4 things to love about Minnesota Timberwolves new lineups

There are plenty of qualities to love about the Minnesota Timberwolves roster after the NBA Trade Deadline, and the lineups that the coaches can send onto the basketball court as a result. This is no longer a team battling injuries and roles. The parting of ways with D’Angelo Russell may create a void in scoring for the team, but let’s not turn a blind eye toward the new opportunities that his absence creates for the team.

If the stories are true, and DLo openly chided and berated his teammate, center Rudy Gobert, that created a bad locker room environment. But let’s not overlook the fact that D’Angelo Russell had plenty of question marks himself. In the NBA Playoffs, when the team needed all hands on deck, he sat and watched his teammates battle it out with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Timberwolves picked up players who are great fits

The Minnesota Timberwolves not only off-loaded a very expensive player, but they were able to get three draft picks as a result, as well as add a true veteran point guard Mike Conley Jr., as well as a promising wing player in Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

But the roster is not nearly as important as the team’s lineups.  So let’s take a look at how the Timberwolves opened their first game with Conley and Alexander-Walker on the roster:

For their second game since the NBA Trade Deadline, the Timberwolves tweaked the lineup. And the move illustrated one of the reasons to love the new lineups. But for now, let’s just point out the changes.

The Timberwolves started power forward Taurean Prince, and played forward Kyle Anderson off the bench:

So what is there to love about this roster?