Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 things to watch in preseason
3. Taj Gibson, 3-point shooter?
Taj Gibson has hit a total of four 3-point shots in his career, so to even be mentioning him as a long-range specialist is bizarre, yet he we are, one game into the preseason, and he looks like he has transformed his game.
After hitting two corner 3’s from two attempts against LA, Gibson looks like he can become the stretch four that the Timberwolves need to keep up with the floor stretching nature of the NBA.
More from Dunking with Wolves
- The dream starting 5 for Minnesota Timberwolves 5 years from now
- Anthony Edwards’ latest accolade is a great sign of things to come
- In an OT thriller, Team Canada snatches Bronze from Team USA
- Timberwolves start, bench, cut: Mike Conley, Shake Milton, Jordan McLaughlin
- Which Timberwolves roster additions have upgraded the bench?
The space that a 3-point shooting version of Gibson creates would be huge for the Wolves, who need to open up space in the lane for their paint-orientated stars to operate in.
It seems unlikely he will all of a sudden become an elite 3-point threat, given his shaky track record from behind the arc, but if Gibson can make defenders respect his outside shot it will go a long way to success for a team already lacking outside shooting.
Gibson spoke to the Star Tribune after the Lakers game, exclaiming how this is only the beginning of his three-point evolution.
"Just try to evolve in all aspects of the game, this is the first game so still got a ton of work to do … I’m going to roll with it, every day up in practice."
It seems he has earned the starting power forward position with Coach Thibodeau starting him alongside Butler and Towns in the frontcourt in Anaheim.
If Gibson becomes the 3-point shooting big man that he looked like he could be in game one, then the Timberwolves are loaded with four bigs who can stretch the floor.
It will be interesting to see if he can keep up his new-found stroke, or whether the Los Angeles game was just an outlier.