3 reasons to remain optimistic about the Minnesota Timberwolves
By Ben Beecken
No. 2 reason to remain optimistic about the Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves’ improving young talent
Anthony Edwards is the headliner, leading all rookies in scoring at 13.6 points per game.
While the overall efficiency isn’t there (.376/.333/.818 shooting splits), Edwards has shown flashes of absolute brilliance, and especially of late.
First, there’s his play in isolation. Edwards ranks third in the entire NBA — not just among rookies — in points per possession (PPP) when handling the ball in isolation at 1.5 per Second Spectrum.
In terms of his jump shot, Edwards is making 39.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts. The problem for him has been the 25 percent on pull-up attempts, of which he’s taking 2.5 per game per Second Spectrum. If he can cut those out, his efficiency would skyrocket.
Edwards is shooting only 51.7 percent at the rim to this point. For context, that’s only a tick above Ricky Rubio’s career average and worse than Rubio’s at-the-rim percentage so far this year.
Part of that is bad luck, part is technique/learning to score on NBA big men, and part is a lack of fouls being called. Edwards is attempting 30.9 percent of his field goal attempts within three feet of the rim, which is a higher rate than Towns, Rubio, and Malik Beasley. His free throw rate, however, is just .156, a rate only higher than Juancho Hernangomez, Jaden McDaniels, and Jordan McLaughlin.
Edwards isn’t necessarily avoiding contact, either. He’s simply not received whistles with the frequency that he deserves.
Beyond Edwards, the Wolves have seen a burst from Jaylen Nowell, who has scored in double-figures in all five games since he joined the rotation, and McDaniels, who has been impressive defensively and provides a tantalizing play or two each night on offense.
Much progress still needs to be made by the Wolves’ young talent, but the glimpses that we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks are promising. Add an All-Star to the mix, and suddenly things look a lot better.
Speaking of adding an All-Star…