NBA

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ historic defense has them atop the West

Author photo
By
Jackson Frank
Author photo
Jackson Frank Sports Editor

Jackson Frank is a freelance NBA writer located in Philadelphia and has been covering the NBA for nearly 7 years. Previously, he's written at places such as Dime UPROXX, The Athletic and SB Nation. He enjoys a good burger and will always have a soft spot for defensive-minded wings with a shaky jumper.

All posts by Jackson Frank
Sports Editor

Updated05 Apr 2024

Minnesota Timberwolves

Key Highlights

  • The Minnesota Timberwolves are first in defensive rating (108.3), nearly three points above the second-ranked Orlando Magic (111.1)
  • Even without Rudy Gobert, the odds-on favorite for Defensive Player of the Year, Minnesota’s defensive rating (110.9) is lower than Orlando
  • Only six teams the past 21 seasons have posted a defensive rating further below that year’s NBA average than Minnesota (7.4 points per 100 possessions)

During Rudy Gobert’s seven seasons as a full-time starter with the Utah Jazz, he only twice anchored teams that finished outside the top seven in defensive rating. During his first season with the Minnesota Timberwolves last year, that development occurred immediately. Amid an injury riddled, incongruent campaign, Minnesota stumbled to a 42-40 record and fielded the league’s eighth-best unit, a good, not great, defense that couldn’t really buoy a sticky offense beset by spacing issues and unfamiliarity.

This season, following a second consecutive first-round exit — Minnesota’s fate each of the three times it’s made the playoffs since 2003-04 — Gobert and the Timberwolves have risen to the top of the West. They’re 53-23 and sport the NBA’s top-ranked defense, a position they’ve held for months.

Minnesota isn’t just the premier defense in the Association. It’s the premier defense in the Association by a gargantuan margin. Nobody’s come close to matching this group through 5.5 months. Its 108.3 defensive rating is 7.4 points above the league average defensive rating (115.7) and 2.8 points better than the second-place Orlando Magic (111.1).

Cleaning the Glass’ league-wide database spans back to 2003-04. Since then, only the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs have exceeded those two marks. A handful of others (five, specifically) have stood further above league average, yet failed to distance themselves from their preeminent peers like Minnesota does. This is a rare display of greatness, both in comparison to the middle class and the elites.

Take Gobert off the floor — a three-time Defensive Player of the Year enjoying a magnificently dominant season and rightfully staring down a fourth copy of that hardware — and the Timberwolves’ defensive rating is still 110.9, which bests Orlando’s runner-up clip.

That’s not a knock on Gobert, but instead a testament to the talent, execution and scheme of the entire team. Nobody summits these heights alone, not even the sprawling Frenchman, who’s set to join Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutumbo as the lone players in NBA history with four Defensive Player of the Year nods.

The foundation of this excellence is their pick-and-roll principles. By and large, they adhere to drop coverage, funneling ball-handlers and roll men to Gobert, trusting him and the point-of-attack defender to handle business. Many defenses will bring a low man on the backside to pick up rollers and take away pocket passes or angles for lobs. Minnesota doesn’t really do that. Gobert is rangy and disciplined enough to thrive without that insulation; his point-of-attack defenders are slippery enough around screens to prevent him from having to carry the load individually.

Playing 2-on-2 in ball screens rather than 3-on-2 is one of the biggest advantages a defense can provide itself. It means someone doesn’t have to rotate inside and back to the corner in a punctual, particular manner. It eliminates skip passes. It keeps teams out of rotation and enables them to maintain their defensive shell.

Most don’t play this way because they lack the personnel to without sacrificing something in the primary action, either to a ball-handler or roll man. The Timberwolves are an outlier, and it’s a significant reason they rein supreme over the defensive landscape right now.

When they do help from the wings or corners, it’s either off of someone they deem a non-threatening a shooter or by a defender with the tools to recover and close off any potential space for threes or drives. Their rotation is flush with good to great defenders, all of whom are either big and mobile, play bigger than their size or a combination of both. Gobert also looks rejuvenated physically and it’s opened the door for some versatile coverage. Alongside his pristine work in drop, he’s comfortable playing at the level or switching and containing.

He and his point-of-attack partners blanket pick-and-rolls to wall off easy lanes inside, and everyone else usually stays home. Their defensive shot data reflects that. Minnesota concedes the second-highest rate of midrange jumpers, sixth-fewest long balls, ninth-fewest shots at the rim and lowest opposing effective field goal percentage, sitting top three in opposing field goal percentage in each aforementioned category.

