Minnesota Sports Forum

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mnhoops wrote:I originally that Flip would want his veteran lineup to start but I also can't see them having a 2nd unit of Mo Williams with Lavine, Wiggins, Bennett and Dieng. Granted they can do the rotations a bit differently and stuff but with this much youth I almost think they will have to.

Rubio-Martin-Wiggins-Young-Pekovic seems like what the lineup will be. Williams-Brewer-Budinger-Bennett-Dieng as the bench unit. Seems like the perfect mix of veterans and prospects to me. What am I missing?

Camden wrote:

mnhoops wrote:I originally that Flip would want his veteran lineup to start but I also can't see them having a 2nd unit of Mo Williams with Lavine, Wiggins, Bennett and Dieng. Granted they can do the rotations a bit differently and stuff but with this much youth I almost think they will have to.

Rubio-Martin-Wiggins-Young-Pekovic seems like what the lineup will be. Williams-Brewer-Budinger-Bennett-Dieng as the bench unit. Seems like the perfect mix of veterans and prospects to me. What am I missing?

Agreed. Flip made it pretty clear during the presser that he would be giving Wiggins a good amount of responsibility to start. Leads me to believe he would like to see him starting even if he's filling a very specific goal. He also mentioned how he liked seeing Wiggins play within the team during summer league & not trying to be a 1 man show.

I think Lavine is going to play too

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I think Lavine is going to play too

Shit. Yeah can't forget about him in that 2nd unit. I think he'll definitely be taking minutes from Brewer/Bud.

I'd still like to see Flip turn Brewer, Bud and Martin into Gordon from the Pelicans. They have no 3's and Martin is a good 6th man off the bench so Tyreke can start. Gordon is overpaid now, but he can score and clears the clutter. He also gives us another chance at an all-star as he was considered the best SG under 25 before the injuries (better than Harden). Reports are that he's finally coming into camp healthy so that could be good. I don't think he'll as good as he could have been without the injuries, but he's a guy that can drop 25 on any given night and he is a more willing defender than Martin.

Ricky/Williams/JJ
Gordon/Lavine
Wiggins/Bazz/GR3
Young/Bennett/Hummel
Pek/Dieng/Ronny

Wiggins will start from day 1. I have been saying this since the rumors started. There is zero reason to start brewer over him as wiggins is likely a better player than brew already. Let AW play with rubio from the start and take advantage of his elite fast break scoring. we have enough vets in the starting five to surround wiggins with. Flip will start him.

khans2k5 wrote:I'd still like to see Flip turn Brewer, Bud and Martin into Gordon from the Pelicans. They have no 3's and Martin is a good 6th man off the bench so Tyreke can start. Gordon is overpaid now, but he can score and clears the clutter. He also gives us another chance at an all-star as he was considered the best SG under 25 before the injuries (better than Harden). Reports are that he's finally coming into camp healthy so that could be good. I don't think he'll as good as he could have been without the injuries, but he's a guy that can drop 25 on any given night and he is a more willing defender than Martin.

Ricky/Williams/JJ
Gordon/Lavine
Wiggins/Bazz/GR3
Young/Bennett/Hummel
Pek/Dieng/Ronny

Salary wise Martin/Bud for Gordon works. Wouldn't need to be all 3 of them. Definitely not something I would expect, but would be pretty damn interesting.

Wiggins starting makes sense. And I actually think this sharpens his focus more than if he were coming off the bench. The reason is that he will have a very limited mission as our starting SF: Guard the opponent's best wing.

Assuming that Pek, Young, Rubio, and Martin start along with Wiggins, he will be the 4th option offensively. Basically he will be in a similar situation to Brewer last season, whereby he wasn't expected to carry a ton of the offensive load and instead guarded the best wing and was opportunistic on offense.

Flip confirmed in his press conference today that he is focused primarily on the long-term horizon. Further, the young guys on the roster are player who Flip wanted, not guys he inherited or acquired to suit Rick Adelman. Put all this together and you can see who Flip will be inclined to place higher on the depth chart. Accordingly, here's what I envision as the initial depth chart Flip has in mind if roster remains exactly as it is right now:

PG: Ricky/Mo Williams/JJ Barea

SG: Martin/LaVine/Budinger

SF: Wiggins/Shabazz/Brewer

PF: Young/Bennett/Dieng

C: Pekovic/Dieng/Turiaf

Players could easily move up or down the depth chart depending on how they look through camp and preseason leading up to the opener.

I also suspect that Flip has some potential deals in mind that would move Brewer, Budinger and/or Martin. I'm guessing Flip would like to turn those three into one or two veteran wings who would be two-way players. I don't have any specific scenarios in mind.