Rick Carlisle on the modern NBA

[Monster]

I think the Wolves were more like the Knicks than Indiana or OKC. Ant is a star somewhere on the Brunson tier (may be a little higher) and we tended to stick with a very tight rotation just like New York. The difference is that the Wolves actually had the talent available to expand the rotation, but Finch chose not to do it.

Now as we enter the 2025-26 season, it's pretty clear that Finch will expand the rotation to at least 9 guys. I'm hoping he dabbles with 10, as I think a guy like Clark can be very effective in limited minutes.

The Knicks played their starters way more minutes than the Wolves did. Towns played the 5th least minutes per game at 35.5. The Wolves only had 3 guys play over 30mpg Randle played 35.5 minutes. That's a reasonably big difference. The Knicks really only played 7 guys every game and the Wolves had a legit 8 man rotation. Maybe like the Wolves the Knicks had the talent to play a deeper roster but they absolutely didn't and that's likely a big reason why Thibs was let go.

I think Finch deserves a little pass on his tight rotation last year:

- Randle and Donte were new pieces at the start of training camp that took a LONG time to figure out how to blend in and play well.
- The 3 guys we wished played more -- Dilly, Shannon and Clark -- were all rookies, and rookies rarely contribute to winning.
- In addition to Donte's and Randle's early struggles, Conley and Jaden both got off to terrible starts.
- And in a super-competitive Western Conference, the Wolves were struggling to stay afloat for more than half the season -- there was little opportunity to try and develop rookies while also trying to win.
- Finch did try to find 9th man minutes, start with Minott. It just didn't work out very well.

All those things combined to put Finch in a tough spot -- he was desperate for wins.

This season should be different. Continuity for the Wolves should help them start the season strong, which will loosen the reigns for Finch's rotation. The 3 rookies are no longer rookies and have established a base line for what Finch can expect from them. I expect the Wolves to be a top-4 team in the West all season long.

You laid it out well here Tim. I'll add that Dillingham was also hurt at times last year which kept him off the floor at times including the playoffs.

I should clarify more what I meant when I said the Wolves were in the model of the Finals teams. I think fans here and the Wolves coaching staff thought the Wolves had a deeper roster than they played. The thing was like Tim said it's hard to be like yeah we are gonna throw this rookie out there and see what happens especially in the playoffs. OKC's least experienced players were still 2nd year guys. SGA won an MVP and is a couple years older than Ant and clearly a step above him. The only significant change OKC had from the previous year was adding in Caruso for Giddy which based on the type of player Caruso is seems like an easy transition plus that wasn't done right before training camp. What could another year of the players playing together look like for the Wolves especially if Conley isn't trying to round himself into shape the first month and a half 2 months of the season? OKC was basically a fully baked situation with a nice add in of Caruso. The Wolves changed the ingredients and needed a new recipe before the season started and had to try out a few of them before they landed on one that worked pretty well.

I'll also add that while I get that Randle isn't a perfect fit he does make some sense in terms of what Carlisle is talking about. He is a good player making 30ish million a year. He isn't making 42 or 50 something million a year. He isn't getting paid #2 money he is getting paid more like a 2b or 3a guy. Some people may still think that's not the right way to allocate the Wolves money and I think they have a worthwhile point but the more I look around the league and compare Randle to what sole guys are getting paid the more I think he is on a reasonable contract that could be moved or if the Wolves kinda come together into a pretty well baked cake he could be worth paying and the money he is getting isn't so much that the Wolves can't afford him and other guys at least for a couple years. For the model of the Pacers and the Thunder a lot of the success is about successes throughout the roster. You need to find the Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins as well as the first round pick that becomes a really good player. The Wolves have dome pretty well in this regard way better than we have seen for many years. Will more of their young guys step up? Will they find another solid worthwhile player that wasn't on the roster last year? We will see. I'm really looking forward to this season.