“We have to help them”: Edwards, Towns Shoulder Blame for Wolves’ Offensive Woes

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Anthony Edwards didn’t mince words after the Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.

“We just have to be prepared to share the ball. That’s it, it’s that simple. Just share the ball… We think we’re the only ones on the team. We have to be ready to pass the ball. There is no ‘I’ in the team. You can’t beat five people with three people. You beat five people with five people. So we have to be ready to play with our teammates, trust our teammates and, like I said, share the ball.

The sophomore guard who is known more for his freak athleticism and jovial press conferences than for his sharp leadership at this point in his career explained in more detail.

“[During] pre-season, everyone shares the ball, everyone is happy. So when the season starts, everything changes. “I”, “I”, “I.” “I want to shoot this, ‘I want to shoot this.’ As [head coach Chris Finch] said during training the other day, [Josh Okogie] play your balls in defense, do not shoot in attack. [Jaden McDaniels] plays his balls and does not receive any shots. [Malik Beasley] run the hard ground and not get shot. Me, [Karl-Anthony Towns], and [D’Angelo Russell] have to do a better job to give them the ball.

Monday’s post-match press conference served as a platform for Edwards to open a vein of frustration and call for greater responsibility for Wolves Big Three, a veteran and a respectable decision from a keeper who admittedly has been silent so far. But, according to Edwards himself, that is all about to change.

Ant: I’ll start talking as soon as possible. We’re gonna put it on the right track

– Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 26, 2021

Edwards ‘comments pointed to a trend that emerged in Wolves’ two games against the Pelicans: offense – the area most pundits agreed wouldn’t be a problem for the team – was stilted.

That wasn’t the case when Minnesota bombed the Houston Rockets on opening night or during the preseason when games didn’t matter and the athletes played looser. One big reason has been Russell’s ongoing struggles.

With the exception of a late shootout against Houston, the Wolves starting point guard was appalling, owning an effective field goal percentage of 39.8% with an average of four turnovers per game. He appeared mentally absent for long parts of the three games and frequently slows down the team’s attack with hearty dribbles while trying to slide to the nail or elbow.

However, Russell’s play – or the lack of it – is far from the only problem with the Wolves offense. Russell-Edwards-KAT’s 3-player roster has an offensive rating of 93.2, which is more than seven points lower than the team’s overall rating of 100.6, which ranks 23rd in the NBA. . To his credit, Towns also managed to be a ball blocker and play selfishly, especially against the Pelicans.

“I think it ends up allowing me to use my passes more and put them in better places,” Towns told Canis Hoopus when asked how he could put his teammates in better positions to succeed. “I also understand that every time I drive I don’t have to score a goal. Sometimes it’s just an easy kick to start the spin.

“I felt at one point in the game that I felt a good flow doing it. I thought we did a really good job of finding myself at the post, the double team came in, and we took them to the wing, to the wing in the middle, to the middle to the other wing, and that caused them a lot of damage because there was a lot of [rotations]. They were just in a scrum so that put us in a great position. They were at a disadvantage, we had the advantage, and I think we had a lot of success doing that. Maybe find more in the feed. As I said, sometimes, to get into painting, I have to muscle myself and try to score points. Maybe get to the paint job just to draw the defense, give them an easy flip, the corner, get them to move forward.

(Russell did not speak to the media after the game.)

Wolves’ offensive transgressions are unlikely to persist throughout the season. However, the two games against the Pelicans served as acid examples for opponents of the Russell-Edwards-Towns line. But that’s why Edwards and Towns’ post-game comments were so important and needed.

“I told Beas, the three of us – me, KAT and DLo – that we’re doing a bad job of not having the ball all of you.” Like I said, we’re going to have our shots. In order for them to keep fighting for us, we have to give them the ball, we have to make them feel involved, and we just have to trust them, man, ”Edwards told Canis Hoopus. “Like, if KAT in the post, we know they’re coming, when he goes to the edge, we know they’re coming. We’ve got to be ready to kick JO, kick Beas, a Kick Jaden. If I go down I have to be ready to kick Jaden, kick Beas, kick JO. DLo comes out of a screen, they’re heavy to the point, we have to be ready to kick OJ. OJ keeps the best fucking player every night. 20 minutes, 25 minutes, no matter how many minutes he plays, he keeps them every night and gives us everything… We have to help them We have to help the other guys for sure.

Edwards and Towns have spoken. Now we are waiting to see if they work.

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