Russell Westbrook and the Timberwolves need each other

2. The Timberwolves would maximize Westbrook’s ability into his mid-30s.

The Long Beach, CA native’s ideal teammate is a stretch five that can play inside and out. Karl-Anthony Towns might just be on his way to being the best inside-out center in modern NBA history.

Westbrook was the ball handler in the pick and roll on 24.7 percent of his offensive possessions in 2018-19 for the Thunder. He averaged 0.78 points per possession, which ranked him in the 39.2 percentile among all NBA players that played in more than 50 games, per NBA.com’s Advanced Analytics.

This figure is underwhelming and frankly, it’s not surprising to me at all. Westbrook played with Steven Adams, who can’t shoot the ball outside the paint to save his life and doesn’t try to. If Russ was running the high pick and roll with a guy like KAT, who is just as much of a threat when he pops as he is when he rolls, he would see far less double-teams and have easier paths to the basket.

Roll defenders frequently hedged hard on Westbrook in the high pick and roll, which helped keep him away from the rim. Furthermore, Russ was surrounded by inconsistent shooting, especially when he shared the floor with the second unit. Oklahoma City’s 2018-19 team featured only three players who shot better than 35 percent from deep: Jerami Grant (39.2), Paul George (38.6) and Terrance Ferguson (36.6).

Minnesota’s offensive system under Ryan Saunders and Pablo Prigioni will feature a heavy dose of high ball screens, dribble drives, and players moving and cutting without the ball in order to create open looks for 3’s and layups. Thankfully, long 2’s are not a part of the plan.

Another added bonus of having a guy like Towns on the floor with Westbrook is his spacing when Westbrook plays in isolation. Last season, Russ averaged just 0.75 points per iso and scored just 36.3 percent of the time, which put him in the 30.1 percentile in the league. However, a good deal of this had nothing to do with him.

Adams frequently sat down on the block for entire possessions, which meant that Russ would be forced to pull up in the mid-range if he didn’t want to constantly see two and three defenders in lane at the rim in isolation.

With KAT being able to relocate to the wing, top of the key, and the corners, Russ would have far more room to operate in isolation, especially when he gets to the rim.

If he were to see a second defender sag off of a guy like Josh Okogie, he could draw a foul if the second defender arrived late, or utilize his high-level vision to find open teammates on the outside that can swing it, shoot it, or attack close-outs for easy layups.

I could see Russ average 12 or 13 assists per game in the Wolves’ new offense.

While it may be Summer League, Prigioni has driven his philosophy home in the Summer Wolves team, as Minnesota’s radio play-by-play man Alan Horton points out:

If the Wolves’ NBA squad can carry out this same high-efficiency, pace and space philosophy, it would be something Brodie only could have previously dreamed of.

Just imagine Russell Westbrook driving to the basket for layups, or kicking to open teammates on the wing for looks at 3’s, or absolutely killing defenses in the high screen game with KAT. It would be a powder keg of an offense that could explode for 130 points on any given night.

The offense could excel in an even bigger way if Westbrook gets back to shooting 3’s at the 34.3 percent clip he did in his 2016-17 MVP season. Ideally, Russ could hit from deep at least at a 33.3 percent rate so the defense would have to respect his shooting ability, which would further expand his driving lanes. Even if that doesn’t happen, Russ can still be a hugely positive addition to a young pack ready to get back in the playoffs.

Combine that with elite wing defenders such as Josh Okogie, Robert Covington, and hopefully Jarrett Culver, that can shore up Westbrook’s defensive deficiencies, and you have a well-rounded Wolves squad that would thrive with Russell Westbrook pushing the pace.

For the first time since the 2003-04 season, we could see a Wolves product that would be an absolute thrill to watch at Target Center.

Now, let’s examine why the Timberwolves need Russell Westbrook.