In the week leading up to the start of the 2017-18 NBA season, there has been a ton of Timberwolves-related news, from the Andrew Wiggins contract extension to Jared Dudley trade rumors.
It’s been a busy week, Wolves fans.
On Wednesday, Andrew Wiggins signed his maximum contract extension. If you haven’t already, check out our take on the latest edition of the Dunking With Wolves podcast.
Also, if you haven’t read enough “Wiggins isn’t good yet and doesn’t deserve max money but he’s getting it anyways” takes, here’s one from Kevin O’Connor at The Ringer. (He’s not wrong, but it’s what many folks have been been saying all along.)
On Friday, a Jared Dudley trade rumor was floated first by ESPN’s Zach Lowe and confirmed as having ‘legs’ later in the morning by KSTP’s Darren Wolfson.
Lowe’s article also included some interesting thoughts on the Timberwolves throughout his “32 crazy predictions”. First, a somewhat random thought surrounding their offensive rebounding.
"Minnesota leads the league in offensive rebounding rateThe Wolves finished third last season, and this year’s version will be downright rude in the paint. Taj Gibson punks weak box-out guys. Jimmy Butler‘s sneaky offensive rebounding was perhaps the first skill — at least on offense — that got him noticed. He’s not as brash crashing these days, but he’s a load.The Thunder topped the league last season, but they’re going to play smaller — and without Enes Kanter‘s bruising, hippity-hoppity put-back game."
If you had told me that the Wolves were third in the league in offensive rebounding rate last year, I would have been surprised. Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad, and of course, Karl-Anthony Towns, were the biggest reasons why. They’ll downgrade modestly in rebounding from the point guard position from Ricky Rubio to Jeff Teague, but the rest of the big-time rebounders will be joined Gibson and Butler.
So that was a relatively unexciting (although positive, to be sure) prediction. What about one that is somewhat crazy and would absolutely be historical?
"Karl-Anthony Towns goes 50-40-85It’s more likely Karl-Anthony Towns goes 50-38-85, but where’s the fun in that? I really wanted to pull the trigger on Towns joining Dirk Nowitzki as the only big men in the hallowed 50-40-90 club, but leaping from 82 to 90 percent at the line in one season is a lot to ask. Maybe someday. Towns has a chance to be the greatest scoring big man since Shaq — and the most versatile ever."
Yes, folks, that’s 50 percent shooting from the field, 40 percent on 3-point attempts, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Hedging it a bit at 50-38-85 makes sense, and he’s right in suggesting that asking Towns to make a leap to 90 percent free-thrower is probably a bit too much. But 50-40-85 is absolutely attainable, and Lowe does a good job of framing the rarity of the event.
Towns is an absolute monster to both the advanced statistics community and the “eye test”/casual fan groups, but it’s easy to forget to glance at the “traditional” percentage marks. But man — shooting exactly 54.2 percent from the field over his age-19 and age-20 seasons? Ridiculous. Improving his 3-point shooting from both a frequency and accuracy perspective (1.2 to 3.3 attempts per game and 34.1 to 36.7 percent)? Awesome. Even his free throw rate and percentage climbed measurably from Year One to Year Two.
Lowe also predicts the Timberwolves as the sixth-seed in the West. Other than the five usual suspects in the top-four spots, he has Denver finishing in fifth. Rounding out the Western Conference is Portland and the L.A. Clippers, meaning that Rubio and his Utah squad would be on the outside looking in.
Speaking of Rubio, he was named in The Ringer’s “Our Favorite Passers in NBA History” article, along with such names as Jason Williams, Arvydas Sabonis, Pete Maravich, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, and more. Check it out…it’s an awesome trip down memory lane. If you’re like me, a jaw-dropping pass is perhaps the most exciting thing one can see on the basketball court.
Next: Is a Jared Dudley trade a possibility for the Wolves?
That’s it for this edition of the Roundup. Stay tuned as we continue to get you primed for the Timberwolves opener next week…