Last year's Timberwolves, under Rick Adelman, were mid-pack in the NBA when it came to three-point field goal attempts, averaging 21.4 per game. They were quite poor at making them (just as they were the previous season), checking in at a 34.1 percent clip in 2013-14, which was 26th in the NBA.

The change to Flip Saunders has — so far — brought about a predictable change in that approach. While much of the NBA has become three-point happy in recent years, in large part because it has been accepted as not just an effective weapon but an efficient one, Saunders' offense still remains predicated around a lot of mid-range jumpers and other two-point shots.

Small sample size, of course, but the Wolves rank dead last in the NBA so far this season in three-point attempts at just 12.8 per game. Interestingly, though, they rank fourth in three-point percentage, making 41.2 percent of their tries so far.

Again, it's very early and four games is a poor sample, but we would imagine those trends could continue. In Saunders' final full season as Wolves coach — the glorious 2003-04 season, when the Wolves had the best record in the West — Minnesota ranked 27th in three-point attempts but fifth in three-point percentage.

In that regard, Saunders has proven that he can have a very good team — one that could have gone to the NBA Finals if, apparently, Sam Cassell hadn't done his special dance and injured himself in the process — without shooting an abundance of threes (or at least while stressing quality threes over the quantity of threes).

Some of it is almost certainly tailored to personnel. The Wolves just don't have a ton of great three-point shooters, particularly now that Kevin Love is gone. (Of course, Saunders the personnel boss gave that roster to Saunders the coach).

We've already seen the change in Ricky Rubio, whose jumper seems more confident when it's from 17 feet instead of beyond the arc. He attempted his first three of the season in the team's fourth game, and we're getting out of the habit of cringing every time he puts up a jumper.

Overall, though, it will be interesting to see if the Wolves can muster an efficient offense without using the three as a consistent threat — and it will be interesting to see how Saunders adjusts his offense for particular matchups.