Even though the score of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ final preseason game looks lopsided, there were plenty of good things to build upon from a game where most of the time on the floor was Minnesota backups versus Chicago rotation guys, or what I like to call a “bullpen game.”
Here are five things to be encouraged by as we wrap up the preseason and head to the regular season on October 21st in Miami.
#1: Joan Beringer looks the part
Teenage Frenchman, Joan Beringer, is massively important to the Wolves’ potential success this upcoming
season as the only real backup big man that is on the roster. He has defensive instincts, activity around the basket, and enough athleticism to make up for times where he finds himself out of position.
Beringer’s main issue is defending without fouling, as he needs to be able to stay on the floor in order to really help this team out in a meaningful way. Tonight, he did just that. Joan committed three total fouls, with the first foul coming after around 18 minutes of time on the floor. That’s very encouraging, as it would have been just as easy for him to commit three fouls in six minutes of time as he and his team were overmatched on paper.
Throw in a couple monster dunks, and Joan looks ready to roll come Wednesday.
#2: Isaiah Evans (finally) made some threes!
After not seeing the floor in the first quarter, Isaiah Evans showed up in the second frame in a major way. Immediately after checking in, he made a three. Later in the quarter he made another catch-and-shoot three, and then followed that up with an absolute heat check third made three of the quarter. He made another before the halftime buzzer sounded, and it was so encouraging to see Evans put some long range shots in the basket.
Isaiah was billed as a shooter coming out of Duke, but we hadn’t seen that throughout Summer League or preseason yet. Bench shooting is always valuable, and it’s something the Wolves don’t have a bunch of until Donte DiVincenzo comes back. Isaiah didn’t just make the threes, he also put himself in positions to take them. Good shooters know how to get their shots off, and that was something that Finch seemed to make a priority with this being a bullpen game for the Wolves.
#3: Cody Williams will be a rotation player this winter
Cody Williams was tapped to step in and start when Jonathan Kuminga missed the preseason game against the Knicks, and was also a starter in tonight’s bullpen game. Here are some of the notes I wrote down while watching the game:
- Cody knows how to score, shot is still a work in progress
- Cody knows how to rotate.
- He’s going to have a stretch of hot shooting and will look like an All-NBA player this season.
Almost every tool is in the toolbox for this kid, and I am officially predicting that he will be the next Utah-to-Minnesota success story, following the footsteps of Rudy Gobert and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
#4: Chris Finch shows willingness to call timeouts
There aren’t many things I get frustrated with Chris Finch over, but one of them is definitely his timeout usage when other teams are going on runs. Tonight, Chris took one with 10:18 left in the third quarter, and took another quick one to start the fourth quarter, both times when Chicago was going on a run.
With how fast this team plans to play this season, there are bound to be times where they play too fast and get caught on the wrong end of an opposing run. Finch needs to be willing to stop those runs early, and tonight was an indication he might just have that in his plans.
#5: Drew Timme will be a nice depth piece… in Iowa
Fun fact: my college roommate/teammate at Augsburg used to call me Drew Timme because I would rock a headband and mustache, but that’s not the reason I’m bullish on Drew.
With some questions still remaining as to who is going to play some big man minutes in a pinch and Rocco Zikarsky not looking the part, Drew Timme might just be the two-way contract player that can step into that role. In 27 minutes played tonight, Drew scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and even dished out three assists.
Again from my notes: “Timme can make the right play, he can be the new Luka G. on a two-way.” I know evoking the name Luka Garza may be sacrilege to Wolves fans, but trust me, there will be times where the bowels of Wolves Twitter will be calling for Timme to get some run after Joan has a game with eight minutes played and four fouls.
Up next
The Timberwolves open their season on Wednesday, October 21, at 6:30 PM CT when they take on the Miami Heat on the road, with the game airing on ESPN.
