Poll: Should Nowell return to the rotation

[winforlose]

Topic

[shangrila]

In theory we probably need more of what Beasley should offer (shooting) than what Nowell offers (self creation). And if we do bench Beasley then he’s probably an even less attractive asset than he is already.

That said, yeah Nowell should be getting minutes. Even with his inconsistency I’d take that over Beasley being consistently bad and it seems like he’s more valuable now and moving forward than Malik.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re trying to keep his value low to get him on a good contract ala Vando.

[Mamba4Goat]

If it’s just between J-Mac and Nowell it’s tough because they’re so close and Minnesota needs both of them. Who should be playing could have a different answer on a nightly or even quarterly basis. It’s unrealistic but letting Nowell take Bradley’s spot is the answer. Unfortunately it’d likely nuke Beasley’s value which Minnesota doesn’t want.

[winforlose]

In theory we probably need more of what Beasley should offer (shooting) than what Nowell offers (self creation). And if we do bench Beasley then he’s probably an even less attractive asset than he is already.

That said, yeah Nowell should be getting minutes. Even with his inconsistency I’d take that over Beasley being consistently bad and it seems like he’s more valuable now and moving forward than Malik.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re trying to keep his value low to get him on a good contract ala Vando.

The problem is Nowell was playing very well. He was getting interviewed at the end of games and talking about how hard he works to stay ready. To suddenly be dropped from the rotation in a contract year for guys who are struggling and not really impacting anything (JMAC facilitates but doesn’t really contribute on offense and Beasley is so streaky,) will make him want to leave.

[Mamba4Goat]

If they’re just screwing him over to get him on a cheaper deal I’d say he’s shown enough to get at least close to whatever he deserves and I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about Rosas playing hardball with him and his contract. The QO would definitely be an option should Minnesota decide they want to lowball him.

[old school 34]

If it’s just between J-Mac and Nowell it’s tough because they’re so close and Minnesota needs both of them. Who should be playing could have a different answer on a nightly or even quarterly basis. It’s unrealistic but letting Nowell take Bradley’s spot is the answer. Unfortunately it’d likely nuke Beasley’s value which Minnesota doesn’t want.

Yeah, I don't think dropping Beasley out of the rotation is an option. If for no other reason, future trade value...just can't happen. Nowell for sure deserves some run, but rest of the bench plays better with a truer facilitator.

I wonder if the best play is Jaden going back into the SL & move PB to the bench w/ JMac then out of rotation. PB isn't absolute truest facilitator either but better than Nowell. Our bench unit if all out there at once would be pretty small, but we still put a Dlo or Ant out there sometimes would help some of that? Also, if say Wolves buyout big (even say if it's Monroe) & he replaces Naz for now...probably better for that specific bench unit?

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[winforlose]

If they’re just screwing him over to get him on a cheaper deal I’d say he’s shown enough to get at least close to whatever he deserves and I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about Rosas playing hardball with him and his contract. The QO would definitely be an option should Minnesota decide they want to lowball him.

We can either pick up his option and get one cheap year out of him (while trying to sign him to an extension,) or we can decline his option and make him a RFA. I could see him getting 8-10 like Tyus, or even 10-12 for 2-3 years. A 3 level scorer who can also pass and play PG or SG is valuable. Even more so because he refers to bigger names and is willing to know his place in the pecking order. Benching him during a contract year when he has already proven himself is a really bad idea. Especially when Beasley is sucking. For every one game he wins you, he hurts you in 2 loses you 2.

[shrink]

I trust Finch

[winforlose]

I trust Finch

Is it Finch driving the Nowell benching or is it the FO? If Finch has a mandate to play Beasley then it isn’t his call. If not, what is going on with Finch and Nowell?

[shrink]

I trust Finch

Is it Finch driving the Nowell benching or is it the FO? If Finch has a mandate to play Beasley then it isn’t his call. If not, what is going on with Finch and Nowell?

I don’t know, but I don’t think this is some conspiracy. I don’t think Rosas could tell Finch how to use his players, and sure don’t think interim GM Sachin Gupta is going to do it. Finch has created some of the best team chemistry I have ever seen with the Wolves, so I’m not going to second-guess his decisions on minutes.

Also, Jaylen Nowell is not like Beasley. He is the Edwards-archetype, and 20 year old Ant doesn’t like missing games. Nowell is a three-level shot creator. His high 3P% is a nice benefit, but he is shooting easier three’s than Beasley. MIN needs Beasley hoisting lots of three’s, spreading the floor, because we want that extra room underneath to play Vanderbilt and McDaniels, and Ant and Towns benefit from less congestion as well.

