Despite losing Zach LaVine to a season-ending injury at the end of the January, the team’s offensive and defensive rating has actually improved.
Even though the Denver Nuggets have won four straight as of March 17, Minnesota still finds themselves within striking distance of the eighth seed in the western conference.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe called Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins a “two-way terror” over the last two months.
NBA expert Bill Simmons joined Lowe’s podcast on Friday and had this to say about Zach LaVine.
“He’s the elephant in the room,” Simmons said. “He gets hurt and Minnesota is immediately better and it doesn’t really make sense, but it kind of does when you watch them.”
Simmons then went into detail on why the Wolves can be a better team without LaVine.
You only need two offensive creators. He’s a third, you have to give him the ball and he’s basically offense only. For whatever reason, the calibration of their team fell into place when he disappeared. Minnesota is in a real interesting spot with Zach LaVine. Because, you can just flip him for anybody that’s going to be a ‘three and d guy’ and they’re probably a better team. Because the more Towns and Wiggins have the ball the better they are.
The CEO of the ringer.com also mentioned how the Milwaukee Bucks have went through a similar scenario when they lost Jabari Parker who was having a breakout season.
But then Kris Middleton returned from injury and they were instantly a better team, posting an 11-5 record since Parker’s injury.
You can listen to the rest of the podcast by clicking here. Lowe and Simmons start talking about the Wolves around the 19:00 mark.
