Minnesota Sports Forum

Got to be one of the Portland games coming up right? I hate the idea of just throwing him in once Conely gets hurt.

Well, I have to say I was dead wrong about Finch's rotation to start the season. He's doing the opposite of what I thought he'd do which was go 10 or may be even 11 deep. He's basically going 8.5 deep with Ingles getting a brief 1st half stint as the 9th man.

At his post-game presser last night he said something to this effect (not a direct quote): "I've got a lot of good players and they need to learn how to play with each other." Then he added that he'd like to extend Ingles minutes a bit more and may be add a 10th man.

So until someone gets hurt, we ain't seeing Dillingham, Garza or Minott unless it's garbage time.

Yeah, despite an uninspired opener against the Lakers, Finchie's 8-man plus Ingles rotation seems to be working quite well, so I don't see bench guys like Rob cracking the rotation unless something happens. Like an injury or a decision to rest a rotation player. NBA players always say they need sufficient minutes to play at their best, and it just can't happen in a rotation of 10 or more. I'm not concerned if Mike needs to leave a game and Finchie needs to put Rob in for a few minutes...he's going to be fine, and I think we would at least survive those minutes. But more likely Rob sees the court the first time we find ourselves in a blowout (either way) in the 4th quarter.

thedoper wrote: ↑Sun Oct 27, 2024 9:12 pm Got to be one of the Portland games coming up right? I hate the idea of just throwing him in once Conely gets hurt.

In non garbage time? Not sure. I would imagine they don't like what they are seeing in practice since they basically said he'd play and he's obviously not.

I'm not really concerned. I see him as a long term project anyways. Not many rooks are even close to NBA avg out of the gate. You can still develop on your own studying tape and in practice. Leave game reps (non garbage) to guys who are ready to contribute.

Let's not overlook Portland...they just destroyed the Pels by 23 last night! There might not be many pushovers in the West this season.

I don't know that Finchie is unhappy with what he is seeing from Rob in practice. It's more that this is the deepest roster I've ever seen with our Wolves. In so many other seasons I worried about what was going to happen when Player A (Nowell, Rivers, etc,) had to come in. Now it's the opposite. There are players I really want to see on the court (Rob, Minott, TJ, Garza) that can't crack a 9-man rotation barring injury. And that's a really nice situation to be in. Guys like Rob are just going to have to be patient.

The Finch quote that Q posted gives some insight into the rotations: The Wolves have two new players, one in the starting rotation and one that is the first player off the bench. Finch needs to make sure his core rotation has time to build chemistry and establish how they are going to play together, on both ends of the court. How many games is that? I don't know. 10? 20?

But once Finch achieves his comfort level (which may be never!), I think we'll see some opportunities open up for the young players.

I was hoping to get a few minutes in the Toronto game. I would have put Rob or Josh in for a few minutes at the end of the 3rd quarter to see how they reacted with the lead near 20. Hopefully Finch is just getting the main 8 it's minutes now to get everyone comfortable playing with each other as fast as possible, and will work in others soon. OKC while it's winning pretty big these first 3 games are playing 10 guys at least 12 minutes including it's 38th pick this year Ajay Mitchell. Golden State at 2-1 is actually playing 12 guys 12 minutes or more with Anderson playing the least of those at 12.3 minutes and Curry playing the most at 26.3 minutes.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2024 9:30 am I was hoping to get a few minutes in the Toronto game. I would have put Rob or Josh in for a few minutes at the end of the 3rd quarter to see how they reacted with the lead near 20. Hopefully Finch is just getting the main 8 it's minutes now to get everyone comfortable playing with each other as fast as possible, and will work in others soon. OKC while it's winning pretty big these first 3 games are playing 10 guys at least 12 minutes including it's 38th pick this year Ajay Mitchell. Golden State at 2-1 is actually playing 12 guys 12 minutes or more with Anderson playing the least of those at 12.3 minutes and Curry playing the most at 26.3 minutes.

Yeah, both OKC and Golden State have a legit 10+ man rotation, meaning 10 or more guys are playing in the first half, well before garbage time.

Boston, New York, and Minnesota are on the opposite end with closer to 8/8.5 man rotations. The Lakers have a legit 9-man rotation.

Not sure I have a strong opinion on this, as I can see the logic depending on the context. In the Wolves' case, there truly is a huge dropoff in NBA experience when you get past Ingles.

Arent we going to sit Conley at all? I think its strange to not try and sit him for extra rest. I remember hearing that was part of what management was trying to talk him into this season. We got Bulls then Portland back to back on Nov 7 & 8. I'd hope he gets minutes and Mike sits in one of those games.

I'm guessing we give vets some full games off and that will determine when we see Dilly/Minot/Shannon.

I'm ok trying to get 3 new players acclimated with the top 9...Finch needs to figure out how these guys can work together and how to position them...some go to scores, etc... then he can play with the edges.

The Minot thing bothers me, but Dilly isn't even close and Shannon needs to learn how to play off the ball