Corey Brewer has emerged as of late, Wayne Ellington is starting to become more consistent, Jonny Flynn can shoot mid range shots very consistently, but the Wolves aren’t a good jump shooting team.

Besides that they can score, point blank.

But the main focus that the Minnesota Timberwolves need to focus on, would have to be defense.

Corey Brewer is the best perimeter defender on the team, but there are some very key components that would make this team better defensively:

A starting caliber defensive big man: The Wolves are desperately lacking in this department. The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired center Ryan Hollins, a 7-footer with a humongous wingspan and potential. But Ryan Hollins is too inconsistent and racks up fouls like no other. The Wolves big man rotation has Al Jefferson and Kevin Love playing together for 33 minutes, while Nathan Jawai, Ryan Gomes and Ryan Hollins take up around 28 minutes, give or take a few.

The Wolves frontcourt might be one of the best rebounding frontcourt, but other than that, they are not athletic at all, and are undersized. Standing at 6′10”, the NBA’s best centers often take advantage of that. Although Corey Brewer cannot stay in front of every single player all the time, the center is supposed to hold down the paint, and more often than not, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love cannot block shots, and they do not intimidate players.

But the biggest thing is Effort. Even NBA analysts have acknowledged that when the Wolves play with effort on both sides of the court, they can compete and win games. For a young team, effort should always be there, and it should never be an issue.

Jonny Flynn, the starting point guard often has been criticized for his lack on the defensive end. But standing at 6′0”, he’s undersized and is often taken advantage of against the likes of elite point guards standing 2 or 3 inches above him.

Corey Brewer is able to get into the passing lanes with his long arms and great timing, but by him having to help in the paint, often limits his skills to get into those lanes, and ultimately hurts the team when he has to attempt to block shots.

This team has a long way to go, and like I said, they can put up points, but it’s the defense that the Wolves are lacking.

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Besides the possibility of Tucker contributing, Tucker can contribute to the Timberwolves in a number of ways.

Alando Tucker was traded from the Phoenix Suns, an organization with a number of accomplished wing players like Leandro Barbosa, Jason Richardson, and Grant Hill. Alando Tucker was averaging 3 minutes a game, and rarely had time to put up any numbers.

Alando Tucker may get his wish in the triangle offense that head coach Kurt Rambis is running, that includes a lot of ball movement and cutting. “I like it. You get a lot of movement from a lot of different guys,” Tucker said after class was dismissed. “It doesn’t seem too hard. A lot of it is just learning the terminology.”

The wing players are currently occupied by Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Wayne Ellington, Sasha Pavlovic and Damien Wilkins.

While Damien Wilkins and Corey Brewer are likely to continue to start, and Wayne Ellington and Ryan Gomes contributing off the bench, Sasha Pavlovic’s minutes are likely to diminish.

Sasha Pavlovic averages 14 minutes, and 4 PPG. Compared to rookie Wayne Ellington who averages the same amount of minutes with better efficiency and more promise, many Wolves fans expect Alando to help the Wolves off the bench this season, and Kurt Rambis seems all for it.

“His midrange game, his ability to score, his toughness defensively — those things can help us out. But it all depends upon how he plays in practice,” Rambis said. “He has the opportunity to push himself into the picture, but you do that by showing you deserve it.”

Why wouldn’t he deserve 10 minutes? This is the guy that led Washington in scoring, and is the all-time leader in scoring for Washington.

But what most intrigues me is the possible defensive intensity that he could bring. At 6′6”, 205 pounds, he has good size, and he has the ability to post up, which is something the Wolves could use in their triangle offense.

Good luck Alando!

Standing at 7′0”, with an incredible wingspan and leaping ability, Ryan Hollins was acquired to help the lack of size and depth in the paint, and ultimately is a legitimate prospect.

Ryan Hollins has 4 straight games where he’s registered at least 1 block. Ryan Hollins hasn’t exactly been providing the blocks as originally anticipated, and it’s simply because he doesn’t get enough minutes, but it’s not because of Kurt Rambis.

“He has the length, the size, but he hasn’t developed the timing and instincts for blocking shots yet,” Rambis said. “That’s something we’re working on with him, but it mostly comes with experience.”

Ryan Hollins gets into foul trouble so quickly, that he can’t stay on the court for long enough to rack up any blocks, and he doesn’t exactly play inside the triangle offense very well. But Hollins is not far away from becoming the solid 3rd big man in rotation with Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.

