Friday, February 3, 2012

The Timberwolves Need a Shooting Guard


The Wolves score the 11th-most points in the NBA, sitting at a strong 96.7 points per game. In contrast, the Wolves boast the worst field-goal percentage of any of the top-14 teams in the league.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a glaring gap at shooting guard.

We have Rubio, who will be running the offense for years to come. Derrick Williams, a work in progress, will most likely be slotted at small forward down the line. Kevin Love will continue pounding the glass for the Wolves while putting up league MVP-type numbers. Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic will secure the center position.

In order to contend, the Wolves must scratch together someone to boost the field goal percentage - the Wolves need a starting shooting guard.

The Wolves are able to run a very effective high pick-and-roll with a player spotting up in the corner or on the wing. Ideally, Love sets a screen and rolls to the hoop. The player guarding the spot-up shooter has to collapse to help and Rubio can find either Love or the spot-up.

Wayne Ellington will come to most fans' minds, but I dissent. While Wayne complements the pick-and-roll offense captained by Rubio, he isn't a starter. Not in this league, anyway. We can't change the offense, not when it took so long to import Rubio. No, we have to find a guard that can at least play pick-up ball at the pick-and-roll.

Who can the Wolves target?

While it would be nice to lock down a defender to guard the Kobe Bryants and Dwayne Wades of the NBA, I'm willing to bet that the Wolves would settle for a smart and efficient guard that can play the system. My suggestions are as follows, in no particular order. Unless, that is, you consider alphabetical...

Eric Gordon
Kevin Martin
O.J. Mayo
Evan Turner

More on 'why' to come...

As a side note, while needing a shooting guard really is a #firstworldproblem, let's take a moment to remember when we needed 5 starting positions.

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