If I were the GM of the Minnesota Timberwolves

[TheZachAttack]

I think the key is really just finding ways to get rid of Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic's contracts in order to save money. The salary cap is going up substantially and it's not that those two aren't good players, when healthy they are, but they just don't fit the team right now and the money could be better spent used elsewhere.
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Key moves:
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1. Draft Karl Anthony Towns Jr. #1 Overall
2. Sign and bring Nemanja Bjelica over from Europe
3. Draft a PG with one of the 2nd rounders to backup Rubio. One that has potential and if Rubio goes down or when Rubio doesn't play can actually both run the offense and be a threat for once.
4. Find a way to get rid of Pek and Martin however you do it or at the very least they should come off the bench.
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Why?
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Martin and Pek's role
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If you can't trade them...

Pekovic's body can't handle starters minutes any more. If you want to keep him healthy and effective for an entire season, you're going to have to limit his minutes.

But I think Pekovic will be able to be most effective beating up on opposing teams backup bigs down low in the post for 20 or so minutes a game and being able to keep the offense running and scoring when the starters are on the bench.
No more stretches of choosing between playing the starters too long, tiring them out, and making them less effective, or giving the backup guys minutes and praying they can somehow find the basket enough that the starters can erase the defecit the 2nd unit allowed to balloon.

He most definitely won't start over Towns, nor should he. Same with Martin, why would you pair him with Wiggins when Martin requires stretches of him to be the main guy on offense...not to mention he allows other teams to put the bigger defender on Wiggins and is a cone on defense.
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Shabazz and Wiggin's playing styles make them both better, plus they are the future of the team...while all Martin starting would do would hinder the development of the guys that are actually going to be relied upon to play important roles 2 or 3 years down the line when (hopefully) we are trying to make playoff runs.

Really hope we don't trade Bjelica. He probably will always be a negative defensively, but on a team where the other frontcourt guys are Wiggins and Towns Jr (most likely)...who cares.
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Muhammed being the starting 2. Muhammed is exceptionally strong. Look at where the majority of his points are scored...it's on the block or at the rim with a sprinkle of corner 3's.
He's 6'6...so he's more of a 2 guard by height...but he's got a 6'11/7 foot wingspan and is at least 230 pounds of muscle. Check out his offseason workouts, the work ethic questions that surrounded him pre-draft were completely false, Muhammed is always going to be stronger than his matchup.

He's a good athlete, but not really in a 2 guard sense...it's more north and south and leaping ability. He's not a guy who's going to have fancy handles or be shifty like one might expect a 2 guard to be who can put up 20 points a night.
Basically what I'm getting at is that when dissecting the Wolves roster you can't really go by the conventional old school 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Rubio's a pure 1. But it's better to look at it as PG, Wings, Bigs...in my opinion.
Wiggins and Shabazz should be the starting wings going into next season in my opinion.
But even though Wiggins is taller, Shabazz is always going to be guarded by the more physical defender--meaning usually the bigger, stronger defender, meaning opposing "SF's or 3's"--because of his strength and the areas of the floor he operates on offense.
Muhammed's going to spend the majority of his offensive sets in the post and hustling for 2nd chance points with his motor and long arms underneath the rim. Teams quickly learned that if you put a "guard" on him he's going to score or get a good look just about every single time.