Ryan Hollins can dunk with tremendous force, and has an immense energy that can be felt by all of his teammates.

Hollins has yet to register a double double, but he has registered games with 2 blocks 4 times, and a game where he had 3 blocks.

Ryan Hollins has also been able to hit a mid range jump shot on plenty of occasion, and he has shown flash of trying to drive to the basket.

Hollins is part of the Wolves future, and he has 3-years to get something accomplished, he’s not that far from being a solid big.

A little more control, better intensity, some more weight and better rebounding will do him so good.

While Horford and Noah are double double machines for their respective teams, Corey Brewer was hindered with a torn ACL that took his sophomore season away from him. At the beginning of the season, Corey Brewer couldn’t knock down a free throw, couldn’t finish a lay-up, and couldn’t knock down a open shot to save his life.

Now that Corey Brewer is back in mind, body and spirit, it appears that he’s getting into the swing of things, and is having a career season.

Statline for the season: 12.2 PPG, 4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG, shooting 41% from the field.

Statline for the last 10 games: 15.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.5 SPG, shooting 48% from the field.

There has been a substantial increase in productivity from the young gator, and as I am watching the games, Corey Brewer at times seems to be a completely different player.

His shot selection is much better, and his stroke and balance are much improved compared to the beginning of the season, and it appears that all of his hard work is paying off.

His ball handling has gotten slightly better, but it still fails to be crisp crossovers and his high dribble looks out of place at times.

He’s knocking down his free throws, cutting and attacking to the basket, playing great defense, and knocking down open jumpers. At this point, if the Wolves acquire another wing in the draft, Corey could likely start at the 2 or 3 again.

It seems that he’s getting his legs under him as well. Before the season started, Corey Brewer could not catch an alley oop pass, or even dunk with true authority. The Timberwolves played the Nets, and Corey Brewer threw an alley oop under the rim, and dunked it behind his head, something that he couldn’t do earlier this season.

The potential is there to be a lock down defender added he put on some weight. Corey Brewer has shut down elite offensive players before, those include Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce, Brandon Roy, and Tony Parker.

I wouldn’t say All-Star at all, he’d have to turn into Danny Granger to do so, but we didn’t know Granger was Granger until 2 years ago.

He’s one of the skinniest players in the league, and with some added weight, a better jump shot, and more Florida Esq type moves, he can definitely become a starter in this league. That’s a lot right? Well it’s a whole lot less than it was a year ago.

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Al Jefferson and teammate Corey Brewer both suffered the same injuries, and it appears that Al Jefferson is slowly but surely getting his groove back.

But besides that, Al Jefferson is known for his charisma, and his goofiness in the locker room.

This season? Not so much.

Al Jefferson’s demeanor has definitely taken a maturity.

The once goofy Al Jefferson is no more, and it’s showing on and off the basketball court.

Al Jefferson wanting to improve his game in each aspect is a direct sign of maturity. He made continuous statements on wanting to get better on defense, passing out of the double team and trusting the triangle.

Al Jefferson also has been known to settle for his decent mid range jumper too many times, and head coach Kurt Rambis has encouraged him to attack the defense.

Al Jefferson recently recorded a game in which he totaled 5 assists, and the previous game he had before that he totaled 4. In that stretch of 9 assists, he’s only turned it over twice.

“I can’t complain, I’m getting my shots, I’m missing them”.

“I hate to turn over the ball, that’s my biggest fear is turning over the ball, that’s why I like to wait, and sometimes me waiting causes me to turn over the ball, so that’s something I’m going to adjust to. I’m learning to get the ball on the move now”.

Al Jefferson has only one game in which he took less than 10 shots, and that was the season debut, in which the Wolves won.

Al Jefferson was asked if he ever wanted to stop running the triangle:

“I’m not gon’ lie, it’s been times, in October and November when I’ve said why in the hell we running the offense? But coach said something to us that made a lot of sense, coach said people doubted Phil Jackson”.

A sign of maturity is something the Wolves need on a team in which the average age is 23.

The Minnesota Timberwolves took 2 point guards back to back in the 2009 NBA draft. Those point guards are Jonny Flynn who’s currently playing for the Wolves, and Ricky Rubio who’s playing in Spain as we speak.

