The Accidental Youth Movement: things could get even uglier for young Wolves

The Wolves’ roster was an interesting mix of first and second-year players and older, veteran players back on opening night. It pointed directly to head coach and general manager Flip Saunders’ obvious fear of a total tear-down and rebuild, or tanking, if you will.

Saunders likely didn’t harbor any illusions of the playoffs, but insisted that he wanted to maintain competitiveness while developing his stable of painfully young players. There is some merit to this method, as losing nearly every game (see: Philadelphia) likely wouldn’t be beneficial good for the young, promising players that are already on the roster. The point of tanking, after all, is to land high draft picks and hopefully, a top-flight talent.

Of course, the young Wolves already have that highly-coveted prospect in 19-year old Andrew Wiggins. Combined with 24-year old Ricky Rubio, that’s a solid tandem to begin to surround with other young, ancillary pieces. Zach LaVine is just 19 years old, but is likely more of a boom (star) or bust (bust) player than a solid role player. Thaddeus Young is just 27 years of age, and if he is still with the team in the near future, is a very good fit with Rubio and Wiggins.

In other words, being bad for the sake of being bad is all the Wolves would be doing. With six first or second-year players on the roster, it’s tough to advocate adding more teenagers to an already ridiculously young squad. At some point, developing what is already on the team is more important than perpetually searching for more talent. And when Wiggins is the centerpiece and Rubio has just signed a contract extension, now is the time.

Which is why, for as much as I dislike a lot about how the summer of 2014 (read: the coaching search) played out and am far from Saunders’ biggest fan, I think he largely did the right thing with this year’s roster.

Unfortunately, injuries have popped up once again at Target Center, leaving the Timberwolves so thin that rumored-about trades of Corey Brewer and/or Chase Budinger would leave the rotation far too thin. A healthy team with a starting lineup of Rubio, Kevin Martin, Wiggins, Young, and Nikola Pekovic is, quite possibly, a 35+ win team. Suddenly, a 19-year old combo guard that didn’t even start in college just eight months ago, is a starting point guard on an NBA squad.

To make matters worse, the veterans haven’t done their respective jobs in the absence of Rubio, either. Young’s mother passed away, so his absence is unquestionably understandable. But Williams and Martin had both been largely atrocious (especially defensively) until Wednesday night’s shellacking of the New York Knicks. Pekovic has struggled both from the field and on the glass, and now has a couple of injuries that will cause him to miss at least a week. Budinger has barely played, and has been bad when he does. At least Brewer has played hard.

And suddenly, we’re down to the 19 and 20-year olds again. While long-term expectations are high, a starting lineup of LaVine, Martin, Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Gorgui Dieng wouldn’t win more than a handful of games over the course of a full season. Saunders’ adjustment against the Knicks was trotting out a lineup of Williams, Martin, Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad, and Dieng, and it worked. Kudos to Saunders for trying something different and playing the match-ups.

Such a move won’t likely make a difference against San Antonio on Friday night, but it only underscores just how important it was to beat the Knicks.

Hopefully, extended minutes will speed up the development of LaVine, Wiggins, and others. But even more importantly, Saunders must hope that the lack of wins and likely numerous double-digit defeats won’t instead stunt their growth.

Get healthy, Ricky.

More from Dunking with Wolves

Home/Timberwolves News