appearance, but wanted to give you a hint of where this article is going…

2) He Always Looks like He just Woke Up: I have to imagine if I asked Andrew Wiggins what his hobbies are outside of basketball, he would pick at his hair and respond,”I don’t know… Sleeping?’ The dude always looks like he hopped off a couch after a two-hour nap. Imagine him under the bright lights right after a nap?

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3) His Nickname is 🍁Maple Jordan🍁: Wiggins has always had lofty expectations since high school, but to be called ‘Maple Jordan’ is pretty big. Wiggins is the golden-child of Canada, in which he is always representing. Many thought Wiggins would be the second coming, which no one believes as true, but he has shown great talent on both ends of the court. ‘Maple Jordan’ seems to fit though, since Wiggins is a watered-down version of MJ, as Canada is a watered-down version of the US. Beyond the Canada/ United States beef, The All-Star Game will be hosted in Toronto, which could be a potential homecoming for Wiggins. Bringing the Maple Jordan home should be just as much of a priority for Wolves fans as it is for Raptors fans and Canadian Nationalists.

4) He Already Has a Signature Resting Pose: If you’ve caught any Wolves games, you’ve seen Wiggins’ resting pose. Every elite player from Kobe to MJ have one. Jordan and Kobe had more predator type poses. But Wiggins’ fits his personality with the literal ‘hands on my hips’ pose:

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One time for the one handed resting pose:

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5) He Dunks on People. Wiggins has been dunking on people and taking names. Many people give Zach LaVine credit for being the dunk champ but thats when no one is playing defense. Wiggins has given it to some of the best rim protectors in the league. Enjoy a few vines:

Here is Wiggins Dunking on Millsap earlier this season. Look at where Wiggins takes off from though? Dominique Wilkins was proud.

Aron Baynes was posterized but then seemingly acted like nothing happened. Usually the best course-of-action when being dunked on.

Going back to last season, Andrew Wiggins poses in the air for cameras as he posterizes Omer Asik. Asik’s career has been on a downwards slope since.

France, meet Canada. Who knows what kind of French rhetoric was exchanged when the Stieffel Tower got dunked on. But this is definitely the best one.

6) He Nearly Dunks on People. Had Wiggins finished this dunk on Hassan Whiteside, it probably would’ve been the dunk of the season. But the poster turned out alright. Imagine if Wiggins could potentially dunk on Whiteside in the All Star game…

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7) He is Top 10 in Clutch Scoring: Wiggins is 9th in the NBA in clutch scoring, averaging 3.6 points per game in clutch situations. Who is ahead of Wiggins? Steph Curry, LeBron James, James Harden, Reggie Jackson, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Kevin Durant, and John Wall, respectively. The difference between Wiggins and the rest of this group? Wiggins has played in 3 or more games than anyone above him. He has consistently found himself in situations where he is relied on to be clutch. And he consistently shows up. Wiggins also happens to be at least 5 years younger than any of them.

8) His Draft Day Smile: Does this get old? Andrew-Wiggins-Draft

If he was this happy on draft night, think of the happiness he will have if voted into the All-Star game. Wiggins will look like the kid in elementary school who let off a stink bomb and got away with it.

9) Flip Saunders Would be Proud: Wiggins is currently averaging 21 points per game and a big reason why the Wolves have improved this season. Flip traded All-Star Kevin Love to bring in Andrew, which put a lot of pressure on Saunders. Saunders needed to prove to the world that Wiggins would not be a bust and could be an integral piece of turning this franchise around. You have to imagine if Flip were still with us he would be proud of what Wiggins is becoming. It would also make Flip incredibly proud if Andrew Wiggins became an All-Star in his second year.

So if you made it this far you are probably thinking one of two things: ‘I can’t believe I got through all 9 reasons’ or ‘The Timber Rebuilder is hilarious’. If you felt differently that either, please comment below with how you felt.

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