The Taj Gibson signing this offseason wasn’t a big story, but his impact for the Minnesota Timberwolves so far has been anything but minor.
Last summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves inked Taj Gibson to a two-year, $28 million deal. Did that deal send shock waves throughout the league? Not exactly.
The deal made sense, as Gibson had some of the best years of his career under the Tom Thibodeau-led Bulls. Also, he perfectly fits the Thibodeau prototype. He plays defense, goes all out and is a great locker room guy.
The contract was reasonable too. Keep in mind that it’s 2018 and a guy like Chandler Parsons is making $94 million over four years while averaging less than nine points per game.
Nevertheless, Gibson is proving his value so far in this 2017-2018 campaign. He’s currently averaging 12.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. That goes along with a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 15.8 and 5.4 win shares. The one stat that is a stand out for Gibson this year is his field goal percentage.
Throughout his career, Taj has been shooting 50.3 percent from the field — pretty good, with nothing to complain about there. This year though, Gibson is shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
Dunking with Wolves
One thing that Gibson is doing that he should probably put an end to is shooting from beyond the arc. In 31 attempts this year, he has only hit seven 3-pointers. This again could just be a product of the times, with big men trying to spread the floor, but on the bright side, 31 attempts in 59 games is nothing.
Another thing that I want to focus on is Gibson’s scoring. His 12.1 points per game aren’t exactly going to put him in the MVP discussion, but they’re great considering previous seasons.
If you look back at his 2015-16 season, the Bulls weren’t in a great place. It was the first year under the Fred Hoiberg regime and let’s just say, Jimmy Butler wasn’t getting along with him.
The roster had big names Butler, Pau Gasol, and two rundown stars in Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose, but the last three were well beyond their prime at that point You’d think that Gibson would get touches and a lot of opportunities to score. The thing is, he finished the season averaging only 8.1 points per game.
My point is, this Timberwolves’ team has solid players and Gibson still finds a way to score on a regular basis. It’s important for a role player to settle in with a new team, and Gibson has done just that.
Like I mentioned before, Taj Gibson isn’t going to be anyone’s MVP discussion, and that’s okay. There are probably still people who think he’s getting too much dough, especially since he’s 32 years old.
However, if the first half is any indication, Taj doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. While I don’t want to jump the gun and get ahead of myself, I think if Gibson has a very nice second half too, he’ll still be a difference-maker heading into the final year of his contract.
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Getting back to the issue at hand, Taj Gibson is fitting his role with the Timberwolves perfectly and is having a career year at the same time.