Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 11:19 am I agree with you on adding Joan to the list. He absolutely has shown significant improvement and comfort since his first game with Iowa.

Here are some interesting circumstances surrounding Joan's potential minutes with the big club:

- Iowa does not play until January 9th, and even then, it is a back-to-back in San Diego. I suspect Joan will be back up with the big club today and will not go to San Diego.
- The whole business of 10-day contracts, buy outs and the trade deadline, is rapidly approaching. Finding out if Joan is a possibility should factor into some of the TC's decision making. It's time to give Joan some spot minutes to evaluate his potential for this year.
- I don't think we've had many minutes of Rudy on the court without one of Randle or NAZ on the floor, but there was a pretty good stint of that last night with Jaden at the four. That's the kind of situation where Joan could play alongside Rudy for spot minutes. Although, Joan's usage at PF has been pretty limited thus far...

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 12:44 pm

60WinTim wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 11:19 am I agree with you on adding Joan to the list. He absolutely has shown significant improvement and comfort since his first game with Iowa.

Here are some interesting circumstances surrounding Joan's potential minutes with the big club:

- Iowa does not play until January 9th, and even then, it is a back-to-back in San Diego. I suspect Joan will be back up with the big club today and will not go to San Diego.
- The whole business of 10-day contracts, buy outs and the trade deadline, is rapidly approaching. Finding out if Joan is a possibility should factor into some of the TC's decision making. It's time to give Joan some spot minutes to evaluate his potential for this year.
- I don't think we've had many minutes of Rudy on the court without one of Randle or NAZ on the floor, but there was a pretty good stint of that last night with Jaden at the four. That's the kind of situation where Joan could play alongside Rudy for spot minutes. Although, Joan's usage at PF has been pretty limited thus far...

Tim, I agree with your first two points. The one I bolded is a little odd though. Jaden has perimeter offensive skills in terms of handle, shooting, etc. and very much fits the profile of a modern day 4. Joan may be more of a Center offensively than even Rudy is and is definitely not a 4 offensively! I mean, the paint would be completely packed if Joan and Rudy were on the floor at the same time.

I think where a coach like Finch gets stuck, for better or worse, is finding minutes for Joan even if he agrees in principle that he's ready for real NBA action vs. just garbage time. I'm afraid someone is going to need to get hurt before Finch plays Joan. It's incredible just how healthy the Rudy/Randle/Naz trio has been this year.