Dunking With Wolves
Fansided

Timberwolves Notes: Wolves dominate the week in podcasts

By Ben Beecken

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 12: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates a play against the New York Knicks during the game on January 12, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 12: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates a play against the New York Knicks during the game on January 12, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

As it turns out, being the hottest team in basketball over the past five-plus weeks has translated into plenty of national media coverage for the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves’ 15-7 run since the start of December has been well-documented here at Dunking With Wolves as well as all around the Wolves Twitter/blogosphere, but it’s finally starting to garner some of the requisite national attention.

While Jimmy Butler still hasn’t gotten anywhere near the amount of support for an All-Star berth or as part of the MVP conversation as he should, the national conversation surrounding the team has begun to pick-up. Below, we’ll link to three recent podcasts that spend significant time talking about the Wolves.

The narratives discussed largely fall under one of three categories: Butler’s overall dominance and recent dedication to taking over games, Karl-Anthony Towns‘ enormous improvement on the defensive end and continued efficiency on offense, and Andrew Wiggins.

The Wiggins talk either focuses on Wiggins’ modest, incremental improvement (Zach Lowe and Jim Peterson discuss this) or how frustrating it is that he hasn’t quite come to what was supposed to be the Big Three party, instead lagging far behind as a third wheel (this was the main focus of the Wolves portion of The Ringer NBA show pod).

Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer spent the first dozen minutes or so of their Tuesday podcast discussing the Wolves improvement, primarily focused on Butler’s recent play and leadership and the above-mentioned deficiencies of Wiggins.

The most enjoyable portion of the podcast for yours truly was the discussion surrounding the odd (to say the least) roster construction of the Wolves. Indeed, there aren’t any true wings that see consistent minutes behind Butler and Wiggins at this point in the season, although Marcus Georges-Hunt is beginning to see some minutes here or there, during which he’s largely played well. Jamal Crawford is the only real backup two-guard on the roster, and he’s severely limited defensively.

More from Dunking with Wolves

The Wiggins conversation isn’t anything new to Wolves fans who have paid attention, although the idea that Wiggins is the new Jeff Green (put simply: looks the part but is inefficient and overall ineffective) is a new, but probably fair, comparison. The other name that came up, provided Wiggins doesn’t improve by leaps and bounds over the next year or two, was Rudy Gay.

(My own personal best-case for Wiggins as of today? DeMar DeRozan. More to come on this in a future post, but many of the rate-based numbers and advanced metrics from their respective first four seasons are eerily similar. They both love the mid-range game, are ultra-athletic, etc.)

Next up, FiveThirtyEight.com had a podcast centered on whether or not the Timberwolves are “for real”. This was the pod that caused my eyes to roll the most, including Chris Herring’s take that Jeff Teague has been the catalyst for the turn around. You know, the guy that missed seven games in the middle of this 15-7 run.

And it’s not that Teague hasn’t been good, because he has been, but it’s how good Tyus Jones was in his stead and has been with the second unit, and the idea that Teague has somehow made a greater impact than Butler or Towns’ defensive improvement. It’s kind of a crazy take.

If you can make it through that take, however, it’s a pretty good listen.

Lastly, ESPN’s Zach Lowe spent an entire episode speaking with Wolves and Fox Sports North color analyst Jim Peterson. JimPete talked about a number of things that Wolves fans and readers of DWW are familiar with, but it was fun to hear him give a more free and open take in a podcast forum instead of in a more sterile environment such as on television.

Peterson referenced the win over Portland shortly before Christmas as a significant turning point in the Wolves season. That was followed closely by the overtime win over the Denver Nuggets, and things have largely been smooth sailing since then. They also spent time talking about Towns’ defensive improvement, including his phases of not providing any help defense to over-helping, to finally figuring out exactly what his role is in Tom Thibodeau’s defensive scheme.

Lowe also asked about the Paisley Park party that Prince threw for the Minnesota Lynx following one of their WNBA championships for which Peterson was part of the coaching staff.

It’s an all-around awesome podcast, so please be sure to spend an hour of your weekend checking it out.

Next: 5 best Timberwolves performances this season

We’ll have coverage of the nearly-No. 3-seeded Timberwolves throughout the weekend, including leading up to Wolves-Blazers on Sunday night.

Home/Timberwolves News