The Minnesota Timberwolves may not be inspiring too many to envision this team as an NBA Championship roster just yet. While there are many reasons for that, and the list feels like it is growing as scrutiny intensifies, let’s focus for the moment on the starting five on the Timberwolves roster, or rather where the roster could be improved.
The Timberwolves just acquired center Rudy Gobert, and as a result of trading so many assets for one player, the team and player are not going to sit him this season for anything short of rotations or injuries. The same can be said about power forward Karl-Anthony Towns and shooting guard Anthony Edwards. Ant-Man and KAT are one-twos in terms of leading the team in scoring, and two-threes in terms of leading the team in assists. They all need to up their game and play far more cohesively
Two Timberwolves roster spots
That leaves just two roster starting roster spots to tinker with right now. Small forward Jaden McDaniels is new to the Timberwolves’ starting rotation, and point guard D’Angelo Russell is playing in the last year of his current contract. Of the group, the two players who are struggling most on the Timberwolves roster are DLo and J-Mac.
Can the Timberwolves fix this struggling roster quickly? I don’t think that is possible. The problem is not fixated on the poor play of one player, but rather upon the fact that the Timberwolves starting five players are learning how to swim in the 2022-23 NBA season by being tossed into the deep end of the pool and being told to swim in unison.
So far, fans are seeing a lot of splashing, and not a lot of movement from this roster. Of course, early reactions are to name, shame, and blame. But that approach will not fix this roster with any degree of urgency, any more than repairing an automobile in disrepair means taking out a loan to purchase a new vehicle. The Timberwolves must fix this roster, not replace parts. Here’s why: