Minnesota Sports Forum

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2026 10:11 am

SameOldNudityDrew wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2026 2:11 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2026 10:28 pm I still think Josh Green will end up starting at the other forward spot, but I expect Finch to open it up to competition at training camp and try some different things.

It seems pretty clear that Connelly is done dealing at this point other than signing one more end of bench insurance big.

Why do you think it will be Green?

The 5th starter will almost certainly be one of the following guys: Green, TJ, Clark, Ayo, Lyles, Beringer. It's interesting to think about the logic behind each guy.

I highly doubt it will be Beringer because he doesn't space the floor and we need him for every non-Rudy minute at this point.

Lyles feels like the most obvious fit in terms of size, skill, and historical position. I think Finch is ultimately kind of a traditionalist, so Lyles would be my bet as a starter and I think that makes sense. He probably won't get more than 20 minutes a night, but starting him preserves a little more flexibility about who Jaden starts defending, which is important.

As for the rest, it's interesting because Green, TJ, and Clark are all about the same size. Ayo is a little smaller but he's got those long arms.

Of them, I think TJ still comes off the bench. He's slightly bigger than all those other guys, but he's just too promising in that Ant-like role offensively, so we should prioritize getting him on the floor whenever Ant and/or Melo are off the floor. He might get more minutes than Lyles, but I think he's best suited as our offensive engine coming off the bench.

I LOVE Clark, but he has to be able to hit from 3 if he's going to start and get decent minutes. I would be so much more comfortable going smaller if he was hitting his 3s and starting. He would just fit perfectly in the starting lineup. He'd automatically be the POA defender, which would take that responsibility from Jaden and free him up to defend elsewhere, which he'd have to do as the default PF. He's be great at sparking turnovers leading to transition. And offensively, he wouldn't need touches to be effective (as long as his 3 is falling). The more I think about him, the more I think his 3 point shot is such a huge swing factor (on par with Melo's lower-body health).

Ayo is probably the best overall player out of these options, and although he's a little smaller, his longer arms would help him defend in these smaller lineups. I think you can probably plug him into just about any lineup and play him 1-3. I think he'll probably end up with the 5th most minutes on the team, and I bet his play encourages Finch to close a lot of games with him. Similar to TJ, I like the idea of him driving offense off the bench, but I think he has more flexibility to fill in as a starter than TJ, even though he's not as strong.

Green, I can see him as a starter because, like Clark, he's a role player who doesn't really need the ball to be effective. He'd stretch the floor, which we need in that starting unit (I'm still a little worried about Jaden't outside shot). Green is a little smaller than TJ, but from what little I've seen he uses his strength better defensively than TJ. So yeah, I'd say Green and Lyles are similarly good fits for the starting lineup in terms of their offensive role. Again, I'm not sure I'd bank on more than 20 mintues, and I could easily see him starting but not closing games, but I bet that Finch is going to take a close look at Green and Lyles for a potential 5th starter. And whichever one DOESN'T play that role, might not get a lot of playing time.


The related question here is: who ISN'T going to get as many minutes next year?

We can assume Melo's getting 30-32 at the 1, Rudy and Beringer will get every minute at the 5, and Ant is getting 32-34 minutes and Jaden probably another 34.

That leaves 90-94 total minutes for: Ayo, TJ, Clark, Lyles, Green, and Bones.

Based on talent alone, you'd want to give a big chunk of that to Ayo. 26-28 minutes?

Now you're down to 62-68 minutes left for TJ, Clark, Lyles, Green, and Bones, and you can see reasons to give all of those guys minutes, but somebody in there is going to end up not playing much at all. This is more depressing than guessing who the 5th starter will be, but it feels like another way to approach the rotation question.

Nice breakdown, Drew. My sense is that Lyles will get 20-25 of those 62-68 minutes with the remaining minutes going to two of the following three: TJ, Clark and Green. So I see TJ, Clark and Green battling for those last 40-45 minutes.

Mnwild1128 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 12:40 am How it should be......

