Volume 5: Unrivaled

Volume Five: Unrivaled. Jaylen Brown's overall performance still had been quite eye-catching. This was the exclusive domain of elite wings: Durant relied on his height, Leonard on physicality—neither needed to shake free of the defense to score over it... The Timberwolves had not paid him enough attention, and his shooting had been poor last season, so they always gave him a step of room. Unfortunately, his touch was not soft enough. During summer training, he had focused on finishing after simple dribble moves, reducing the risk of turnovers. Whether facing up or posting up, he took no more than three dribbles before finishing. Though both were first overall picks, Wiggins was far superior to Towns defensively. Fortunately, the Warriors did not need Wiggins to take on the kind of difficult scoring duties handled by Durant or Leonard. The Warriors' two cores were Curry and Antetokounmpo; Wiggins only needed to serve as an elite 3-and-D wing, while using the ball to absorb some possessions. Wiggins was not as seasoned defensively as Leonard, but with his superior talent and athleticism, he could keep up with anyone's footwork and defend positions one through four—he simply could not hold up against centers. Still, he could not make the imaginative passes Curry did. Of course, he would not make Curry's bizarre turnovers either. But the Warriors simply had not defended seriously; their defensive discipline remained intact, and even casual defense was decent. The Timberwolves, however, had practically no defense at all, letting the Warriors score at will as they suffered heavy losses in both games. Yet he was not at a disadvantage physically. Though he was not built like a power forward, he possessed physicality no weaker than one's. That was the effect of talent... But that had been an unprecedented exception in NBA history.