Wolves News: Zach LaVine likes playing a lot of minutes

[bleedspeed]

Interesting read.

http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/post/_/id/26943/tuesdays-wolves-news-zach-lavine-likes-playing-a-lot-of-minutes

Found this to be interesting.

The Timberwolves' best five-man lineup this season doesn't feature Karl-Anthony Towns. Or Andrew Wiggins. Instead, it's the combination of Zach LaVine and four reserves - Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich - that holds the Timberwolves' best net rating, the measure of a unit's points scored minus points allowed per 100 possessions. Their plus-23.1 is the best among Wolves lineups that have played at least 20 minutes together this season.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Interesting read.

http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/post/_/id/26943/tuesdays-wolves-news-zach-lavine-likes-playing-a-lot-of-minutes

Found this to be interesting.

The Timberwolves' best five-man lineup this season doesn't feature Karl-Anthony Towns. Or Andrew Wiggins. Instead, it's the combination of Zach LaVine and four reserves - Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich - that holds the Timberwolves' best net rating, the measure of a unit's points scored minus points allowed per 100 possessions. Their plus-23.1 is the best among Wolves lineups that have played at least 20 minutes together this season.

Yup. This is one reason I gave our bench halfway decent grades. I don't think they are quite as good as the +/- stat says they are, but anyone that thinks our bench is why we are off to such a poor start is flat out wrong. Our starting lineup simply hasn't played well, especially in second halves.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Zach LaVine's going to be quite alright. I say we hold on to him for a bit.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Zach LaVine's going to be quite alright. I say we hold on to him for a bit.

He's almost a perfect fit for that second unit.....

[Coolbreeze44]

Interesting read.

http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/post/_/id/26943/tuesdays-wolves-news-zach-lavine-likes-playing-a-lot-of-minutes

Found this to be interesting.

The Timberwolves' best five-man lineup this season doesn't feature Karl-Anthony Towns. Or Andrew Wiggins. Instead, it's the combination of Zach LaVine and four reserves - Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich - that holds the Timberwolves' best net rating, the measure of a unit's points scored minus points allowed per 100 possessions. Their plus-23.1 is the best among Wolves lineups that have played at least 20 minutes together this season.

Yup. This is one reason I gave our bench halfway decent grades. I don't think they are quite as good as the +/- stat says they are, but anyone that thinks our bench is why we are off to such a poor start is flat out wrong. Our starting lineup simply hasn't played well, especially in second halves.

What if we had a bench we could actually feel comfortable in playing more minutes? Isn't the fact we really can't rely on them much an indictment on them? Or are you suggesting we play that 2nd unit with Zach several more minutes a game, and therefore we would have more wins?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Interesting read.

http://www.espn.com/blog/nba/post/_/id/26943/tuesdays-wolves-news-zach-lavine-likes-playing-a-lot-of-minutes

Found this to be interesting.

The Timberwolves' best five-man lineup this season doesn't feature Karl-Anthony Towns. Or Andrew Wiggins. Instead, it's the combination of Zach LaVine and four reserves - Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich - that holds the Timberwolves' best net rating, the measure of a unit's points scored minus points allowed per 100 possessions. Their plus-23.1 is the best among Wolves lineups that have played at least 20 minutes together this season.

Yup. This is one reason I gave our bench halfway decent grades. I don't think they are quite as good as the +/- stat says they are, but anyone that thinks our bench is why we are off to such a poor start is flat out wrong. Our starting lineup simply hasn't played well, especially in second halves.

What if we had a bench we could actually feel comfortable in playing more minutes? Isn't the fact we really can't rely on them much an indictment on them? Or are you suggesting we play that 2nd unit with Zach several more minutes a game, and therefore we would have more wins?

I graded our bench as individuals based relative to the expectations for their role on the team and relative to their fellow bench peers. Keep in mind that Thibs is starting our best 5 players. Not every team does this, as many keep one of their top 5 players as a 6th man. So I view our bench mostly as placeholders that need to hold the fort down while the starters rest. I think they have done an adequate job of this. And as you know, Thibs is going to ride his best players for the most minutes. That's no different than Chicago. I maintain that our starting unit has been the primary reason we are off to such a poor start.

On LaVine, what I think would be interesting, although I'm not necessarily advocating for it, is if we were to move someone like Bjelica or Shabazz to start at SF and then have Zach be our 6th man. I think if that were the case, our bench would play more minutes overall since Zach is our one of our best 5 players. But again, I'm not sure how many problems that solves or if it's just change for the sake of change.

[bleedspeed]

I think this shows that LaVine would be an awesome 6th man, but am more on board of starting Aldrich at center and bringin Dieng off the bench. It would also be interesting to see if Shabazz would give more starting.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think this shows that LaVine would be an awesome 6th man, but am more on board of starting Aldrich at center and bringin Dieng off the bench. It would also be interesting to see if Shabazz would give more starting.

To me, the ultimate experiment would be to start Aldrich and Bjelly in place of Dieng and LaVine. Our starting lineup would be huge. It's probably just shuffling and shifting our problems around, but I would be very intrigued if Thibs just said screw-it, I'm going big.

[Monster]

I think this shows that LaVine would be an awesome 6th man, but am more on board of starting Aldrich at center and bringin Dieng off the bench. It would also be interesting to see if Shabazz would give more starting.

To me, the ultimate experiment would be to start Aldrich and Bjelly in place of Dieng and LaVine. Our starting lineup would be huge. It's probably just shuffling and shifting our problems around, but I would be very intrigued if Thibs just said screw-it, I'm going big.

Why not send Towns to the bench he would be an awesome 6th man and his defense has been terrible.

I'm not advocating Bazz starting but I think his game would be better surrounded by players that compliment him and so teams aren't loading up on him. He needs to have some guys to get him the ball in spaces and some guys that he is more likely to pass to. Belly and another shooter Rush or playing minutes with Lavine makes sense. I think Dunn will eventually be good enough as a PG to get him the ball in some of his sweet spots.

[Lipoli390]

I think this shows that LaVine would be an awesome 6th man, but am more on board of starting Aldrich at center and bringin Dieng off the bench. It would also be interesting to see if Shabazz would give more starting.

To me, the ultimate experiment would be to start Aldrich and Bjelly in place of Dieng and LaVine. Our starting lineup would be huge. It's probably just shuffling and shifting our problems around, but I would be very intrigued if Thibs just said screw-it, I'm going big.

That's the sort of experiment you'd expect to see from a mad scientist. :)