There were legitimate things to grumble about even as the Timberwolves went 47-35 last season and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
And with the season set to begin Wednesday after the strangest preseason in recent memory, there are plenty of fair questions in play for this year's team.
But one narrative from a year ago that didn't make sense then and still doesn't make sense is this: that the Wolves have a clunky, inefficient offense.
As a matter of fact, the Wolves had one of the best offenses in the NBA a year ago, finishing fourth out of 30 teams in efficiency. How in the world did they do that when they finished dead last in both three-pointers made and attempted — the modern metrics so often associated with an efficient offense?
Well, basically the Wolves were excellent in other, perhaps more old-fashioned ways — and they added up to an offense that hummed along quite nicely. Here are four things the Wolves did quite well last season offensively — things that in theory should continue this year:
• Free throws: The struggles of Andrew Wiggins at the line were well-documented, but the rest of the team shot free throws at a high clip and high percentage.
The Wolves attempted the fifth-most free throws, made the third-most and had the second-best percentage (80.4) in the NBA. It's hard to get much more efficient than free points while the clock is stopped.
They were led by Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, who combined to shoot more than 12 free throws a game, and both shot them at better than an 85 percent clip. Point guard Jeff Teague (84.5 percent) was also a steady contributor.
