Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor isn’t going to evaluate head coach Tom Thibodeau’s performance until the season is over, but he certainly set the table for questions in an interview with the Mankato Free Press.
Taylor, who said he’s happy to be in the playoffs, openly addressed a trio his concerns in the Free Press article:
- the team’s 3-point shooting
- the lack of production from the bench
- inconsistencies on defense
When talking about Minnesota’s lack of 3-point shooting, he said other teams can learn to shoot them so “why can’t we?”
Those are firm indictments on the team’s biggest weaknesses, and those issues have been magnified, especially the 3-point shooting, in the playoffs against the Houston Rockets.
Houston, the league’s premier 3-point shooting team, led the league with 15.3 made 3-pointers per game. The Wolves finished dead last with only eight 3s per game.
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Defensively, Minnesota allowed 115+ points 23 times during the regular season, winning only five of those games.
Taylor was quoted as saying “I’m not sure that’s the answer” when talking about Thibodeau grinding his starters close to 40 minutes per game.
Many pundits believe Thibodeau ran the Bulls into the ground when he coached in Chicago, and it’s apparent that he might be doing the same here in Minnesota.
Consider this: the Wolves were the only team in the NBA to have all five regular starters average 33+ minutes per game.
All five at 33+ per game is bonkers when compared to the rest of the NBA, where only one other team, the Nuggets, had all five regular starters at 30+ minutes a game.
Only 14 players in the entire NBA averaged 35 or more minutes, and three of them play for the Wolves, led by Jimmy Butler at 36.7 minutes per game, second only to LeBron James (36.9).
Andrew Wiggins averaged 36.3 minutes and Karl-Anthony Towns was on the floor an average of 35.6 minutes. The other two starters, Taj Gibson and Jeff Teague, both averaged 33+ minutes.
Perhaps Thibodeau’s methods will prove correct when it’s all said and done, but at the moment, it certainly appears he’ll have some questions to answer after the season
