Minnesota Sports Forum

It would appear that Thibodeau has settled on the following 9-man rotation:

STARTERS:
1. Teague
2. Wiggins
3. Covington
4. Taj
5. KAT

BENCH
6. Rose
7. Tyus
8. Saric
9. Gorgui

I wouldn't say that's a terrible rotation. My main quibbles are with Thibodeau's inability to count higher than 9 and his inflexibility in his use of and allocation of minutes among those rotation players along with his stubborn refusal to go beyond those 9 in situations that cry out for something different as in the Memphis game. Nonetheless, while the rotation isn't terrible, it's not the rotation I'd have if it were up to me.

I'd have a 10-man rotation, which would include our 2018 first round pick with an eye towards the future. So here's my rotation:

STARTERS
1. Rose (25-30 minutes)
2. Wiggins (25-30 minutes)
3. Covington (30-34 minutes)
4. Taj (25-30 minutes)
5. KAT (32-38 minutes)

BENCH
6. Tyus (20-25 minutes)
7. Teague (strictly off the ball - 20-25 minutes)
8. Okogie (15-25 minutes)
9. Saric (25-30 minutes)
10. Gorgui (16-25 minutes)

Meanwhile, I'd be shopping Teague aggressively between now and the Feb. trade deadline. I'd also be all ears for any interest in Wiggins. But mainly, if I were Glen Taylor, I'd be working day and night on identifying head coach candidates to replace Thibodeau at the end of the season.

Who would be in your rotation?

teague/rose (time share and ride the hot hand, I dont care who starts)
Wiggs/Okogie
Cov
Saric/Tolliver
KAT/Taj

Coach: Stackhouse

crazy-canuck wrote:teague/rose (time share and ride the hot hand, I dont care who starts)
Wiggs/Okogie
Cov
Saric/Tolliver
KAT/Taj

Coach: Stackhouse

I'd prefer this too. Tyus has got to be the odd man out. The 2 pgs isn't working and Rose has been playing too good to not keep getting playing time.

thedoper wrote:

crazy-canuck wrote:teague/rose (time share and ride the hot hand, I dont care who starts)
Wiggs/Okogie
Cov
Saric/Tolliver
KAT/Taj

Coach: Stackhouse

I'd prefer this too. Tyus has got to be the odd man out. The 2 pgs isn't working and Rose has been playing too good to not keep getting playing time.

I concur with this. I am tired of being undersized defensively with no upside offensively. While G played a good game defensively last night, it isn't even close to being the norm. This teams offensive schemes seem non-existent, and it is clear that other teams have figured that out. I am not sure what Thibs does while spending all his time working, but it is clear that he isn't real bright. We went for 16 minutes straight without a foul call on the nuggets. Pop would have been ejected by that point with a couple of T's if not a significant fine.

The really scary thing for me is how underwhelming the assistant coaches are as a whole. Thibs has made it very difficult to move forward without him unless the wolves make major changes. So let's get started.

I think this may be my last wolves game until Thibs is gone. I have also been forced to turn off the volume when watching the games due to the incessant blabber from Petersen. How can a man play in the NBA for that long, but come away with out any understanding of the most basic BB plays. I really wish this team would be sold, and completely retooled from top to bottom.

Maybe I'm overreacting to G's good game last night, but I'm comfortable with him backing up KAT and think he has to stay in the rotation. I also note that Tyus again was positive in plus/minus last night, and I would continue to play him at PG. Overall I'm not uncomfortable with Thibs' 9-man rotation, but I agree with Lip that his tendency to be inflexible with his rotation is hurting us (last night's 4th quarter was an exception, although he was too late in getting the right guys on the court). I enjoy watching Okogie on the court, but he is still way too raw offensively to warrant regular minutes in my opinion. I would use him as an energy guy off the bench in certain situations...the Memphis game being a prime example.

FWIW in their 15 in 30 podcast the Dunc'd On guys weighted in on the Timberwolves and on Josh Okogie not getting minutes thing and it was kinda interesting to hear their takes. All 3 of them liked Okogie but they also have a strong affinity for Tyus. They said it made sense to have another ball handler playing with Rose and it's what smart teams are doing having at least 2 ball handlers on the floor at all times. They said Rose has been effective as a guy that is able to just score and having Tyus out there as a guy that can run things and flow pretty well makes a lot of sense. They also mentioned Tyus has been plenty solid as a team defender.

Fun/amusing/too small sample size stats:

Tyus is #223 in DRPM (-.11) in the entire league right smack dab in the middle. 1 spot ahead of him? Melo. #224? Josh Richardson. :) That -.11 is good for #19th among PGs. Gotta love these advanced stats so early on but they certainly can be amusing to look at.

monsterpile wrote:FWIW in their 15 in 30 podcast the Dunc'd On guys weighted in on the Timberwolves and on Josh Okogie not getting minutes thing and it was kinda interesting to hear their takes. All 3 of them liked Okogie but they also have a strong affinity for Tyus. They said it made sense to have another ball handler playing with Rose and it's what smart teams are doing having at least 2 ball handlers on the floor at all times. They said Rose has been effective as a guy that is able to just score and having Tyus out there as a guy that can run things and flow pretty well makes a lot of sense. They also mentioned Tyus has been plenty solid as a team defender.

Fun/amusing/too small sample size stats:

Tyus is #223 in DRPM (-.11) in the entire league right smack dab in the middle. 1 spot ahead of him? Melo. #224? Josh Richardson. :) That -.11 is good for #19th among PGs. Gotta love these advanced stats so early on but they certainly can be amusing to look at.

I can't resist mentioning one more time that RPM is a contrived stat specifically created to market ESPN as a viable source for basketball information.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:FWIW in their 15 in 30 podcast the Dunc'd On guys weighted in on the Timberwolves and on Josh Okogie not getting minutes thing and it was kinda interesting to hear their takes. All 3 of them liked Okogie but they also have a strong affinity for Tyus. They said it made sense to have another ball handler playing with Rose and it's what smart teams are doing having at least 2 ball handlers on the floor at all times. They said Rose has been effective as a guy that is able to just score and having Tyus out there as a guy that can run things and flow pretty well makes a lot of sense. They also mentioned Tyus has been plenty solid as a team defender.

Fun/amusing/too small sample size stats:

Tyus is #223 in DRPM (-.11) in the entire league right smack dab in the middle. 1 spot ahead of him? Melo. #224? Josh Richardson. :) That -.11 is good for #19th among PGs. Gotta love these advanced stats so early on but they certainly can be amusing to look at.

I can't resist mentioning one more time that RPM is a contrived stat specifically created to market ESPN as a viable source for basketball information.

Remember back in the good old days when PER was a go to stat? We need to make an ABE advanced metric (or maybe not so advanced). What is gonna be in it?

Starters
1 Teague
2 Wig
3 Cov
4 Saric
5 Kat

Bench
6 Rose
7 Josh
8 Tolliver
9 Taj
10 Dieng

Kat and Saric seem to play well together. I would allso be fast to take Dieng out for jones when teams go small or if dieng is playing flat.

Never mind i'm not sure how Tolliver would be a SF so im going to get crazy.

Starters
Jeff
Josh
Cov
Sac
Kat

Bench
Jones
Rose
Wig
Tolliver
Taj