Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 goals for Taj Gibson

5. Mentor the youthful Wolves

One of the main reasons why Gibson was a target for the Timberwolves, and why he wanted to travel to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, was the opportunity to provide leadership.

Heading in to his ninth NBA season, the 32-year-old Gibson has only missed the playoffs once. That’s the exact type of experience and mentoring that can help the young stars in Minnesota. We all know that this is a team that hasn’t made the playoffs for 13 long years.

Gibson hasn’t been riding any benches over his fruitful career, either. He has never averaged under 20 minutes per game in a season, and has never averaged under seven points or under five rebounds per game.

Gibson has consistently been a rock-solid glue that can hold together star-studded lineups. And with Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague beside him in the wolves starting line-up, there is a lot of stars to help glue together.

Taj himself already sounds like he is comfortable in Minnesota colors and ready to surprise a lot of people this season.

As has been documented, he biggest concern for the Wolves last season was a complete lack of defense. It was obvious that the young and inexperienced team that the Wolves deployed hadn’t quite grasped Thibodeau’s elite defensive schemes.

According to NBA stats, the Timberwolves finished with the fourth-worst defensive rating in the NBA, they also gave up the 11th most points of fast breaks, the ninth-most points off turnovers and the eighth-most second chance points.

It’s not a bad assumption to say a great defender like Gibson was needed.

Gibson has been a great defender his entire career, but his five seasons with Tom Thibodeau he was an absolute force defensively, on a team that was frightening for opposing squads.

Thibs sung Gibson’s praises at is introductory press conference earlier in July:

"“He can star in any role that you give him. You can start him, you can bring him off the bench, he is great in the fourth quarter” he said."

In case you missed it, Draymond Green won the Defensive Player Of The Year this past season. His Defensive Rating was a more than respectable 99.3. Across Gibson’s tenure under Coach Thibs in Chicago, his defensive rating sat a remarkable 96.3.

He is already good, but If Gibson can even slightly recreate that  kind of defensive presence, the Timberwolves will dramatically improve.

This defensive leadership, as well as a firm knowledge of Thibs’ schemes to pass on to the struggling Wolves youth will be invaluable, Especially for a team that is looking to make its mark in a Western Conference.

Which looks like it’s going to be a bloodbath.