A guide to the Timberwolves’ pending free agents
By Paul Ibrahim
Derrick Rose
Rose was arguably the Timberwolves best player in the playoffs, despite only two weeks of experience with the team before being thrust against the steamroller known as the Rockets.
Rose’s spectacular performance likely earned him at least another one-year, veteran’s minimum deal from some team, but that team should not be the Timberwolves. Gone unnoticed in Rose’s performance was the undermining of Tyus Jones, a player who has proved himself to be incredibly valuable to the Timberwolves over the course of the regular season.
In the playoffs, Rose averaged 23.8 minutes a game, a number justified by his level of play. Tyus’ play was rewarded with about 13 minutes of play per game, down from 17.9 during the regular season. Yet, this vast discrepancy is minutes played is not the most disconcerting number.
In the series against the Rockets, Rose had a usage rate of 26.1, by far the highest on the team, compared to Tyus’ meager rate of just 6.6. Of course, not all the blame for this discrepancy can be attributed to Rose, as he did outperform Tyus and Tyus seemed uneager to touch the ball for large portions of this series.
Yet, Rose should not have the highest usage on a playoff team, regardless of his level of play, and the simple fact of the matter is that he did take touches away from Tyus and our star players. The Timberwolves have to make a decision between keeping Rose or Tyus, and to me, the decision is easy. Keep Tyus.