Vacant real estate and quality shots are an aberration against him and this defense.

Some defenses and defenders are designed to truly thrive stymying certain actions and archetypes. Minnesota isn’t. Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Mike Conley Jr. have all excelled defending on the ball this season, and are similarly adept in an off-ball chaser role, playing the passing lanes or splitting the difference between two defenders. Anthony Edwards is a menacing isolation defender who’s still refining his off-ball diligence, but he can really thwart dudes with physically imposing closeouts, too.

This type of malleability across the rotation helps ensure dudes are slotted into optimal roles. Rarely is someone tasked with ill-fitting responsibilities. If they are, Minnesota prioritizes remedying that, especially via scram switches inside and selective switching on the perimeter to avoid mismatches.

Maintaining ideal roles on a given possession and throughout a given game is always the goal, but it’s typically much easier conceptually than in practice. Plenty of defensive breakdowns stem from someone being overextended for a brief stretch of a play. The Timberwolves expertly avoid those scenarios.

All that versatility is why they can bottle up a pick-and-roll-centric attack like the Los Angeles Clippers and corral the Denver Nuggets’ movement, dribble handoff-heavy approach. At 120.0, Los Angeles is fourth in offensive rating, but has yielded just a 106.5 mark in four games versus Minnesota, its worst number against any opponent. At 118.7, Denver is eighth in offensive rating, but has yielded just a 105.9 mark in three games versus Minnesota, its worst number against any opponent.

The Timberwolves are built for anyone and everyone, giving up a league-low 111.7 points per 100 possessions in 25 games facing top-10 offenses this season.

They’re not often in rotation, but when they are, their cohesion and size mitigate most breakdowns. That connectivity and constant size on the backline — or anywhere — offers a buffer for off-ball denials and top-locking. It similarly propels them to toggle between gap help and hugging shooters, a pair of divergent schemes that require different responses and burdens behind the initial decision.

When teams cut backdoor against top-locking and denying, space is hard to come by. That’s not the case for a lot of defenses. Back-cuts are supposed to be a consequence of such a decision, but Minnesota refuses to abide. The size, rotations, and attention to detail to dissuade passing windows with swarming limbs are overwhelming.

The Timberwolves’ half-court defense is by far the best in the league, surrendering 91.8 points per 100 possessions in the half-court, 3.2 points lower than second-place Orlando. And yet, getting out in space to pursue easier chances without the confines of a set defense doesn’t alleviate problems for opposing offenses.

They’re a stout transition team, bypassing second-chance points (21st in offensive rebounding rate) to hustle back and contain teams desperate for stress-free endeavors. They load early to ball-handlers, shrink lanes downhill and are precise about who’s most important to pick up in the open floor. Their size and depth of perimeter defenders reduces the likelihood of cross-matches, too, which is a leading proponent of efficient transition offense.

Only six teams invite a lower rate of transition volume against them (13.7 percent), and just three rank lower in transition points per 100 possessions (123.0). Good luck generating fast-break forays on them, let alone scoring, if you’re fortunate enough to make it that far.

Although Minnesota is not an aggressive, playmaking-oriented defense by nature (Edwards is an exception), the dexterity of its roster lends itself to those results. Among the 10 rotation players, eight are in the 55th percentile or better in steal rate, while seven are in the 62nd percentile or better in block rate. The Timberwolves play sound defense. Forcing takeaways (sixth in opposing turnover rate) or swatting shots is an upshot of that approach and their immense talent.

Their statistical profile is a dream recipe for fostering a distinguished defense: limit high-value shots like threes and looks at the basket in favor contested midrange jumpers, prevent transition opportunities, and produce a bunch of turnovers. It’s the perfect concoction, one masterfully executed that the tape highlights vastly better than all those shiny, important numbers ever could.

Not many regular season defenses over the past 20 years have been more dominant or well-equipped to handle every wrinkle thrown their direction. The playoffs will justifiably pen the most important chapters of the Timberwolves’ 2023-24 story and their defensive legend. Along the way, however, they’ve put together an exceptional six months. It’s vaulted them to the top of the West — within reach of their second No. 1 seed in franchise history — and guaranteed Gobert is back as the nucleus of another great, not merely good, defense.