Jonny Flynn’s stats: 14 PPG, 4 APG, 1 SPG in 29 MPG

Ricky Rubio’s stats: 5 PPG, 5 APG, 1 SPG in 20 MPG

Although both stats leave a lot to be desired, both are completely different point guards in different environments, and both have untapped potential. The scenario in the NBA draft was an interesting one of luck, and disposition, as the Wolves did not intend on picking 2 point guards from the go around. In fact, Ricky Rubio dropping to the 5th pick spot was nearly impossible before it actually happened.

The original plan was to pair Jonny Flynn and Tyreke Evans in the backcourt, ultimately giving the Wolves their backcourt for the future. Tyreke is the bonafide rookie of the year candidate, with Brandon Jennings following and then Jonny Flynn placing in 3rd place.

When the Sacramento Kings took the 6′6” PG/SG out of Memphis, David Kahn was forced into a position where you just “had” to take the two best players.

Criticism was the usual, but disrespect and ridicule was also part of that, which is something the Minnesota franchise has been used to. After making numerous dumb trades due to old management, David Kahn now has to be subjected to a faculty of mistakes due to the incompetency of former GM Kevin McHale.

Now that the Wolves already have Ricky Rubio overseas, and Jonny Flynn, in enters in Ramon Sessions.

Ramon Sessions is a pure point scorer. He’s scored 44 points in a game, he’s had a triple double, a game in which he had 24 assists, and had one of the best assist to turnover ratio’s last season. Although he does not start and does not get consistent minutes at the PG position, Ramon Sessions is a starting point guard, and his value is incredible to the Wolves.

3 point guards…

Why?

Why would a GM have 3 point guards? Maybe it’s because the franchise is rebuilding? Maybe it’s because the point guard position is the 2nd hardest to fill from a franchise perspective? Or maybe, is it that the 2010 NBA has the weakest point guard depth in NBA history?

Yes… That could be it.

NBA analysts are able to determine 2 years ahead of time, just how the draft is going to shake up, and it appears, that only 2 point guards are in next years 1st round, and the 2nd point guard is not guarenteed.

Of course you have John Wall, a 6′3” PG who’s talent resembles that of Derrick Rose with a better feel for the game. According to Draftexpress.com, Sherron Collins, the PG out of Kansas would be taken next, somewhere in the late half of the first round. And there you have it.

No point guards to go around?

The way David Kahn has the future set up is ingenious.

You overload on point guards when they are available, and then you trade them for assets later on. Next years draft just happens to feature 2 positions that the Wolves need desperately, wings and big men. And despite the fact that the Wolves will be in the lottery, there isn’t a way the Wolves can mess up in the draft next season.

The best case scenario? The Wolves win the lottery, draft John Wall, trade Jonny Flynn for a wing, trade Ricky Rubio’s contract for a wing, and draft other assets while getting more picks in the process of the trades, so that the Wolves can continue to build through drafts, while winning, ultimately saving money in the long haul, and allowing the Wolves to contend with deep young talent.

The worst case scenario? The Wolves get the 2nd, 3rd or 4th pick, draft a wing player like Evan Turner, trade Ramon Sessions for another wing, then wait a year for Ricky Rubio to come from overseas, and possibly keep both Flynn and Rubio, or ship one of them for more assets.

I could be wrong, but I’d put money that there’s some variation of truth to what I’ve just said.

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On one hand, Ryan Gomes underwent a stretch of double digit games with incredible efficiency. During a 7 game stretch, all in double figures, Ryan Gomes had 3 games of 20+ points.

Ryan Gomes is a combo forward, although he’s not deceptively quick or has the size of that of LeBron James, who’s the perfect point forward, he manages to get the job done due to a great basketball I.Q, and hard nose work ethic combined with leadership and confidence.

Gomes excels in shooting long range shots and posting up against slower opponents, but has been seen to struggle against other small forwards.

In enters Damien Wilkins.

Consider the fact that he’s only averaging 5 points, Damien Wilkins is extremely valuable to the Wolves organization.

After all, it was Damien Wilkins that hit the game winning shot in the Wolves very first victory. When it comes to Damien getting 30+ minutes, Damien averages 12.5 PPG.

He hits open shots from mid range, plays above average defense, and is a underrated athlete. A veteran SG/SF with a nice frame, with decent strength who when motivated, can give opposing wings a difficult time. Damien Wilkins has been key to the Wolves offense, while limiting his turnovers, and providing a leadership that has not been present in a Wolves player “that actually plays”.

The question is “Do you play Wilkins off the bench, or do you continue to start him and bring Ryan Gomes off the bench”?