Melo 30 / Ayo 18
Ant 35 / Ayo 13
Jaden 31 / Clark 10 / Shannon Jr 7
Shannon Jr 20 / Green 18 / Lyles 10
Gobert 30 / Beringer 18

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 1:49 am

Mnwild1128 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 12:40 am How it should be......

Melo 30 / Ayo 18
Ant 35 / Ayo 13
Jaden 31 / Clark 10 / Shannon Jr 7
Shannon Jr 20 / Green 18 / Lyles 10
Gobert 30 / Beringer 18

Shannon may have the size but he simply isn't a power forward, not with what we know right now. Hell he isn't really a 3.

He'd have to be a completely different player than he's been for this line up distribution to work. He also has a long way to go to earn a starting spot, especially considering the contact Ayo just got (yes I realize that you have allocated more minutes to Ayo over TJ).

Despite how it reads, this isn't a Shannon hate post, he's simply best utilized playing as a backup Ant. Although I actually think their minutes could overlap a bit to some success. The issue of course is that this is also the best role for Ayo, but he would also do well moving up to the 1 when Melo sits. Ultimately I think Ayo has better "do stuff" capabilities and is a better defender that he would fill the 5th starring role best even if he would sacrifice some of his best abilities doing so. He's a complimentary basketball player tho and I think he would mold well into whatever role is asked of him.

This season currently hinges on Ayo being able to guard bigger wings and/or Clark developing a reliable outside shot.

If one or both of those things happen, Jaden playing the 4 suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Your post does crystallize what has been buried under the power forward conversation--- who the 6th man? Hell who's the 7th? This team has had a very set rotation for years now under Finch, largely in part to the caliber of player that Naz/ Dante and NAW were. This current iteration has more breadth of talent as opposed to depth, or in other words it's more redundant. I don't think that's a bad thing, but it does leave a lot of unanswered questions at the moment.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 7:13 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 1:49 am

Mnwild1128 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2026 12:40 am How it should be......

Melo 30 / Ayo 18
Ant 35 / Ayo 13
Jaden 31 / Clark 10 / Shannon Jr 7
Shannon Jr 20 / Green 18 / Lyles 10
Gobert 30 / Beringer 18

Shannon may have the size but he simply isn't a power forward, not with what we know right now. Hell he isn't really a 3.

He'd have to be a completely different player than he's been for this line up distribution to work. He also has a long way to go to earn a starting spot, especially considering the contact Ayo just got (yes I realize that you have allocated more minutes to Ayo over TJ).

Despite how it reads, this isn't a Shannon hate post, he's simply best utilized playing as a backup Ant. Although I actually think their minutes could overlap a bit to some success. The issue of course is that this is also the best role for Ayo, but he would also do well moving up to the 1 when Melo sits. Ultimately I think Ayo has better "do stuff" capabilities and is a better defender that he would fill the 5th starring role best even if he would sacrifice some of his best abilities doing so. He's a complimentary basketball player tho and I think he would mold well into whatever role is asked of him.

This season currently hinges on Ayo being able to guard bigger wings and/or Clark developing a reliable outside shot.

If one or both of those things happen, Jaden playing the 4 suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Your post does crystallize what has been buried under the power forward conversation--- who the 6th man? Hell who's the 7th? This team has had a very set rotation for years now under Finch, largely in part to the caliber of player that Naz/ Dante and NAW were. This current iteration has more breadth of talent as opposed to depth, or in other words it's more redundant. I don't think that's a bad thing, but it does leave a lot of unanswered questions at the moment.

I think Drew does a nice job above explaining why Shannon should keep coming off the bench. I still like Ayo in that 6th starter role, whereby he'd come off the bench but play the 4th or 5th most minutes on the team.

Josh Green makes the most sense as our other starting forward IMO, but he'd probably play the 6th or 7th most minutes on the team. He just fits the best with the other four starters and I like the idea of Trey Lyles coming off the bench paired with Joan, as Joan needs a bit more size next to him than Rudy.