Three Takeaways From Timberwolves' Preseason Opener

The Timberwolves beat the Warriors 114-110 on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

It’s preseason so who really cares?!

But actually, you should care. Especially for a Timberwolves team with so many new faces on it.

I wasn’t able to watch it on Saturday night (family stuff), but I got around to the game on Sunday after I finished crying into a bag of Doritos after watching Joe Mauer play probably his last game.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

In camp, Anthony Tolliver has told us that if he’s going to do anything for this team, it’ll be shooting threes. And lots of them.

Tolliver didn’t lie to us. He launched 10 3-pointers in 30 minutes, connecting on five of them. He finished with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and a block.

This is exactly why the Wolves brought Tolliver in. The dude shot 43.6 percent from the 3-point line last season, a mark that ranked seventh in the league.

Minnesota swapped out Nemanja Bjelica for Tolliver, indirectly, and it should be a huge improvement as far as the team’s 3-point shooting is concerned. Bjelica can shoot. He shot 41.5 percent from deep last season, but he was passive at times. He attempted just 2.7 threes per game. Meanwhile, Tolliver shot 4.6 per game.

For a team that shot the least amount of 3-pointers last season, Tolliver’s “shooters gonna shoot” mentality is welcomed.

In general, the second unit was very impressive. Tolliver was a +10, Tyus Jones was a +11 and rookie Josh Okogie was +9.

The Wolves struggled with depth last season and just from an eye test early on, this roster looks well-constructed heading into the season. Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop help a whole lot. The fact that you’re able to add two rotational players with a late first-round pick and a late second-round pick speaks to the team’s scouting department. There’s a reason why GM Scott Layden thanks his scouting team any chance he can.

This unit could even be bolstered more depending on what happens on the Jimmy Butler front. Right now, Derrick Rose is filling in as the team’s starting shooting guard. He played well on Saturday, finishing with 16 points in 21 minutes.

Tolliver said early in training camp that the bench would have to be there for the starters if they had an off night. Four of the five starters had a negative +/- (Andrew Wiggins was a +5). Four of the five main reserves had a positive +/- (Bates-Diop was a -1).

“I thought Josh [Okogie] and Keith [Bates-Diop] did really well for the first time," Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. "Obviously, its pre-season so it’s not regular season basketball, but for the first time out I thought both guys did a good job. I think that is important. I thought our overall bench did really well. Anthony [Tolliver] was terrific, I thought Gorgui [Dieng] gave us really good minutes, Tyus [Jones] ran the team well. I think that was big."

As far as the Warriors are concerned, this is still the favorite to win the championship, especially after signing center DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins is out while recovering from a torn Achilles. If you have him on your fantasy team, I wouldn’t expect Cousins back any time soon judging from how Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett (the team’s TV announcers) were talking.

The Warriors are good enough to win 60 games without Cousins, which means they aren’t going to rush him back. We saw it last year with Stephen Curry. Curry dealt with an ankle injury and I’m sure he could have come back to play earlier, but the Warriors didn’t need him to with Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Cousins doesn’t see the floor until 2019. Steve Kerr hinted to that a bit after the game.

"It’s going to be hard for DeMarcus having been out for so long and now trying to fit in with a new team, but not being able to play yet," Kerr said. "The more he’s around the guys the more he’s comfortable in our setting and our environment the easier entry will be when he does come back.”

Until then, we’ll see Damian Jones get the majority of the minutes at center. He’ll be fine. He was a bit tentative against the Wolves.

Minnesota is back at it on Wednesday night against the Clippers at the STAPLES Center. Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m. CT on NBA TV.