Minnesota Timberwolves: 6 bold predictions for the regular season

3. Taj Gibson averages one attempted 3-pointer a game.

This might be the boldest of the bold. Taj Gibson is a man who has shot 35 3’s in his eight-year career,

Taj Gibson is a man who has shot 35 3’s in his eight-year career, including a career-high 13 last season. With that being said, I may be falling victim to recency bias after seeing him recklessly chuck five shots from behind the arc this preseason.

However, with the growing concentration on floor-spacing around the league, this might be a trend worth monitoring throughout the regular season. Minnesota’s lack of outside shooters has been talked about all offseason so it’s only natural some of their players focused on that during their summer workouts. It’s just implausible the source of more shooting comes from Gibson.

His past preseason numbers are also an indicator of what we’re about to see this year. He’s never been a high-volume outside shooter even in preseason, only averaging 0.2 3’s per game last preseason and 0.5 in 2015-16.

This gives me confidence Gibson isn’t participating in some annual 3-point shooting event where he messes around when the games don’t matter. If he’s able to continue stretching the defense out to the corners by shooting one 3-pointer a gamer, it will be a huge bonus for the Timberwolves.