Timberwolves Mid-Preseason Winners and Losers

Oct 12, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Winner #3: Three-Point Shooting

A lack of three-point attempts has been the biggest problem with Flip Saunders’ offense in past seasons. This issue has been discussed at length here at Dunking With Wolves, but if the preseason is any indication, this is actively being resolved.

Last season, the Wolves attempted only 14.9 threes a game — last in the league. Under interim head coach Sam Mitchell, the Wolves are attempting 19 threes per game over three preseason contests. They are hitting on 40.4% of their attempts, but that is likely unsustainable, given that the Warriors were the best shooting team in the league last year and only hit 39.8% of their threes.

Nineteen three-point attempts per game would still have placed the Wolves in the bottom-ten last year, but it is still a large improvement. I don’t know if this change would have happened under Saunders or if it is a result of Mitchell’s game plan, but it is an encouraging trend that hopefully carries over into the regular season.

Next: Winner #4: Everyone's A Winner!