There's been one common negative theme with the Minnesota Timberwolves over the last couple of seasons, and it's that they can't stop turning the ball over. Whether it's unforced or not, they've beaten themselves so many times these last couple of years, and if something doesn't change, it'll be their downfall again.
Anthony Edwards is already a rather turnover-prone superstar, and most of his turnovers you can live with, considering his positives usually heavily outweigh the negatives. However, when you're getting multiple turnovers each from your role players, that's when it becomes a big issue.
The Timberwolves especially struggle to take care of the ball late in games. Notably, they commit the third most fourth quarter turnovers. Likewise, last season, they committed the eighth most fourth quarter turnovers. Despite making the conference finals last year, they committed the fifth most turnovers in the playoffs.
As the playoffs near, this is a clear red flag for the Timberwolves.
The players need to have more defined roles on offense to mitigate turnovers
During Sunday's loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Wolves committed 22 turnovers, with six coming from Edwards and four coming from Rudy Gobert.
A lot of the turnovers that happen are due to players doing something that isn't in their role. This includes Gobert attempting to post up and create a shot, Donte DiVincenzo trying to generate dribble penetration, or Julius Randle iso-ing another physical defender. Those turnovers can easily be avoided, but for some reason, they keep happening.
If Anthony Edwards has four turnovers in a game, it's disappointing, but you can stomach it knowing that he probably had 30 points on efficient shooting. But when someone like Rudy Gobert has three or four turnovers, while being a player with zero ball-handling duties whatsoever, that's when it starts becoming mind-numbing.
How can the Timberwolves prevent these unforced turnovers
I do think that the answer is pretty simple: the offense needs more structure to it and less free-flowing offense. There also needs to be discipline when certain things happen. For example, Rudy Gobert should never be posting someone up unless he is fighting for position directly under the basket, but other than that, it's a turnover every time.
Getting the team into sets earlier and getting Bones Hyland and Ayo Dosunmu more minutes next to Anthony Edwards could help as well. DiVincenzo is an amazing player, but Hyland and Dosunmu are much more functional on the ball. This would give the Wolves two above-average playmakers on the court at once, which, albeit small, is an upgrade.
There isn't much evidence to say that this issue is going to fix itself this season. As such, they'll probably have to resort to reconstructing the roster to acquire more high-assist, low-turnover players. However, in the meantime, they need to attempt to fix it, or it will be a key reason they lose in the playoffs for a third year in a row.Â