Minnesota Timberwolves: 2017-18 player grades for Jeff Teague

Weaknesses

There’s no denying that Teague is a good offensive player, but that doesn’t mean he’s good defensively either. One of his biggest weaknesses is being a poor defender, despite averaging 1.5 steals per game this season.

For a guard, getting steals is key on the defensive end. I will say that at times it felt as if a high number of his steals came from pickpocketing his opponent after he turned the ball over.

That highlight was during the preseason against the Los Angeles Lakers, but you get the idea of what I’m talking about. Then again, he did come away with some big steals as well.

Steals are fantastic and all, but they don’t tell the whole truth to their defending ability. Some steals are just basically given to players. While Teague had some good swipes throughout the season, it still didn’t take the focus away from his poor defending ability.

He finished the season with a defensive rating of a 108.7. That’s a really ugly number and good for seventh on the team among those who regularly saw playing time. In the NBA, he ranked 384th in that category. Often times, the point guard on the opposing team always seemed to have a lot of high scoring nights.

Teague will need to work on his defense if he wants to help improve the Wolves. They will always be fine offensively, but it’s the defensive end that needs work for them.

Another weakness: While Teague had a good amount of assists, one thing he struggled with is making an entry pass.

Countless times we saw turnovers in that category because he failed to get the ball in the post. The post is where players like Taj Gibson, Wiggins and Towns excel. That was a huge glaring issue in his game that needs to be worked on a lot over the summer.