Why is the Timberwolves' deformed lineup still so strong? The lineup thickness is excellent, and the two epoch-making interior lines are too strong
On January 20, Beijing time, which team has performed the most surprising in the league so far in the new season? You may say that it is the Thunder, after all, they have a very young lineup, but they have scored in the top two in the West, but the Thunder have Alexander, a top 10 player in the league, and it is understandable that they can play well. And the Timberwolves are now in first place in the West with 30 wins and 11 losses, which is probably something that many fans did not expect, after all, they were still a play-in team last season.
Although they have three players with 200 million contracts, the Timberwolves mainly play two towers, and they even have three towers, such a lineup is obviously contrary to the small-ball era, and Gobert has played a premium contract before, but why are they so fierce now? I think two aspects are the key, the first is the depth of the roster, through the draft and operation of the past few years, the Timberwolves have formed the perfect 8-man rotation.
They have a good blue-collar lineup, the former All-Star Conley, although he has entered the end of his career, he still has gas in the tank, his excellent defense, court control and space ability to bring stability to the Timberwolves, which Russell did not have at the beginning, and his arrival also gave Gobert more opportunities to eat cakes, the two have worked together for many years, and the tacit understanding is very good, Conley can average 11.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists and steals per game this season, and the three-point shooting rate is 45% , averaging 2.4 three-pointers per game, which is very good.
McDaniels is one of the best 3D players in the league, he has excellent projection ability, and strong single defense ability, the key is that he is still very young and only 23 years old, and he has a good chance to become an All-Star level player in the future, and he definitely earned it when the team extended his contract with a 100 million contract in the offseason, and he averaged 11 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks per game this season, with a three-point shooting rate of 38%.
The team also has three excellent blue-collar players off the bench, excellent little inside Reed, who is averaging 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game this season, and his three-point shooting is strong, shooting 41% from the field and averaging 2 three-pointers per game. Jack-of-all-trades Lee Kyle, Lee Kyle, like Conley, can't show full effect, averaging 6.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4 assists per game this season, as well as Alexander Walker, a top-impact and excellent defensive backcourt, averaging 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.9 steals per game this season.
In addition, Edwards has risen this season, he is the first core of the team, although Huazi is only in the fourth year of his career, but he doesn't care much about the data most of the time, even if he scores single digits, but as long as he can win, and when the team needs it, he can stand up, averaging 26.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.3 steals per game this season, and only 8 people in the league have achieved an average of 25+5+5 per game this season.
Last season's Timberwolves honestly did not play at the level they should, Gobert couldn't adapt to the team's rhythm, and Towns didn't play his projection ability last season because of injuries, which also led to the team's offensive space was not good, so there was no chemistry, in order to win, the coach divided the playing time of the twin towers very much, so he has not been able to find chemistry, this season Towns is healthier, and he has also found his projection.
So far this season, Towns can score 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists, shooting 51.2% from the field, 43.4% from three-point range, and can hit 2.1 three-pointers per game.
One of the main reasons why the Timberwolves can still play such a good result in the case of playing the twin towers is that their twin towers can be compatible, in the past, the twin towers needed interior space, so the offensive team struggled, but now it is different, Towns can open up space, Gobert gets more interior opportunities, and Reed also has such space ability, so far this season, the center has hit 3 points Towns 82 first in the league and Reed 80 second in the league, and the efficiency of the two is still so good.
Two centers that are fully adapted to the small-ball era open up space, and it also allows traditional centers like Gobert to get more opportunities on the inside, so far this season, Gobert has averaged 13.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, he has played at the level of the Jazz period, and because Gobert is happy, he has made more efforts to come back on the defensive end, and the Timberwolves have ranked first in the league in defensive efficiency so far this season.
Will their twin towers be targeted in the playoffs? The Timberwolves have a lot of ways to solve these problems, they can play the twin towers combination of Reed and Towns, the team can do unlimited switching, and the space is better, and Edwards can get more opportunities to impact the interior.
Speaking of which, what do you want to say about the current Timberwolves? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.