Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 goals for Taj Gibson
4. Keep hitting those 3-balls
Coach Thibodeau reportedly requested Gibson to start shooting more threes in the offseason.
Wolves (and all NBA) fans were still collectively stunned (in the good way) when Taj Gibson splashed home 2 corner threes in their first preseason game.
Late to the party, watching a replay of Wolves-Lakers right now.....
— Tim Faklis (@timfaklis) October 1, 2017
Uhhh....
Is corner 3 Taj Gibson a thing??????
Taj Gibson: 2-of-2 from 3-point range
— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) October 1, 2017
Brandon Ingram, KCP, Julius Randle, and Lonzo Ball: 2-of-16 from 3-point range
Taj Gibson is the three point revolution. Man if he can make these triples a regular thing, the Wolves spacing looks SO much nicer.
— Adam (@AdamJoseph____) October 1, 2017
And it didn’t stop there, Gibson went on to hit 1-of-3 from deep in his next two games, taking his total to 3-for-5 for the preseason.
It is obviously a miniscule sample size, but if Gibson can continue working on, and delivering the floor stretching then this team will look much more dangerous on offense this year. The side of the ball where the Timberwolves were certainly better than its defensive counterpart this past season.
In fact, the Wolves posted an offensive rating of 108.1, which is good for tenth in the league. But the 3-point shooting was a striking area of struggle for team that was extremely good in almost every other aspect.
According to NBA stats, the Timberwolves shot a below-average 34.9 percent from deep, but that wasn’t the most worrying thing, that would be the fact that the Timberwolves only took 21 3-pointers per game, dead last in the league.
It may seem like a lot, but in this day of 3-point bombing, it isn’t; Golden State, Houston, Cleveland and Boston all attempted over 31 3-pointers per game.
The best teams take and make threes, that’s just how it is, and If Gibson can continue to work on his long ball it will go a long way to achieving better numbers from deep, and a long way to spacing the floor for the elite shot creators on this team.
Looking at the track record for Gibson, its unlikely he turns into Steph Curry this season, but the Timberwolves don’t need him to, either. If Gibson can be depended on to hit 34 to 38 per cent of his handful of 3-point attempts per night, he will add a value to this team that nobody expected.
Gibson, when talking to Fox Sports North talked about how hard it is to make the shooting adjustment.
"“Chicago last year, I took maybe three of [them]. They wanted me to shoot them in Chicago, but I just didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “I felt like, for me, when you shoot 16-footers your whole career, it feels like it’s like a mile away when you finally start shooting 3’s.”"
It seems Thibs has been pushing for a corner-3-Gibson product for more than just this offseason though.
Tom Thibodeau says the Bulls consistently tried to develop Taj Gibson into a corner-three shooter, but "he wasn't comfortable with it."
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) March 12, 2016
But now, Gibson and Thibodeau are feeling like the pressure is on to keep pace with the long-range orientated NBA.
"“Now it’s different, now he’s putting a lot more pressure on me to actually practice them a lot harder,” Gibson said to Fox Sports North"
It is one thing to practice taking threes. It’s another to shoot them against a porous Lakers preseason team.
It’s a whole new ball game shooting at a reliable clip during the regular season, where teams are fighting tooth and nail to keep players from feeling comfortable in their spots.
If Gibson can continue his shooting success, he can consider this season a massive growth.