Through the first month of the season, Ricky Rubio led the Timberwolves to a 7-4 record. When he missed six games during November, the T-Wolves struggled with a 1-5 record. Much of these struggles have to do with Rubio’s replacement, the uber-athletic wing (yes, wing) Zach LaVine. LaVine is a lengthy defender, a good shooter, a solid ball handler, and can fly up and down the court as well as any earth-bound creature on this planet. However, he is not a point guard. 

Despite that, LaVine was the backup point guard for much of this season. In the six games Rubio missed, he led the team in shot attempts, often times scoring over 20 points per game, but neglecting his duties as a playmaker for others. It’s not that LaVine is a bad passer; he just doesn’t have the required patience or court vision that point guards need to become elite.

Essentially, the Timberwolves were miscasting LaVine as a point guard. It was a similar process the Wolves had tried with Rubio in recent years, having him play next to another traditional point guard like Luke Ridnour or J.J. Barea. They believed giving him another ball handler on the court would let Rubio have less ball handling responsibilities while allowing him to setup and establish his shot for cleaner looks at the basket, thus improving his historically bad shooting.

Instead, because neither player was particularly adept at driving to the basket or creating space with their own jump shot, this meant that the team was ignoring Rubio’s best offensive skill as a playmaker while asking him to play in a style he was neither comfortable with nor particularly skilled at.

While these two clearly shouldn’t be each other’s backups, why not play them together? LaVine has the ball handling skills the traditional point guards Rubio played with had, but also has an exceptional shooting stroke and the ability to drive and cut to the basket where he can finish over anyone. While Sam Mitchell waited a bit too long to start trying this, since the All-Star break these two are on an absolute tear, both having the best stretches of their careers. Rubio, who has the 22^nd worst field goal percentage in NBA history at 37%, has increased his percentage each month since his November injury and finished the month of March shooting a very solid 43/40/92 split to go with 13.3 ppg along with his usual 8.5 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.1 steals. That is not only the best shooting month of his career, but also possibly a sign of future performance.

Rubio’s terrific month coincided with LaVine being a full-time starter at shooting guard. LaVine, with Rubio directing traffic around him and allowing him to be the spot up shooter and driver that he’s meant to be, had a career month shooting 50% from the field and a Curry-esq 47.4% from the 3-point line while scoring almost 18 points per game.

Playing these two together allows the Timberwolves offense to flow properly as Rubio has the space he needs to run the offense efficiently and effectively. The additional space has not only benefited Rubio and LaVine, but also reigning Rookie of the Year, Andrew Wiggins, and the soon-to-be Rookie of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns. Wiggins averaged just under his season average for the month with 19.7 ppg but he did it on a 50/43/80 split, well above his pre-All-Star split of 44/24/74. Wiggins, who has struggled as a shooter since he got in the league finally had a playmaker in Rubio on the court at the same time as a shooter that can also drive in LaVine, which allowed him the cleanest looks he has seen on his jump shot since high school. Towns may have benefited the most from this combination as he had his best month of his career with 22 ppg on a 58/35/84 split to go with 10.5 rebounds and a block and a steal apiece. 

While Sam Mitchell has been hesitant to play this lineup together, it appears to be paying off. With Rubio at the controls and the rest of the Timberwolves’ young squad finally spacing the floor, the team went 6-9 during March, tied for their best month in three seasons, while losing seven of those games to teams firmly in the playoff picture and the exceptions being a buzzer-beating miracle shot by Mirza Teletovic for the Suns and a career game from Kris Middleton and the Bucks. 

While this team is clearly not playoff ready yet, now that this wide-open style has been established and Ricky Rubio is firmly at the helm with the threat of a trade now unlikely, this team is about to be scary. This group still needs another shooter, a big to play with Towns and Gorgui Dieng, and a more capable coach, these are all tasks that could be easily accomplished by next season. The Timberwolves are projected to have more than $25 million in cap space, their own top 10 pick in this year’s draft, and a wealth of young talent, making them the likely top coaching vacancy this offseason.

We have become used to the Timberwolves being bad right now, but it may be time to move on from that idea. While it will take the right combination of incoming players and a good coach, this team seems ready, and will likely be back in the playoffs as early as next season.