The Timberwolves emphasized defensive tenacity throughout the first week of training camp. The whistle was blown by coaches when on-ball pressure wasn’t cranked up to the necessary degree in practices described as “intense.”
The goal of it all is to return Minnesota’s defensive nastiness to something resembling where it was two seasons ago, when the Wolves were the NBA’s best on that end of the floor by a wide margin.
And yet, when the rubber met the road in Minnesota’s home preseason bout Tuesday against the Pacers, the Wolves were horrendous on that end out of the gates. Indiana scored 37 points in the opening frame, while shooting 65% from the field and 63% from distance while getting whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted.
“That’s inexcusable,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch admitted.
Yes, it’s only preseason. But it should be noted in four exhibition games in which their regulars played ahead of the 2023-24 season, the Wolves starters allowed 20 points or fewer in the opening frame thrice.
A tone was set that October that was maintained throughout the season.
The tone Tuesday was one more of: “Yeah, ideally we’d like to defend. But only if you don’t make it overly difficult to do.”
Until things shifted over the final eight minutes of the first half. That’s when Jaylen Clark finally entered into the contest and injected a toughness and defensive determination that’d been lacking. Clark gave all-star forward Pascal Siakam no room to breathe on one play, forcing the forward into a difficult baseline jumper he missed, while also creating havoc via tips and strips that led to extra Wolves’ possessions.
Suddenly, the game that was initially so easy for Indiana became far more difficult.
The Pacers scored 141 points per 100 possessions before Clark’s entrance. That number dipped to 81 over the remainder of the half with the perimeter stopper on the floor.
Clark is the guy Wolves star Anthony Edwards often tabs to play 1 on 1 against in an effort to sharpen his skills. Edwards noted he scores on Clark maybe 50% of the time.
“I like it at 50-50 right now, because I don’t want nothing easy. Jaylen Clark, he definitely get me ready for the year,” Edwards said. “He’s a tough defender, man. I’m not going to lie.”
Which makes it all the more curious as to why Clark was the ninth player to enter the game Tuesday – well after the first eight entered the affair – on a night when Jaden McDaniels didn’t play due to personal reasons.
Finch has noted Minnesota will likely have an eight-to-nine man rotation that could stretch to as many as 10, but added the ninth and 10th spots will be fluid.
No Timberwolves rotations have been finalized. There’s plenty of preseason to still be played. But it looks like Terrence Shannon Jr. is the frontrunner for the No. 8 spot behind the top seven returners from last year’s Western Conference Finalist. Rob Dillingham is getting early run in exhibition bouts.
Clark may face an uphill battle in his pursuit of consistent minutes. He seemed to acknowledge as much himself on the team’s media day. Asked if things felt different for the soon-to-be 24 year old this fall after carving out a regular-season role for himself last season, Clark responded, “Not really.”
“Every year it starts all over again, man,” he said. “I’m back at the bottom, and I’ve got to figure out a way to claw and work my way back up to where I’m in the rotation and playing again.”
Which flies directly in the face of everything the team has said it wants to be. Much of the verbal sentiment has centered on returning to the tip top tier of NBA defenses this season. But attempting to do so without one of your two-best perimeter defenders feels like a fool’s errand. Especially following the offseason departure of Nickeil Alexnader-Walker.
Forget that Clark knocked down 43% of his 3-point attempts last season and is one of the team’s most adept offensive cutters. He’s the one wing whose sole concern on the floor is stopping the opposition. He’s not only willing to take on a Lu Dort-type role in Minnesota – he’s eager to do so.
Dillingham is a minus defender at the moment. Edwards, Shannon and Mike Conley are solid on that end. But they aren’t legitimate options to consistently pick up the opponent’s best perimeter player at the point of attack when McDaniels isn’t on the floor – not if the goal is to re-establish an Oklahoma City-like defensive aura.
The best defenders eat, sleep and breathe that side of the floor. That job requires a special level of not only effort and tenacity, but attention to detail.
Clark watches tape of Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II to gain intel on how to stay in front of shifty athletes without utilizing the type of contact that’s sure to draw an official’s attention.
“I like watching that more so than basketball, because people have counters. Ant, I know when he goes left, he loves to shoot the stepback. But if I jump at the stepback, he’s going to keep going. He’s just so fast, athletic and strong. So just having that creativity to know (what may happen),” Clark said. “In football, they know a route tree. So yeah, once he passes five yards, he can’t run a slant no more. Now, it’s a post or a 10-yard dig or in. Just process of elimination while he’s running his route.
“Same thing in basketball. If the shot clock is at 3 and they’re down two, I’m thinking he’s probably going for the win, knowing Ant. So I’m jamming this 3-point line. If he beats me to the rim, it is what it is. I got helpside, or we got overtime. I’m always thinking like that.”
Clark’s will to stop the man in front of him burns deep inside of his soul. That figures to fit Minnesota like a glove. Asked in June what the identity of an Edwards-led team should be, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly listed two traits: competitiveness and toughness.
Jaylen Clark personified. Clark himself said the Wolves should lean into “what Minnesota is about.”
“It’s cold as hell here. Plenty of people would rather be in Miami than here when they come play,” he said. “Just embrace the fact that you know people are trying to get out of here as fast as possible. Make this night as long and hard for them as possible. Just be antagonizing, getting under people’s skin. Just being the people nobody wants to go play against. Like what Detroit used to be in the Bad Boy era against the Bulls. You just knew you were in for a long night.”
Minnesota has been at its best in recent years when it’s looked exactly like the team Clark just described. The Wolves’ signature playoff series victory in franchise history – ousting defending champion Denver in the 2024 conference semifinals – was thanks almost entirely to efforts on the defensive end.
With their backs pressed against the wall in Game 7, Minnesota held Denver to nine points over the final 10 minutes, 50 seconds of the third quarter to erase a 20-point deficit en route to an improbably victory.
That was the year in which the Wolves built an unbreakable identity of defensive dominance.
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Any path to a return to such heights likely requires Clark on the court.
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