Damien has started in all 5 of the Wolves victories, and has had key moments in each of them. Ryan Gomes is a very consistent spot up shooter who does everything well, who’s very versatile.

In verdict, if you want to strengthen the Wolves as a team or as a whole, Ryan Gomes would be very valuable to the 2nd unit.

PG- Jonny Flynn/Ramon Sessions

SG- Corey Brewer/Wayne Ellington

SF- Damien Wilkins/Ryan Gomes/Sasha Pavlovic

PF- Kevin Love/Ryan Gomes

C- Al Jefferson/Ryan Hollins/Olekisy Pecherov

Ryan Gomes would have plenty of time to produce. With Kevin Love getting roughly 34 minutes a game, there’s 14 minutes available alone. Assuming Wilkins will get around 20 minutes, and Pavlovic getting around 10, Ryan Gomes will seek about 18 minutes at the SF spot, totaling to 32 minutes.

The 2nd unit would consist of Ramon Sessions, Wayne Ellington, Sasha Pavlovic, Ryan Gomes and Ryan Hollins. This 2nd unit would be able to give the Wolves a jump start, with Ramon and Ryan Gomes getting into double figures.

Keeping Wilkins for the future would be great for the Wolves organization. Hopefully, he becomes the Wolves “Brian Cardinal” in 3-4 years, and that would mean consistency and leadership for a young ball club.

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He shot 40% from the 3-point line in his sophomore season, so in the eyes of the optimistic, Wolves fans believed that with an increased role and a fast paced offense, Corey Brewer would start to revive himself back to his ways of the NCAA’s most outstanding player.

Corey Brewer has shown flashes, yet those flashes have come with inconsistency.

But people are forgetting to realize that Corey Brewer is coming off a Torn ACL injury, and injury that would have ended an NBA career 20 years ago.

Head coach Kurt Rambis of the Minnesota Timberwolves has talked about the form of Corey Brewer’s jumpshot, claiming that his shooting mechanics were excellent, yet his balance was terrible.

“When Corey’s balance and footwork is good, he’ll hit a high percentage of shots,” Rambis said. “It takes time to break old habits. We feel Corey can become a very good open shooter.”

Corey Brewer had many games of brilliance and flash:

• 22 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
  
• 19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist.
• 14 points, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks.
• 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.

But he has also had games where he has gone 1-11, 4-13, 6-21 and among others.

In his last 4 games, Corey Brewer has been showing progress, averaging 14 PPG, shooting 23-35 from the field.

He’s been letting the game come to him, instead of forcing his shot. He’s getting out in transition, playing within the triangle, makes cuts, and plays 100% the whole game.

Corey Brewer is starting to take pressure off of his teammates little by little, and it’s starting to become apparent that Corey Brewer is making progress.

“There’s no way around it … I have to pass the ball out to him because I’m getting double-teamed,” Jefferson said. “I’m starting to see the confidence in him. If he’s taking good shots and missing, I can live with that. But he has to keep shooting it.”

“The biggest thing for me is trying to be consistent and not think about it so much,” Brewer said.

While Corey Brewer plays great in transition, he’s great on the defensive end when he’s able to play on the perimeter and passing lanes, but more times than not, he’s having to help defend in the post.

It’s been shown in their play, that Corey Brewer is a winner at heart.

This is a big year for me, for the team,” he said earlier this week after a workout at the IMG Training Center in Bradenton. “This (transition) has been tough. I went from a team that didn’t know how to lose — we took losing real hard — to a team where we just lose and you get used to it. Things have got to change.”

“This is the season I have to prove myself,” Brewer said. “We all do. When you’re losing so much, you fall into that losing mentality. We needed fresh ideas, a fresh way of looking at things. I want to be there to help do it.”

Confidence is Corey Brewer, but patience has to be among Wolves fans this year. Give it time, and he’ll deliver

Al Jefferson and Kevin Love are both 6′10”, and most NBA analysts thought that they could not co-exist as Kevin Love was traded for O.J Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Kevin Love was hindered with a broken hand injury, and despite not being 100% healthy, and not having his stamina, Kevin Love has 4 double doubles in 6 games.

Averaging 13 PPG and 12 RPG shouldn’t be a surprise. In his last month of his rookie season, Kevin Love won Western Conference rookie of the year averaging 16 PPG and 9-10 RPG. He recently posted 19 rebounds against the likes of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in 35 minutes.

