Tag: kevin martin

The Minnesota Timberwolves, led by 21.5 ppg from Andrew Wiggins, 16.0 ppg from Karl-Anthony Towns, 13.9 ppg from Zach Lavine, and 13.3 from Kevin Martin, are 0-6 at home and 5-2 on the road. Unusual. Overall, they’re 5-8 and in need of a boost. Here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting the latest on Martin, who has started just one of the 12 games he’s played this season:

Some have been waiting for it for a while, but Sunday Wolves coach Sam Mitchell said he’s ready to make the change. Starting with Monday’s game against winless Philadelphia at Target Center, Mitchell is going to move Kevin Martin into the starting lineup, move Tayshaun Prince to the bench and ratchet up Shabazz Muhammad’s minutes.

“It was never my mentality for Tayshaun to play this amount of minutes,” Mitchell said of Prince, who has started and averaged 22.2 minutes, 3.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. “It was just to get us off to a start. I need to increase Bazz’s minutes. He’s been playing well. So I’m going to decrease Tayshaun’s minutes.”

Good three-point shooting opens up the paint area for inside players. Generally, the further a team can stretch the defense, the better. Here’s Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Last season, the Wolves made only 30.5 percent of their threes. This preseason, with Kevin Love back healthy and Kevin Martin brought aboard, they made 37.6 percent and weren’t shy doing it.

“I don’t mind that if they’re good shots,” coach Rick Adelman said, referring to the 62 threes his team tried on consecutive nights. “I don’t mind that at all. We had some good looks at it. There’s where the ball is going to go.”

The ball in Adelman’s offense is going to find Martin and Love — deft shooters both — beyond the arc, and it’s going to find Rubio, too.

If Rubio makes enough to keep opposing defenses honest — and Thursday’s 15-point performance was more than that — it just might define the team’s upcoming season.