Timberwolves' Kyle Anderson 'ready to knock them down' after early-season struggles

Kyle Anderson found himself open in the left corner with the ball on a pass from point guard Mike Conley in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves' 118-110 victory over the Mavericks on Thursday.

This wasn't an accident. As Anderson has struggled or been reluctant to shoot from the outside, teams are not bothering to guard him on the perimeter, daring him to shoot.

On Thursday, he decided to pull the trigger — and hit a 21-footer with 9 minutes, 43 seconds remaining. Anderson's foot was on the three-point line, making the bucket a long two, but that seemed like a weight lifted for Anderson.

It was a consequential make, as it gave the Wolves only a six-point lead.

Two possessions later, Anderson found himself in the same situation. A pass from Conley hit him wide open in the left corner. This time Anderson was behind the three-point line, and he drained it.

"Just try to knock it down when I'm left open," Anderson said. "And it felt good to go in tonight."

That make lifted his three-point percentage on the season from 9.1% to 13%. He has never been a high-volume outside shooter, and coach Chris Finch emphasized that the Wolves don't expect him to be.

"We tell Kyle all the time, 'You weren't brought here to make threes,' " Finch said. "But we want him to stay confident in his shot. So, it's also part of the overall kind of puzzle we got to figure out."

Anderson's hesitancy to take open shots has been noticeable this season, especially by Wolves opponents, who haven't bothered to guard him out on the perimeter. Last season, they had to respect Anderson's shot because he made 41% of his 1.5 three-point attempts per game. He knows that just because he made a few outside shots Thursday, teams aren't going to change their scouting reports.

"The Lakers are going to come in [Saturday] and allow me to shoot the ones in the corner, so I've got to knock them down," Anderson said. "I've got to get to a point where it's proven. I'm ready to knock them down. I knocked them down tonight. I'm ready to shoot. I told Mike and Ant [Anthony Edwards], 'Trust me.' I've been putting in the work, so I'm ready to knock them down."

Anderson still remains an essential part of the Wolves rotation this season thanks to his playmaking abilities as a ball handler and his defense. His defensive rating of 105.1 is the best of any Wolves player who sees regular minutes, even Rudy Gobert.

Finch ascribed some of Anderson's early-season inconsistencies on offense to a change in position. Last season, after Karl-Anthony Towns' calf injury, Anderson played a heavy dose of the 4, power forward. This season, with the Wolves deploying two of Gobert, Towns and Naz Reid at any given time, Anderson has had to downshift to the 3, small forward. Figuring out how to navigate around the two-big lineups has been a challenge for him.

"With our personnel it's tough to find minutes at the 4, where I'm most effective," Anderson said. "But I think I can do a good job at the 3. Just being out there with two bigs is a little different as opposed to being the second big out there like last year. It's been an adjustment. I think I'm finally getting used to it and figuring out how to play with Naz and Rudy or Naz and KAT, or things like that. It was tough at first."

His offensive rating is just 107.5, the lowest of any Wolves player who currently sees regular minutes. The Wolves offense doesn't quite function as seamlessly as it did last season with Anderson on the floor. But if he can make shots again as he did a season ago, defenses will have to respect it and open things for his teammates.

"I think Finchy puts me in the game for being a playmaker, guarding guys, making the right play," Anderson said. "But in order to be in the game, you gotta be able to knock those down wide open. Glad to see the work paid off today."