Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 Early Preseason Takeaways
By Aaron Mah
Ah, the preseason: a time when overreactions concerning games that don’t really matter in the long run become a habitual occurrence.
No matter how many times we tell ourselves, it’s just an exhibition game, we fall into the alluring trap of overanalyzing such meaningless contests and make erroneous assumptions that look downright silly a mere two months later.
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But you know what? We’re going to do it anyways!
The Minnesota Timberwolves just concluded their 3-game Canadian series tour and have played four preseason tilts in total. Wins and losses are pretty much moot this time of the year, but the Wolves are currently 1-3 for what it’s worth.
Overall, it has been a mixed bag thus far.
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The defense, for the most part, is still horrendous. Some players, like Damjan Rudez and Tyus Jones have exceeded expectations, and others, namely, Zach LaVine and Adreian Payne, have fallen woefully short.
Shabazz Muhammad may look like a new, miniature-version of himself; but some of his lost bulk has taken away from his highly effective post game and rebounding, shooting just 32.0 percent from the field and pulling down a grand total of two (TWO!!) rebounds in 56 minutes of exhibition action.
On the other hand, Gorgui Dieng looks incredibly effective on the offensive end — torching opposing bigs on the block and nailing corner 3s — but his interior defense is still consistently dreadful.
Reasons for optimism are still aplenty, through, with Karl-Anthony Towns living up to the hype, Nemanja Bjelica transitioning to the NBA game as smoothly as one could hope, Andrew Wiggins showing material progress, the Timberwolves attempting a respectable volume of 3s (more than 20 a game) , and everything about Kevin Garnett.
For the most part, the Wolves look like a 21st century NBA team; exuding good spacing, acceptable ball movement, and a more concerted effort — albeit, a tad bit too aggressive in its execution — of running the opposition off the 3-point line.
Although the sample size is small, there are several takeaways that should be taken with an inquisitive mind.
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