Wolves Win Preseason Opener

A whole new Wolves team stepped out on the court together for the first time Sunday, and the results were intriguing to say the least. While the Wolves flexed their muscle in the paint, the also showcased a pretty mediocre perimeter shooting stroke. Let’s look at the positives first:

Kevin Love is becoming an absolute freak. While reportedly he was the best player in training came, he matched that performance on the court putting up a 17 and 13 double-double in a little over 21 minutes of time. He also appears to have improved his 3-point game as promised and has reportedly shown off very nice conditioning that he lacked last season.

Al Jefferson is showing no signs of slowing down hanging 14 and 3 in a mere 16 minutes tonight.

The duo made such an impression that Bucks coach Scott Skiles had some high praise for the pair when he said: “We’re thankful they got Al out of there. If he and Kevin would have played most of the time, we probably would have got beat by 50.”

Paint dominance. Not just by Jefferson and Love, but the whole team, getting to the free throw line at will and grabbing rebounds over Bucks players at a whim. The Timberwolves shot an impressive 50-56 from the charity stripe including rookie Jonny Flynn’s 14-15 performance from the line. The Wolves also more than doubled the Bucks rebounding total as they owned the battle of the boards 49-24.

Offensive balance. The Wolves had 6 players score in double figures (Love, Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sasha Pavlovic, Ryan Hollins and Jonny Flynn).

Ryan Hollins surprisingly broke double digit points tonight with 11. I wouldn’t get used to that.

Now the bad:

3-10 from distance. It was pretty well known that the Wolves would struggle from the 3-point line this season, and this game seemed to show that. While Love showed some nice range nailing one of his two three point attempts, designated shooter Wayne Ellington was a disappointing 1-6 from the field and 0-1 from three. Fellow rookie Jonny Flynn did not attempt and 3’s, but he still did not hit a single shot from the field, despite earning his living at the free throw line with 15 attempts. They are rookies in their first ever NBA game, so they are given a pass on their shooting tonight. Ryan Gomes and Sasha Pavlovic should also have a more significant impact from the 3-point line than the disappointing combined 1-5 they put up tonight.

Turnovers. Twenty-five turnovers is far too many. This is a group of guys that has never played together before and they are learning a complicated new offense, so hopefully with time that number will drop. Ramon Sessions had six by himself. An overall mediocre game from Sessions, but I’m not too worried about him yet.

Assist/TO ratio. The Wolves had a sub-1.0 A/TO ratio with 19 assists and 25 turnovers. Once again, with time that should improve.

Corey Brewer, while stats have never told the whole story with Brewer’s game, he didn’t score a field goal in 16 minutes of play, managing only 2 made free throws to comprise his entire scoring output. That needs to change or Brewer could see significant minutes and possibly even a starting spot lost to Sasha Pavlovic or Wayne Ellington if he steps up.

This is a very different team than the product we have seen in years past, but considering the end results of years past, that’s probably a good thing. The Wolves appear to have made some very key additions to the roster this off season through draft and free agency. I’m keeping an eye on Pavlovic vs. Brewer this preseason and calling Kevin Love as an early candidate for the most improve player award. Up next: Minnesota vs. Toronto on Friday at 7 pm.