Minnesota Timberwolves: Will Leandro Bolmaro crack the rotation?

The Minnesota Timberwolves are reportedly about to officially ink 2020 first-round draft pick Leandro Bolmaro to a contract, adding him to the roster for the 2021-22 season.

Bolmaro will be the only rookie on the Wolves roster on a regular, non-two-way contract. will he be able to crack the early-season rotation for head coach Chris Finch?

Will Leandro Bolmaro be in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ opening night rotation?

Bolmaro turned 21 years old a few days ago. Believe it or not, he’s the oldest of the Wolves’ three first-round selections from the 2020 draft, and he will be the thirdy-youngest player on the youngest team in the league.

But Bolmaro already has 76 professional games under his belt from Euroleague and Liga ACB, plus playing for Argentina in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; his experience against high-level competition is greater than that of either McDaniels or Edwards when they entered the NBA last season.

The Wolves current starting lineup consists of D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and one of McDaniels or Jarred Vanderbilt.

The first reserve unit will be Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince, Naz Reid, and whoever doesn’t start between McDaniels and Vanderbilt.

That’s 10 players right there. It doesn’t include Jaylen Nowell, whose promising offensive ability as an efficient, three-level scorer suggests that he could be a legitimate sixth-man in the near future. It also doesn’t include Jordan McLaughlin, who just re-signed to be the team’s third point guard and could see minutes on a semi-regular basis depending on how often Finch plays Russell and Beverley together.

It’s fair to say that Bolmaro may enter the season as the No. 11 or No. 12 player on the depth chart, ahead of only Jake Layman and the two-way players.

How long will it take Leandro Bolmaro to crack the Timberwolves’ rotation?

One of the appealing facets of Bolmaro’s game and his prospect profile is that he should able to play multiple positions on both ends of the floor.

He’s probably best cast as a point-forward-style of player, standing 6-foot-6 with moderate athleticism and the ability to pass like a point guard. Bolmaro was a phenomenal point-of-attack defended in Europe. His size, tenacity, and understanding of pick-and-roll concepts should allow him to be, at the very least, a solid perimeter defender at the NBA level from Day One.

Bolmaro isn’t a likely starter this year, barring a significant roster shakeup via trade. He’s also not taking Beverley’s backcourt role or Reid’s spot at the backup 5. Vanderbilt is the likely starter at the 4 next to Towns and will have a rotation role, and McDaniels is absolutely going to play.

That leaves veterans Okogie and Prince as the two players whom Bolmaro will be battling with for minutes.

Okogie is a great perimeter defender with a non-existent offensive game. Prince is an overrated defender who can theoretically guard both 3s and 4s, but he’s also an effective offensive contributor as a low-usage catch-and-shoot option.

The bet here is that Bolmaro is the odd man out early in the season but slowly eats into the minutes allocation for both Prince and Okogie, depending on matchups.

Bolmaro should theoretically be matchup-proof because of his size and two-way game. If he proves early on that he can guard effectively on the perimeter, we could see Okogie lose out on minutes. If Prince shows any signs of losing a step defensively or if his jumper isn’t falling, Bolmaro may get his backup minutes at the 3.

It’s hard to say which player needs to be looking over his shoulder the most, but when we get to February, the most likely scenario is that either Okogie or Prince has ceded his regular rotation spot to the Argentinian rookie.