Minnesota Timberwolves: First-half player grades for the Wolves
By Ben Beecken
Taj Gibson
- Averaging 10.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game
- Shooting 55.6 percent from the field, second-best in his career
Taj Gibson is 33 years old and is enjoying his second-straight fantastic season with the Timberwolves.
After averaging career-highs in points per game and field goal percentage last season and his second-best year in terms of rebounding, Gibson has seen his playing time reduced back to a more normal allotment of minutes.
Gibson averaged 33.2 minutes per game last year — easily the highest in his career. This year, he’s back to a more reasonable 25.6 minutes per game, which is right in line with the other years of his career.
Gibson has been able to focus more on defense and be deployed more strategically based on matchups, a trend that will surely continue under the interim head coach.
When Thibodeau signed Gibson in the summer of 2017, he was right in identifying that Gibson’s defensive intensity, knowledge of the game, and overall want-to is exactly what this team needed. He’s had arguably the two best seasons of his career in Minnesota, and it will be intriguing to see what the Wolves decide to do in the offseason as Gibson hits free agency.
Sliding Gibson to the bench and reducing his minutes closer to 20 per game while allowing Dario Saric to start and play 28 to 30 minutes per game is the future of this team, and if Gibson enjoys playing for Saunders and wants to be part of a Karl-Anthony Towns-led break-through in Minnesota, it’s certainly possible that he returns in the fall of 2019.