Ryan Saunders and the Iron Bank of basketball
He went 17-25 under extremely difficult circumstances. He won the unequivocal support of both the veterans and the young players of the future. And he received the endorsements of the owner, the team’s best player, and ultimately, the new President of Basketball Ops.
Ryan Saunders is officially the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
And the honeymoon is over. It’s time to justify the investment.
There is a lot of work to be done.
Ryno spoke a great deal early on in his interim tenure about the need to modernize the Wolves’ approach. A faster pace, more movement and more threes on offense. More switching and better communication on defense.
Those are absolutely the right ideas. Very little of them practically materialized.
In the 40 games the Wolves played last season under Tom Thibodau, the Wolves attempted 28.5 threes per game. Under Saunders, 29 per game. So no difference there. Likewise, under Thibs, the pace was 99.6; under Saunders…99.6.
As for the defense, well, Thibs had them at a defensive rating of 110. Saunders, 116. Woof.
That’s not to say Ryan didn’t accomplish anything good, or that the change wasn’t worth it. Aside from the tirelessly important work Ryan has done to mend bridges Thibs torched into the river - with the players, the owners, the sponsors, the fans - he did indeed bring some much needed corrections on the court.
Gerrson Rosas insists he was not mandated to keep Saunders on. That’s probably technically true, but it’s no secret that Glen Taylor made his preference strongly known. At the same time. Rosas is very much a collaborator and delegator. He wants to run the team in a way where he can pass his ideas down the chain and trust those who work under him to follow through. It’s unlikely he would have gone through with this hire, even with pressure from ownership, if he didn’t believe Ryan was going to work with him and for him in building the “fast, strategic game”.
Several player individually improved significantly under Saunders, mostly notably Karl-Anthony Towns (who was finally freed from Thibs’ ridiculous notion that a historically great shooter should be taking 14 shots a game), Tyus Jones and yes, Andrew Wiggins. Granted, in Andrew’s case, he merely went from outright disaster to mostly-not-bad, but it’s still notable.
Saunders was also responsible for the late-season additions of Cam Reynolds and Mitch Creek, both of whom can be legitimate NBA rotation players. Cam in particular could be something of a revelation if Ryan can put together modern offense Rosas envisions.
Saunders also, despite the overwhelming number of injuries, utilized the roster far better than Thibs ever did. Ryno took a few small, first steps towards understanding and unlocking Dario Saric’s game. He handled minutes and rotations in a sensible and tactical way. And he actually used his bench, getting real contributions. Anthony Tolliver finally got to contribute. Keita Bates-Diop made an instant impact, proving he belonged and showing serious long-term potential.
And maybe the best singular, real mark in Saunders’ favor: when Luol Deng played, the Wolves were an awesome team. Their offense clicked. Their defense actually functioned. They outscored opponents by 10 points/100 possessions with Deng on the floor. And here we’re talking about a 34 year old playing 17 minutes/game, who’s merely thoroughly decent all around. If there is anything real to that number, then having Robert Covington, a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, playing 30+ minutes/game could indeed prove Saunders’ system brilliant after all.
As for the rest, the hope - and in reality, the demand - is that Ryan will simply forge ahead implementing a spread offense that cuts hard to the hoop and launches threes, even though he knows he doesn’t have the ideal roster for it right now. Saunders spoke at great length last season about the difficulty of simply trying to erase the bad habits Thibs so deeply ingrained before even attempting to create good ones.
Honestly, the best approach he could take would simply be to craft the offense and let the players sink or swim. It’s the right approach, as it puts process first, and quite frankly, it’ll make Rosas’ job easier, as he’ll find out in short order who has a future here and who doesn’t. If you take even a quick glance at the successful recent rebuilds, that’s who they’ve all done it.
Kenny Atkinson had the Nets playing 4 out and launching threes before De’Angelo Russell or Spencer Dinwiddie or Caris LeVert or Joe Harris took the floor for him. Brett Brown was pushing the pace, switching on defense and developing his bench well before he had Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons or JJ Reddick. The Hawks have fast-tracked their rebuild by building a remarkably close Golden State Warriors facsimile.
Every system has to be tailored for the individual rosters strengths and weaknesses, but in broad stokes, there is a “right” way to play this game in 2019. It’s time for Saunders to prove he knows what that is.
