RealGM

What do you guys think our rotation will look like on opening day assuming we don't make another significant move?

Rubio (28)/Ridnour (20)/Lee (IR)
Johnson (25)/Webster (18), Ellington (5)
Beasley (28)/Williams (18)/Johnson (2)
Love (32)/Williams (8)/Randolph or Tolliver (8)
Darko (16)/Pek (16)/Randolph (16)/Miller (IR), Tolliver(IR)

IR=injury replacement

Here are my guesses:
Tolliver will have a hard time getting consistent minutes.

Malcolm Lee and Lazar Hayward will collect a lot of DNP's.
Brad Miller won't play much at all, too.
Rubio will be the starter from day 1.
Derrick Williams will be used as a super sub until he manages to outplay Michael Beasley (which, IMO, is unlikely in his first season).

For Wes Johnson it's a make or break season. He'll either establish himself as the SG of the future or be gone before the trade deadline. Expect him to get about as many minutes as last season, too.

Randolph will play almost exclusively at the Center position. We're too stacked at PF to play him there. He's going to either have to play C or he doesn't have much of a future in Minnesota with Love, Williams, Tolliver around.

The Center position is really the hardest to predict. I guess all 3 of Darko, Pek and Randolph will get a try and the best one will grab the starting job. However, one of them will be gone before the trade deadline, IMO.

Pekovic seems a lock to stay and be the backup C at worst. Out of all 3 C's he seems the most matured and mentally ready. His skillset definitely is there but it doesn't match up very well with franchise PF Kevin Love (on Defense - Offense is fine), which is why Pek's role likely is limited to backup C.

A Randolph/Pek front court duo could be very interesting, too. Randolph has the size that Pek doesn't have. Both aren't great defenders but Randolph at least has good athletic abilities and Pek is a bull. However, that is a duo we likely won't see very often considering Love and Williams will eat up 40+ minutes at the 4 spot.

Assuming the team stays relatively healthy we'll have at least 2 unhappy (well paid) bigs. We need another trade to round out the roster.

Starters aren't playing enough, bench too much. Rubio will start, but I could see minutes be even closer early on.

I'd be incredibly surprised if Adelman ran out an 11 man rotation. Ellington would almost definitely be dropped and so would one of the big men. Love will get similar minutes as last year (35 - 38 per game), and Beasley and Johnson will both probably get around 30 per game.

My best guess (barring any trades) is that by mid-season the rotation would be something like:

Rubio (28)/ Ridnour (20)
Johnson (30)/ Webster(18)
Beasley (32)/ Williams (16)
Love (35)/ Williams (13)
Randolph (25)/ Tolliver (23)

I'm guessing that Adelman's not going to be much of a fan of Darko, and if he's in the rotation at all to start the year, he'll fall out pretty quickly. I'm also guessing that Beasley, Randolph, Darko, Pekovic, Webster, Ellington, and Hayward will all be available for trades so this is all fairly pointless. (Edit: Add Miller to that list too.)

I think you've got to move some of Love's minutes to center at the expense of Pek, Darko, or Randolph.

Rubio(28)/Ridnour(20)
Wes(32)/Webster(16)
Beasley(30)/D-will(18)
Love(32)/D-will(10)/Randolph(6)
Randolph(28)/Pek(12)Love(8)

I think Randolph is going to push Darko out of the starting spot early on...and then Pekovic will get more burn as he shows more desire to come off the bench, and really improves on his foul trouble/3 seconds etc.

Admit it. You only gave Ellington minutes because of that old picture of him with his arm around a babe.

I don't think 3 or 4 of those guys will be on the roster opening day.

Krapinsky wrote:I don't think 3 or 4 of those guys will be on the roster opening day.

Hayward, Ellington, Darko or Pek, and then one of Wes, Beas, Randolph, Tolliver would be cool with me.

I think we stand pat unless Kahn has something else magical up his sleeve (like turning 3 or more 9th-12th men into a solid starter/7th option.

As far as rotation goes, I think that Darko doesn't get the benefit of the doubt due to it being a new system where everyone is going to start fresh. I still think Darko will prove his worth and start at C, but it is not a given.

Rubio (28 minutes)/Ridnour
Wes (28-30 minutes)/ Webster
Beasley (30-35 minutes)/Williams (left-overs)
Love (32-36 minutes)/ Williams (left-overs)
Darko (20 minutes)/ Randolph (20 minutes)/ Pek (20 minutes)
^C minutes are depending on matchups, but Adelmen had Hayes starting because he's a defensive mind and a workhorse.
Darko: defensive, but not a workhorse
Randolph: neither
Pek: Physical, but not really defensive or a hustler

I think most signs point to Hayward starting at C.

Id like to see 30 mins per game for Rubio, Love, Wes, Beasley, and DWill. and 20-25 for Randolph.