He also is averaging a little over a 3-pointer for game, and has shot 67% from behind the arc. But when you ask around, no one ever talks about the potential of Kevin Love.

Typically, after 3 seasons, an NBA rookie should be able to start to blossom, yet Kevin Love has done it in his first season, having the 35th best rebounding rate in NBA history.

But if you ask Kevin Love about his own potential, he’d probably be a little disgusted.

“I hate the word potential” says Kevin Love. “I feel like, at WORST, I’m a 10 and 10 guy. But really, I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface”.

Kevin Love outlet passes the ball with the very best in the WORLD, not just the NBA, similar to a MLB all star pitcher. He shoots the 3-ball with a great stroke, not to mention he’s doing it with a glove to protect his hand. Kevin Love has a basketball I.Q that of a young Tim Duncan, while leading by example and stuffing the stat sheet.

SLAM Magazine says that “Kevin Love is the future star of the Minnesota Timberwolves”.

Kevin Love or Jason Thompson? John Hollinger answers:

Love, hands down. He’s a tremendous talent, imagine Brad Miller but with a prodicious rebound rate and you have some idea of his ability. Thompson will be a nice player for the next decade or so, but Love will be a star.

Dirk Nowitzki on Kevin Love: “He’s an animal”.

As a T’Wolves fan and writer, I’ve been asked “just what is Kevin Love’s potential as far as stats are concerned?”

I look at his minutes, and I look at the improvement from year to year, as well as the improvement of the Wolves as a whole, and where I picture them being in 4-5 years.

If Kevin Love is there, I feel he’s an easy 18 PPG, 13 RPG, 2 BPG type of player. Are those franchise player’s numbers? Probably not, but it appears that you can say those are All-Star numbers, and “all-time great rebounding numbers”.

Kevin Love’s stats: 13.3 PPG, 11.7 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.7 BPG in 29.5 MPG.

Kevin Love’s stats per/36 minutes: 16.2 PPG and 14.2 RPG

With Kevin Love’s rebounding rate and growth as a scorer, it’s very possible he can put up those numbers in 36 minutes. In 35 minutes, Kevin Love had 14 points and 12 rebounds, so it’s very possible.

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Due to the fact that the only successful triangle offense’s featured 2 of the greatest players of all time, Kobe Bryant and Micheal Jordan, analysts and other coaches around the league have questioned Kurt Rambis’ desire to run the triangle offense that featured no superstar talent.

As a young man myself, I will admit that I did not know much about the triangle offense, yet it seems to be the pure definition of taking what the defense gives you as a team.

Ryan Gomes had a few 20+ point games last season, but what he’s been doing this year so far has been remarkable.

Ryan Gomes last 6 games:

• 27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, shooting 12-18 from the field, and 2-4 from the 3-pont line.
• 20 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, shooting 8-13 from the field and 2-3 from the 3-point line.
• 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, shooting 6-17 from the field and 1-3 from the 3-point line.
• 23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, shooting 9-10 from the field.
• 16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, shooting 6-12 from the field and 1-4 from the 3-point line.
• 21 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, shooting 10-16 from the field and 1-1 from the 3-point line.

Average over last 6 games: 20 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG, 1 SPG, shooting 59% from the field and 46% from the 3-point line.

Average over the season: 12 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG, shooting 47% from the field, and 43% from the 3-point line.

Why The Difference?

Kurt Rambis has moved Ryan Gomes over to his original position at the PF, and has moved veteran Damien Wilkins to the SF position.

This has allowed Ryan Gomes to score in a number of ways, whether it be shooting off the dribble, the spot up 3-point shot, finishing in transition or a variety of post moves.

Ryan Gomes was always considered to be a very intelligent player as well as versatile, and he’s following the triangle offense’s regimen perfectly, which would explain the recent spike in points, with a spike in efficiency.

Ryan Gomes takes the shots he can make, does not force up bad shots, and uses his versatility and strength to utilize his array of moves to score, and in turn has helped the Timberwolves overall.

The switch to PF also has Ryan Gomes stealing the ball better, assisting the ball better, and doing it with even better efficiency.

At 6′7”, 200+ pounds, Ryan Gomes has a versatility that allows him to play 2 positions very well. If Ryan Gomes continues to play like this, he could serve as a extremely great asset in the future off the bench. But if he adds more skills to his arsenal, the Wolves might not go searching for a SF as badly as the would a SG.

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