Minnesota Timberwolves: All Aboard The Nemanja Bjelica Hype Train
By Aaron Mah
An intriguing quandary lies ahead for the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff. For the first time in many moons, the Wolves possess a gluttony of frontcourt depth.
More specifically, with a healthy roster, the team boasts three legitimate NBA starting centers in Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng, and Nikola Pekovic, in conjunction with the handful of power forwards they have under contract, including Nemanja Bjelica, Anthony Bennett, Adreian Payne, Damjan Rudez, and of course, the living legend himself, Kevin Garnett.
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Barring rest days and significant ailments, it’s safe to assume KG will garner at least 20 minutes a contest. Accordingly, there should be roughly 28 minutes per game, give or take, to divvy among the other PFs on the depth chart.
Keep in mind, though, Minnesota also enjoy the luxury of positional versatility. Surely, an old-school coach like Flip Saunders will experiment with a twin tower look, featuring Towns at the four and, either, Pekovic or Dieng manning the middle.
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Meanwhile, contemporary wisdom tells us that, most often times, the Wolves will be forced to downsize for matchup purposes; thereby, sliding Shabazz Muhammad, Tayshaun Prince or even Andrew Wiggins in a pinch, to serve as the resident small ball four.
As such, realistically, minutes will be hard to come by for Bjelica, Bennett, and Payne, specifically.
However, the reigning Euroleague MVP did not take his talents to the NBA merely to just rot on the bench.
Sure enough, after the conclusion of the first several days of EuroBasket, the Serbian forward has effectively put the NBA universe on notice with his breathtaking performances — first, drastically outplaying last season’s celebrated Euroleague-star-to-NBA-rookie, Nikola Mirotic, before putting the dagger through Dirk Nowitzki and the Germans with a game-winning floater on the very next day.
Transferable Skills
Not just your ordinary stretch four, Bjelica has perhaps the perfect concoction of offensive skills to act as a modern day “playmaking” four. In particular, when watching the 27-year-old soon-to-be rookie, the first thing that catches your attention is his ability to put the ball on the deck.
At the FIBA and international level, he can seemingly get into the lane at will, using a bevy of ball fakes and hesitation/change-of-pace dribbles to get his man off balance, before gliding past the D with the greatest of ease.
He’s also an accomplished finisher around the basket. While, he’s not the fleetest of athletes by any means, Bjelica is blessed with a sizeable wingspan and reach. As well, he utilizes his barrel-chested frame extremely well in shielding off aspiring shot blockers; and to cap things off, he has an uncanny touch, equipped with a vast array of floaters, push shots, and wrong-footed lay-ins in his arsenal of finishes.
Bjelica is a capable penetrator in a variety of settings — whether attacking a closeout, breaking his defender at the top of the key, or serving as the ballhandler in a 4-5 pick-and-roll set.
The most attractive aspect of Bjelica’s skill-set, however, is his vision and ability to see over defenses. From day one, Nemanja has the handle and feel to act as the secondary ballhandler at the four position — a rarity to say the least.
Explicitly, he’ll be able to make his teammates, namely, Wiggins and Muhammad, even more deadly with his ability to negotiate the pick-and-roll on the strongside, suck in the defense, before whipping a pinpoint pass back to his weakside brethren; therein, giving the aforementioned duo the opportunity to attack a shifting defense off of one or two dribbles and effectively play above the rim.
He’ll also benefit a guy like Zach LaVine, as Bjelica must be accounted for at all times. In particular, he’ll open an avalanche of driving lanes for the 20-year-old skywalker in dribble-handoff situations, and his penchant to grab-and-go (grab a defensive rebound and start the break) will curate a number of fruitful transition opportunities with the legion of run-and-jump TimberPups cutting alongside him.
And, of course, living up to his billing as a stretch four, Bjelica is also a highly capable long-range bomber; equally as adept shooting, either, off the catch or off the bounce. In fact, he shot over 40 percent from the international 3-point line in two of his past three seasons in the Spanish ACB and the Euroleague.
He has an exceptionally quick release with no wasted motions on his picture-perfect shooting form. Additionally, he can break his man down with a crossover step-back, before calmly delivering his efficient stroke.
In many ways, Bjelica seems to be a more aggressive Boris Diaw — a playmaking forward who’s not necessarily in the best “athletic shape”, nor own any resemblance of body definition, but can still get into the lane and finish with his craftiness, as well as create for his teammate with their point guard-like vision, feel, and mindset.
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Going into next season, Bjelica — like Bennett (if not traded) and Payne — will get his shot to establish himself as the team’s power forward of the future.
However, as with most international players, the Belgrade, Serbia, native will have to prove he can withstand the heightened level of athleticism and functional length the association presents. Can he still get into the lane against NBA stretch power forwards, or worse yet, when the opposition downsizes and defends him with a hyper-active small ball four?
Although Bjelica has some sneaky hops, he’s not the quickest of leapers. Will he be able to finish over elite length?
Along the same vein, while Bjelica has a good feel with his back to the basket, he does not own the sizable caboose, nor the footwork in tight quarters, of a Diaw to back down his opponent relentlessly before finding an apropos passing avenue. Can he make teams pay down the line for switching a small onto him?
Furthermore, he’s terribly right-hand reliant when driving to the hoop; when that has been exhaustively scouted and taken away, can he engender an effective counter?
Defensively, Nemanja will inevitably experience his struggles against NBA-caliber athletes. It certainly does not help that he is not the most active of defenders, usually defending in a painfully upright position, with his arms relaxed sedentary on his sides; thereby, negating the inherent disruptiveness of his never-ending wingspan. Likewise, although he has good timing as a rebounder, and a solid nose for the ball, rarely does he seek out the board or rebound outside his area.
Moreover, he is not the most attentive of defenders, as well, given his propensity to get caught in screens and relent off-ball cuts.
Expectations
Should we expect Nemanja Bjelica to come into the league, receive 30 minutes a contest, light up his opponents, and win Rookie of the Year? Probably not. Conversely, he’ll have to fight and claw for playing time during the initial months of next season.
But, once the 6’10” multi-functional forward finds his footing and role within the team, he should enjoy a similar brand of post-All-Star break success that Mirotic did last year.
Not only does he possess all the ingredients of a match-up nightmarish, contemporary playmaking point forward, his no nonsense attitude and competitiveness should propel him to overcome most of his athletic shortcomings, while enhancing his impressive repertoire of perimeter skills.
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