The Minnesota Timberwolves have a role player problem
With early injuries to players like Towns, Culver, Josh Okogie and others, players who likely would have been healthy scratches had the team been at full-strength all season were now being thrust into significant roles, and the results have not been pretty.
Keeping in mind that the Timberwolves are the youngest team in the NBA, the team had no choice but to throw young, inexperienced players into the rotation such as Jaden McDaniels (20 years old), Jarred Vanderbilt (21), and Jaylen Nowell (21) among others, who, for all their bright spots, still resemble a group of young guys still trying to get a grasp on the NBA, so it is only natural for them to experience growing pains.
The real disappointment has been some of the rotational pieces from last season barely improving or even regressing to a degree.
Ricky Rubio has not looked like he did as the starting point guard for the 8-0 bubble version of the Phoneix Suns. Rubio has committed costly turnovers and has converting baskets at an abysmal rate for a point guard in the modern NBA.
Last year’s No. 6 pick Jarrett Culver has been injured for about a month of the season so far, and when he did play, despite his solid defensive effort, his offense was absolutely atrocious. The same could be said for Josh Okogie.
It’s very telling that in multiple games this season, Wolves head coaches have given more minutes to the likes of McDaniels and Nowell over Culver and Okogie. It seems that unless the two of them are able to contribute more than a few good defensive plays and a small burst of offense every game or two, they may find themselves on a different team come to the trade deadline.
The same goes for Hernangomez and Jake Layman, who while they do not hold quite as lofty expectations as recent Timberwolves draft picks, still manage to get dropped out of the rotation entirely at times. And when they do play, they each appear to be a shell of the player that the Wolves’ office thought they were when they acquired them.
It is the play of these contributors from last season that has doomed the Timberwolves’ season just as much as Russell’s shortcomings or the excessive amount of missed time by the Wolves roster as a whole.
However, there is hope for the future.