Minnesota Timberwolves: Analyzing Luol Deng’s signing for the ‘Timberbulls’
By James Grieco
The effect on the offense
Per Basketball-Reference, the Wolves had a 113.4 Offensive Rating last year, good for fourth in the NBA. They managed this despite the fact that they attempted just 26 percent of their shots from 3-point range, which was dead last.
At this point in his career, and with an excess of players who need the ball in their hands (Andrew Wiggins, Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose, with Tyus Jones and Jeff Teague, to lesser degrees) already on the roster, Deng will likely be relied upon to offer some floor-spacing.
However, Luol Deng is a career 33.2 percent 3-point shooter, and in 2016-17 with the Lakers, the last season where he actually saw playing time, he posted .387/.309/.730 shooting splits.
Deng is out to prove he can still play, and he did things like this…
Luol Deng scores on McGee and Gallinari...are we sure he can't play anymore? pic.twitter.com/4UYgTdtJ9s
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) August 4, 2018
and this…
Luol Deng with the throw down on the follow.... pic.twitter.com/uHjrKKLAFW
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) August 4, 2018
… during the NBA Africa game played last month. Still, that’s a one-off exhibition game where JaVale McGee also played well.
Coming off the bench, he’ll likely see minutes alongside Derrick Rose, Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones and Anthony Tolliver. Only Tolliver shot better than the league average 36.2 percent from 3-point range last season (he shot 43.6 on 4.6 attempts per game).
Among Minnesota’s starters, only Teague (36.8 percent on 3.3 attempts per game) and Towns (42.1 percent on 3.5 attempts per game) shot better than league-average for the year.
No matter how you slice it, the T-Wolves don’t have enough 3-point shooting, and Deng is not likely to fix that, especially in the bench lineups where he’ll see the majority of his minutes.