The Golden State Warriors just captured their second NBA Title in three seasons and are on the verge of a dynasty.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are sitting at a metaphorical crossroads in terms of taking the next step in their development as a young team. When they take a look at the NBA Finals, which they almost certainly have, they see two teams who have taken two very distinct paths to greatness.
Both teams are built on the backs of multiple superstars. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are to the Cleveland Cavaliers what Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are to the Golden State Warriors.
Next, they both have elite and glorified role-players; Kevin Love and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. The teams are constructed similarly in this manner.
One similarity in their play is that they love to get their star players open space to operate. One way they do that is by getting the ball up the floor quickly. The Warriors led the league in transition pushes with 20.5 per game. Cleveland wasn’t too far behind with 17.5 transition possessions per game, ranking fifth.
Outside of transition opportunities, the track each respective team took to get their players open space, however, is completely contradictory.
The Cavaliers are a team who relies heavily on their superstars by giving them room to work in Isolation. In fact, 11.9 percent of the plays they run are iso’s, which is the highest in the NBA.
They are also efficient running those iso’s as they have the highest effective field goal percentage and points per possession of any team while running that type of play.
If you have ever watched a Cavs’ game you will have surely noticed the team clearing out space and letting James or Kyrie Irving go one-on-one with their man.
Take this play for instance. Irving found himself in a favorable matchup with Patrick McCaw, the rookie out of UNLV. Besides Irving’s handles and quickness, floor spacing is what makes this play work. All of the Cavs’ players spread out evenly, giving Irving almost half the court to work with.
J.R. Smith, James and Richard Jefferson smoothly stretch the floor from the top of the key, wing and corner respectively. That spacing makes their men hesitant to come off as each of them are capable 3-point shooters.
Tristan Thompson, potentially the worst shooter on the floor, is who makes this play possible. He puts himself in a scoring position by sliding down to the block. This makes Green extremely hesitant to cut off the drive because it would leave Thompson wide open for an alley-oop on the backside. If Thompson would have stayed any higher, even at the elbow, Green would have been able to help without having to worry about giving up a bucket. This is a staple in the Cavs’ offense.
Now, let’s look at Cleveland’s bizarro world. As far as isolation goes, the Warriors couldn’t be any more contrasting to Cleveland’s style of play. Golden State only run’s isolation plays 5.7 percent of the time which ranks 27th in the league. Incredibly, they were nearly as effective as the Cavs, averaging just 0.05 points per possession less.
In true team fashion, the Warriors chose to get the majority of their points in a different manner. The way they managed to get their buckets is brilliant because they have a lot of metaphorical mouths to feed and in order to keep them all full, the ball needs to keep moving.
Instead of going to isolations, post-ups or pick and rolls, Golden State chose to rely on the fundamentals of basketball. Of all their possessions during the regular season, 12.3 percent of them ended with a basket cut and 13 percent ended with a shot off a screen, both tops in the NBA.
The advantage with cutting to the basket is that there are more positive outcomes that are likely to happen. Players will make a higher percentage of their shots, are more likely to get to the free throw line and are less likely to turn the ball over.
This play gets me excited about the Warriors’ style of play. It’s a beautifully designed and executed dribble handoff with a great cut for a dunk at the end.
If you notice as well, it allows three of the Warriors best players (Curry, Durant and Green) to touch the ball and have an opportunity to make a play. It ends by Livingston slipping down the middle of the lane and Green finding him for a wide open dunk.
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These types of plays keep everyone involved and are how the Warriors have been able to navigate the entire season with little to no drama.
Seeing all of this leads me to the conclusion that the Timberwolves have a huge decision to make. They can construct their current roster and budding stars after the Cavs’ favored isolation ways OR they can take a look down glory road and check out how to implement a true offense with multiple weapons.
Last season, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins operated as independent silo’s, each having little to no effect on the other.
Wiggins spent 21.3 percent of his possessions either in isolation or posting up his defender. Towns was a lot worse, spending 33.7 percent of his time performing the same types of plays.
That type of play is fine and, honestly, to be expected for a team who only won 31 games this season. However, I think we can all agree that the Timberwolves can be something so much more.
Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Pros and cons of Zach Collins
In order for them to meet that immense potential, they must look at their foes to the west and emulate what the Warriors are doing. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.