On the Timberwolves’ early-season rotation

The Timberwolves are only four games into the season, but coach Sam Mitchell’s rotations have already been a hot topic for Wolves fans.

In the first game alone, everyone but Andre Miller played — in the first half. It was an odd choice, but also one that was fairly easy to explain as trying to see what he in the first meaningful game the Wolves played this year.

Since then, Mitchell has gone to a rather consistent rotation. The first person that he likes to bring off the bench is Nemanja Bjelica. Kevin Garnett starts at power forward to bring energy and set the tone on defense, but he isn’t capable of playing big minutes every night anymore.

Bjelica typically replaces Garnett four to five minutes into the game and is averaging 26 minutes per contest, mostly profiling as a stretch-four during that time.

The second substitution also comes early in the game, as Kevin Martin will replace Tayshaun Prince soon after Bjelica checks in. Martin slides in at shooting guard, moving Andrew Wiggins to small forward, his natural position. Bjelica and Martin each play nearly as many minutes as the other three starters (Ricky Rubio, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Wiggins).

In fact, the lineup of Rubio, Martin, Wiggins, Bjelica, and Towns is the Timberwolves’ third-most used, behind only the starters and the five-man bench unit. Mitchell has shown a tendency to run out players in hockey-style shifts, where he’ll use the five starters or five bench players for large chunks of the game.

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There is a bit of mixing as he tries to limit Garnett’s and Prince’s minutes, but it appears he has a liking for that sort of rotation.

The all-bench unit generally arrives when there are three to four minutes left in the first quarter. Zach LaVine will replace Rubio at point, Shabazz Muhammad will come in for Wiggins, and Gorgui Dieng finishes things off by replacing Towns. This lineup usually gets about six minutes together at a time, bridging the quarters in each half.

Coach Mitchell will begin substituting some of the starters back in as the second and fourth quarters roll along, usually beginning by bringing in Wiggins and Towns. LaVine stays in at point guard for a few minutes longer, but once Rubio comes back in, the Wolves are back to the lineup of Rubio-Martin-Wiggins-Bjelica-Towns. Prince and Garnett will then come in for the final few minutes of the first half, but if the Wolves are in a close game in the second half, Martin will get those crunch time minutes, leaving Prince on the bench.

The starters average about 13 minutes of playing time together every night, while the all-bench unit gets about 12 minutes, per NBA.com. Mitchell feels comfortable without one of his star players in the game to help guide the offense, which is different than most other teams.

The Clippers, for example, will nearly always have one of Blake Griffin or Chris Paul on the floor, even if surrounded by four bench players. The Thunder have a similar strategy with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka, trying to keep one of them in the game at all times.

There is nothing inherently wrong with not having one of the team’s best players in the game, especially when Martin and Muhammad have proven to be efficient scorers. However, it’s obvious with the Wolves that not having Wiggins, Rubio, or Towns in kills the offense. Ball movement stagnates, and too often the Wolves turn to Martin or LaVine to make something happen one-on-one.

This problem could be somewhat alleviated by keeping in someone that can collapse the defense with penetration and make smart passes.

That brings us to the point guard situation. LaVine has played nearly all of his minutes at point guard. Andre Miller has played only four minutes all season with all of them coming late in the blowout loss to the Heat.

Tyus Jones hasn’t even dressed for a game yet this season. LaVine continues to get all of the point guard minutes behind Rubio, and there have been very few stretches this year where he has looked good in that role.

Oct 18, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8) goes to the basket against Memphis Grizzlies forward JaMychal Green (0) during the game at FedExForum. Memphis Grizzlies beat Minnesota Timberwolves 90-68. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

The half-court offense with LaVine at point guard struggles to initiate plays, and, as previously mentioned, the ball movement suffers. Bringing in Andre Miller to help set things up would be extremely beneficial, but then somebody in the lineup has to lose minutes. LaVine should continue to get minutes, but he would have to get most of those at shooting guard. That would mean that either him or Martin should start to get those minutes in, which would move Wiggins to starting small forward.

Tayshaun Prince would lose most of his rotation minutes if that happened, but Wolves fans would likely agree that that would be just fine. Prince has actually been pretty good overall for the Wolves — at least by using plus/minus to measure his performance as he has a mark of +25 so far.

There has been only one time where the back court of Rubio, LaVine, and Wiggins have played together. It was the first game of the season against the Lakers, and it was only for four minutes in the first half. However, the Wolves outscored Los Angeles by 7 points in that short amount of time, including a sequence during which Ricky found LaVine on the fast break for an easy layup.

That should be allowed to happen more often. LaVine getting minutes learning how to play with Rubio might be more valuable than LaVine playing through his mistakes at point guard. Prince brings solid defense, leadership, and a hard-working attitude, and coach Mitchell understandably wants to show that he can win as the interim coach, but it’s all about the future for the Wolves.

Next: Towns And Wiggins Could Be A Duo For The Ages

LaVine getting minutes at the expense of Prince is much more beneficial for the long run. Even if LaVine still gets most of his minutes as backup point guard, let him run with Rubio for some short stints every game, because while LaVine still needs to learn the nuances of professional basketball, he also needs to learn how to play with his teammates of the future.