The Minnesota Timberwolves have elite talent up and down the roster. If you look at their players who have not been part of the usual rotation, you could argue that five or six of their reserves would get playing time if they were on less talented teams. They are young, driven, and determined to earn a spot in Chris Finch’s nightly lineup.
Making that lineup is no easy task, though. The Wolves have eight players who get consistent minutes, and they are unlikely to slip out of the rotation. The ninth spot appears to be reserved for a wing player, but no one has been guaranteed that spot yet.
Maybe instead of having to make tough decisions on who to play game after game, Coach Finch should think about a different method of distributing playing time. At 6-4, he and Minnesota need new ideas if they want to be contenders.
Timberwolves Can Learn From Another Team’s Strategy
So far, Minnesota has run both an eight-man and a nine-man rotation. When using nine players, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Donte DiVincenzo have gotten most of the bench minutes while Joe Ingles gets a spare few in the first half (for one game, Ingles was replaced by Josh Minott). With eight players, Ingles is removed from the lineup entirely, and no one replaces him.
Let’s look at an example. In a home game against the Denver Nuggets, Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and Julius Randle all played close to 40 minutes. Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley played for 26 minutes each. As far as bench minutes were concerned, Naz, Nickeil, and Donte all played right around 25 minutes while Ingles entered for 5 minutes. The bench scored 31 points and Minnesota beat Denver 119-116.
With how much talent the Timberwolves have on hand, you would expect more guys to be getting minutes. The coaching staff should be looking for more flexibility, but their preference to let the younger ones sit has not been questioned yet, at least not by professionals. However, another Western Conference team has adopted a strategy that Chris Finch could learn from and maybe even adopt.
Golden State Plays 10+ Guys Each Night
Steve Kerr, despite losing Klay Thompson during the offseason, has his Golden State Warriors rolling to begin the year. They recently went into TD Garden and beat the Boston Celtics, shocking many in the NBA world. They have done all this while overcoming injuries to Steph Curry and other players. With huge contributions from bench players like Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga, Kerr and company are finding great success.
The Warriors play at least ten guys every night, which does not change when someone gets injured. For example, in that game against Boston, De’Anthony Melton and Brandin Podziemski were hurt. Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Steph were the only starters to play more than 20 minutes (they each played more than 30 minutes). Moses Moody and Trayce Jackson-Davis played approximately 15 minutes each. Off the bench, Golden State used Buddy Hield (29 minutes), Kyle Anderson (20 minutes), Jonathan Kuminga (18 minutes), Gary Payton II (18 minutes), Kevon Looney (16 minutes), and Lindy Waters III (14 minutes).
As you can see, Steve Kerr is not afraid to dig deep into his bench.
How does this relate to Minnesota’s situation? Well, the Wolves have depth similar to the Warriors, but they elect to use fewer players. Chris Finch is certainly hesitant to let so many young guys get playing time, and reasonably so. Still, Golden State was 7-1 following the win in Boston. The Timberwolves should utilize their immense depth if they wish to keep pace with other contenders in the league, including the Warriors.
What Would Golden State’s System Look Like for Minnesota?
The starting lineup has been playing a lot of minutes and been in a lot of close games. Those players could benefit from playing slightly less in the first half to be ready for crunch time. Furthermore, if the team is struggling, more players mean more opportunities for just one of them to be a spark plug.
Here is a hypothetical list of bench players who should be getting playing time in this adjusted system:
- Naz Reid
- Donte DiVincenzo
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
- Rob Dillingham
- Terrence Shannon Jr.
- Josh Minott
Joe Ingles and Luka Garza are also potential options if someone gets injured or isn’t playing well.
After watching the reserves get some time at the end of their games against Chicago and Portland, Timberwolves fans (including myself) got excited about the future. However, if these younger athletes can perform just like that regularly, why wait? Give those fans yet another reason to pack the stands at Target Center. Give the veterans another reason to be excited and engaged. Playing with more depth will not make Minnesota a worse team, and it could certainly make them better.
