Constructing the Timberwolves rotation

[Dewey]

I am going to get roasted for this I am sure, Edwards has the highest superstar potential we have had on this team, outside of Marbury and Garnett. He is a walking highlight waiting to happen. Towns and Russell aren't exciting players, Beasley isn't an exciting player, that is not to say they aren't good players. Edwards has Zach Lavine and JR Rider combined type of potential. Put Lavine's game in a 6'6" 230lb 19 year old. Screw Rider's head on straight and give him a work ethic. When you get a player with elite physical traits for his position, combine them with elite athletic ability, and by all accounts a great work ethic and instinct.....the expectations change.

I won't roast you. I feel the same way. I'm very bullish on his upside. But I think he's got to get there. A solid year starting around 20-25 mpg. First half of his rookie year, Garnett averaged 20 mpg, but you wouldn't know it because he finished the year at 28.7 thanks to finishing the season averaging 37 mpg. The jump won't be that drastic for Edwards, but it'll be similar. One day, everything will come together for him and he'll leave the coaches no choice but to start him. Maybe that's right out of the gate, but I'd be surprised.

These are hard to topics cause we just dont know these people on a personal level ... Are they egomaniacs, arrogant, immature? I wouldnt know anything more than what I see of them on the floor come game time. I do know these young players need more direction than often realized ... 19, 20, 21, etc. years old without leadership can be dicy. If they are ready to roll, let'em roll, but we gotta always keep them between the white lines on and off the court. Dealing with ups and downs have not been experienced by many of these draft picks coming in... if Edwards starts out with a bang, he's likely gonna come back down witht at target on his back and need team leadership to help him get back up a few times.

[wolves_89]

I think the expectations for Edwards are a bit too high for this season. In a normal off-season, rookies are drafted and then have 3-4 months to work with coaches, establish a routine, learn the system, and play in summer league. This year none of that happened. I find it unlikely that a 19 year old is going to come in and start with no knowledge of the system or time to adjust to a completely new way of life. My guess for Edwards is he comes off the bench for 15-20 minutes a night to start the year and gradually gets more minutes as he demonstrates that he deserves them.

Another factor is that the Wolves are actually trying to win this year, which is a different situation than the majority of high draft picks are in. Typically the top draftees can come in and get big minutes even though their on-court production is awful and they are damaging their teams ability to compete. The Wolves have enough talent to be competitive and a clear incentive to prioritize winning sooner rather than later, so I'm expecting Edwards to be integrated much slower than a lot of people hope.

[Klomp]

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[Jedzz]

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Now we are talking about something.

[Baseline81]

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[minimus]

Denver Nuggets, Monte Morris agree to 3-year, $27M extension.

Another team that invested heavily in ballhandlers. Murray, Morris and Campazzo. DEN will try to control pace 48 minutes in order to win. They let Craig, Plumlee, Grant go. All three are limited offensive players, but excellent defenders. I see an analogy with MIN.

[Merc_Porto]

Denver Nuggets, Monte Morris agree to 3-year, $27M extension.

Another team that invested heavily in ballhandlers. Murray, Morris and Campazzo. DEN will try to control pace 48 minutes in order to win. They let Craig, Plumlee, Grant go. All three are limited offensive players, but excellent defenders. I see an analogy with MIN.

They didn't let Grant go, that's why they offered the exactly same 60M/3 years than the Pistons. He wanted to go.

Campazzo and Morris are getting less money than Beasley alone.

[minimus]

Denver Nuggets, Monte Morris agree to 3-year, $27M extension.

Another team that invested heavily in ballhandlers. Murray, Morris and Campazzo. DEN will try to control pace 48 minutes in order to win. They let Craig, Plumlee, Grant go. All three are limited offensive players, but excellent defenders. I see an analogy with MIN.

They didn't let Grant go, that's why they offered the exactly same 60M/3 years than the Pistons. He wanted to go.