There's a reason he was such an effecient scorer last season--one of the most effecient wing players in the NBA.
What makes Muhammed even more valuable on offense is his ability to hit the corner 3 at an above average rate as well as him being elite in transition. He's extremely explosive and not afraid of contact, and once he learned that he could get contact and still finish...he stuck with that. You better foul him hard when he's going to the rim otherwise it's going to be an and 1.
He's a really unique player on offense and given starter minutes I have no doubt he'll average close to 20 points a game.
Defensively, it's a bit more of a work in progress. Muhammed's strength and wingspan make him a good rebounder and allows him to not give his man much airspace. But, he still doesn't yet really know what he's doing so he's pretty inconsistent.
The nice thing is though...Wiggins will be guarding the opposing teams best wing player. And Rubio is pretty solid defensively at PG. So he's never going to be guarding the other teams best ball handler or perimeter scorer. So, if he can learn how to more consistently be in the right spots, box out, close out, and not commit stupid fouls...it'll be fine.
Wiggins by trade is a 3, but in a lot of ways right now he's more of a SG. He still needs to get stronger as physical players can sometimes body him enough that he can't do what he wants to do offensively.
This is why Muhammed and Wiggins in my opinion are and will be going forward such an effective wing duo.
Muhammed forces other teams to put there more physical and bigger player on him...and also is good enough offensively that defenses have to always account for him.
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This allows Wiggins to play against the smaller wing player, where his already elite athleticism can be on even more of a display and it's even easier for him to get his shot off over the smaller defender.
Pairing Wiggins with Muhammed gives Wiggins a lot more room offensively and it's not a coincidence Wiggins success really began to become consistent when Muhammed started to get more and more minutes.
And on the other side of things...Wiggins defensive ability, and the fact that he's always going to be guarding the opposing teams better wing player makes it a lot easier for Shabazz on the defense end to succeed--just as Muhammed on offense makes things a lot easier for Wiggins offensively.
Which leads to another interesting point...if both your wings like to operate a lot out of the post...how do you keep things from getting too jammed up in there. (Wiggins like Muhammed was most successful on offense operating out of the post or high block instead of the perimeter)
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I think the answer is to have bigs who can step out a pull there men out on the perimeter.
Who does that description seem to fit? Nemanja Bjelica...who by all accounts has a game similiar to Nikola Mirotic in terms of style--whether he is as good as Mirotic remains to be seen.
But this is what someone who's watched him closer has to say...

*“Bjelica is the most efficient and consistent player on his team,” Greenberg said. “He’s unique because he can move with and without the ball, run the floor and start a fastbreak. He has isolation sets run for him, he can attack from the top and poses all sorts of problems.”
Bjelica is a flat-out stud. He’s averaging 11.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27 minutes per game in the Euroleague – the top-tier competition outside the NBA. He is shooting 46.4 percent from the perimeter and 73 percent from the line in the Turkish competition.*

Again, that's against Turkish competition...but if he can average similiar numbers to the 12pts/9rebs/2 assists he's putting up overseas in 28 minutes or so...that'd be a perfect fit for the Wolves in my opinion. Especially because of his ability to shoot 40+% from the perimeter and 70+% from the line.

He'll be able to pull opposing PFs away from the paint...which will only give Shabazz and Wiggins more room to work down low. And his 6'10 size means he should be able to hold his own inside too.
Bjelica is a legit 6'10...so although he may not be great defensively. He won't be undersized defensively in most matchups. And if he can just stay in front of his man and get a hand in the face...he doesn't need to do much more than that with the Wolves most likely adding Karl Anthony Towns Jr. to there roster.
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Towns Jr. is a huge body, a legit 7 footer, and looks like he'll one of the better rim protectors in the league. Bjelica...like Muhammed...only has to get the fundamentals down, not allow easy baskets, and box his man out...
Towns Jr., like Bjelica, can also hit FT's at a 70%+ rate...and has the range to hit perimeter jumpers in the pick and pop game. You probably don't ever want him doing it too much and he's not very consistent with it now, but Towns looks like the kind of guy that projects to eventually have the range to be able to step all the way out to the NBA 3 point line and hit it at an above average rate.
If the Wolves draft Towns Jr and can lure Bjelica over they will have 2 bigs who can shoot FT's at a guard-like percentage, so teams that foul them or get in foul trouble will make them pay. They also have 2 bigs that can operate down low, but also pull their men out onto the perimeter.

Bjelica's 46% 3 point mark in the euro league suggests that he could be that stretch 4 that causes teams so much trouble offensively.
They'd be able to space the floor and bring other teams bigs away from the paint to honor their perimeter skills...which only makes Wiggins and Shabazz's post skills even more dangerous.
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What I hope the Wolves lineup rotation looks like....

PG: Rubio (33 min) Wing: Wiggins (33 min) Wing: Muhammed (30 min) PF: Bjelica (26mpg) C: Towns Jr. (30 mpg)
Guards off the bench: Kevin Martin (Wing) (24ish mpg) Zach Lavine (PG+Wing) (24ish mpg)
Bench bigs: Gorgui Dieng (20 min) Nikola Pekovic (20 min)

Pekovic is an injury question. But I would want that to be the main 9 man rotation.
Budinger, Payne, Bennett, KG, 2nd round PG, etc. would fill out the bench.

