The Pecking Order

[rapsuperstar31]

What are the thoughts on KBD? He didn't play well last season in limited minutes, but was surprisingly decent on a bad San Antonio team the previous season. 9.7pts 3.7 reb shooting 50.8% 39.4% from 3 on 2.1 attempts, and 79.3% free throws on 21.7 minutes where he started in 42 games.

[Wolvesfan21]

We have too much talent!!! But the great thing is. Guys are going to have to play well and hard night in and night out. Because the guys not playing are itchin like crazy to play. We have deep competition for playing time. We can play deep and fast too (seems like a joke in there). More pushing the ball and I think our offense is going to be top 10 for sure.

Then look at the Knicks who are quite thin. They got a great starting lineup but man will they struggle if any of those guys gets hurt. They'll also struggle to play with pace and the bench minutes look poor.

[Lipoli390]

I don’t think the trade impacts Rob Dillingham’s minutes. TC was crystal clear that you don’t trade up aggressively for the 8th pick in the draft without intending to play the pick. I still see him as the first guy off the bench to relieve Mike Conley unless it becomes apparent that he’s not up to it.

I think the odd man out in Ingles. I wondered about his fit on a team built around defensive. He wasn’t a good defender in his prime and he’s even slower now on the tail end of his career. I see DDV taking minutes that went to Anderson last season and also probably taking some minutes from NAW.

Another guy likely to lose minutes he would have otherwise had is TSJ. I see 9 main rotation guys:

1-5: Rudy, Julius, Jaden, Ant, Mike
6. DDV
7. Naz
8. NAW
9. Dillingham

Competing for 10 spot: Garza, Minott, TSJ, Ingles.

If Dillingham falters early, then maybe Ingles gets some minutes. Or maybe the Wolves just go with a 9-man rotation and use DDV, NAW and Ant to share PG duty minutes when Conley is sitting.

[Q-is-here]

I don’t think the trade impacts Rob Dillingham’s minutes. TC was crystal clear that you don’t trade up aggressively for the 8th pick in the draft without intending to play the pick. I still see him as the first guy off the bench to relieve Mike Conley unless it becomes apparent that he’s not up to it.

I think the odd man out in Ingles. I wondered about his fit on a team built around defensive. He wasn’t a good defender in his prime and he’s even slower now on the tail end of his career. I see DDV taking minutes that went to Anderson last season and also probably taking some minutes from NAW.

Another guy likely to lose minutes he would have otherwise had is TSJ. I see 9 main rotation guys:

1-5: Rudy, Julius, Jaden, Ant, Mike
6. DDV
7. Naz
8. NAW
9. Dillingham

Competing for 10 spot: Garza, Minott, TSJ, Ingles.

If Dillingham falters early, then maybe Ingles gets some minutes. Or maybe the Wolves just go with a 9-man rotation and use DDV, NAW and Ant to share PG duty minutes when Conley is sitting.

I'm not convinced that Dillingham is the first guy off the bench for Conley. I think it's DDV or NAW and they'll go a few minutes without a pure PG, which is something they did quite often last season. Dilly will effectively be the 9th or 10th man and will may be get 10-12 minutes per game, which obviously isn't enough to cover all of Conley's minutes on the bench.

As for Ingles, it's hard for me to look at how he performed for a 47-win Orlando team last year and believe that he's just relegated to a spot player or insurance policy.

[WildWolf2813]

with this trade, Dillingham might as well stay in a weight room in Iowa. The two things he needs is to get his body right and play a lot, so he might as well develop some on the court chemistry with Shannon and Miller and just establish that rapport (and help Iowa win).

FInch's rotation will be

Gobert
Randle
McDaniels
Edwards
Conley

DiVincenzo comes in on nights Conley is being held out, but when Edwards needs a breather or shifts to SF, NAW comes in. Dillingham only plays when Conley is out and/or NAW can't rediscover a jump shot.

Naz Reid of course plays, and the backup spots will be a mix and match among Garza, Ingles, and Minott (Shannon if McDaniels struggles with fouls). If they're gonna talk up Minott, just use him as a backup big that plays the dunker's spot and just gets active. There's minutes for that, maybe not at the 4, but at the 5 they might as well use him if they have any idea of using Randle there.

[rapsuperstar31]

with this trade, Dillingham might as well stay in a weight room in Iowa. The two things he needs is to get his body right and play a lot, so he might as well develop some on the court chemistry with Shannon and Miller and just establish that rapport (and help Iowa win).

