Timberwolves Keys to Success in 2015-16: Staying Healthy

Before I get started, let me first say that I’m fully aware that this is a somewhat obvious key to success for any team in any sport. However, it seemed to have a much bigger effect on the Minnesota Timberwolves this season than on many other sports franchises in recent memory.

Our Timberwolves were easily the most injury-prone team in the NBA this season. Multiple times this season, there was actually doubt that the Timberwolves would even have enough healthy players to play in a game. Flip Saunders even had to sign players on road trips just because they were close to the gym so they could reach the minimum of eight healthy players, like they did with Sean Kilpatrick.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, there was only one player on the Timberwolves roster to play in all 82 games this season, and that was none other than NBA Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins. Another rookie, Zach LaVine, was second on the team in games played with 77. Last time I checked, two rookies leading your team in games played isn’t exactly a winning formula.

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There’s not much doubt that, at least going into the season, that Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, and Kevin Martin were supposed to be three impact players for this team this season. These three players are also taking a large chunk of the team’s cap room, so it’s a shame to see these three guys play a total of 92 games this season (Martin played 39, Pekovic 31, and Rubio 22).

Additionally, Shabazz Muhammad only played in 38 games this season. As a bright young talent with some serious potential, it would’ve been great to see Muhammad get some more minutes this season and stay healthy. He’s a player that I’m very high on, and it would be very beneficial if he could stay healthy for a whole season. In his 38 games this season, he averaged over 13 points per game and shot just under 50%.

The biggest downfall of all the injuries this season was the simple fact that players were never able to get comfortable with each other. The Wolves were continuously using different starting lineups and different rotations due to injuries. Often times this season, the Wolves looked lost or were disorganized on both sides of the ball because of this.

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If the Timberwolves can get a full season from Ricky Rubio, he’ll be able to have a strong season next season because he’ll be able to gel with Wiggins, Muhammad, LaVine, and the other stud that the Timberwolves take in the first round of this year’s draft, whoever that will be. In just 22 games, Rubio wasn’t really able to get comfortable with these guys.

Lastly, the veteran leadership from Kevin Garnett, Kevin Martin, and Nikola Pekovic will only help the core of young talent on this team. If those three can stay relatively healthy next season (I say relatively because it seems quite unlikely that they all will stay completely healthy), their impact will prove to be influential and you’ll see this team grow even faster.

So yeah, staying healthy is obviously an important part of any successful team. However, it’s not nearly as simple with the Minnesota Timberwolves. If the Wolves as a team can miss far fewer games due to injury next season, we’ll see this team take some serious steps forward to becoming relevant again in the NBA.

Timberwolves Keys to Success in 2015-16: Staying Healthy

By Drew Mahowald | May 15, 2015

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