Joan Beringer doesn’t have to be a star for the Timberwolves to feel his impact. He just has to solve a few very real problems.
That’s the appeal of the second-year big man, who flashed plenty of upside in limited minutes as a rookie and now looks set to be Rudy Gobert’s primary backup. Minnesota has plenty of reasons to be excited about him in that role. The bigger question is where, exactly, he can make the biggest difference.
The first answer is the most obvious one: the minutes when Gobert sits. Those stretches have been a real pain point for Minnesota.
Last season, the Timberwolves’ defense was 11.8 points per 100 possessions worse with Gobert off the floor, according to Cleaning the Glass. The year before, that gap was 7.8 points per 100 possessions.
The issue has been simple enough - there hasn’t been enough rim protection behind Gobert, and neither Julius Randle nor Naz Reid has offered that in the same way. Beringer has a chance to change that.
He brings the kind of athleticism that jumps out immediately. He can block shots, he can move with perimeter players, and the early numbers point to real defensive disruption.
Basketball Index had him in the 98th percentile for rim disruption, and in the Timberwolves’ first preseason game, the Milwaukee Bucks went just 3-for-13 inside the arc with Beringer on the court. He still has work to do, especially when it comes to avoiding fouls, but the tool set is there for him to steady Minnesota’s non-Gobert minutes.
He can also help on the glass, which matters for a team trying to play smaller and faster. That style brings obvious questions about rebounding, and those concerns are fair.
Minnesota ranked 13th in rebounds per game last season, so this isn’t some made-up issue. Beringer’s energy and physical gifts give the Wolves another way to fight through it.
As a rookie, he was far more effective on the offensive glass than the defensive end. Cleaning the Glass had him in the 96th percentile for offensive rebounding percentage, but only the 10th percentile for defensive rebounding percentage. Even with that split, his motor and athletic profile make him the kind of player who can become a nuisance on the boards and take some pressure off the rest of the front line.
Then there’s the offense, where Minnesota could use a little more life from the center spot. Gobert remains a historically great defender, but the offensive limitations are part of the package.
Beringer may not be ready to become a true offensive force in his second season, but his ceiling on that end is clearly higher than Gobert’s. That alone makes him intriguing.
The numbers underline the point. Last season, the Wolves were 8.4 points per 100 possessions worse on offense with Gobert on the floor. Beringer’s sturdy hands and quickness could help him develop into one of the league’s better rim runners right away, and he’s already shown some ability to attack the basket as a driver, including on a play in Minnesota’s first preseason game.
And if he can keep growing alongside LaMelo, that offensive upside could start to open up even more. If Beringer keeps making strides, Minnesota’s ceiling gets a lot more interesting.
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