Minnesota Sports Forum

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I'm not very optimistic about Ricky's ankle this morning. As some have pointed out, his ankle was bent at a gruesome angle, and the above photo is not very promising. High ankle sprains are slow to heal, and if there is significant ligament damage, we may be looking at months.

So, how does Flip respond? Most of us were already taking a long view for the Wolves, but the impressive start had to have Flip in a "win now" frame of mind. Losing Rubio has to make him think differently now. He still may decide that LaVine is not ready for regular minutes, and sign a free agent PG to back up Mo...Gal Mekel, Will Bynum, Marcus Teague, Eric Maynor, Peyton Siva, and John Lucas all come to mind. Or he could decide to give starter minutes to Mo, and backup minutes to Lavine.

I would choose a different option. Keep Mo in his reserve role, and make Zach the starter beginning tonight. Is Zach ready...of course not. He's a not-fully-developed 19-year-old who wasn't even given many minutes in his one college year. But I think Zach has the kind of swagger that a baptism by fire isn't going to destroy him, but rather will accelerate his development. PG is the most important position in Flip's system, and I would guess that having Zach as our starter for a couple months or more limits us to 20-25 wins...he's going to make a lot of mistakes But it also has the following advantages:

1) As mentioned above, I think this will accelerate his development.
2) Fewer 2014-5 wins means we keep our 2015 draft pick, and gives Flip one more lottery pick to add to the roster.
3) From a fan standpoint, it would be much more fun to watch more minutes of LaVine than Mo.

Ankles can be weird, and maybe we get some good news about Ricky...but I don't think so. So it's not too early to talk Plan B. Which direction do you go?

We don't have the roster space to sign a backup PG, which means either waiving or trading someone -- who would that be?!?

I seem to recall Flip doing your 3rd option before -- a starter goes down, but rather than upsetting the bench rotation, he played a non-rotation player in the starter's place. I like the idea because the starters have more potential to absorb the drop in PG play, and help Zach out, than the bench rotation. But between Zach's lack of experience and tonight being a BTB, I doubt we'll see it now. Maybe after our 3 days off to practice...

I think we should roll with Zach. If Ricky misses a month, there is no chance for this team this season unless the young guys take a huge step, which doesn't happen with them on the bench.

Looks like I'm the only one, but I voted roll with Mo and use LaVine as a backup. I agree with the mindset of getting LaVine more minutes as the overall goal should be to get guys experience in what will likely be a non-playoff year. But at the same time, I saw nothing from LaVine in preseason that would lead me to believe he's ready for starter minutes. And I don't think it does the team any good to start losing a ton of games because a rookie is playing too much when he shouldn't be. I'd rather spoon feed him in the back up role and give him more as he shows he ready. Maybe he proves me wrong. I'd be ok with that. But based on what I've seen and read so far, I'm not seeing him as a starter anytime soon.

I'm not sure I'd start Zach until I saw him play some more. There's a chance he flames out as a PG, which could hurt Wiggins' development and throw this team back into a state of consistent losing, which hurts everybody.

I think he should get plenty of minutes against backups to see how he does before we make that call. LaVine still looks like more of a 2 than a 1 to me.

Good point, Drew. And on further reflection, I would change my vote to start Mo and bring Zach off the bench. Mo needs just as much help from his teammates as Zach, so why not have Mo play with the starters where he can get that help. And Zach has actually show some decent passing and playmaking, so let him role with the 2nd unit and maybe it'll be all good!

Baptism by fire, start Zach.

If Ricky is out for an extended period then Flip needs to trade a wing for another point guard.

This really sucks though. Ricky was taking the next step so this injury is the worst timing. Figures. . .

The second option should actually have two parts...sign a free agent PG (after freeing up a roster spot), or trade a wing for a PG.

I hear the comments about playing Zach off the bench because he is not ready, and I expect this will be Flip's course of action...certainly tonight at least. But we're not going anywhere if Ricky is out for multiple months, so it seems like a perfect opportunity to give the majority of minutes to Zach. Mo is not in our long-term plans and his best role is as a reserve at this stage of his career. His defensive struggles against a rookie last night were quite evident, as was the improvement in defense when Zach came in.

That said, I expect that Mo will be starting tonight. And I liked his comments in the StarTrib this morning...that he has to have a different mindset as a starter and think of himself as a 4th option. I saw him adjust to this mindset last night, like JJ was never able to, and I think we will see a different Mo when he is playing with the starters. I hope so, at least.

I think it is time to give those teams a ring who were interested in Bud and see if he can land a PG. He's not playing here anyway and you're not getting a first round pick for him. Maybe you can get some cap savings to dump him on someone for a backup PG.