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Year-Round News & Updates on the Minnesota Timberwolves
ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. The first of Minnesota's "Big Three" to show up on #NBARank is the much improved and dominant big man: Nikola Peković. Pek checks in at #53 with an average score of 6.70. He's up from #105 a season ago. Pek came into the League three seasons ago and he couldn't even look at a guy wrong without drawing a foul. However, three years later and he's one of the premier big men in this League and notorious for being the NBA's strongest player! After two seasons of very big improvement, Peković was rewarded this offseason with a large 5-year deal worth $12million annually. With a healthy trio of Love, Rubio & Pek; the Timberwolves should make some BIG noise this season. I'm really looking forward to the three-point shooters creating more space for the big men to work down low. The threat of Kevin Love/Martin's outside game, teams can no longer pack the paint and try and shut down Nikola.
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ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. Minnesota's new shooting guard checks in at #81 with an average score of 6.04. The 30-year-old Martin will likely be the team's second leading scorer (behind Love) and with Monday night's exhibition vs. CSKA Moscow as an early indication of what we can expect from him, he could very well become the franchises best shooting guard, EVER! He's a completely lethal offensive player that can do a little bit of everything and should be able to drop 15-20 points a night easily. His efficiency and his ability to get to the line (as well as his funky shooting form) are the most common talking points when K-Mart is brought up. With Martin in at #81 and #NBARank now being through 71 (as of Tuesday Oct. 8) that means that Minnesota's "Big Three" are three players in the Top 70 of the NBA! ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. Chase Budinger (along with Love & Roy) was one of the biggest culprits to the injury bug a season ago. Now his 2013-14 campaign has started the exact same way. We found out just a few days ago that Budinger underwent surgery to remove a quarter of his lateral meniscus in that same knee that it was repaired in almost a year ago. By removing some of the meniscus his recovery time should be a lot less, like weeks instead of months, but it definitely hurts the team (despite the improved depth) and Chase--as he would have likely bee the team's starting small forward. I expect him to return sometime toward the first couple weeks of the season and should be able to work himself back into shape and integrated into Adelman's rotation by the end of November, barring any other major setbacks. ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. Brewer's back! A season ago Corey was ranked #203 and he jumped another 50+ places this year, landing at #152 with an average score of 4.91. With Budinger out, Adelman has all but confirmed that Brewer will be the starter to begin the year. Corey is an athletic freak who excels on the fast break, is known for his defense and has recently added a corner three-pointer to help further round out his game. He'll be asked to do some Kirilenko-like things for the Wolves this year, however I wouldn't expect him to score as much as AK and we know he's not as good a defender, but he's the same type of complementary player that does the little things to get his team wins. I'm excited to see run-outs by Brewer, alley-oops from him to Rubio and Love throwing an outlet pass three-quarters-court length for a Brewer jam. I didn't like when the Wolves traded him a few years back and I'm definitely glad he's back home in Minnesota. ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. Derrick Williams was at #139 last year and this season was bumped down to #163. D-Will had a better 2012-13 season than his rookie campaign, but his entire NBA career has been plagued by inconsistency. It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of Williams and it's because of his inconsistency. If we could rely on him to give us 10 points & 5 rebounds a night off the bench in 15-20 minutes a game and he did it night in and night out, then I'd be a fan. However, unfortunately it's 25 points and 12 rebounds one night and the next: 3 points on 1/7 shooting and 3 rebounds. Williams has reportedly lost some weight in an attempt to try and play more small forward (there won't be much playing time behind Love at the four). It remains to be seen how much and where Adelman will get him playing time. With his inconsistencies a year ago, I doubt he's really earned the trust of the coaching staff. With Cunningham, Brewer and Budinger all more efficient and capable players, he'll have to show improvement or he may not get off the bench--and then could be playing elsewhere after the Trade Deadline. ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. J.J. Barea lands at #172 down from #134 the year before. His average score this year is 4.61. J.J. is undoubtedly a talented player and with Ridnour now gone, his role as the first guard off the bench is much more defined. He'll be looked to, to provide a big spark off the bench and scoring in that second unit (likely consisting of himself, Shved, Williams, Cunningham and Turiaf). There were A LOT of games last year where I absolutely hated J.J. and then there were a number of games where he showed it all: he scored, hit open teammates and played pesky D (or flopped to get a call). I hope we see a lot more complete J.J. and with a lot of new, talented pieces he may get back to trusting his teammates and giving up a few of his shots. However, all in all, his scoring and energy will be relied on heavily this season. ESPN is in the midst of their third-annual #NBARank and for the next few weeks while they unveil all 500 players ranked, we'll be taking a look at where our Minnesota Timberwolves players land. Alexey Shved checks in at #193 with an average score of 4.41. That's obviously a bit too high considering Alexey's tumultuous rookie campaign. He certainly found the rookie wall and face-planted on it. A longer schedule than he's used to coupled with asking him to play extended minutes against some of the greats in the League (and try to guard the likes of D-Wade, Kobe, Harden, etc.) took its toll on Shved. He had a great first couple months of the season and assuming that the majority of the roster is healthy this season, the Wolves should be asking a bit less of him. However, with Budinger's injured knee, Alexey should see the majority of minutes behind Kevin Martin at shooting guard. If Alexey can prove he can shoot the ball and be the primary ball-handler with Ricky Rubio off the floor, he'll find a lot more success and plenty of playing time this season. |
Cody AndersonA TWolves fan, bringing you the daily updates. News Archives
August 2017
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