The Minnesota Timberwolves announced on Friday morning that they had signed Brandon Rush.
Rush is a 31-year-old wing, who is an exceptional shooter and solid defender. He’s the first official signing of Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden’s tenure.
No, it’s not the splashiest move. But sometimes the splashy moves end up being the wrong moves. Remember when the Philadelphia Eagles signed all the best free agents like five years ago and called themselves the “dream team?”
Yeah, they didn’t make the playoffs.
We’re at Summer League right now and Thibodeau is set to talk more tomorrow about Rush, but here’s a quick rundown on what he can bring the Wolves.
Shooting
Rush’s bread and butter is his shooting. He’s a lifetime 40.3 percent 3-point shooter. In eight NBA seasons, he’s eclipsed 40 percent four times, including hitting 45.2 percent in 2011-12 with the Warriors.
He suffered an ACL injury in 2012 and really struggled to get back to form after. That was until last season when he shot 41.4 percent with the Warriors and played in 72 games, his most since 2009-10.
The Wolves were a bad shooting team last season. That’s being nice. The Wolves shot 33.8 percent from deep, 25th in the league and only hit 455 3-pointers. Only the Milwaukee Bucks made less.
Rush should help with that.
Veteran Presence
Rush is 31 years old. He’s played in the league for eight years. The Wolves had just four players with more experience on their roster last season, and two of them (Andre Miller and Kevin Martin) didn’t end the season with the Wolves. The other two, Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince, weren’t able to give the Wolves a whole lot of production on the court.
The Wolves hope Rush is the best of both worlds. Ideally, he’s a guy who can play 12-18 minutes off the bench while giving the second until 3-point shooting, and the locker room leadership.
Defense
This is a little trickier to measure, but after two torn ACLs, Rush fit right in on a Warriors’ defense that switched more than the Cleveland Browns have quarterbacks in the last decade. OK, maybe not that much. But still
If Thibodeau didn’t like what Rush could bring defensively, I doubt he’d sign him.
We’ll have more coming tomorrow on the Rush signing. Now back to Summer League.