Minnesota Timberwolves grades: Musical point guards
In the past 24 hours, the Minnesota Timberwolves shipped out their starting point guard and have reportedly brought in another.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been extremely busy to start the free agency period. Heck, there moves started at the trade last week and carried to Friday afternoon before free agency technically started.
Here we are, mere hours into free agency and the Wolves have already been one of the most active teams in the league.
They traded away the longest tenured Timberwolves player, Ricky Rubio, in exchange for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round pick, which came from the Utah Jazz. Clearly, a cap relief move.
Update: Utah acquires Ricky Rubio in deal with Minnesota https://t.co/fuboPUTQlB via @ShamsCharania
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) June 30, 2017
They now have reportedly signed Jeff Teague to a three-year, $57 million deal to play alongside Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins.
Jeff Teague has agreed to a three-year, $57M deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources tell The Vertical. 3rd-year player option.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2017
It sounds like Minnesota is still active in free agency but as of now, that leaves the Wolves with a Teague, Butler, Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns starting lineup. Not bad at all. Minnesota essentially traded Rubio for a first-round pick and Teague.
Teague will be a better fit with this roster but is certainly a downgrade in some categories from Rubio. Offensively, Teague is a better shooter from the outside but that doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily dangerous. Although, teams will have to pay him more respect and fight harder through screens than they did for Rubio.
Teague can be a playmaker as well, although he isn’t nearly on Rubio’s level. Teague averaged 7.8 assists per game last season, not bad by any standards.
Defensively, Teague is not on Rubio’s level. He’s shorter in both height and length and doesn’t produce the same results. He won’t be able to body with bigger point guards the way Rubio does but he is scrappy in his own way.
| Rk | Player | Season | Age | G | MP | FG% | 3P% | eFG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ricky Rubio | 2016-17 | 26 | 75 | 32.9 | .402 | .306 | .448 | .891 | 4.1 | 9.1 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 11.1 |
| 2 | Jeff Teague | 2016-17 | 28 | 82 | 32.4 | .442 | .357 | .492 | .867 | 4.0 | 7.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 15.3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Teague is two years older than Rubio which fits the narrative that Tom Thibodeau wants to win now with this Timberwolves team. It’s known that Thibs isn’t a very patient man in this respect and wants to accelerate the Wolves’ timeline.
The part that confuses me the most is the money. Teague will make about $5 million more a season than Rubio, although the structure of the contract hasn’t been released yet. I believe Teague is a better overall player and fit with the Wolves but is he $5 million a year better? I’m not sure.
I know Thibodeau had his reasons but he must have had real concerns with Rubio’s fit and play in order to trade him for what is essentially a lateral move in signing Teague.
Next: Ricky Rubio trade reaction