Minnesota Timberwolves: SI ranks three Wolves from No. 51 to No. 100
By Ben Beecken
SI.com ranks Minnesota Timberwolves’ D’Angelo Russell at No. 61
The Wolves have two players on their roster who have been All-Stars in their career.
Towns will be ranked as such, almost certainly landing in the top 25 when the rest of the SI.com list comes out. D’Angelo Russell is the other All-Star, and he’s seen his star plummet on player rankings lists in each of the past two years.
That trend continues here, as Russell checks in at No. 61. Last year on this same list, Russell landed at No. 46. On last year’s ESPN list, Russell was No. 69. Ridiculously, ESPN had him ranked all the way up at No. 26 just two years ago.
Russell is one of the more polarizing players in the league. It stems mostly from his defensive issues, but his style of play on offense is also a factor.
While Russell has the ability to be one of the better passers in the league, he all too often gets locked in on being The Guy. It limits what his best-case role is on offense and coupled with his horrendous defense, puts a cap on the positives that Russell can provide.
In the Feb. 6 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, for instance, Russell used seven of eight possessions and scored twice while Edwards touched the ball zero times in the half-court offense over the course of the fourth quarter.
However, if Russell plays off the ball for extended periods of time and is allowed some leash to run the offense at certain times throughout the game, he can be a 20-point-per-game scorer with strong efficiency. Combined with passable defense, Russell could easily return to being a top-50 player.
After all, since his crazy-high ranking on ESPN prior to the 2019-20 season, Russell has averaged 21.1 points per game and made 37.5 percent of his 3-point attempts. He’s a solid, efficient scorer despite his warts.
But at this stage, coming off an up-and-down season that included knee surgery, it’s hard to argue against his No. 61 ranking.
A strong season from the Timberwolves and any semblance of defensive improvement should help Russell rise in these rankings. Until then, the Wolves have an overpaid — albeit fairly efficient — scorer on their team, and he’ll be placed as such in this year’s player ranking articles.
Next. Revisiting Wolves' haul in the Robert Covington trade. dark
Soon, we’ll find out just how high Towns manages to be on the SI.com list. Stay tuned.