The All-Star break offers a great chance for teams to recharge and refocus. Of course, the Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the many teams that will benefit from this week-long break. Inconsistent play, especially defensively, has hurt the Wolves all season long.
Recent back-to-back losses against the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Clippers highlighted this problem. While the Wolves are riding a two-game win streak heading into the All-Star break, it's clear that changes need to be made during this time off.
The biggest change that's relatively easy to fix is the defensive intensity and engagement, especially from the Wolves' best two players. During stretches of the season, we've seen impressive defense from both Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle. More often than not, though, they haven't committed to playing great defense.
Undoubtedly, the All-Star break gives these two stars (and the rest of the team) a perfect opportunity to refocus themselves and commit to playing high-level defense to close out the season.
Defensive consistency will define the rest of the Wolves' season
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Timberwolves are 11 points per 100 possessions worse with Randle on the floor and 7.7 points per 100 possessions worse with Ant on the floor. For both Randle and Edwards, these problems are mostly off-ball rather than on-ball.
Edwards and Randle have poor off-ball defensive habits, including ball watching, slow rotations, poor screen navigation, and lackluster closeouts. Per Basketball Index, Edwards ranks in the 33rd percentile for help-defense talent and the 16th percentile for ball screen navigation. Likewise, Randle ranks in the 30th percentile for help-defense talent and the 4th percentile for ball screen navigation.
While these problems are concerning, they're also very fixable -- hopefully, the break can help these two stars flip a switch.
Despite lackluster engagement from the Wolves' two best players, they rank seventh overall in defensive rating according to Cleaning the Glass. At their core, the Timberwolves are a defensive-minded team; they've ranked within the top 10 of DRTG over the past four seasons. Nevertheless, in losses, the Wolves have a 122.5 DRTG, a number that ranks 17th in the league.
It's clear that the 34-22 Wolves need more defense from their stars to reach their full potential. If these problems continue for the rest of the regular season, the Wolves could fall into the Play-In Tournament. And of course, if these problems persist in the playoffs, Minnesota will be guaranteed an early exit.
Conversely, if Edwards and Randle come back from the All-Star break locked in defensively, a top-three seed isn't out of reach. When Edwards and Randle are engaged off the ball, the Wolves' defense is a force to be reckoned with.
Undoubtedly, defensive engagement from Edwards, Randle, and the rest of the team is one of the most important aspects of the final portion of the Timberwolves season.