MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 24: LaMelo Ball #1 of the Charlotte Hornets and Anthony Edwards #1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves look on during the game on February 24, 2023 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 24: LaMelo Ball #1 of the Charlotte Hornets and Anthony Edwards #1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves look on during the game on February 24, 2023 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ head coach, Chris Finch, recently sat down with Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, and Allie Clifton of the Road Trippin’ show for an interview, and part of their discussion was how a mistake with Anthony Edwards last season led to them trading for LaMelo Ball.
“We’re very excited. We really are excited for a lot of reasons. The more we studied this move, the more it made sense for us. You know, it’s about making your best players better.”
“We probably did Anthony a disservice last year at times playing him as a point guard, you know, and it kind of caught up to us, and he did a really great job, but in the playoffs it was just double team after double team after double team,” Finch explained.
“We got to get him back to his natural position off the ball. We didn’t create enough catch-and-shoot threes for him, and when you look at the numbers with LaMelo on the floor with his teammates and the efficiency and the production, I mean Kon Knueppel shot 7% higher from the three-point line with LaMelo on the floor than he did without.”
“I mean, that’s a massive stat for a great shooter, and that’s a big bump for a great shooter… And you know, obviously LaMelo is a phenomenal talent all by himself. We needed the connective tissue. We needed the point guard play. In the West, you need big guards right now. And we need rebounding.”
“He’s never played with a guy like Rudy. We’ve never really been able to unlock Rudy as a lob threat. You know, we just haven’t had that type of passer with the ball in his hands that much.”
“So there’s just a lot of reasons, like we feel Jaden McDaniels is on the launch pad for another step forward, and you know we need to make sure that you know he has the opportunity to step forward.”
“And now we do, and we’ve got young guys ready to play, whether it be Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark, or Joan Beringer. Like, these guys have earned like consistent roles, and we had to create pathways for that.”
“So in one move, we felt we did all of this now. And we know we’ve got to put it all together, but we’re excited about it,” Finch concluded.
Anthony Edwards is naturally a shooting guard, but the Timberwolves took the gamble and played him in the point guard role last season. For a player who is not a natural playmaker, handling that role can become a bit much. And it ended up causing Edwards a knee injury (a bone bruise and hyperextension in his left knee) against the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, subsequently leading to their elimination.
Finch acknowledges this was a blunder from the Timberwolves’ coaching staff, and the team did a ‘disservice’ to Edwards by not letting him play in his original position. But now, with a backcourt partner like Ball who is nearly an equal offensive threat for opponents as Edwards, will not just provide a solid playmaker but also a distraction for the defenses, which would allow Edwards to truly unleash his game.