Timberwolves Milestone Watch

Oct 14, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN;Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) gest past Minnesota Timberwolves forward Tayshaun Prince (12) in a pre-season matchup at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Tayshaun Prince

Milestone to watch: Games Played

Tayshaun Prince has had a very solid career that includes a lot of success with Flip Saunders in Detroit and, prior to that, a championship with coach Larry Brown as a Piston. He has accomplished great things in this league, no doubt, and will go down as one of the more well-rounded players in recent memory.

However, I was floored when looking up some of Prince’s stats. Did you know that he’s never averaged a full steal or block in a season? Or that he never averaged even 3.5 assists per game?

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When I saw those stats, I double-checked, then triple-checked, and then went back again later to check once more because I thought I kept reading that wrong. How could someone that was once regarded as a fearsome defender never average at least one steal or block per game? How could someone so well-rounded have his career best in assists be 3.3 per game?

I know that Prince has never cared about stats. He’s always placed the team and winning ahead of himself, and he was a perfect fit on those Piston teams in the early 2000s. It’s a testament to the little things that he does that he’s been able to last so long and put himself in position to reach 1000 career games played.

He’s been extremely reliable for so long. That may be his calling card even over his well-rounded play. Coaches know exactly what they’re getting when they put Prince in: tough, hardnosed defense, the ability to can open threes, good passing, and great leadership.

Prince has played in 940 games across his 13 seasons. He needs just 60 to put him over the thousand mark. He played in 58 last year and appeared in 76 the year before. It seems likely that he will get some consistent rotation minutes this year, so he will probably pass that milestone late in the season.

Next: High Expectations for the Spaniard