Minnesota Sports Forum

Finch said he plans to go with a nine player rotation to this season, at least initially. Who ends up in that rotation will be sorted out in the preseason. So far, the Wolves have played only two preseason games. Therefore, it’s unlikely the Wolves coaching staff have made a final decision on the rotation. But looking at who’s on the roster and factoring in what we saw in the first two preseason games, I’d bet on the following nine-man rotation:

1. Mike Conley
2. Anthony Edwards
3. Jaden McDaniels
4. KAT
5. Rudy Gobert
6. Naz Reid
7. Kyle Anderson
8. NAW
9. Shake Milton

Two other candidates are JMac and Troy Brown Jr. If there are any injuries to the nine I’ve listed or the Wolves decide to go 10 or 11 deep, then I can see JMac and/or Troy Brown getting some significant minutes.

Overall, I see a pretty solid bench taking shape. The NAW we saw in last season’s playoffs is the same NAW we saw in international play this summer and in the two Abu Dhabi games we saw last week. That’s really encouraging. Naz Reid also looks like he’s picked up where he left off in that great stretch he had last season before injuring his hand. The organization, including the coaching staff, apparently love Shake and I can see why. He’s definitely a significant upgrade over Nowell. So things are looking pretty good right now.

I agree 100% with that. I love our bench and not sure there is another bench in the NBA, I'd trade it for. I also think Luka Garza might be the 12th guy as he could probably be plugged into the 4 or 5 if one of our bigs go down. TB can fill in at 2 or 3 and JMac at 1. I like our versatility in that most of our backups can play multiple spots, especially SloMo, so we will often be able to get our best players in the rotation even with injuries. As long as we remain relatively healthy, I don't see much need to get Miller, Minott or Moore in the lineup unless its garbage time or they show in practice and G League play, that they deserve some spot rotation minutes.

I that's the top 9. I don't even think it's debatable at this point, so Finch is just giving it lip service. Who would TBJ or McLaughlin bump from that group?

That being said, it will become largely irrelevant after about 10-20 games because we know injuries will happen. I have no doubt that TBJ and Mclaughlin will get plenty of playing time this year.

I was thinking about a Wolves version of the "lineup of death", meaning the one that is most effective as a 5-man unit n the most critical part of a game. I think it might be this one:

C - Rudy
PF - KAT
SF - McDaniels
PG/SG - Ant
PG/SG - NAW

This would be a crunch-time lineup where we absolutely lock down defensively, yet still have our two best scorers on the floor to run everything through.

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KG4Ever wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 10:57 am I agree 100% with that. I love our bench and not sure there is another bench in the NBA, I'd trade it for. I also think Luka Garza might be the 12th guy as he could probably be plugged into the 4 or 5 if one of our bigs go down. TB can fill in at 2 or 3 and JMac at 1. I like our versatility in that most of our backups can play multiple spots, especially SloMo, so we will often be able to get our best players in the rotation even with injuries. As long as we remain relatively healthy, I don't see much need to get Miller, Minott or Moore in the lineup unless its garbage time or they show in practice and G League play, that they deserve some spot rotation minutes.

Yeah, I feel pretty good about our 3rd string Center (Garza) and PG (J-Mac). But man, if we have to trot Minott or Moore Jr. out there, we're in trouble. But I think Garza and J-Mac can hold their own.