Isolation
Unsurprisingly, the Timberwolves are one of the most isolation heavy teams in the league. Between players such as Butler, Wiggins, Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford- there are a lot of mouths to feed in this category.
Given the frequency of iso’s, Minnesota’s ability to score off them is extremely unfortunate. Despite running the play more than all but four teams, they only rank eighth in points per game. It gets even worse when looking at points per possession where they find themselves 25th.
Teague receives a surprising amount of these looks, as he’s averaging the most iso possessions per game at 2.6. Some of this may come down to him having the ball in his hands a lot as their point guard, but make no mistake about his infatuation for scoring the ball.
Crawford is the biggest culprit on the team. He ranks in the 48th percentile among isolations despite using it on a fifth of all his possessions. He certainly has the ability to create for himself, but often settles for long contested two’s.
His ability to quickly change directions via a straight crossover or a behind the back dribble is a nightmare for a defender. When you add in the fact he can get off the floor so quickly on his shot and it makes it nearly impossible to get a good contest on his shot.
Hopefully, Crawford’s numbers improve a little more and the team relies a little less on isolation as a whole, as they’ve proven to be one of the most inefficient forms of scoring.