Minnesota Timberwolves: Is the 0-2 start cause for concern?
By Ethan Becker
Con: Defense
For the better part of the last decade, defense has been a facet of the Minnesota Timberwolves game that has always been lacking. The front office has tried to remedy this through several different ways: drafting Karl-Anthony Towns, hiring Tom Thibodeau and signing Jimmy Butler, trading for Dario Saric and Robert Covington.
Recently, the development of RoCo and Towns have been promising, as well as the defensive play of Josh Okogie, who was arguably the best defensive rookie in the league last season.
Still, the Timberwolves defense through these first two games has not been anything to write home about. especially on the perimeter. Through these first two games, the Timberwolves have allowed 26 3-point makes against them, and their opponents have made those shots at a rate of 40.0 percent.
Minnesota is also losing the rebound battle 99-93 over these first two games. They do find themselves with a 22-18 steals advantage thanks to a 15-steal game against Phoenix, but are down 15-8 in blocks.
The Wolves struggled against both of their opponents, even without though those teams were without some of their top players. The Suns were missing Mikal Bridges, who averaged 8.3 points and 1.6 steals per game last season, due to right knee injury and Kelly Oubre Jr., who averaged 16.9 points and 1.4 steals per game, due to a wrist injury.
The Warriors were without Kevon Looney, who averaged 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, due to a hamstring injury and Klay Thompson, who averaged 21.5 points and 1.1 steals per game, due to ACL rehab.