Timberwolves who were major letdowns in loss to Raptors
By Will Eudy
3. Shake Milton
Speaking of efficiency, Shake Milton was a master in that department for the Wolves in preseason. Outside of the game in Chicago, he shot the cover off the ball, shooting 62% or higher from the field in his previous three preseason games.
It looked like he was fitting the role Minnesota needed him in to an absolute tee. Coming in and providing efficient scoring while knowing when to defer was, in theory, going to make Milton the perfect successor to Jaylen Nowell.
That trend came to a screeching halt Wednesday night in Toronto. Like Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Milton shot 1-for-5 from the field and missed a lot of opportunities to give the Timberwolves a lift. He also committed four fouls and turned the ball over twice.
If this trend continues, Minnesota will have wished they had just kept Nowell around. But in a season opener marked by uncharacteristic mistakes across the board for the Wolves, we can probably assume this game was an outlier for Milton as well.