Minnesota Sports Forum

I think moving Bazz into the starting line up and Prince in to the 2nd unit will balance our lineups a lot better. As mentioned our 2nd unit is seriously flawed defensively. Prince would help a lot here. Wiggins would also benefit greatly offensively with Bazz next to him in the starting lineup.

That's the only changed I'd make. I'm happy with Zach getting all the minutes behind Rubio at the point. With Martin on the roster he's not going to get enough minutes at SG. This season is about developing our young players and improving.

Gotta admit it was nice to see two players combine for 51 pts, and Rubio being one of them?

As for Wiggins, Al Horton (Wolfs radio) reported that Wiggins has a sore back and that it's been bothering him the last few days. Not enough to keep him out...

Rubio was impressive for sure but can he maintain it along with health? I sure hope so, I think Zach, Nemanja, or Bazz need to replace T. Prince in the starting lineup as he would play better next to Martin off the bench.

Nemanja or Towns to have the better first NBA season?

Nemanja or Towns to have the better first NBA season?

Towns, and KAT will alter games more. His shot in traffic is better than I thought it would be.

TXviking wrote:Nemanja or Towns to have the better first NBA season?

Towns, and KAT will alter games more. His shot in traffic is better than I thought it would be.

Towns, no question in my mind

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

TXviking wrote:Nemanja or Towns to have the better first NBA season?

Towns, and KAT will alter games more. His shot in traffic is better than I thought it would be.

Towns, no question in my mind

Yep I would take Towns but Bjelica looks to be pretty good too.

Am I the only one that likes Prince starting?!?

- As LST has stated, I like it for the defensive tone set at the start of the game.
- I like that Wiggins is getting clear reps as SG right from the get go, even though he probably plays more minutes at SF.
- I like it because we don't have a size disadvantage against anyone.
- I like because our alpha-dogs, Wiggins and Towns, are free to establish their alpha-dogness.
- I like it because Sam has match-up flexibility when Prince subs out: Kmart or Bazz.

While the 2nd unit struggled early, they played well in the 2nd half. I want to give them time to develop their identity.

Something else that went under the radar was Bazz replacing Wiggins in the "starting lineup" that closed out the 1st half. I am sure this was due to Wiggins back problems. But it's interesting that the "starting lineup" does not lose a whole lot if you swap Bazz for Wiggins...

The biggest issue if Wiggins goes out is defense. Martin can conjure up points like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. And 'Bazz seems to be picking up where he left off last year. Both these guys can score in volume AND efficiently, something I'm not sure Zach or Wiggins really know how to do yet.

But man, as Drew points out, we are in trouble defensively on the wings if Wiggins gets hurt.

The wing rotation shouldn't be set and stone because Zach, Martin and Bazz all have bad nights where they shouldn't get back on the floor. I would keep starting Wiggins and Prince just to try to get Wiggins involved more early in the game. I would then have a quick hook on Prince (literally like 3-4 minutes into the game) to bring in Zach to get some minutes next to Ricky and Wiggins. Then how Zach plays in that stretch determines his minutes the rest of the night. The next sub would be Prince for Wiggins and I would stager those two the rest of the night. Martin also then comes in for Lavine. Then Bazz and Wiggins would come in for Martin and Prince. I think the most important groups to be on the floor at the same time are Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins, Wiggins/Bazz and then Martin/Prince. I would put Miller in the backup PG spot. Here are my rotations:

1st half:

Ricky/Wiggins/Prince/KG/Towns - start
Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/KG/Towns - 4 minutes into the game
Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/Dieng/Towns - 8 minutes into the game and finish out the quarter
Miller/Martin/Prince/NB/Dieng to start the second
Ricky/Wiggins/Bazz/NB/Dieng in with 6 minutes to play and finish out the half

Second Half
Ricky/Wiggins/Bazz/KG/Towns - start
Miller/Martin/Prince/Dieng/Towns - 8 minutes in until end of quarter
Miller/Martin/Prince/NB/Dieng - start 4th
Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns - 4-6 minutes in (depending on how the backups are doing) to end of game pending defensive subs. Also pending who is playing best swap Lavine for Martin or Bazz in the closing unit.

Ricky - 32-34 MPG's
Miller - 14-16 MPG's
Lavine - 12-14 MPG's
Martin - 18-20 MPG's
Bazz - 14 MPG's
Wiggins - 32-34 MPG's
Prince - 18-20 MPG's
Dieng - 24-26 MPG's
NB - 24 MPG's
Towns - 30-32 MPG's
KG - 16 MPG's

This would be the preliminary rotation and then starting with the Miller/Martin/Prince/Dieng/Towns lineup in the second half, the wing minutes would be adjusted to whoever earned them in their first stint so 1-2 guys would see a big minute increase from their projected and 1-2 guys would see a big decrease. I.E. Lavine may pick up the 8-10 minutes Martin gets in the second half right now. Bazz may pick up the 6-8 minutes Lavine gets to close out games or pick up some of Prince's second half minutes. It's not perfect (ideally the big rotation would happen a little more so the minutes stay the same, just not as many in a row for guys like Towns, Dieng and NB), but that's about as close as I can get to giving everyone a fair shake and letting the best guys get the most minutes on nights they earn it.

60WinTim wrote:Am I the only one that likes Prince starting?!?

- As LST has stated, I like it for the defensive tone set at the start of the game.
- I like that Wiggins is getting clear reps as SG right from the get go, even though he probably plays more minutes at SF.
- I like it because we don't have a size disadvantage against anyone.
- I like because our alpha-dogs, Wiggins and Towns, are free to establish their alpha-dogness.
- I like it because Sam has match-up flexibility when Prince subs out: Kmart or Bazz.

While the 2nd unit struggled early, they played well in the 2nd half. I want to give them time to develop their identity.

Something else that went under the radar was Bazz replacing Wiggins in the "starting lineup" that closed out the 1st half. I am sure this was due to Wiggins back problems. But it's interesting that the "starting lineup" does not lose a whole lot if you swap Bazz for Wiggins...

I like Prince and KG starting playing their roles. It works for me. My guess is someone plays well enough to move Prince to a differerent role at some point but I am ok with those guys (Lavine and Bazz) having to get to that point. There isn't quite as many options for KG's minutes but he will likely sit a game here and there so some players will get additional opportunities