The Wolves held practice before going on the road to face the Philadelphia 76ers
on Tuesday. Minnesota is coming off a big win against Anthony Davis and the
Pelicans, and they sit just 1.5 games out of the No. 8 seed in the West. Getting
a win on the road would be a big boon for the squad as they head into a stretch
of games against Western Conference opponents later in the week.
That’s the attitude that the players and coaches have at least, but scan the
headlines over the next 24 hours and you’ll likely see a lot of focus on
something else…
Playing Jimmy
There’s an understandable tendency to make the Wolves’ first game against the
Sixers since they completed the trade that sent Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton
to Philly in exchange for Dario Saric, Robert Covington and Jerryd Bayless.
However, the Wolves truly are approaching it as just another game.
“It’ll be a good game, a good exciting game. Competitive, but like any other
game really,” said Andrew Wiggins.
“The NBA is fun and serious, but at the same time I’m just focused on getting
the win,” said Taj Gibson. “I’m not worried about seeing Jimmy because I see
Jimmy all the time in the summer.”
Whatever you want to make of the beginning of the season this year, the
important thing is what’s happening now–something that Interim Head Coach Ryan
Saunders has emphasized, not just in terms of playing Butler, but for the
Wolves’ mentality every day.
“That’s a daily thing in terms of not getting caught up in other things, other
storylines, which we talked about a lot as a team last week,” said Saunders. “We
just want to focus on who we have in front of us next and also who’s in our
locker room. If we take care of ourselves we’ll take care of things.”
In the post-Butler era of the Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns and Wiggins have come
up big for the team. Their time with Butler helped them learn some valuable
lessons about how to approach the game, and they’ve taken their play to new
heights in filling the role his departure left open.
“They’ve matured so much this year as far as just going to different arenas,
hearing different crowds, understanding what needs to be done,” said Gibson.
“Just trying to stay focused on the it’s all about us mentality. It’s going to
be a hostile environment, but this is a test to see how far we’ve been as a
team, how far we can go, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Practice Wrinkles
Saunders has added a few extra layers to the Wolves’ scrimmages in the last
week–mostly to keep things interesting as the season gets towards its midpoint,
but also to emphasize shot selection. One thing the team tried was making long
twos, which the team defines as the space between the college and high-school
three-point line and the NBA three-point line (not jumpers from the elbow),
worth negative points.
Nevertheless, when it comes to games, Saunders trusts his players to take the
right shots.
“We tried to put rules and stipulations in, one because we’re in January, the
season can get long at times, so giving guys different things they can think
about. We do want to emphasize more three-point shots as well as more layups.
Those are statistically better shots in terms of points per possession,” said
Saunders. “We played one game where that was a minus one just to condition
ourselves and try some new things, but ultimately these guys have been playing
basketball their whole lives, and if they got a good shot, we’re confident in
their shots.”
Saunders is quickly adjusting to being a head coach and he has been trying out
some new things, despite having to learn the duties of being at the front of the
bench on the fly.
“There’s lot of people that want and need your time in a lot of ways, so time
management has become more important,” he said. “Then also it’s having to really
just having to rely on assistants to take some of the load off you in terms of
scouting and things like that. We’ve done a good job so far though.”
Quick hits:
The Wolves will have shootaround in Philly on Tuesday morning before taking on
the Sixers at 6 p.m. CT. We’ll keep you updated on everything over at
Timberwolves.com.
Player: Taj Gibson
Player: Tyus Jones
Player: Andrew Wiggins
Media Content:
https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/practice-report-changing-scrimmages-facing-
jimmy-butler
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Minnesota Timberwolves, Taj Gibson, Tyus Jones,
Andrew Wiggins, Ryan Saunders, Minnesota Timberwolves
Media Thumbnail:
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Story Link:
https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/practice-report-changing-scrimmages-facing-
jimmy-butler