FInch's rotation will be

Gobert
Randle
McDaniels
Edwards
Conley

DiVincenzo comes in on nights Conley is being held out, but when Edwards needs a breather or shifts to SF, NAW comes in. Dillingham only plays when Conley is out and/or NAW can't rediscover a jump shot.

Naz Reid of course plays, and the backup spots will be a mix and match among Garza, Ingles, and Minott (Shannon if McDaniels struggles with fouls). If they're gonna talk up Minott, just use him as a backup big that plays the dunker's spot and just gets active. There's minutes for that, maybe not at the 4, but at the 5 they might as well use him if they have any idea of using Randle there.

I would play him some games in Iowa, but I think spending as much time getting mentored by Conley is what is best for Rob. Learning from Mike how to run an offense and pass the ball to Rudy. Learning from Ant how to get his shot off. Donte learned a lot playing with Curry, and now can pass that knowledge onto Rob. I think there is growth opportunities for Rob down in Iowa as well, I just want him learning as much as he can with the big squad.

[Q-is-here]

They made it pretty clear that Dillingham was playing. Period. I don't see him going to Iowa unless it's clear after 30+ games that the NBA is just too overwhelming for him.

[FNG]

I don’t think the trade impacts Rob Dillingham’s minutes. TC was crystal clear that you don’t trade up aggressively for the 8th pick in the draft without intending to play the pick. I still see him as the first guy off the bench to relieve Mike Conley unless it becomes apparent that he’s not up to it.

I think the odd man out in Ingles. I wondered about his fit on a team built around defensive. He wasn’t a good defender in his prime and he’s even slower now on the tail end of his career. I see DDV taking minutes that went to Anderson last season and also probably taking some minutes from NAW.

Another guy likely to lose minutes he would have otherwise had is TSJ. I see 9 main rotation guys:

1-5: Rudy, Julius, Jaden, Ant, Mike
6. DDV
7. Naz
8. NAW
9. Dillingham

Competing for 10 spot: Garza, Minott, TSJ, Ingles.

If Dillingham falters early, then maybe Ingles gets some minutes. Or maybe the Wolves just go with a 9-man rotation and use DDV, NAW and Ant to share PG duty minutes when Conley is sitting.

I'm not convinced that Dillingham is the first guy off the bench for Conley. I think it's DDV or NAW and they'll go a few minutes without a pure PG, which is something they did quite often last season. Dilly will effectively be the 9th or 10th man and will may be get 10-12 minutes per game, which obviously isn't enough to cover all of Conley's minutes on the bench.

As for Ingles, it's hard for me to look at how he performed for a 47-win Orlando team last year and believe that he's just relegated to a spot player or insurance policy.

Fun discussion..so many options for Finchie, and it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

We're all mostly just guessing about how the rotations will go, but I lean toward some of the views Q is putting forth. I think there may be a misconception from some here that DiVo can play PG...he's clearly a wing in my opinion. And Rob is going to have to prove himself before Finchie is going to trust him as the backup PG. So I agree that NAW will play the backup PG position at the start of the season, just as he did in the playoffs. DiVo will be the first wing off the bench, and Naz will be the first big off the bench. After that, who knows? But I agree that Ingles played too well last season to not deserve a lot of backup wing moments early in the season. That to me is our logical nine-man rotation in the early weeks. I think we all hope that Rob develops quickly and becomes a reliable PG option, but I think it's going to take some time. Early in the season I see Conley taking occasional games off and Rob backing up NAW at PG.

[WildWolf2813]

They made it pretty clear that Dillingham was playing. Period. I don't see him going to Iowa unless it's clear after 30+ games that the NBA is just too overwhelming for him.

but when does he see the court? Yes, he'll be with the club learning and watching, but a 19-20 year old not playing at all doesn't help him either, and unless NAW never rediscovers his jumper, that backcourt of NAW and DDV seems pretty locked in even with less Conley minutes (DDV played 29 mpg last season)

[Q-is-here]

They made it pretty clear that Dillingham was playing. Period. I don't see him going to Iowa unless it's clear after 30+ games that the NBA is just too overwhelming for him.

but when does he see the court? Yes, he'll be with the club learning and watching, but a 19-20 year old not playing at all doesn't help him either, and unless NAW never rediscovers his jumper, that backcourt of NAW and DDV seems pretty locked in even with less Conley minutes (DDV played 29 mpg last season)

I'm not sure what you're missing here Wildwolf. Finch and Connelly were pretty adamant that he's playing right away. The people that actually manage and coach the team are saying this, so I'm not sure where you are getting the impression that he's just going to ride the pine or get sent to Iowa (????).