Straight Sets: Preseason Plays
Diving deeper into some of the offensive actions we've seen thus far.
That long creaking sound you hear is the playbook of Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch being pried back open. The tickle you feel? That’s the dust dancing off the opening pages of the 2022-23 edition and shimmering through the air. The season, even if it is still in its preseason infancy, is upon us. That means there are plays to pick apart.
Of course, Finch isn’t going to unleash his most prized actions on the first few steps of what is sure to be a memorable journey. Nor are the players in the regular season form required to execute the mid-season sets. However, there have been some little gems sprinkled throughout Minnesota’s opening three exhibition games.
Down Exit
This is something different. Not because the Wolves are running actions that disguise a top-of-the-key gather and turn it into a corner exit screen. That’s pretty standard Finch’s Funhouse of Smoke and Mirrors stuff. No, it’s because Anthony Edwards is the one doing the screening and the sprinting and the curling. Last season, these actions were run almost exclusively for Malik Beasley, and that meant that they almost exclusively ended in corner triple attempts.
Beasley is gone, though, and aside from Bryn Forbes (who is on the fringes of the rotation), the Wolves don’t have another player who sharpens their sword as a movement shooter. Edwards isn’t that, but he is remarkably dynamic with the ball in his hands. With him coiling around the exit screen, the avenues to points extend farther and wider than they ever did with Beasley.
Instead of just a 3-point shot — one he is very capable of making by the way — Edwards can do a multitude of other things. He can use his ferocious first step to shrivel the trailing defender, forcing the defending big man to step up into a two-on-one pick-and-roll action and be flatlined by the poison he picks. We see how easily that crumbles Miami’s defense here. But wait, there’s more. He can take the play on himself with a driving foray, he can collapse the defense and fire to a weakside shooter, or he can stop and pop on a mid-range jumper.
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