Season Review: Grading Brandon Rush
Brandon Rush was a low-key signing for the Minnesota Timberwolves last offseason that was thrown into the fire midway through the year.
Last July, Brandon Rush signed a one-year $3.5 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After playing sparingly for the Golden State Warriors the past two seasons, Rush was expected to provide Minnesota with some much-needed depth at the wing.
However, that didn’t quite go as planned. Rush only played in 16 of the team’s first 50 games to start the season. In six of those games, he even logged nine minutes or less.
Rush was less than impressive throughout those first 16 appearances as the groan of fans was often audible when he entered the game.
He seemed disinterested at times, often playing out of rhythm.
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Rush made two spot starts in the middle of January when Zach LaVine was sidelined with a hip injury.
Surprisingly, Rush played very well during those contests, having two of his most complete games all season. He also logged 36 or more minutes during each of those games, helping him regain a feel for the league and serving a warm-up for his starts later in the year.
During those two games, Rush shot 47 percent from the field, including 53.8 percent from downtown. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.5 steals, 2.5 blocks. and 11.5 points per game. All of those were above his average for last season.
Questionably, Rush followed up those two great performances by playing three minutes in the very next game, followed by nine consecutive did not play’s.
He was then thrust back into the starting lineup on Feb 4 due to the awful knee injury suffered by LaVine.
He would go on to start every game except one on March 8 in which he missed due to an illness.
Rush was a starter only by necessity and it showed in his play. He often looked like a fish out of water and was a huge disadvantage for the Timberwolves.
A player like Rush averaging 26.8 minutes per game while starting, showed you that the Timberwolves had no other options at the backup two spot.
Season Grade: C-
Brandon Rush wasn’t expected to provide much output for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. Hence the one-year $3.5 million deal he signed in the offseason.
He was miscast as a starting shooting guard for a good part of the year, due to no fault of his own or of Tom Thibodeau’s.
His season averages of 4.2 points on 37.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.6 percent from the 3-point line are what we should expect from Rush at this point in his career.
He is a very limited player on both ends of the floor and doesn’t provide any skills that another player can’t bring to the table.
His biggest contribution to a team will come from helping to mentor and teach younger players the ropes.
If he does return to Minnesota next season, I hope it’s in that capacity instead of the role he was in last year.
Next: Taking a look at the Los Angeles Clippers free agents
However, due to a very underwhelming campaign, I do not expect Rush to be resigned this offseason.