Weak Timberwolves Bench Needs to be Addressed

The Timberwolves bench has been a problem throughout the season, but especially in the second half of the year.

The recent insertion of Zach LaVine into the starting lineup certainly hasn’t helped the Timberwolves’ bench production, taking away the main creator for the second unit.

And even though LaVine wasn’t a very good point guard, he was at least capable of driving into the lane and drawing help defense before finding open teammates on the perimeter. That is not a strength of any current player coming off the bench for the Wolves.

Since February 10th (the day that LaVine was moved into the starting lineup), the Timberwolves rank dead last in bench scoring at an even 24 points per game — more than 11 points worse than the average for bench units league-wide, which is 35.2 points per game.

The Wolves’ reserves are also shooting just 40.4 percent from the field, the second-worst mark in the league, to go along with 27.3 percent from deep (surprise — the worst rate in the NBA).

To be fair, bench production is not necessary for being a great team; the Cavaliers, Warriors, Raptors, Celtics, and Thunder all rank among the bottom dozen teams in terms of bench scoring, although they still average nearly 10 points more per game than the Wolves (32.3 ppg). It’s true — bench scoring isn’t a requirement for top-tier teams, but a solid bench is essential to augment the production of the starters.

The way bench players are deployed on the previously mentioned teams is the main difference when compared to the Wolves. None of those teams roll out all-bench units consistently, as coach Sam Mitchell likes to do, instead mixing their subs in with their starters.

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One specific example is Oklahoma City. There was a lot of conversation earlier in the year about how much the Thunder suffered when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook sat at the same time. Even when that happened, though, the Thunder still typically had Serge Ibaka and another starter on the floor to make sure that there was still a dependent source of offense.

Thunder coach Billy Donovan has begun making it a point to separate when Durant and Westbrook take a breather and it has helped them become a more consistent team, less prone to ceding big runs to the opponent while the two star players sit.

Mixing the starters and the bench greatly helps the reserves. They get to play with better players, which in turn helps them play better. They don’t need to assume as much responsibility and can instead play a supporting role.

Looking at the Timberwolves, it’s easy to see how the bench players could thrive in roles with a bit less responsibility.

Shabazz Muhammad could be a more efficient scorer if he didn’t have to create his own shot on the second unit. Creating isn’t really part of his game and he would mesh well with players that could find him for open corner threes and occasionally in the post, where he can use his arsenal of post moves to bully defenders and get buckets.

Nemanja Bjelica has given Wolves fans a small taste of his drive-and-kick game. When he’s feeling aggressive, as he was early in the season and has again in the past few games, he’ll have some herky-jerky drives after using the threat of his three-point shot to pump-fake and get his man off balance.

Bjelica, however, is mostly a spot-up shooter. Again, while LaVine wasn’t a very good point guard, he was at least able to penetrate and draw the defense away from shooters on the second-unit. Now that he’s playing mostly with the starters, nobody on the bench can really draw help defenders to open up guys like Bjelica on the perimeter.