Timberwolves: D’Angelo Russell is a winning point guard
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been looking for a long-term solution at point guard for quite some time now, but the wait is over because D’Angelo Russell has shown he is a winning player.
Historically, Minnesota has struggled to find a point guard who can take them to the next level. From failed experiments like: Jonny Flynn, Ricky Rubio, Tyus Jones and Jeff Teague, the Timberwolves have finally found a competent two-way player in Russell. Yes, you read that correctly. DLo has been one of the Wolves’ best defensive players because of the way he can predict the opposing team’s offense.
The biggest knock on him since he was drafted in 2015 was his defense. Of players who have played at least 15 minutes and eight games, Russell ranks 10th in defensive rating (97.8).
He also leads the Timberwolves in that category. Only Nathan Knight is ahead of him, but he’s averaged 2.6 minutes in eight games. Russell is ahead of players like Josh Okogie, Jaden McDaniels, Patrick Beverley and Jarred Vanderbilt, all who are good defenders.
5-10 years ago, it was more common for a player or team to finish with a defensive rating below 100. Offenses today in the NBA are elite and better than they’ve ever been, which makes Russell’s defensive rating all the more impressive.
This isn’t a small-sample size either, Russell has played in almost a quarter of the Timberwolves season (24.4 percent).
This year he’s averaged 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks.
Russell has been one of the team’s vocal leaders this season, and it’s a huge reason the Timberwolves are 11-11. When Minnesota started slow against the Indiana Pacers, DLo was a key contributor to turning things around with his voice.
So, we’ve seen his leadership and defense separately, but what if we combined them?
Yeah… pretty damn awesome.
His offense has been a little slow to start the year, but it’ll come around. This season he’s averaged 18.9 points, 6.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds. He’s also shooting 38.9 percent from the field, 32.4 from 3 and 81.4 from the line.
Russell is shooting career lows from the field and 3. Maybe it’s the new ball? Or he could be trying to figure out how he fits with this new Timberwolves roster. There’s a lot of new faces, and Anthony Edwards isn’t a rookie anymore.
Russell is starting to find a rhythm on offense, and he recently had the best game of his career against the Philadelphia 76ers. He finished with 35 points and came up with a clutch steal and assist to seal the game.
According to Cleaning the Glass, he’s ranked in the 98th percentile in efficiency differential (team points scored per 100 possessions minus team points allowed).
Russell has been a leader and shown he can be a two-way player in this league. He’s been a huge reason this team is 11-11 and playing the best basketball we’ve seen since the Jimmy Butler days. Once he finds his touch on offense, this team will be even scarier.
