Timberwolves must improve in this key area to reach potential

From the start, we knew that the beginning of the season was unlikely to be marked by smooth sailing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team that won 56 games and went to the Western Conference Finals a season ago was rattled to its core a month ago when Karl-Anthony Towns was swapped out for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

This is not a less talented team now, but it is simply one where the pieces are different. Figuring out the details and getting things to work was always going to be a big challenge for Chris Finch and the staff, so it is of little surprise that Minnesota stumbled out of the gate and dropped their season opener to the revamped Los Angeles Lakers.

Since then, the Wolves have been finding their rhythm once again. Behind the star power of Anthony Edwards, they took home a close victory over a talented Sacramento Kings squad on the road, before taking care of business against the less-talented Toronto Raptors at home.

But even despite winning two straight and moving to 2-1 on the season, there are still some obvious shortcomings that the Timberwolves will need to address if they are to reach their top-of-the-line potential and be a serious threat to win a championship. Perhaps the most obvious right now is interior defense.

The Timberwolves rank 29th in opponent paint points

According to Team Rankings, Minnesota currently ranks 29th in the association in opponent points in the paint per game. They are giving up 56.0 points in the paint to their opponents every night, on average.

This is a number that simply cannot continue, and it harkens back to the pre-Rudy Gobert days for the Timberwolves. Back in the 2021-22 season, Minnesota was an up and coming playoff squad with one big deficiency: not enough interior defense. They primarily played Jarred Vanderbilt at center, which led to a lot of points being surrendered to bigger opposing centers.

Minnesota lost a winnable playoff series to the Memphis Grizzlies in April 2022 because Ja Morant was getting to the basket at will, with little deterrence on the interior. This of course led to the offseason acquisition of Gobert, who changed the whole equation for this team. When all the pieces were in place and the formula was clear, it obviously produced massively successful results.

Now, it will just be a matter of the coaching staff working to re-optimize Rudy's rim protection and shot blocking alongside Julius Randle. If and when the Timberwolves can clean up this key issue, they will be one step closer to challenging the Oklahoma City Thunder for title of best team in the Western Conference.