Wolves coaches now get to do their thing

The Wolves had their summer league minicamp at Mayo Clinic Square last week at Target Center. It was a chance for them to evaluate the young players they brought in for the annual league in Las Vegas, when the NBA world descends on the desert for a little hoops, a lot of networking, and maybe a few extracurricular activities.

It was also a time that the Wolves' new assistant coaches got to work together.

"We have to get to know each other," said Pablo Prigioni, who came to the Wolves from the Nets. "The summer is a great opportunity to spend time together, to talk about basketball, but fortunately we have the whole summer ahead. We'll be ready for training camp."

Prigioni will be the head coach of the Wolves' summer league roster. Also there this week was associate head coach David Vanterpool, who came to the Wolves from Portland, and Bryan Gates, whose second hiring with the Wolves became official Friday.

Before bringing in Gates, Vanterpool and Prigioni, President Gersson Rosas said the Wolves were going to model their staff like a football team — there would be defensive (Vanterpool) and offensive coordinators (Prigioni).

"Right now, it's still the honeymoon stage," Vanterpool said. "So we get a chance to bat around different ideas, different principles, different philosophies."

Some of those will be on display over the course of summer league.

Offensively, Prigioni said analytics are going to play a significant role in where the Wolves shoot.

"We're trying to involve the analytic guys more and more," Prigioni said. "We need their help to throw us numbers. Like, 'Hey, tell us what's the best shot possible.' … Limiting those long twos, the jumpers, those floaters, that will kind of be a goal."

That could be easier said than done, especially if players are comfortable shooting long twos, such as Andrew Wiggins, who took the 11th-most midrange jumpers in the league last season (4.4 per game).

As for the defense, Vanterpool said four practices wasn't enough time to delve into the finer details of what he wanted to do.

"It's impossible to get everything in," Vanterpool said. "Very, very difficult to even get a quarter of the things in."

For now, Vanterpool said, the emphasis was on giving maximum effort on the defensive end of the floor.

That will be the basis for him to install the schematics of the defense he wants to run.

"We have to give everything," Vanterpool said. "We have to play hard. We have to communicate. And you have to make sure you're there to support your teammates. Those three things, more than anything, will help build a foundation from the beginning. And we deal with concepts, we deal with philosophies thereafter."

As for one of those concepts, switching, guard Jared Terrell, who played 14 games last season, said not much has changed — yet. Under Tom Thibodeau the Wolves did not switch as much as other teams.

"I don't think we're switching more, but there's a little bit more freedom, I think," Terrell said.

Added Prigioni: "At some point a switching defense turns into a lazy defense because you don't have to change. Just point and switch, and that's when the offense uses the slip to take advantage. You want to teach how to switch properly. That's what these few weeks are for."