Shabazz Muhammad Rising Above Bust Label for Minnesota Timberwolves
If you'd bet against Shabazz Muhammad having much of a meaningful NBA career after his throwaway rookie season, the odds would have been strongly in your favor.
Out of shape, still carrying the baggage from a series of bizarre scandals at UCLA and residing in former head coach Rick Adelman's doghouse, Muhammad barely played at all in his first season. Given the numbers—a 13.1 player efficiency rating, nearly three times as many turnovers as assists and just 7.8 minutes per game in 37 contests—it was hard to fault Adelman's minimal use of the rookie.
Muhammad even served time in the D-League.
It was a rough adjustment for a guy who, at one time, had some serious hype attached to him. Remember, Muhammad was the No. 2 prospect in the country and a main attraction at the McDonald's All-American Game in 2012.
"The first time I didn't play, I was kind of uncertain," Muhammad told Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports last January. "Then it started happening continuously."
Muhammad's rookie year wasn't just humbling. It was a disaster.
"Nobody dreams about being in the D-League. They dream about being in the NBA," Muhammad said, per Spears. "But I'm being strong mentally. I'm playing hard and going out there trying to do the best I can."
The former phenom and No. 14 overall pick's best wasn't enough to avoid a damning label.
Bust.
A Changed Man...Sort Of
To fix what had gone so horribly wrong, Muhammad busted his butt.
Thanks to a workout routine that completely transformed his body over the summer, Muhammad came into the 2014-15 season knowing one of the biggest knocks against him, conditioning, would no longer apply.
Way back in July, he predicted what was ahead.
"It's a big one for me," Muhammad told Phil Ervin of Fox Sports North. "I think this should be a breakout year for me."
So far, so good.
Muhammad has enjoyed a productivity spike not because he's changed his game, but because he's emphasized the preexisting skills that once made him such a highly touted prospect. The vastly improved physical condition, of course, has made everything easier.
| 2013-14 | 7.8 | 3.9 | 1.4 | 46.0 | 27.3 |
| 2014-15 | 16.5 | 10.1 | 3.3 | 51.2 | 42.9 |
Always good on the boards because of his size (6'6") and length (6'11" wingspan, per Draft Express), Muhammad has doubled down on his efforts there. He leads all guards with 3.3 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes this season, per Basketball-Reference.com. Actually, leads is the wrong word; he's crushing everyone at his position.
Thabo Sefolosha ranks second with just 2.3 offensive boards per 36 minutes, and only one other guard (Tony Allen) averages more than two.
Reputations for me-first scoring don't disappear overnight, though. Backhanded compliments have attended Muhammad's work on the glass as often as honest praise:
"You have to love how much Shabazz Muhammad fights on the offensive glass. An instance of selfishness working out for the greater good.
— Jonathan Tjarks (@JonathanTjarks) December 1, 2014"
Chasing down boards has boosted Muhammad's production, but that's hardly the only thing contributing to his growth.
A career-high 28 points against the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 30 featured a startling array of sneaky ghost cuts.
Like this:
And this:
Some of the blame belongs to a sleepy Blazers D that may have relaxed with a comfortable lead, but it's difficult to shake the visions of Dwyane Wade those cat-quick darts and dives conjured up.
And because everyone loves a dunk, here's evidence Muhammad's remade body has more bounce than ever:
Preparation + Opportunity = Career Salvation
All told, Muhammad has turned into a valuable scorer off the bench, posting efficiency numbers that surpass the ones from his forgettable first year.
It's difficult to believe in his 42.9 percent shooting from long range, especially after he connected on just 27.3 percent in 2013-14. But it stands to reason that Muhammad will continue to be a high-efficiency scorer because so much of his offense comes from those cuts and offensive rebounds that yield such high returns.
Over 41 percent of Muhammad's field-goal attempts come from inside three feet, and he's been converting them at a 66 percent clip so far, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Bear in mind Muhammad isn't perfect.
"Sometimes he is in the wrong place—and I yell at him,” Flip Saunders said after Muhammad scored 18 points in the first start of his career against the New York Knicks on Nov. 19, per Britt Robson of MinnPost.com. “But he plays so hard and I just felt that what we needed—with Carmelo in their lineup—we needed some physicality and he brings that. He is pretty relentless going to the glass, [and] trying to go to the basket.”
The difference now is that the good outweighs the bad by a wide margin.
While the second-year guard deserves most of the credit for his bounce-back season, it's worth noting that circumstances beyond Muhammad's control have factored in as well. If not for Kevin Martin's broken wrist and Andrew Wiggins' recent illness (and the general growing pains of life as a rookie), Muhammad might not have gotten the opportunity to prove himself.
When that chance arose, though, Muhammad capitalized on it.
Another Pup in the Pack
The upshot is that the Wolves, a team already loaded up with young talent in Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Gorgui Dieng, Zach LaVine and even Ricky Rubio (who turned 24 in October), suddenly have another potential building block in place.
Nobody's predicting All-Star status or even a long-term starting role, but Muhammad is now someone Minnesota can legitimately view as part of its future—a part that could fit very well with the players on hand.
A player who specializes in slithering through the defense without the ball couldn't ask for a better point guard than Rubio, whose greatest skill is finding open teammates with superhuman vision and creativity. And if Wiggins someday matures into a go-to wing scorer, Muhammad's dirty-work game would be an ideal complement.
What's happened with Muhammad might be most valuable as an instructive tool for the rest of the Wolves. Instead of trying to be something different, a struggling Muhammad worked like crazy to get in shape and then simply focused on the things he was already good at.
If the rest of Minnesota's collective youth movement follows suit, we could have a dangerous pack on our hands in no time.
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