It just blows my mind that Wiggins and Shabazz aren't the starting wings

[maelstrom11 [enjin:6599701]]

I agree..the Rubio-Wiggins-Muhammad-G-Towns Lineup looked great. We should continue to use that down the stretch until it starts to consistently fail. Subbing KG for G would be fine too. Martin for Muhammad on some nights. Really (everyone knows this) that's where the coach earns his pay. Feeling out the game and getting the right guys in on the right night. Mitchell seems to have good to great re-pore with the team. That's important to doing this. For any of us to say that any fixed lineup combination will work for all games is foolish. I don't think starting Prince for the first 4 minutes to set the tone of defense is a big deal. Also, I didn't see anyone hanging there heads or looking disinterested due to the minutes last game. Zach seems fine with his role. Who knows...maybe Zach went to Mitchell and asked to go back to point. He still needs to add some muscle to really flourish at the 2.

Hopefully this holds together until PEK gets back and then maybe a shift in the starting 5 happens? By then we'll have at least 1 injury so things will jockey around. Its always a good laugh to watch the over reaction on this board over one small decision before anything has played out. I'm just glad we got Mitchell around to have the "balls" to try new ideas.

[Monster]

I think the starting Prince sets up Bazz to get a shot at starting or coming off the bench quickly and therefore playing some with Wiggins makes a lot of sense. Peterson mentioned last night how the Wolves have struggled rebounding the ball and Lavine and Wiggins as the wings might not help as much as you may like in that area. Put Wiggins and Prince out there and that should give you good rebounding same with Wiggins and Bazz. A lot of people want to see Wiggins and Bazz together and I think you will see it. Flip liked it and I believe Sam has mentioned a couple times the matchup problems having both of them playing wing positions. If Bazz does what he has been doing most NBA games on offense and makes better rotations defensively he will play plenty of minutes and he and Wiggins are gonna cause all kinds of problems for teams and teams will have to deal with Martin coming off the bench making their backups look absurdly silly.

[maelstrom11 [enjin:6599701]]

I agree monster...Starting Prince is the preliminary move to a secondary move of BAZZ into the starting lineup.

I also agree with Tim that these moves could (and I believe will) be genius. Here's the steps Sam has taken that have played out.

1. Stress defense defense defense from day 1.

2. Massage Kmart out of the starting lineup. Can not upset him because he is vitally important to our success this season but its clear he needs to move aside for the young guys to develop. How does a "interim" coach do that? Who takes his place....Zach or Bazz??

3. Sam took an early gut feel guess that Zach was the better replacement for Kmart. It makes sense Zach was the choice as he had a great offseason (as did Bazz) and in those first few practices was clearly the best performer. This path keeps Wigg at SF.

4. Saw Zach perform in those first 3 games. Now he's thining...Ouch...I better re-think this a little. Even with Ricky out and it being early, Zach is not looking like the starting SG I thought he would. How do I back track. Bazz is looking great.

5. Go to Plan B...Bazz will eventually start at SF, Wiggins at SG. Zach needs more time. Lets put him back at combo guard.


When Sam took a step back and looked at who was closer to a starting role (out of BAZZ and LAVINE) after a full pre-season of evaluation he choose BAZZ after early indications he was thinking LAVINE. YES, It was silly of Sam to be so open in the media and thrust Zach into a starting role for the first 3 pre-season games but he he had to do something to get Kmart to the 2nd unit. I'll give him a pass as he did clearly say he was "penciling" him in rather than "permanent markering" him in. With further evaluation he's moving towards BAZZ now but isn't ready to even "pencil" him in yet as he learned from that mistake.....

Thus a safe move....Start the vets and bring the kids in early. A lot of "genius" in this in my opinion. He's growing as a coach.

I'm thinking that when PEK gets back in a few months and the lineup gets shaken up we will see the vets move out of the starting lineup....

Ricky, Wig, Bazz, Towns, PEK might be the starters...

LaVine, Martin, Prince, Bjelica, Dieng backups....

