The Minnesota Timberwolves made a massive pivot this offseason — they went from a big, defense-first team hoping to get enough offense from Anthony Edwards to win, to becoming a high-flying offensive team hoping they can get enough defense to win big. It was a pivot the Timberwolves had to make — they had hit the ceiling with the current construction. If they were going to break on through, it was going to require big changes.
Enter LaMelo Ball.
After a blockbuster offseason trade, the Timberwolves may have the most dynamic backcourt in the NBA with Ball and Edwards. In an appearance on the Road Trippin Podcast with Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and Kendrick Perkins, Minnesota head coach Chris Finch laid out why the franchise felt it had to do this (hat tip Bleacher Report).
“We probably did Anthony a disservice last year, at times, playing him as a point guard. It caught up to us. He did a really great job, but in the playoffs it was just double team after double team. We got to get him back to his natural position off the ball. We didn’t create enough catch-and-shoot threes for him and when you look at the numbers with LaMelo on the floor with his teammates and the efficiency and the production, I mean Kon Knueppel shot seven percent higher from the three-point line with LaMelo on the floor than he did without… And obviously LaMelo’s a phenomenal talent all by himself. We needed the connective tissue. We needed the point guard play.”
Edwards is poised for a massive season, for my money maybe getting into the top five in MVP voting. Finch is spot on that teams last season — especially in the playoffs — could absolutely load up on Edwards and not fear repercussions. That is not the case now. Plus, with Ball, the Timberwolves should play much faster, leading to more easy buckets.
There are a lot of questions. Ball himself is not playoff-tested (he had 30 points in the play-in game against Miami but needed 31 shots to get there, then struggled in a play-in loss to Orlando). There is the defense, which is going to ask a lot of Gobert. This is a very different team than we had seen in Minnesota before, what will be its personality?
What the Timberwolves will be is very fun to watch. And LaMelo in town is going to be good for Ant. Very good.
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