After an offseason full of promise, the Timberwolves slipped to yet another disappointing season.
Final Record: 40-42
The Minnesota Timberwolves improved upon last year’s record (31-51) despite not making the playoffs for a league-worst 10th straight season. Some expected this squad to break the streak, but it missed the eighth spot in the West by nine games. The T-Wolves began their season similarly to how they finished it, playing out the season at or around .500 basketball.
Reality vs. Expectations: D
The general preseason media expectations seemed to place the Timberwolves as a playoff team, but they failed to live up to the hype. The T-Wolves embodied mediocrity, and actually would have been the eighth seed if they were in the Eastern Conference. Alas, they are in the West, and the reality was that they were never good enough to compete for a playoff spot. They actually had their least injury-riddled season in a few years, but still lost Pekovic and others for spans that their poor play could not overcome.
Coaching Staff: B-
History has repeated itself! Flip Saunders has once again decided to coach while already holding a position in the Minnesota front office. The former T-Wolves coach has decided to once again take the reins, and hopes to bring back some of his early 2000s magic that saw the team make eight straight playoff appearances before the current 10-year drought. The return of Flip could mean one of two outcomes for Minnesota: either it signals he is ready to help this team make the next step, or the team intends to trade Kevin Love and Saunders will be the stop-gap coach that will return to the front office after this season.
Players: B-
Kevin Love: A+
Love had yet another All-Star season in which he averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and a career-high 4.4 assists per game while logging the most games played since his rookie year. Love scored in droves this season, upping his 3-point attempts for the sixth consecutive season (that’s all of them), while still upping his percentage to the second highest of his career (37.6 percent). It just remains to be seen if Love will even remain with the Timberwolves, as he has repeatedly made it known he is unhappy with the lack of success in Minnesota.
Ricky Rubio: B-
The Spanish national and former fifth overall pick played his first complete season since making the jump to the NBA. Rubio continued to show the tools that made him a top-five pick, dishing out 8.6 assists (fifth highest in NBA) and 2.3 steals per game (second in NBA). But Rubio also struggled in areas where pre-draft scouting reports expected he would, averaging a NBA career-low 9.5 points with field-goal percentages still below 40 percent.
Nikola Pekovic: B
An ankle injury suffered in January effectively ended the Montenegrin center’s season, continuing a perennial trend of injury issues for Minnesota’s key players. Pekovic was cruising toward a career-high in points (17.5), as well as a near career mark in rebounds (8.8). The Timberwolves will surely hope he can prove his worth for the whole season in 2014-15.
Corey Brewer: B+
Brewer returned to Minnesota this season after spending two and a half years elsewhere after being traded by the ‘Wolves. The forward out of Florida did much better playing to his strengths this time around, regularly guarding the opponent’s best player (and finishing second on the team with 1.9 steals per game) while using his relentless motor to wear down the opposing defense in transition. This is the type of player a young team likes to keep around to set a good example and do the dirty work.
Kevin Martin: B-
The 30-year-old shooting guard upped his points per game to the highest average in three years but also lowered his efficiency in 3-point shooting from 42.6 to 38.7 percent and his field-goal percentage from 45 to 43 percent. While Martin was a significant offensive contributor, he also may have been part of Minnesota’s defensive problem as opponents averaged a 3.7 percent better field-goal percentage when Martin was on the court.
Others: C-
Chase Budinger only played 41 games this season, averaging 6.7 points and a career-low 2.5 per game. Dante Cunningham provided energy off the bench, playing in 81 games while averaging 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds. Gorgui Dieng, the 21st overall pick out of Louisville, was a surprise for the T-Wolves, posting a PER second among rookies to only Mason Plumlee (16.58). Dieng averaged 4.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in only 13.6 minutes per game, showing that he could become a good player with time. J.J. Barea was the veteran guard off the bench, playing nearly 20 minutes in 79 games this season and finishing third on the team in assists (3.8), behind only Love and Rubio. Alexey Shved continues to struggle to find his place on this squad, playing only 10 minutes while struggling to shoot above 30 percent from the field (32.1 percent).
Front Office: B
Flip Saunders has juggled the responsibilities of front-office duties and coaching before and excelled for the most part. He will be assisted this time by General Manager Milt Newton, an ex-player who worked as a scout and director of player personnel since the ’90s.
Overall Grade: B-
The Timberwolves have the luxury of having a roster with some talent and assets, despite not doing too well lately. Whether they decide to unload Love and go into a mini-rebuild, or keep him and make a run for the playoffs this year, their options are somewhat open. They would do best to continue to develop their current personnel while continuing to see what Love can get them. This team has the pieces but must decide which direction it will take.
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