On November 22, 2020, Grant signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Detroit Pistons through a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets.

Campazzo and Morris are getting less money than Beasley alone

+ Harris 20mil per year
+ Barton 14 mil per year
+ they drafted R.J. Hampton

Denver invested in wings and ballhandlers just like Minnesota

[Merc_Porto]

Denver Nuggets, Monte Morris agree to 3-year, $27M extension.

Another team that invested heavily in ballhandlers. Murray, Morris and Campazzo. DEN will try to control pace 48 minutes in order to win. They let Craig, Plumlee, Grant go. All three are limited offensive players, but excellent defenders. I see an analogy with MIN.

They didn't let Grant go, that's why they offered the exactly same 60M/3 years than the Pistons. He wanted to go.

On November 22, 2020, Grant signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Detroit Pistons through a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets.

Campazzo and Morris are getting less money than Beasley alone

+ Harris 20mil per year
+ Barton 14 mil per year
+ they drafted R.J. Hampton

Denver invested in wings and ballhandlers just like Minnesota

Gary Harris and Barton are not exactly ballhandlers. They have a starter quality player in MPJ to play the PF position. We don't. Plus, they brought back Millsap and sign JaMychal

And again, Campazzo is going to make 3.2M or something for a backup guard. 8/9M is going to make Morris. That's pretty damn good.

About Grant... You're not telling the whole story...

The move will allow the Nuggets to create a traded player exception worth about $9.5MM.

The Nuggets offered to match Grant’s three-year, $60MM offer from the Pistons, but he chose Detroit because he wants a bigger role.

[Klomp]

I'm warming up to the idea of the two-PG sets. I think Russell's length is what really opens up this possibility. He's the same height as Bradley Beal, and a wingspan almost 2 inches longer. He's an inch taller than McCollum, with a wingspan 3.5" longer. He's got the physical tools to guard 2s and even many 3s. There's lots of switching for Minnesota 1 through 4, so these tools are very important.

[RiRuHoops]

I'm warming up to the idea of the two-PG sets. I think Russell's length is what really opens up this possibility. He's the same height as Bradley Beal, and a wingspan almost 2 inches longer. He's an inch taller than McCollum, with a wingspan 3.5" longer. He's got the physical tools to guard 2s and even many 3s. There's lots of switching for Minnesota 1 through 4, so these tools are very important.

I'd say his feet are too slow to stay with the quicker PGs. So him guarding 2s/and smaller 3s is definitely for the best.

[minimus]

I'm warming up to the idea of the two-PG sets. I think Russell's length is what really opens up this possibility. He's the same height as Bradley Beal, and a wingspan almost 2 inches longer. He's an inch taller than McCollum, with a wingspan 3.5" longer. He's got the physical tools to guard 2s and even many 3s. There's lots of switching for Minnesota 1 through 4, so these tools are very important.

To play two-PG sets we need a third PG. I hope that Rosas and JMac will find a compromise.

[Dual]

I'm warming up to the idea of the two-PG sets. I think Russell's length is what really opens up this possibility. He's the same height as Bradley Beal, and a wingspan almost 2 inches longer. He's an inch taller than McCollum, with a wingspan 3.5" longer. He's got the physical tools to guard 2s and even many 3s. There's lots of switching for Minnesota 1 through 4, so these tools are very important.

Wow, I didn't know he was so tall and that wingspan is great. It makes sense.

[Klomp]

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[TheZachAttack]

I'm warming up to the idea of the two-PG sets. I think Russell's length is what really opens up this possibility. He's the same height as Bradley Beal, and a wingspan almost 2 inches longer. He's an inch taller than McCollum, with a wingspan 3.5" longer. He's got the physical tools to guard 2s and even many 3s. There's lots of switching for Minnesota 1 through 4, so these tools are very important.

To play two-PG sets we need a third PG. I hope that Rosas and JMac will find a compromise.

