Minnesota Timberwolves: Analyzing Luol Deng’s signing for the ‘Timberbulls’

The effect on the defense

For most of his career, Deng has been a grinder and an incredibly reliable defender. Despite only making the All-NBA Defensive Team once in 2011-12, Deng was a perennial net positive on that end of the floor.

Assuming he’ll take some of the minutes left empty by Jamal Crawford, it’s possible that Minnesota’s defense may get better through that switch alone. Crawford was one of the worst defensive players in the league last year, per Stephen Shea’s analytics (which only support the eye test).

The basketball intelligentsia have always hailed Thibodeau as a defensive genuis, but in Thibs’ two years in Minnesota, the Wolves have posted the 27th-rated defense in the league both times, per Basketball-Reference.

More damning is the fact that franchise centerpieces Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins remain net negatives on defense despite two years under Thibs’ watchful eye and a whole year under the tutelage of Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler, both intense defensive “gamers.”

This is in large part because Thibodeau has refused to adapt to the NBA’s changing landscape. Minnesota ranked 22nd last year in the amount of 3s they gave up as a defense. This is largely due to the focus on packing the paint that Thibs preaches defensively, a strategy that often leaves shooters open on the weak side.

Even if Deng does have gas left in the tank, can one bench player really and profoundly influence a team’s defensive outlook?