Minnesota Timberwolves: Projecting the roster and wing rotation

Who’s in?

Jack Borman:

Andrew Wiggins, Robert Covington, Treveon Graham, Jake Layman, Josh Okogie, and Jarrett Culver.

There’s only one surprise in this list of locks for me – Treveon Graham. He’s on a partially guaranteed deal and didn’t show a ton of promise for the Nets last season. While Graham was a solid piece for Brooklyn, I didn’t think he would be good enough to wind up in a rotation that will feature a wide variety of young and athletic wings that need all the minutes on the floor they can get.

However, Graham has straight-up balled out for the Wolves in the preseason. He’s started the last two games and put up 10.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and has shot 54.5 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from deep on eight shots over 15.7 minutes per game.

Furthermore, he’s played similar minutes as the Wolves’ starters and sat out the second half of Sunday’s win over Maccabi Haifa, as did other starters.

Wiggins and Covington are locks to start and I expect to see Graham out there next week in Brooklyn starting alongside them. However, it is perfectly feasible that Saunders could change his fifth starter on a nightly basis depending on how the Wolves match up with their opponent on a given night.

In his post-game presser on Sunday, Saunders spoke highly of Okogie’s unmatched level of effort on the floor, but acknowledged that he needs veterans out there with him to raise his consistency. He mentioned Layman as a guy who meshes well with Okogie, because they are both very athletic and fly around on defense. That duo will likely play in the second unit to start the year, alongside first-round pick Jarrett Culver.

If Culver shows consistency with his jumper in the early part of the year, we could see him join the starting lineup sooner than we all might think.

Andrew Ites:

Like Jack, I’m also a pretty big fan of what Treveon Graham can bring to this team. He’s already started one game this preseason, so it looks like the Wolves are expecting him to play a prominent role even if he doesn’t get that starting spot.

Outside of Andrew Wiggins, I’m really excited about just about everyone in the Wolves’ wing rotation.

Robert Covington has looked like his old self this preseason, Jake Layman has thrown down some exciting dunks and he seems to be a good fit in the starting lineup, and the young duo of Okogie and Culver provide plenty of promise for the future of this organization.

Having a glut of wings is essential to winning in today’s NBA, and Gersson Rosas has done a good job of assembling this group with limited resources.

Ben Beecken:

I agree with Jack’s assessment here. Covington and Wiggins are locks for the starting lineup, and assuming RoCo slots in at the 4, either Layman or Graham are likely to also start with the other one coming off the bench.

Okogie will be a key member of the top reserve unit as well, and Culver is obviously a lock as the No. 6 overall pick.

Coming into training camp it appeared as though there could be a chance that Graham wouldn’t make the roster, but a strong preseason and the ability of Graham to prove that he’s healthy has all but locked up his spot.