KG, Miller.....Cheerleaders....At some point this year the team needs to play without KG...setting this up for the future..

[60WinTim]

All great points, Mael! But I see the genius going even further:

Who are our cornerstone, franchise players? If I asked you to name the top three, most would say Wiggins, Towns and Rubio, with Wiggins and Towns having hall-of-fame potential. Now lets focus on Wiggins.

We all loved the potential he showed last year, but statistically, he was NOT an efficient player on either end of the court. But the potential is there. Now, what is the one thing that has dogged Wiggins the most, in college, last year, and even this preseason? He disappears at times and you don't know he's there. Draft scouting reports noticed this. Flip commented on it numerous times last year. And Sam has commented on it this preseason as well. And so Sam makes an adjustment designed to develop Wiggins' game.

Moving Wiggins to SG is a clear attempt to put him in position where he has more advantages than he had at SF. And pairing Wiggins with Prince instead of Bazz makes him the primary wing option. Wiggins has no choice but to impose his will on the game right from the opening tip. While a Wiggins-Bazz pairing is something we all want to see, it would likely slow Wiggins development into the all-star/hall-of-fame type player he can be.

Some fallout from this move only adds to the genius of it. We now have a dynamic bench unit that is likely to be one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And while we have a solid starting unit, Sam has the ability to create even more dynamic lineups to give us a boost throughout the game, in the 4th quarter, and in crunchtime. That is when we will see the Wiggins-Bazz combo at the wing, or the Towns-Dieng combo up front.

The advantages gained from the new rotations is almost mind-blowing. We are forcing our "big-three" to develop their own identity, on both ends of the court. We will have one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And we have in-game lineup adjustments that can put the team in another gear. It is fricking brilliant!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Maelstrom and Tim...you guys nailed it. I think that's exactly what Sam's logic is in starting out games.
Make a defensive statement with his best defenders on the floor and get Wig and Karl in a scoring mindset, and then bring in the offensive powerlater in Q1...brilliant!

[Monster]

I will add to the thoughts here that unless Towns flops it's highly unlikely Pek starts. They will bring him off the bench for 20mpg max. Hopefully he plays with a PG or someone that has a clue how to get him the ball maybe even Martin but if he is actually healthy can you imagine him going against backups? This team could absolutely love at the Foul line of completely healthy even with Prk and Martin playing less minutes than they used to. Pek Martin Wiggins Bazz Rubio Dieng all are guys that have shown they know how to draw fouls or create situations that force the issue. Towns likely will get fouls too based on what we have seen.

Oh and you know what is interesting this team has basically 3 players that won't can't shoot the 3. KG Miller and Pek. Everyone else either has done so or has some indication that they can shoot it from out there like Payne. We are all hoping for more guys to put up volume shots from that range and I think you will see more of that but the potential for inside outside and moving the ball is pretty high. I am not suggesting this team will win a lot of games or anything but the potential to be more of the type of offense a lot of us have been interested in seeing is there and it's partly because of unique players both young prime age and and older. This team could be fun as hell to watch.

[TAFKASP]

I will add to the thoughts here that unless Towns flops it's highly unlikely Pek starts. They will bring him off the bench for 20mpg max. Hopefully he plays with a PG or someone that has a clue how to get him the ball maybe even Martin but if he is actually healthy can you imagine him going against backups? This team could absolutely love at the Foul line of completely healthy even with Prk and Martin playing less minutes than they used to. Pek Martin Wiggins Bazz Rubio Dieng all are guys that have shown they know how to draw fouls or create situations that force the issue. Towns likely will get fouls too based on what we have seen.

Oh and you know what is interesting this team has basically 3 players that won't can't shoot the 3. KG Miller and Pek. Everyone else either has done so or has some indication that they can shoot it from out there like Payne. We are all hoping for more guys to put up volume shots from that range and I think you will see more of that but the potential for inside outside and moving the ball is pretty high. I am not suggesting this team will win a lot of games or anything but the potential to be more of the type of offense a lot of us have been interested in seeing is there and it's partly because of unique players both young prime age and and older. This team could be fun as hell to watch.

