Timberwolves Summer League Review
July 25, 2016
The Monday after Las Vegas Summer League; Head Coach Tom Thibodeau was back in Minneapolis to break down tape and evaluate the Vegas results with some members of the front office. Ryan Saunders was on-hand, as he was for most of the team's activity in Las Vegas. Both Saunders and Thibodeau were happy with the team's performance. Now they're using the next few days to consider which players might have earned an invite to the team's training camp.
While training camp doesn't open until the end of September, Thibodeau believed it was a good time. Especially with the team's roster at 13, he did mention in Las Vegas that the team might add another player for the season opener.
Some of those candidates for the last spot potentially played under Mike Longabardi on the Summer League squad. Coach Longabardi, the team's Associate Head Coach, adds Summer League Head Coach to his responsibilities. He was joined on the bench by Andy Greer and James Posey. In his closing comments, he was surprised by the play of the team as a whole.
"From where we started, to where we ended, it was impressive." said Coach Longabardi, regarding the team's Summer League performance.
The Timberwolves would go 3-3 in Summer League play, starting with two losses and ending the exhibition round at 1-2. That put the team in the #22 spot in the Summer League Bracket. From that spot, Minnesota would win two straight games to play their way into the Quarterfinals.
In the Quarterfinal round, Minnesota would play the #3 seed Denver. The Nuggets would go on to win 89-80 with big performances from big men Ivan Rabb and Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets would finish runner-up in Vegas.
Minnesota's run to the Quarterfinals was unexpected and led by two players in particular. Tyus Jones, second year point guard out of Duke, shot 40% from 3PT range and scored 15+ points in the team's three wins.
Rakeem Christmas, a Syracuse product, spent last season in the D-League and was using the Summer League to showcase himself for a potential roster spot in the NBA. That spot might come with the T'Wolves, who were impressed with the 6'9" forward's play.
Christmas ended with a team-high 8 rebounds per game, including a 14 rebounds effort against the D-League Showcase team. Christmas, now 24, was originally drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015. His rights were traded to Cleveland and he then jumped around the D-League. The former All-ACC player and a D-League All Star in 2016, Christmas believes he is ready for the NBA.
Christmas wasn't the only big man to succeed with the T'Wolves in Vegas. Bojan Dubljevic was signed just weeks ago, and looked rusty in the team's first three games. After getting his legs under him, Bojan would run up 10 points against Denver and show his outstanding athleticism for a player of his size.
The other player under contract and playing in the Summer League was rookie Jaylen Brown. Brown was the player everyone had their eye on, after being selected sixth by Minnesota in June's draft. Brown was struggling mightily on the offensive end, but already showed his potential on the defensive end. Then came the game against Denver. Brown would score a game-high 17 points, shooting 6/13 from the field and notching three steals and two blocks.
Bojan, Brown and Tyus Jones started every game during the team's bracket play. They were joined in the starting lineup by Rakeem Christmas and Vander Blue. Blue, a standout D-League player, has been twice selected to the D-League All-Star Game. The sharpshooting Marquette product is expected to be invited to Minnesota's training camp for a possible roster spot.
Overall, Las Vegas is always the NBA's first taste at the future. It's where many first saw Stephen Curry, where Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns formerly dominated the competition. Heading into a new NBA season, Minnesota will be one of the intriguing teams to follow in the Association. The team's Summer League performance shows there is still work to do.