National Basketball Association

Timberwolves Player Preview: Brandon Rush

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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This is the sixth part in our series previewing the entire Minnesota Timberwolves roster, player-by-player from the least to the most minutes played last season.

The Timberwolves have lacked outside shooting since…well, they’ve really never had consistently solid three-point shooting as a team.

There have been above-average marksmen throughout team history: Chuck Person, Terry Porter, Anthony Peeler, Wally Szczerbiak. But the franchise has really never made the three-ball a large part of their offense — especially in recent seasons, and especially in comparison with the rest of the NBA.

This off-season, with a more modern approach from new team president and head coach Tom Thibodeau and general manger Scott Layden, the Wolves have added some shooting.

The Wolves signed Brandon Rush to a one-year, $3.5 million contract just over a week into July’s free agency period. Rush was one of the more prolific long-range shooters in the league from 2008 to 2012, prior to a torn ACL.

Since then, Rush played in only 71 games over two seasons from 2013 to 2015, shooting just 25.7 percent from beyond the arc.

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Last season, however, Rush shot 41.4 percent in 14.7 minutes per game over 72 contests, including 25 starts, for the record-setting, 73-win Golden State Warriors.

Rush is now 31 years old and will not be able to contribute more than 15 minutes per game, but it’s been some time since the Timberwolves have had a legitimate, 40-percent-plus sharpshooter. (Kevin Martin was close, but was also in the waning stages of his offensive effectiveness when with the Wolves.)

At any rate, Rush will be a welcome addition to the organization, and no doubt will be one of the first players off the bench behind Andrew Wiggins at small forward. He could also play some small-ball power forward, as he’s lost some of his lateral quickness since the knee injury — he actually played 13 percent of his minutes at the ‘four’ with the Warriors over the past two seasons.

Rush isn’t a sexy signing, and if this season goes according to plan he won’t play north of that 15 minute per game mark. But overall depth and outside shooting are two important aspects of playoff (or even .500-level) teams that the Timberwolves have been sorely lacking for the better part of a decade.

The Timberwolves are trending in the right direction, and savvy if not spectacular signings like this one are signs of a positive trend.

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