Read on Twitter

[Worm Guts]

Yeah, I think you would have to have a pretty negative perception of the Wolves front office to think they would bench Nowell just to keep his value down.

[winforlose]

I trust Finch

Is it Finch driving the Nowell benching or is it the FO? If Finch has a mandate to play Beasley then it isn’t his call. If not, what is going on with Finch and Nowell?

I don’t know, but I don’t think this is some conspiracy. I don’t think Rosas could tell Finch how to use his players, and sure don’t think interim GM Sachin Gupta is going to do it. Finch has created some of the best team chemistry I have ever seen with the Wolves, so I’m not going to second-guess his decisions on minutes.

Also, Jaylen Nowell is not like Beasley. He is the Edwards-archetype, and 20 year old Ant doesn’t like missing games. Nowell is a three-level shot creator. His high 3P% is a nice benefit, but he is shooting easier three’s than Beasley. MIN needs Beasley hoisting lots of three’s, spreading the floor, because we want that extra room underneath to play Vanderbilt and McDaniels, and Ant and Towns benefit from less congestion as well.

Read on Twitter

The way I see it, Beasley is one dimensional. His defense is by no means special or world beating. His rebounding is either average or below average for his position. His handle doesn’t get him to the rim a lot and his interior game rarely gets him to the line. What Beasley is at his core is a 3 point specialist. I heard Dane mention his volume on the podcast and I see his point. But Curry is much more dynamic, Robinson is much more proven (and without the personal drama,) Hield was a throw in because the Kings wanted him gone, as was Bertans. Clarkson was a 6th man of the year if I remember correctly. My point is, Beasley may be a decent percentage for his high volume but his one dimensionality makes him harder to play. If he isn’t shooting well then he becomes a total liability. Nowell on the other hand opens things up for other players. His multilevel scoring collapses defenses, and his 37.1% shooting from deep spaces the floor just like Beasley. Nowell could be a volume shooter if we told him too, and he proved his rookie year he can handle volume 3 point shooting (somewhere around 44% in the G.)

I don’t know what is behind the Finch/Nowell situation. Finch didn’t want to give him a chance, then Covid happened and he was forced too. Then Nowell became a legit sixth man, then Nowell hurt his back and his production slips a bit (Naz tackled him.) Now Nowell is a DNPCD or a handful of minutes a game during a contract year. Nowell is the future of the team and Beasley is on his way out. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

[shangrila]

Yeah, I think you would have to have a pretty negative perception of the Wolves front office to think they would bench Nowell just to keep his value down.

For the record, I threw that in at the end of my post as a bit of a sarcastic joke. Didn’t expect it to dominate the whole thread.

[minimus]

It was mentioned that Nowell defense was keeping him out of rotation. I can see Nowell working in defense in DLo role, i.e. roaming in the paint, but he needs some awareness to rotate properly. The problem is that Nowell in defense is exposed when he is playing PoA defender with Beasley. And pairing with JMac is awful in defense as well. So I dont see one working solution here, only matchup based workarounds.

[Mamba4Goat]

It was mentioned that Nowell defense was keeping him out of rotation. I can see Nowell working in defense in DLo role, i.e. roaming in the paint, but he needs some awareness to rotate properly. The problem is that Nowell in defense is exposed when he is playing PoA defender with Beasley. And pairing with JMac is awful in defense as well. So I dont see one working solution here, only matchup based workarounds.

I’ve heard that D’Lo is a gigantic basketball nerd. That+his on court IQ/awareness makes him being in that role a logical fit. I don’t think Nowell is quite there on any of those aspects.

[winforlose]

It was mentioned that Nowell defense was keeping him out of rotation. I can see Nowell working in defense in DLo role, i.e. roaming in the paint, but he needs some awareness to rotate properly. The problem is that Nowell in defense is exposed when he is playing PoA defender with Beasley. And pairing with JMac is awful in defense as well. So I dont see one working solution here, only matchup based workarounds.

I’ve heard that D’Lo is a gigantic basketball nerd. That+his on court IQ/awareness makes him being in that role a logical fit. I don’t think Nowell is quite there on any of those aspects.

