The Minnesota Timberwolves’ offensive shot distribution needs to be adjusted

The Minnesota Timberwolves were supposed to have one of the league’s best offenses this year. To put it gently … that has not come to fruition.

The biggest problems with the Minnesota Timberwolves’ offense

The Wolves are currently No. 26 in offensive rating. It’s safe to say that virtually nobody had the Wolves with a bottom-five offense one month into the season, but here we are.

Minnesota is No. 1 in 3-point attempts per game, but No. 24 in 3-point percentage. The Wolves are No. 3 in offensive rebounding rate, but their No. 28-ranked field goal percentage suggests that they aren’t doing much with their second-chance opportunities.

To make matters worse, they aren’t drawing fouls either: the Wolves are No. 26 in free throw attempts per game and No. 26 in free throw attempts per field goal attempts.

In short, the Wolves are shooting a ton of 3-pointers (good), but they aren’t making them (bad). They’re garnering second-chance opportunities at a high rate (good), but they are not scoring off of those extra possessions (bad) and are not getting to the free throw line very often at all (also bad).

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ offensive shot distribution needs to be adjusted

There are multiple facets here to dive into, but let’s look at the most obvious one.

Karl-Anthony Towns is third on this team in usage rate, using only 25.4 percent of offensive possessions when he’s on the floor. That trails Anthony Edwards (29.3 percent) and D’Angelo Russell (26.9 percent).

For their respective careers, Towns is the leader in free throw rate, and it isn’t close.

Towns has attempted .315 free throws per field goal attempt for his career, a solid number. Edwards’ mark is must .215 in his young career, and Russell, who is less athletic and more contact-averse, has only put up a free throw rate of .191 over his seven-plus years in the league.

So far this season, Towns has seen his free throw rate plummet .276, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie season. Part of this is the changes in how contact is officiated in the post and around the basket, and part of this is Towns’ continuing issues related to committing offensive fouls around the basket.

It’s a domino effect of sorts. Towns isn’t getting enough touches, and when he does touch the ball, he hasn’t been efficient around the basket. But all the possessions that used to go to Towns — he had a usage rate of 28.8 percent or higher in each of the last three seasons — are now going to less efficient scorers in Russell and Edwards.

There are several ways that the Wolves could go about fixing this, but it starts with finding creative methods to get Towns in positions on the floor where he can be dynamic. Whether that’s running off of pindowns or flare screens to shoot 3-pointers, or using cross screens to free him up for a more favorable post matchup and a goal of avoiding double-teams.

No matter how it’s done, however, Chris Finch has to find a way to get his best player the ball more often and in more advantageous positions.