The Minnesota Timberwolves face a thorny issue of finding a way to improve the team's starting point guard D'Angelo Russell as quickly as possible. With 7:08 left in the second quarter of Game 8 of the season, the Phoenix Suns led the Timberwolves 36-29, and Russell had just missed a left-handed layup and made a completely unnecessary foul on Suns power forward Dario Saric in the subsequent grab for a rebound, Russell's third foul, so he was immediately replaced by backup point guard Jordan McLaughlin.
Normally it's never a good thing for a team's starters to be substituted, but given the Timberwolves' current situation, fans will be truly relieved to see Russell off the court. Russell stayed on the bench for the rest of the first half, and with 2:46 left in the second quarter, Rudy Gobert provided an assist to Carl Anthony Towns at an empty basket, who easily hit a layup to help the Timberwolves close the deficit to two points, but the Suns starters extended their lead to seven more points at halftime after returning to the court.
Russell's coming off won't solve all of the Timberwolves' problems, and after the Suns' starters found their groove (1-of-7 shooting for nearly four minutes into the opening game), they seemed free to score in front of the Timberwolves' defense. As former NBA coach and current TNT Stan Van Gundy repeatedly pointed out during the game, when Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul stopped focusing on shooting, his passes throughout the game were perfect, and even if he couldn't contribute to the team in terms of scoring, he remained the absolute core of the team's offense.
Russell scored just 5 points, 4 assists and 4 turnovers on 2-of-8 shooting, while his game-low plus-minus was -20, but even then Russell wasn't the only starter with a poor performance for the Timberwolves. Starting small forward Jaden McDaniels was also in foul trouble for most of the game, playing just 17 minutes and not particularly productive in that short playing time. Bench power forward Kyle Anderson recently sidelined with a sore back and barely contributed anything to the team, scoring just 3 points and 1 rebound. In addition, starting center Gobert made only one shot in the game and still missed it, and although he scored 7 points on 7-of-7 free throws from the free-throw line, he only grabbed nine rebounds, which is his third rebound this season without a double-double.
Regardless of who is on the floor, the Timberwolves' outside defense is useless, and Suns starters can effortlessly find open shooters and kill them from beyond the three-point line, which is a constant problem for the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are averaging 40.1 three-pointers per game this season, the second-highest in the league. The Suns made 43 three-pointers and hit 17 of them for a season-high 39.5 percent shooting percentage, especially starting power forward Cameron Johnson who scored a season-high 29 points on 7-of-11 three-pointers.
Embarrassingly, the Timberwolves' best performance of the game was when all five of their starters were off, with all five of the Timberwolves' starters rated below -12 on a net basis, but backup point guard McLaughlin scored nine points and backup power forward Torrien Prince scored eight points, giving both of them a net rating of +6 each. Bench center Natsu Reid has a net rating of +10, while backup shooting guard Jaylen Norwell leads the Timberwolves team with +14. When the four of them were on the court with one of Towns or Gobert, the team's offense was more fluid and more spatial, and it was their efforts to keep the game out of control against a Suns second team that wasn't used to playing without at least one starter present.
In fact, I prefer to believe that if Russell had not gone off the court because of foul trouble, then the Suns might have played the game in the first half, and Russell's shortcomings in this game are exactly the same as in the other seven games this season, he does not seem to judge how to carry out the team's offense based on the situation on the court and the position of his teammates, but more like deciding whether he wants to shoot before the offensive round starts, so he tends to end the offensive round with a poor shooting choice. Russell's seemingly difficult to read opposing defenses, his unpunctual and accurate passes, and his inability to draw the attention of opposing defenders by scoring to minimize the possibility of defenders pulling away from their teammates are not a good way to promote effective offense. What's more, he also made frequent mistakes and ended up playing a below-average defense, often gambling tackles on the defensive end, and being inefficient.
The Timberwolves were actually full of expectations for Russell, which is why they were willing to send small forward Andrew Wiggins and a first-round draft pick to the Golden State Warriors in the original trade, and just two years later, Wiggins has grown into an elite player with the Warriors and helped the Warriors win a championship.
Russell, on the other hand, is an offensive No. 1 point guard who likes to show his heroism in key moments of the game and help the team through his offense, but his offensive efficiency is very inefficient. Russell's passing is far from great, and his defense is not consistent enough, but even if he plays his best defense, he is only at the league level, and most importantly, he has not yet shown the ability to lead a playoff-caliber team.
It's now Russell's eighth season in the league, he's no longer the young man he was, and while there are still some players who can progress at this stage of their careers, they're only a rarity, and even I'm not interested in talking about what Russell needs to do to get better.
The problem is that there is no replacement for Russell on the Timberwolves right now, and while backup point guard McLaughlin is doing well, he can make the most of his best use in the second team, and there aren't many quality passers on the free agent market, so the only way they want to upgrade their point guard position ability is through a trade. In my opinion, the most prominent candidate is undoubtedly Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley. At the end of his career, Conley, despite a decline in offensive ability, still averaged 6 three-pointers per game, still shooting 42%, and more importantly, he was still a good passer, averaging 7 assists per game.
Conley's careful grooming of offense has been a key reason for the Jazz's 6-2 record this season, but the Jazz know they don't have enough talent to be competitive in the playoffs, so their priority this season remains draft picks, and Conley is one of their most attractive assets, and he is likely to be coveted by other teams that need guards, which will also drive up his price.
Whether or not the Timberwolves decide to upgrade this year, it's becoming increasingly clear that their starting lineup is extremely incompatible and Russell is a very inconsistent player. If Russell is kept in the starting lineup, he will sometimes play games with 30+ points, hit difficult shots, and appear to be omnipotent on the court. But more often, he would slam his head down the basket, and frequent mistakes led to poor offense on the team.
But everyone knows that the Timberwolves want to get rid of Russell, Russell is currently in a contract year, his poor performance on the court has greatly reduced his market value, he simply does not deserve the starting position of this team, and the longer he plays for the Timberwolves, the lower the ceiling of this team, do you think the editor has a point? #头条创作挑战赛 #