It will be a pivotal third year for Minnesota Timberwolves wing Terrence Shannon Jr. After playing five years of college basketball, he didn’t enter the league until he was 24 years old; he just turned 26 on Wednesday.
So, Shannon should have fewer developmental years ahead of him. Now, there’s talk about whether giving him a larger role would be the best way to help him reach his ceiling as a player.
On his recent podcast, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic said he believes Shannon is the most likely player to garner that starting power forward spot. Later, though, he also stated:
“If you're in the starting lineup with LaMelo Ball, with Anthony Edwards, how are they going to continue to empower T.J Shannon to still kind of attack the same way?” Krawczynski asked. “I'm not sure about that. And so it could be that they ultimately decide that actually, we want to maximize Terrence's minutes as a focal point.”
It’s a valid point. If the Wolves want to let Shannon cook on offense, he’d be much more likely to do so when Minnesota’s two highest-usage players aren’t on the floor with him. That would involve Shannon coming off the bench.
Shannon could thrive as a top scorer off the bench
Shannon excels when he has the ball in his hands. He’s not going to be at his best standing in the corner and watching Ant-Man or Ball go to work. This isn’t to say that he wouldn’t get touches alongside those two, but he’d often be allowed to be the first or second option when playing on the court without them.
Finch hinted at Shannon handling the ball more this offseason. It goes without saying that he’d be able to do more of that while playing less with the team’s two high-usage players.
Shannon can put pressure on opposing defenses by attacking the rim. The Timberwolves had issues with bench production at times last season, and that was with Naz Reid. Those problems weren’t as frequent once the team traded for Ayo Dosunmu, but with Reid gone, they could resurface.
Chris Finch could opt to place some of the responsibility for bench scoring on other players. That would mean the entire burden of providing bench scoring wouldn’t fall on Shannon. Both Dosunmu and Bones Hyland can also help shoulder the scoring load.
Shannon has missed time with injuries during his first two seasons. He’s appeared in just 75 games while averaging 5.1 points. His impact has often been evident in the playoffs, though, including two games in which he scored more than 20 points.
There’s a reason fans believe in Shannon heading into his third season—and his third jersey number—despite his middling averages thus far in his career. There’s no easy answer as to who the starting power forward will be if Finch remains adamant that it won’t be Jaden McDaniels.
As with all the players who could fill the role, each option comes with pros and cons. Still, it’s easy to see how Shannon can play his best when given more opportunities on the ball. Thus, using him in a spark plug bench role would be wise.
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