No. 8 and 9: Role reductions
Gorgui Dieng and Tyus Jones
After starting 82 games at power forward in Tom Thibodau’s first season in Minnesota, Dieng was relegated to a bench role after the signing of Taj Gibson last summer.
Dieng ended up shifting back to center and playing almost exclusively behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who was seventh in the entire NBA in minutes played. That meant that Dieng’s playing time plummeted from 32.4 minutes per game in 2016-17 to 16.9 minutes per game last year — nearly a 50 percent cut.
Dieng struggled to adjust, going through a couple of shooting funks and overall having his impact mitigated by the new rotation.
He remains a valuable third big man to have in the modern NBA, however, with his ability to play both power forward and center and cover the pick-and-roll decently for a 7-footer. He’ll likely cede minutes to Anthony Tolliver, just as he had to watch BJelica play power forward minutes ahead of him for much of last season.
But the ability to play both spots helps a great deal, and there is zero competition for backup center minutes with yet another foot injury to last year’s first-round draft pick Justin Patton.
Dieng deserves to play more than 16 minutes a game, but his massive contract (approximately three years and $50 million remaining) will make it difficult for the Wolves to facilitate a trade. Don’t forget that Gibson is a free agent after this season and will be turning 34 years old, so there are still several options on the table for the 2019-20 season.
Similarly, Tyus Jones saw his role expand dramatically in 2017-18 (after averaging 12.9 minutes in 60 games the year prior, he averaged 17.9 minutes in all 82 games last year), but will likely see a new addition — and an old friend of Tom Thibodeau — eat into his minutes in 2018-19.
While Rose largely played shooting guard after his addition to the roster, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him take some backup point guard minutes from Jones. It would be a detriment to the team, to be sure, but Thibodeau likes scoring punch from his guards and there’s clearly a familiarity and trust between he and Rose.
Jones is one of the better backup point men in the league, but don’t be surprised if his minutes are curtailed somewhat due to the re-addition of Rose.