Minnesota Timberwolves: Predicting the 2018-19 depth chart
By Ben Beecken
The Starters
Jeff Teague, Andrew Wiggins, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, Karl-Anthony Towns
While there’s a school of thought that could suggest that at some point this year we could see a shift at shooting guard (if Josh Okogie clearly outplays Wiggins, would Wiggins still get an endowment nod) or power forward (Gorgui Dieng is signed for three more years and a lot of money, while Gibson is 33 years old and a free agent next summer), it’s far more likely than not that this is the group we’ll see for 82 games this year, were they all to stay 100 percent healthy.
It’s still a solid unit, and if Wiggins takes another modest step forward on defense it could be one of the very best lineups in the NBA.
As it stood in 2017-18, this lineup led the league in overall minutes for a five-man unit (of course) and was actually third in Offensive Rating among five-man units that appeared in at least 41 game, posting a 112.7 rating in 1,131 minutes.
The only two lineups it trailed was the Philadelphia 76ers lineup of Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Embiid (117.1 in 600 minutes) and the Toronto Raptors lineup of Lowry-DeRozan-Anunoby-Ibaka-Valanciunas (112.9 in 801 minutes). Of course, both of those teams’ five-man units were superior than the Wolves’ on the defensive end of the floor.
Generally speaking, Butler and Gibson are both well above-average defenders while Towns and Teague are passable. Wiggins has been bad but has shown flashes of brilliance. If he and Towns can somehow figure out that next step on defense, then this is a clear 50+ win team and a top-four seed in the Western Conference.
Not much else to see here. On to the bench.