The thing that has me thinking this team could do better than most of us expect is that bench. I've been thinking the same as you, can you just imagine Pek/Martin/Bazz just eating opposing benches? If the starters can just hold their own the bench has the potential to be a game changer!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

All great points, Mael! But I see the genius going even further:

Who are our cornerstone, franchise players? If I asked you to name the top three, most would say Wiggins, Towns and Rubio, with Wiggins and Towns having hall-of-fame potential. Now lets focus on Wiggins.

We all loved the potential he showed last year, but statistically, he was NOT an efficient player on either end of the court. But the potential is there. Now, what is the one thing that has dogged Wiggins the most, in college, last year, and even this preseason? He disappears at times and you don't know he's there. Draft scouting reports noticed this. Flip commented on it numerous times last year. And Sam has commented on it this preseason as well. And so Sam makes an adjustment designed to develop Wiggins' game.

Moving Wiggins to SG is a clear attempt to put him in position where he has more advantages than he had at SF. And pairing Wiggins with Prince instead of Bazz makes him the primary wing option. Wiggins has no choice but to impose his will on the game right from the opening tip. While a Wiggins-Bazz pairing is something we all want to see, it would likely slow Wiggins development into the all-star/hall-of-fame type player he can be.

Some fallout from this move only adds to the genius of it. We now have a dynamic bench unit that is likely to be one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And while we have a solid starting unit, Sam has the ability to create even more dynamic lineups to give us a boost throughout the game, in the 4th quarter, and in crunchtime. That is when we will see the Wiggins-Bazz combo at the wing, or the Towns-Dieng combo up front.

The advantages gained from the new rotations is almost mind-blowing. We are forcing our "big-three" to develop their own identity, on both ends of the court. We will have one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And we have in-game lineup adjustments that can put the team in another gear. It is fricking brilliant!

Tim, have another helping of hyberbole why don't you! You just can't help yourself, can you?

[60WinTim]

All great points, Mael! But I see the genius going even further:

Who are our cornerstone, franchise players? If I asked you to name the top three, most would say Wiggins, Towns and Rubio, with Wiggins and Towns having hall-of-fame potential. Now lets focus on Wiggins.

We all loved the potential he showed last year, but statistically, he was NOT an efficient player on either end of the court. But the potential is there. Now, what is the one thing that has dogged Wiggins the most, in college, last year, and even this preseason? He disappears at times and you don't know he's there. Draft scouting reports noticed this. Flip commented on it numerous times last year. And Sam has commented on it this preseason as well. And so Sam makes an adjustment designed to develop Wiggins' game.

Moving Wiggins to SG is a clear attempt to put him in position where he has more advantages than he had at SF. And pairing Wiggins with Prince instead of Bazz makes him the primary wing option. Wiggins has no choice but to impose his will on the game right from the opening tip. While a Wiggins-Bazz pairing is something we all want to see, it would likely slow Wiggins development into the all-star/hall-of-fame type player he can be.

Some fallout from this move only adds to the genius of it. We now have a dynamic bench unit that is likely to be one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And while we have a solid starting unit, Sam has the ability to create even more dynamic lineups to give us a boost throughout the game, in the 4th quarter, and in crunchtime. That is when we will see the Wiggins-Bazz combo at the wing, or the Towns-Dieng combo up front.

The advantages gained from the new rotations is almost mind-blowing. We are forcing our "big-three" to develop their own identity, on both ends of the court. We will have one of the highest scoring bench units in the NBA. And we have in-game lineup adjustments that can put the team in another gear. It is fricking brilliant!

Tim, have another helping of hyberbole why don't you! You just can't help yourself, can you?

Hey! No hyperbole. Just matching the title of this thread...

[Yosimar]

I wish i could say the same thing. But it's the Wolves, nothing they do is surprising. Except of course winning.