Minnesota Timberwolves Lineup: 3 options for 2021-22 starting five

Minnesota Timberwolves Lineup Combination No. 2

G: D’Angelo Russell
G/F: Josh Okogie
G/F: Anthony Edwards
F: Jaden McDaniels
C: Karl-Anthony Towns

This version of the starting lineup is more balanced, allowing for more size and defense while shifting a fair amount of offensive firepower from the starters to the bench.

Josh Okogie is a much better defender than Beasley. A backcourt of Russell, Beasley, and Edwards would struggle mightily to defend the pick-and-roll game and give up nearly as many points as they score on the other end.

Last season, in fact, that three-man combination had a defensive rating of 114.4 and a net rating of -5.8 in 178 minutes.

Interestingly enough, the three-man lineup of Russell, Okogie, and Edwards played to an even net rating of 0.0 in a larger sample size of 229 minutes.

There are plenty of factors that play into that, of course, but there’s certainly something to be said for shifting a legitimate 18-to-20 point-per-game scorer and 40-percent 3-point shooter to the bench and doubling the number of plus defenders in the starting lineup by making this swap.

Offensively, the Wolves would treat Okogie as a traditional power forward instead of as a guard. (Think how the Wolves used Jarred Vanderbilt last season for a good comparison point.)

Former head coach Ryan Saunders would too often leave Okogie on the perimeter, where his career 27.3 percent mark from deep and 31.5 percent clip from the corners was detrimental to everything the Wolves were trying to offensively.

But by hiding Okogie either in the dunker’s spot along the baseline or at the elbow in horns sets, where he can be effective as a cutter or roller, the Wolves can still attack with Russell/Edwards/Towns and give McDaniels a bigger slice of the pie on offense as well.

The defense would be significantly better as well, with Okogie guarding the opposing team’s best guard and McDaniels locking down the wing and the frontcourt.

Speaking of length and positional flexibility, let’s take a look at one more possible starting lineup.