2021 Timberwolves Season Review

You know, the Timberwolves didn't make the playoffs and they didn't have the best of years. But for the first time in a while I feel a sense of accomplishment from this team as the year comes to a close.

The Wolves approached the All-Star break, typically the halfway point of the season, at 7-29. They were by far the worst team in the league, both on the court and record wise. They were abysmal on defense and awful in crunch time situations. They were eliminated from the playoffs soon after. Also around the same time, the Timberwolves fired HC Ryan Saunders and hired Chris Finch to replace him. Before the break, results weren't really there. But after the break things started to change rather quickly.
After the All-Star break, the Wolves seemed to be quite the different team. They never lost more then 3 games in a row from there. Right out of the gate they won 3 of their next 6 games, better then any stretch of the season so far. It was quite obvious that whatever Finch did to this team, seemed to be working. This is very encouraging to Wolves fans worried sick if the team was in yet another downhill spiral. 
The Wolves were playing all teams on their schedule much closer then earlier in the year. Even when they lost it seemed better then when they lost in the first half because it appear as though they actually tried to win. Rookie Anthony Edwards seemed much better and was learning much faster with Finch as coach.
Here are some stats to put it in perspective. 
Here is Ant's line before the All-Star Break (36 games, 19 starts):
199/537 FG (37%) 68/225 3PT (30%) 4 REB 2.5 AST  14.89 PPG
Now here is his line in the games post All-Star Break (35 games, 35 starts):
306/674 FG (45%) 103/295 3PT (35%) 5.49 REB 3.46 AST 24.46 PPG
Now I don't know about you, but that is a HUGE improvement!!! He increased his shots by a wide margin, and was MORE accurate then he was shooting less in the first half. Heck, if we only look at his second half he is one of the best shooters in the league overall! His points per game nearly doubled. This is a huge step forward and something I look forward to covering next year when the Wolves hit the floor again. 

Team Stats
Lets look at some other stats. Since the Wolves had injury issues this year it was tough to judge them until later in the year. So lets analyze the Wolves when they had their big their healthy (Towns, Russell, Edwards) and when they were missing at least one piece. Now, the Wolves only ended up playing 24 total games with all three starters fully healthy. The other 50 games were played at a loss of one or more players. 
For the games all three big players played, the Wolves were 13-11 in them. Here are the stats:
Team PPG: 119.7 Opp. PPG: 117.625 1035/2187 FG (47%) 333/929 3PT (36%)
Now in the games in which at least one major starter was missing the Wolves were an abysmal 10-38. Here are the stats:
Team PPG: 108.4 Opp. PPG: 117.7083 1897/4359 FG (44%) 611/1777 3PT (34%)
Obviously the team was awful when they didn't have either KAT or DLo. 
This just proves the point that I think this team is way better then they let on this year, and the post-All Star break rebound just shows this. All this team needed was to stay healthy and have the right coach. I think they have that. Also to see the numbers Anthony Edwards put up without any Summer League or much of a training camp is astonishing. He is definitely deserving of Rookie of the Year but since LaMelo Ball has more clout he will get it instead. 

This team beat teams in the second half they had no business being close to them let alone winning. This team can win, and I can't wait to see what they do next year!!

Other Topics/Future
Now another thing happened in the last month! The Timberwolves, and their WNBA counterpart Lynx, were sold to an ownership group led by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore. I went over my reactions to this in an earlier article. But it is official now, Glen Taylor is out of the Minnesota franchises! Hopefully this means good things to come. 
Another wrinkle came out this past weekend, ARod intends to bring Timberwolves legend and newly crowned Hall-of-Famer Kevin Garnett into the deal as a minority owner! This means great things for Wolves fans and the franchise as a whole! In my opinion I think this opens the door to the Timberwolves retiring Garnett's jersey in the rafters next season, it has to be! It also could mean that Garnett could start to have a hand in Timberwolves operations, what he wanted all along. I am happy with this development and I think other fans would agree with me. 

Lots of stuff to think about with the Wolves. I know this was another bad year overall. But things could be different next year (can't be a MN fan without saying that!) and I think it will actually happen. Stay hopeful Wolves fans, I think success is in the pipeline!

But, until next season Wolves fans!
#RaisedByWolves #AllEyesNorth