5 keys to the Timberwolves early success

3. More Bench Production 

Although the Wolves bench ranks last in the league in minutes per game at 14.5, they have been productive in their time on the court.

Their productivity is in large part to Bjelica and Crawford. It also helps that Dieng, a solid all-around player, is also coming off the bench.

It would be easy to make the assumption that because the bench is 24th in the league averaging 29.3 points per game that they don’t make that much of an impact. However, this shouldn’t be the case.

Although they may not score a bunch they are still a productive shooting unit. They rank eighth in the league in bench shooting percentage at 45.6 percent. From beyond the arc, the bench ranks third in percentage as they are shooting 40 percent from three.

Bjelica has been a pleasant surprise for the Wolves this season. He has provided consistent shooting from all over the floor as well as doing a nice job crashing the boards.

Crawford has brought his veteran leadership to a young bench as it has shown to pay off early on.  He has done more than being just a three-point shooter. Take a look at one example of a great play by the two leaders on the bench.

The Wolves will be hoping for more of the same unselfish play down the road, which will also be touched upon soon.

Along with them, Dieng is still playing consistent off the bench in a new role this season. He provides a strong defensive presence off the bench, which the Wolves failed to have last season. He also is a consistent scorer with a nice touch from mid-range.

Tyus Jones has looked more comfortable in his third season with the Wolves, although he hasn’t produced much statistically.

Then there is Shabazz Muhammad who can get hot on any given night. Although the Wolves would love to see more consistency out of Jones and Muhammad, the bench has held their own so far this season.

With that, they have been an underrated factor in the early success of the Wolves.