Dlo is around 3 years older than Nowell. Nowell also didn’t have a real coach before Finch (I just cannot count Ryan.) In time he will get there. In the meantime, Beasley is just nowhere near consistent enough on offense and his defense isn’t that much better than Nowell’s. I admit the situation isn’t perfect, but I would rather have the guy who gets you 10 points and 5 assists on a nightly basis than the guy who might score 10 on 9 attempts on a good night and on a bad night might score 5. Nowell is just superior in almost every category. The only thing Beasley does better in theory is volume 3 point shooting and Nowell proved he has that tool as well in the G.

I cannot stress enough that our future plans seem to be to move Beasley and keep Nowell. Nowell’s upside could easily be Brunson or Clarkson and Beasley’s upside just isn’t that high. Nowell is 22 and needs time to form that chemistry and develop his game. I get wanting to preserve Beasley’s value, but 2/11 on 2/10 from deep isn’t exactly doing anyone any good. We are past the deadline and 23 games away from our first playoff appearance since 17/18 and our second since 03/04. It’s time to put winning first. Beasley’s primary value is as an expiring, not a sniper.

[minimus]

It was mentioned that Nowell defense was keeping him out of rotation. I can see Nowell working in defense in DLo role, i.e. roaming in the paint, but he needs some awareness to rotate properly. The problem is that Nowell in defense is exposed when he is playing PoA defender with Beasley. And pairing with JMac is awful in defense as well. So I dont see one working solution here, only matchup based workarounds.

I’ve heard that D’Lo is a gigantic basketball nerd. That+his on court IQ/awareness makes him being in that role a logical fit. I don’t think Nowell is quite there on any of those aspects.

Yeah, DLo also has impressive wingspan. That certainly helps. I don't think Nowell is that level. But as backup combo guard he can certainly emulate DLo in defense

[old school 34]

It was mentioned that Nowell defense was keeping him out of rotation. I can see Nowell working in defense in DLo role, i.e. roaming in the paint, but he needs some awareness to rotate properly. The problem is that Nowell in defense is exposed when he is playing PoA defender with Beasley. And pairing with JMac is awful in defense as well. So I dont see one working solution here, only matchup based workarounds.

I’ve heard that D’Lo is a gigantic basketball nerd. That+his on court IQ/awareness makes him being in that role a logical fit. I don’t think Nowell is quite there on any of those aspects.

Dlo is around 3 years older than Nowell. Nowell also didn’t have a real coach before Finch (I just cannot count Ryan.) In time he will get there. In the meantime, Beasley is just nowhere near consistent enough on offense and his defense isn’t that much better than Nowell’s. I admit the situation isn’t perfect, but I would rather have the guy who gets you 10 points and 5 assists on a nightly basis than the guy who might score 10 on 9 attempts on a good night and on a bad night might score 5. Nowell is just superior in almost every category. The only thing Beasley does better in theory is volume 3 point shooting and Nowell proved he has that tool as well in the G.

I cannot stress enough that we want to move on from Beasley and we want to keep Nowell. His upside could easily be Brunson or Clarkson and Beasley’s upside just isn’t that high. Nowell is 22 and needs time to form that chemistry and develop his game. I get wanting to preserve Beasley’s value, but 2/11 on 2/10 from deep isn’t exactly doing anyone any good. We are past the deadline and 23 games away from our first playoff appearance since 17/18 and our second since 03/04. It’s time to put winning first. Beasley’s primary value is as an expiring, not a sniper.

Couple things WFL here for you to maybe consider as well...

1) So we bench Beasley for Nowell...how many more wins this year &/or in playoffs? Quantify it & then how many wins could it cost us in future years if we get substantially less for Beasley (Beasley can't have a THud playoff run however slim that may be if he's out of rotation)?

2) Both are bad @ defense currently but heard multiple times that it sounds like Beasley at least has a better understanding of where he's supposed to go....that has to count for something?

3) While Beasley isn't shooting the 3 as well...he's still a defensive magnet & creates room for others...just in a different way than how Nowell would have to do that. Beasley could lose this gravity, but currently it still exists?

4) Nowell's next contract...yes, there's always a chance someone overpays for him, but rfa world is cruel & not only is there not a lot of teams that have available cap space...many don't even have the full mid level. He could just as easily looking at a JMac type of deal as one as big as you suggest?

Do I want him resigned absolutely & Beasley eventually traded...yep. Is there plenty of basketball reasons to slow play Nowell eventually working back in the rotation....that also is conducive to us potentially having better future trading assets...all while not really substantially anyways move the immediate needle. Patience & trust Finch is the right play here imo.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[winforlose]

I’ve heard that D’Lo is a gigantic basketball nerd. That+his on court IQ/awareness makes him being in that role a logical fit. I don’t think Nowell is quite there on any of those aspects.