Rubio(30)/Ridnour(18)
Wes(30)/Webster(18)
Beasley(30)/DWill(18)
Love(36)/DWill(12)
Darko(14)/Randolph(20)/Pek (14)

PG-Rubio (30)/Lee(18)
SG-Johnson (30)/Webster(18)
SF-Beasley (35)/Williams (13)
PF-Love (35)/Williams (13)
C-Randolph (30)/Miller (18)

Miller can still play and im really looking forward to watchng him
and i can lee breaking in to the side early on,hes a good talent

Klomp wrote:Starters aren't playing enough, bench too much. Rubio will start, but I could see minutes be even closer early on.

We're talking about a shortened season in which we'll have more games on average per week. Our bench will have to play more than last season.
I'm not a fan of playing the starters 35+ minutes. I might be a bit low at 28 for Beasley and WJ but they shouldn't play more than max. 32 minutes a night.

Also 32-34 minutes are alright for Love. After that he always runs out of gas. Not only him but our complete team as evidenced by those many close losses last season.

I do think Ellington will get minutes under Adelman because of his 3pt shot abilities.

Darko(20)\love(4)\Randolph(24)
Love(32)\Williams(10)
Beas(30)\Williams(28)
Wes(30)\Webster(18)
Rubio(24)\Ridnour(20)

Darko is the only capable defender at the 5 unless Khan pulls the trigger on an upgrade. I think randolph & love play some minutes together with Randolph guarding the hybrid 4's and love guarding the smaller 5's. I could see Pek earning a role as the anchor of 2nd unit scoring too.

I'd like to see ridnour + Miller traded for a combo guard. I think we got enough juice at sf/pf/pg. We might be weak at C because we don't have a total package guy, but we do have complimentary types that can mix and match depending on the lineup. It would be nice to have a speedy combo pg that can guard the faster pgsand or play some 2. I'm not sure how many of those guys there are though.

isnt it only johnson 2nd year ? i would usually give a player 3-4 years before u can see what u have

Rubio, Ridnour
Johnson, Webster
Beasley, Williams/Webster
Love, Williams
Darko, Tolliver

It's way too hard to tell right now. Centre is a crap shoot and depends entirely on what Adelman thinks. Darko could start, since he has some skills that Adelman likes, but he's horrible. Randolph would be a ridiculously skinny C, although Jordan Hill got minutes at C so its possible. Pek is an unknown and I expect Tolliver will get minutes somewhere. There's no way Adelman won't like that guy.

Rubio (28) Ridnour (20) Lee (DNP)
Johnson (26) Webster(22) Ellington (DNP)
Beasley (36) Williams (12) Hayward (DNP)
Love (36) Williams (12)
Miller (15) Milicic (24) Tolliver/Randolph/Pekovic (9)

It's really hard to show how many minutes Lee, Ellington, and Hayward will play since they will rack up some DNPs one day and play a few minutes the next. I'm confident Miller will start, but I just hope Minnesota can add a decent free agent.

There are SO MANY what ifs on this team to determine a rotation. On one hand, I could see Lee get ~10 mpg. On the other hand, I could see him in Sioux Falls all year too. Pretty much every player sans Love is really hard to predict.

if we're talking opening day, call me crazy but i think luke will start over ricky for the first month or so...if it was normal season with a full training camp and pre season MIGHT think differently but yeah, i think luke will start to begin with. i still think ar is too frail and skinny to play at the 5 consistently, certainly as a consistent starter...i think darko will start all year(unless he comes in fat and out of shape, which i'm legitimately scared of having heard nothing about him all off season and having two rug rats) and be much more efficient and effective being a defense first player and scoring off some pick and rolls and dump off's from ricky.

Grits n Gravy wrote:if we're talking opening day, call me crazy but i think luke will start over ricky for the first month or so

I agree, maybe not for quite that long, but I think Luke will start to begin with. There's no way Rubio is going to be getting 25+ minutes in the first weeks of the season IMO. I think Tolliver will still get a handful of minutes here and there. It's going to be tricky to juggle minutes at pf, but he's a hard worker and was pretty much our best hustle player last season. I think Adelman will like him.

Klomp wrote:Starters aren't playing enough, bench too much. Rubio will start, but I could see minutes be even closer early on.

Klomp wrote:There are SO MANY what ifs on this team to determine a rotation. On one hand, I could see Lee get ~10 mpg. On the other hand, I could see him in Sioux Falls all year too. Pretty much every player sans Love is really hard to predict.

My prediction for the start of the season would be

PG: Ridnour (25-28 min.) Rubio (20-23 min.) Lee (2-5 min. every once in a while)
SG: Johnson (28 min.) Webster (15-20 min.) Ellington/Hayward (5 min. every once in a while)
SF: Beasley (30 min.) Williams (15 min.) Webster (3 min.)
PF: Love (35 min.) Williams (13 min.)
C: That's a crapshoot. Darko, Pek, Tolliver and Randolph all could play 25+ minutes depending on the match ups etc.