Timberwolves Notes: Wiggins improving, Mitchell testy

Prior to the Timberwolves’ Wednesday night loss to the Clippers and a minor injury that ended his night, Andrew Wiggins‘ efficiency has improved over the past two months.

One of the biggest issues with Andrew Wiggins’ Rookie of the Year-winning season a year ago was the inefficiency of his offensive game.

Wiggins had a nice turnaround jumper, a solid if only occasionally effective post game, and was obviously explosive in the lane and around the rim. He also got to the free throw line with frequency.

But Wiggins also shot just 43.7 percent from the field, including only 31 percent from beyond the arc. That isn’t very good, especially combined with the lack of other elements to his game: Wiggins doesn’t rack up very many steals, rebounds, or assists.

And the 2015-16 season started with much of the same. But since the admittedly arbitrary date of February 1st, Andrew Wiggins has been a revelation.

The second-year man has scored 20.8 points per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and an outstanding 41.1 percent on three-point attempts. He’s also getting to the line a lot, including an astounding 21 attempts just two games ago, and knocking down his freebies at a higher clip than his career average.

Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune took note of this improvement and broke it down a bit, including quotes from teammate Karl-Anthony Towns and his coach, Sam Mitchell.

"Wiggins was asked after Monday’s game if there’s a correlation between his 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range Monday night and his 21 free throws shot.“Definitely,” he said. “You know, when I’m hitting shots, the defenders are on their feet. Now I can go either way: Right, left, I can pass it. When I hit shots early, it opens things up for everybody on the floor.”Since February 1, Wiggins has made 22 of 54 three-point attempts. That’s 40.7 percent. For the entire season, he’s shooting 29 percent.“I’ve just been shooting without thinking,” he said, explaining his improvement the last two months, “and I’ve been making ’em.”"

It’s encouraging, to be sure. Wiggins’ next trip, of course, is going to be maintaining this pace.

He doesn’t even need to be a 40+ percent shooter from long-range, although that would be outstanding. Wiggins simply needs to stay above league-average, which is typically around 33 percent or so. If he can do that, he’s a shockingly potent offensive player.

We would be remiss to not also point out just how furious Mitchell was after Wednesday’s 20-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. He called it the “the worst’ loss of the season, which seemed a bit strong.

Here’s what AP’s Jon Krawczynski had to say after the game (and the post-game media availability).

Krawczynski is right. Mitchell was no doubt trying to cause something to click with the players with his tirade, but it is a bit tone deaf when contrasted with many of his other rant-y post-game comments.

Next: On Bill Simmons on the Timberwolves

We’ll have a preview of the Friday night Wolves-Jazz match-up from Salt Lake City. Stay tuned for that, as well as additional Wolves coverage throughout your weekend.