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To conclude...
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Playing Pekovic and Martin 30 minutes a game instead of 20 might win you 5-6-7-8 more games, end up breaking down and being injured halfway into the season, and then forcing the young guys to again play huge minutes, shorthanded, and out of position.
It's unfortunate that so much salary is tied up into guys that won't be playing roles deserving of that money--but they're going to be paid that money regardless of where you put them. I personally don't think your argument makes any sense.
You mention "leader off the bench"...what role could more perfectly fit Martin?
He'd be in a 6th man role and be able to be the main scoring option off the 2nd unit...allowing him to be able to run around all of those screens and cuts and put up a lot of shots against even weaker competition. And it wouldn't be frustrating watching him take a lot of possessions/shots/areas up on the floor that should be Wiggins role.
What's not to like about being able to have a veteran duo off the bench whom you can feed in the paint for consistent buckets (Pekovic) or on the perimeter (Pekovic). Most NBA teams don't have players with that kind of offensive talent coming off the bench and playing 20 minutes or so give or take a few minutes should allow both of them to really give it 100% there entire time on the floor.
And again you'd rather have Martin be playing more minutes and taking minutes away from Lavine? You're crazy man.
At times, Lavine will struggle, but he improved immensely last season while playing the majority of his minutes in a position he hadn't played since HS. We haven't even seen what he can do with more SG minutes...and his shooting numbers off screens and catch and shoot numbers as opposed to his shooting percentages after pulling up off the dribble are night and day.
Lavine's great in transition, can finish through contact, hit FT's, and hit 3's at an above average rate. Albeit he was a bit streaky last season, but that's because as the primary ball-handler he had a lot of 3 point attempts that came off the dribble instead of in rhythm off a screen or catch and shoot. More opportunities in that kind of role will allow him to be a lot more consistent.
And I guess also you'd rather give Lorenzo Brown minutes at PG instead of Lavine? Ok, he might make some gaffs, but is it that hard to understand that playing the point forces Lavine to really challenge himself.
Yes, being the primary ball-handler allows him to practice his ball-handling skills, consistency in that department , and ability to use different speeds with his dribble instead of just the highest gear.
But it also forces him to read defenses on every play and really understand what's going on, what defenses are trying to do, what the offense is trying to do, and how to identify the way a defense is playing and correctly exploit it--both for him and his teammates.
He'll struggle at times, but long term it will make him a much better player and give him a much better chance of reaching his potential.
But yeah, let's stash Lavine on the bench and let him rot there for Kevin Martin.

That strategy will end with the result of the Wolves picking somewhere in the middle of the pack, less development for the young guys, and still missing the playoffs all so Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic can get a couple more numbers on the stat sheet.
I'm not saying Lavine should get 35 minutes a game, but he should definetly be at least around the 25-30 mark.
Shabazz deserves a chance to be around 30-32 minutes too.
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We know what we have in Martin and Pekovic, and their skills will only continue to diminish...while the opposite is true for the other guys.

[NewWolvesOrder]

too long, did not read.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I was thinking of the same thing - with 2 legitimate post up wing threats, you could do some crazy things with 2 bigs w/ 3 pt range. I wonder if this has been Flip's goal? If so, Mudiay or Bledsoe interest totally makes sense since an attacking PG could run rampant with the defending big men stretched out away from the rim. Even Rubio would at least improve attacking into wing defenders instead of front court defenders.

A stretch 5 is game-changing. You got Shabazz posting up, you dump the ball down low, he kicks it back out into a Rubio/Towns pick and roll while Shabazz flexes out into the corner for a spot up 3 and Towns rolls to the rim. Of course, none of that matters if Rubio can't make them respect his shot...but maybe this is the year!

[Note30]

I was thinking of the same thing - with 2 legitimate post up wing threats, you could do some crazy things with 2 bigs w/ 3 pt range. I wonder if this has been Flip's goal? If so, Mudiay or Bledsoe interest totally makes sense since an attacking PG could run rampant with the defending big men stretched out away from the rim. Even Rubio would at least improve attacking into wing defenders instead of front court defenders.

A stretch 5 is game-changing. You got Shabazz posting up, you dump the ball down low, he kicks it back out into a Rubio/Towns pick and roll while Shabazz flexes out into the corner for a spot up 3 and Towns rolls to the rim. Of course, none of that matters if Rubio can't make them respect his shot...but maybe this is the year!

...but maybe this is the year! The Wolves motto for everything since 2006.