Wolves Press Clippings

Wolves Press Clippings

The Minnesota Timberwolves have fallen on some hard times since the calendar shifted to 2016. The team is 0-7 and has been beaten by nearly 10 points per game on average. They haven't won a game since beating the, at the time, injury plagued Utah Jazz 94-80 on December 30^th. But this article isn't going to focus on the bad; that has been done enough over the last few weeks. This article will focus on the good that has been seen as of late, because, you know, everybody needs a pick-me-up every now and then.

After averaging only 17.5 minutes per game during October, November, and December, Muhammad's minutes have increased to 25.7 per game during the month of January. Along with his increase in minutes, Muhammad has seen an increase in his points per game, three-point attempts, three-point percentage, free throw attempts, and, most notably, assists per game.

It seems as though things are finally starting to click for Muhammad. Sure, he is still prone to have tunnel vision more often than you would like, but he is beginning to see the floor better and is looking for the extra pass. It is still a work in progress, but it appears as if he is starting to make strides, something that has earned him more playing time during the month of January.

Muhammad's three-point shooting also deserves praise, especially from the corners. As of writing this, Muhammad is currently 17/32 (53.1%) from the corners, including 10/14 (!!!) from the right corner. That's good for an eFG% of 107.1%. One hundred and seven point one percent.

Nemanja Bjelica has been playing great over the last three games and, man, is that great to see! After suffering a knee injury in late November that kept him out of four games, Bjelica struggled to find his shot and consistent minutes on the court really all the way up until the past three games (Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Houston). In the last three games, Professor Big Shots is 6/7 from beyond the arc and has played key minutes during the fourth quarter. It seems as though he is carrying himself with more confidence when he is on the court and isn't playing like he is afraid to make a mistake.

Improvements can also be seen, at least to an extent, on defense as well as on the boards. Over the last few games he has been a little stouter on defense, not allowing defenders to drive right by him and making them work for their buckets, and he has grabbed a few rebounds when it was imperative that the team get the board.

Bjelica's success and development is a crucial part of the Wolves' future as he is, at least in theory, a great complement to the games of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. He very well may be the stretch four that the Wolves desperately need, so it is very encouraging to see him play better and with more confidence as of late.

Nikola Pekovic is back in action! You can't not be excited to see the Peksecutioner on the floor again after being sidelined for nearly a year following surgery on his Achilles' tendon. It is great to see him bruising opponents on the low block again, even if it is only for 15-18 minutes per game. The Wolves' missed the enforcing attitude and physical play that Pekovic provides on the court and, really, it doesn't even matter what kind of production the team gets from him this season. Whatever he can provide in terms of box score stats is gravy; the main thing is that he is back on the court and grinding down the opposing team's bigs with his monstrous size and muscles.

It has also been nice to see him use a couple of other moves beyond his spin over the last few games. This is anecdotal, but Wiggins has used his Eurostep (or as John Meyer calls it: Maplestep) with a higher frequency this week and has been very aggressive moving towards the hoop. It has been nice to see him hit his jumpers (especially from deep) and free throws at a higher clip as of late, as well. If it weren't for his game against theCavaliers, in which he only converted eight of 12 free throws, Wiggins free throw percentage for the past week would have been over 80% (18/22 in the other three games), a number that would help him make up for his average to below average three-point shooting and efficiency (a la DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors).

Britt Robson, of the MinnPost, released a two-part Q&A with Wolves' interim head coach Sam Mitchell this week. It is a very enlightening conversation and I highly encourage you to read both parts if you haven't already. Mitchell is very transparent in the interview and sheds light on his thought process behind the team's development and overall workings. Part one can be found here. And part two here.

Wolves Press Clippings

With last night's 107-104 loss to Houston, the Minnesota Timberwolvesdropped to 12-28 on the season. They have lost eight straight games, with their last win coming all the way back in 2015, the 94-80 win over the Utah Jazz two days before the turn of the year. It's been a really dispiriting run of games, with responses ranging from pure rage to disappointment to just plain acceptance. So rather than look back yet again, let's look forward to try and find a sign of hope in the schedule.

The first signs of hope: while the losses have kept coming, the margins of defeat have started to fall, even against better teams. Four of the Wolves' last five losses have been by single digits (excluding the annihilation dealt out by the Cleveland Cavaliers), with Wednesday's three-point deficit the best attempt yet. The Wolves' 104 points last night was the first time they had broken triple digits in scoring in fourteen games. The Wolves have now outrebounded their opponents in two straight games after failing to do so for six straight.

With that in mind, here are the Wolves' next ten games.

After Friday's game against Cleveland, the Wolves have two games which should be more than winnable against Phoenix and New Orleans. The Suns have been a total trainwreck, with questions all over the place. They are 1-10 over their last games, including a 20-point loss to the Lakers, giving up 142 points to the Kings, and a home loss to the Sixers (no, I don't know why that sounds familiar, what are you talking about?). The Pelicansgot a win over Sacramento last night, but had lost four straight before that and continue to have questions about Anthony Davis' health (although he returned last night and played very well).

If the Wolves cannot take one or both of those games, things get a little trickier. The Wolves lost their first meetings with both the Mavs and the Grizzlies, although both were close games. After that comes the visit to Cleveland, in which a win would be a tremendous surprise, and then yet another meeting with the Thunder. That home game against Oklahoma City marks the end of one of the hardest stretches of the season, with the West Coast trip to Utah, Portland and Los Angeles looking very tame. The bottom line is that yes, it's been rough, but this was always going to be a rough stretch just from the schedule. To quote myself, from the blog the day this season's schedule was released:

Even if the Wolves had continued to look stronger than they have, this would have almost assuredly been a long stretch of losses. It is helpful to remember that even though there are established problems that have had thousands and thousands of words written about them by many of us in the Wolves writing universe, myself included, this was a predictable series of losses, and one hopes that some reassuring wins will come soon.

The other detail that continues to amuse me about how strange this season is across the league involves the playoff picture. Yes, the Wolves are 14th in the West, but hear me out. The Jazz at 17-21 currently occupy the eighth seed, only six games ahead of the Wolves. No, I don't think the Wolves are making the playoffs, but given the rending and gnashing of teeth common to our discourse these days, it remains an amusing fact (much more related to other teams' struggles, but that's just a small detail).