It's a huge get if we can nab J mac. Maybe we say if he sticks it out 1) he's got a decently sized role here as soon as we can make a couple tweaks to our wings on our roster (hopefully optimizing the 4 position) 2) Post-Rubio he's the leading candidate to play a big backup role.

This would likely mean either 1) he signs a 1 year deal with us for the roughly minimum slot we have left with a promise for a long-term deal next season 2) we need to make a trade to clear space to sign him to a longer term deal that's an "overpay" for a traditional 3rd PG. I'm not sure 1) is ideal for Jmac and requires a level of trust that I'm not sure Rosas can give given the roster turnover that will likely happen and 2) would require a pretty sizable trade as it likely means Culver is gone.

Edit - maybe we could bring J mac in with some of our exception money? I think he's worth a decent amount given his potential even though he probably doesn't deserve that yet. I'd be fine doing an overpay like that with that exception. In fact, if you told me that extra few million we cleared trading multiple picks for Bolmaro is the reason we get to keep Jmac... I'd be ecstatic that we made that Bolmaro move.

I'll be sad if we don't bring back J mac because I think he's the biggest player development/hidden gem "success" or "find" of the Rosas regime.

[minimus]

There was a moment in game vs DAL when we had on the floor Naz-Vando-McDaniels-Culver-Nowell lineup. I wonder if it is a prototype of system that Rosas wants to run. Multiple ballhandlers, versatile defenders on wings, aggressive switch everything defense. When I was watching that game I was impressed how our young players were able to execute within this scheme: multiple hand-offs, consistent ball movement. They were missing shots, dunks and layups, but when I was watching them playing that beautiful team basketball, I said myself that it was the best basketball style wise I saw.

[Jedzz]

There was a moment in game vs DAL when we had on the floor Naz-Vando-McDaniels-Culver-Nowell lineup. I wonder if it is a prototype of system that Rosas wants to run. Multiple ballhandlers, versatile defenders on wings, aggressive switch everything defense. When I was watching that game I was impressed how our young players were able to execute within this scheme: multiple hand-offs, consistent ball movement. They were missing shots, dunks and layups, but when I was watching them playing that beautiful team basketball, I said myself that it was the best basketball style wise I saw.

Saw the same type of moments in the last two games from the depth young ones. Smooth ball movement, made the earlier quarters look like a total basketcase.

[minimus]

There was a moment in game vs DAL when we had on the floor Naz-Vando-McDaniels-Culver-Nowell lineup. I wonder if it is a prototype of system that Rosas wants to run. Multiple ballhandlers, versatile defenders on wings, aggressive switch everything defense. When I was watching that game I was impressed how our young players were able to execute within this scheme: multiple hand-offs, consistent ball movement. They were missing shots, dunks and layups, but when I was watching them playing that beautiful team basketball, I said myself that it was the best basketball style wise I saw.

Saw the same type of moments in the last two games from the depth young ones. Smooth ball movement, made the earlier quarters look like a total basketcase.

I see potential of our young players. But I am really surprised how aggressive, active both Vanderbilt and McDaniels are in defense. Vando with his physicality as rebounder, McDaniels as weak side shotblocker. If they can continue their development it will be a dream scenario with two 6'9" big wings.

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[minimus]

I also see why Zylan Cheatham might end up as a steal. He is a hardworker, big wing, uberathletic, aggressive, high IQ, dominated gleague, excellent rebounder. He also is a perfect fit in five-out system. I wonder what type of contract he signed, is it gleague contract? Hinkie/Gupta special?

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[KGdaBom]

I also see why Zylan Cheatham might end up as a steal. He is a hardworker, big wing, uberathletic, aggressive, high IQ, dominated gleague, excellent rebounder. He also is a perfect fit in five-out system. I wonder what type of contract he signed, is it gleague contract? Hinkie/Gupta special?

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If I understand correctly he's already been waived/