Who gets more Timberwolves PF minutes? KAT, Slo-Mo, Minott, or other?
By Bret Stuter
How to distribute minutes for Minnesota Timberwolves Power Forwards
The Timberwolves may have one of the strongest rosters in franchise history this season, at least since the team last boasted Kevin Garnett on this roster. But the superpowered Timberwolves roster is only temporary, as many expect the team to be forced due to the NBA salary cap to part ways with at least one All-Star player.
The Timberwolves front office has already homegrown one young All-Star to take the place of All-Star C/PF Karl-Anthony Towns in the form of All-Star SG Anthony Edwards, a player whom the Timberwolves will now pivot to in terms of Timberwolves roster additions to augment Edwards with complimentary players.
The Timberwolves front office has also added an additional All-Star to assist Towns where he is his weakest, by dealing for arguably the NBA’s best rim protector in center Rudy Gobert. Gobert’s presence last season helped the Timberwolves to avoid utter disaster by helping the entire team scratch and claw their way into the 2023 NBA Playoffs by earning the eighth and final seed.
More than injury impacted the Wolves’ woes last season
Some were dissatisfied with the Timberwolves fortunes last season. But this team did manage to stitch together two consecutive NBA Playoff appearances despite a tsunami of injuries and adversity that should have knocked the team out of any postseason discussions.
But on the heels of that injury-riddled season, let’s not turn a blind eye to the fact that 29 games were simply not enough time to cross-train former Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns into current power forward Karl-Anthony Towns.
In truth, the Timberwolves had allowed the players to free-flow throughout the game. But it was clear that whenever Towns and Gobert were on the court together, they gravitated to the same spots on the basketball court.
The Timberwolves did Towns no favors by flipping him to the 5 role when Gobert rested. That reinforced bad play by Towns, which showed up in KAT’s sub-average season in his statistical production, which dragged down his impact on the Timberwolves roster from a low due to competing in just 29 regular season games.
That has created a vortex of speculation and projections for the Timberwolves’ 2023-24 NBA season. So let’s try to focus on how the Timberwolves will handle the upcoming basketball season.