Assigning blame for the Timberwolves’ lost season: The front office
Gersson Rosas: 30 percent
As it is currently constructed, the Wolves roster is broken, and Gersson Rosas deserves the blame for that.
A major flaw has been exposed in Rosas’ plan: everything falls apart if KAT is unavailable to play. In fairness, no one could have anticipated KAT missing so much time in the last year, but that doesn’t excuse the shortcomings of some of the decisions of Rosas’ front office.
One of Rosas’ biggest mistakes has to be the 2019 draft, when the Wolves traded Dario Saric to move up from No. 11 to No. 6, where they selected Jarrett Culver. Mind you, the Wolves were rumored to be targeting Darius Garland at that pick, but he was stolen off the board by Cleveland at No. 5 after the Wolves and Cavs couldn’t reach a trade agreement. As a result, the Wolves traded its best power forward for a player who clearly was never a fit for the system.
The Wolves haven’t really recovered from this move in terms of solidifying the power forward position. Rosas re-signed Juancho Hernangomez after acquiring him at last year’s trade deadline with the hope that he would be a significant contributor. Plus, Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders believed that Jake Layman could help Juancho hold down the 4.
Neither of these has been the case, and the only reason that the 4-spot hasn’t been a complete disaster is because of the surprising play from Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels.
The Rubio trade is also proving to be an indictment on Rosas, as Rubio has shown that he isn’t a consistent fit in the current system. Rubio is largely ineffective off the ball, and on a team that already has Russell, it begs the question of what purpose Rubio plays on this roster — especially after trading the expiring contract of James Johnson (another power forward) and the No. 16 overall pick to acquire him.
On top of that, the Wolves already had a quality backup point guard in Jordan McLaughlin, who was leveraged into a two-way deal that may result in him searching for a new team after this season.
Additionally, though there were some great aspects to the trade, Rosas is ultimately responsible if the Wolves lose their 2021 first-round pick. Rosas essentially made a bet with Golden State that the Wolves would be good this season, and he is losing that bet.
At this point, the best hope for Minnesota is to luck into a top-three pick, but this seems unlikely pending the return of Karl-Anthony Towns to the lineup. If the Wolves end up losing a pick in the top five or six, it will be a huge indictment on Rosas.
Rosas shouldn’t be the subject of excessive criticism as of yet, however. As we saw from last year’s broken roster that started the season, Rosas hopefully has a plan for this roster going forward. If Rosas is able to run assets like Rubio, Beasley, Culver, and Okogie into a third star in a trade, his actions – cutting Rondae Hollis Jefferson, acquiring Rubio, drafting Culver – will all make a little more sense.
Most criticism should be reserved until after the upcoming trade deadline, but Rosas is one of the biggest factors in this team’s current failures, even though it may be part of a grand plan.