Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 things they need this offseason

Despite notching their first playoff appearance in 14 years, there are plenty of things the Minnesota Timberwolves need to fix over the summer.

While the Timberwolves won 47 games and were likely to land a top-four seed in the Western Conference until Jimmy Butler‘s late February knee injury, there are still many holes that Tom Thibodeau and the Wolves front office need to fill.

From specific roles to organizational structure and direction, there is plenty of room for improvement, and May is a great time to talk about those steps.

Let’s get into it with a fairly obvious one.

#1 – Find 3-point shooting

This isn’t going to surprise anyone, is it?

On the one hand, the Timberwolves shot a respectable 35.7 percent from beyond the arc during the 2017-18 regular season — good enough for 19th in the NBA.

But they were dead-last in both makes and attempts, which isn’t exactly a recipe to keep up with the league’s true contenders in 2018 and beyond. And while Minnesota’s offense still finished with the fourth-best offensive rating in the league, the idea of keeping pace with the likes of the Houston Rockets in the postseason is fairly far-fetched.

To be fair, Thibodeau was reported very interested in bringing in J.J. Redick last summer, but Redick took one year and much more money on a “prove-it” type of deal from Philadelphia. Jeff Teague is obviously a better 3-point shooter than Ricky Rubio. And Jamal Crawford had recently shot the ball well from beyond the arc and was the sixth-man option that Thibs brought in last offseason.

But the scheme doesn’t lend itself to many long-range attempts, and while virtually everyone in the Wolves rotation is an adequate 3-point shooter, there just weren’t enough shots getting up towards the rim. So this need is as much a slight adjustment to the offense as it is the need to acquire a true sharpshooter, which the Timberwolves still don’t have.