Dlo is around 3 years older than Nowell. Nowell also didn’t have a real coach before Finch (I just cannot count Ryan.) In time he will get there. In the meantime, Beasley is just nowhere near consistent enough on offense and his defense isn’t that much better than Nowell’s. I admit the situation isn’t perfect, but I would rather have the guy who gets you 10 points and 5 assists on a nightly basis than the guy who might score 10 on 9 attempts on a good night and on a bad night might score 5. Nowell is just superior in almost every category. The only thing Beasley does better in theory is volume 3 point shooting and Nowell proved he has that tool as well in the G.

I cannot stress enough that we want to move on from Beasley and we want to keep Nowell. His upside could easily be Brunson or Clarkson and Beasley’s upside just isn’t that high. Nowell is 22 and needs time to form that chemistry and develop his game. I get wanting to preserve Beasley’s value, but 2/11 on 2/10 from deep isn’t exactly doing anyone any good. We are past the deadline and 23 games away from our first playoff appearance since 17/18 and our second since 03/04. It’s time to put winning first. Beasley’s primary value is as an expiring, not a sniper.

Couple things WFL here for you to maybe consider as well...

1) So we bench Beasley for Nowell...how many more wins this year &/or in playoffs? Quantify it & then how many wins could it cost us in future years if we get substantially less for Beasley (Beasley can't have a THud playoff run however slim that may be if he's out of rotation)?

2) Both are bad @ defense currently but heard multiple times that it sounds like Beasley at least has a better understanding of where he's supposed to go....that has to count for something?

3) While Beasley isn't shooting the 3 as well...he's still a defensive magnet & creates room for others...just in a different way than how Nowell would have to do that. Beasley could lose this gravity, but currently it still exists?

4) Nowell's next contract...yes, there's always a chance someone overpays for him, but rfa world is cruel & not only is there not a lot of teams that have available cap space...many don't even have the full mid level. He could just as easily looking at a JMac type of deal as one as big as you suggest?

Do I want him resigned absolutely & Beasley eventually traded...yep. Is there plenty of basketball reasons to slow play Nowell eventually working back in the rotation....that also is conducive to us potentially having better future trading assets...all while not really substantially anyways move the immediate needle. Patience & trust Finch is the right play here imo.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

All great questions, thank you.

1. It is hard to quantify but if I had to pick a number, 7 more wins and maybe more playoff games. Beasley seems to have 1 good game for every 2 bad. If we use the remaining 2 as bad that means he will have 7 good games and 16 bad ones. Of those I would guess at least 7 could have been won with more shots going to guys who can shoot rather than a guy whose primary purpose is to space the floor by missing.

1A. I don’t see Beasley having any value at all right now. We asked for a first for him and didn’t get it. Beasley is a 15mil expiring and that is a value to a lot of teams. I was just reading that a lot of talented names could be on the trade block next year (sign and trade or straight up trade,) guys like Beasley can be helpful in making the math work. But as a player, I just don’t see him having enough tools to attract the kind of value we want. Also if I am correct and he has 7 good games and 16 bad ones, or being more generous 10 good games and 13 bad ones, does that really raise his value? Does he even make the playoff rotation if he is shooting like I am suggesting? Nowell could be of use to us in the playoffs if we give him the time to develop his chemistry with JMAC and the starters (in staggered fashion.)

2. Beasley might know where to go, but he isn’t exactly a stopper. Better to get Nowell up to speed. Any points he gives up can at least be made back on the other end. The longer we keep Nowell on the bench or playing a handful of minutes, the longer it takes him to become productive.

3. Nowell is also a distance threat. He is shooting 37% on the season and had around 44% shooting in the G on around 7 3s per game. However, unlike Beasley, Nowell can blow by when they press up. Nowell can also facilitate with his passing and handle. Nowell can actually make everyone better, Beasley just gets them a little more open, it sounds similar but it isn’t.

4. If you bench him it creates bad blood. He talked about how frustrated he was early this year. He earned his spot, and if we want him to want to stay we need to prove we value him. Otherwise he may take the QO just to ditch us. He has seen what we did to V8 that is a cautionary tale, not something to aspire to.

[BlacJacMac]

7 Wins for Nowell feels like way too many.

Does that make KAT worth 20 wins? ANT 15? Vandy 10?