Wolves Power Forward Position - What To Do?

[Lipoli390]

But Patton can't even get on the court and when he did he didn't even shine at the G-League level.

Ehh, he did shine, just perhaps not as much defensively as some had hoped. However, I understand that until he plays consistently for the NBA team he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt around here because of the perception that he's soft, broken, and one of Thibs' choices -- which automatically puts you in the doghouse on this forum.

Patton in the G-League: 12.7 PPG (.526 TS%), 5.4 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.3 BPG in 23.1 MPG.

Extrapolating that to 36 minutes: 19.8 PPG (.526 TS%), 8.4 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.6 SPG, 2.1 BPG.

He's uber-talented and I'd even say Karl-Anthony lite in that he has a similar set of tools and skills that he possesses. He has to get healthy, that's understood, but writing him off after he's really done nothing to deserve that is jumping the gun excessively.

Those are pretty good numbers when you extrapolate to 36 minutes. But even then, I'm not too impressed by 8.4 rebounds by a 7'0 center at the G-League level. Then again, maybe my John Collins bias is clouding my judgment on this. :)

KAT's gonna grab all the rebounds anyways so it's a match made in heaven.

Lol. Good point, Kahns.

[KiwiMatt]

I think you have to start Taj again this season. The problem last year is Thibs often played Taj for 9-10 mins in the 1st quarters while subbing KAT out a few minutes earlier. I personally think that was back to front. I'd like to see Dieng come in at the 5 min mark for Taj and play a few minutes next to KAT. Then bring in Tolliver for KAT end towards the end of the 1st quarter. I would also like to see us play Taj at the 5 more often, maybe next to Tolliver.

Long term I'm not really sure. Maybe sign Taj again on a 1 year deal and hope Patton or KBD develop into starter material the year after.

[Monster]

Some talk about how good Denver might be next year in another thread had me looking at their roster. It's full of modern day PFs none of them might be able to defend but all are young and have some talent. Trey Lyles has always intrigued me and he took a nice step forward as an offensive player last season.