4 Changes Timberwolves must make after rocky start to 2023-24 season
By Tyler Watts
1. Fewer 2 big lineups
The Minnesota Timberwolves are all-in on two big-man lineups. Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert are starting and playing 30-plus minutes every night. The franchise also re-signed Naz Reid this summer, and he is playing 25.3 minutes off the bench. It leaves just 5.4 of the 48 minutes where two of those three are not on the floor together so far.
Chris Finch faces a problem here. Three of his best players are centers, so he must play them together. Minnesota does not have many trusted bench options, either. Kyle Anderson is playing 26.0 minutes per game, but his other choices are Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Shake Milton, and Troy Brown Jr. Finch needs to play the matchups and find pockets in the game where he can roll with Anderson next to KAT or Gobert.
Naz Reid has been outstanding and deserves to play, but winning should be most important. Minnesota cannot continue to play two big men and be dominated by small ball units. They should make a trade at some point this season, but moving away from two big-man lineups is a needed change in Minnesota. Not exclusively, but getting it up to ten or 12 minutes per game without two big men on the floor is a must.
The Minnesota Timberwolves face the defending champion Nuggets on Wednesday night and have 15 games in November. 12 of those come against teams expecting to make the playoffs. It is tough sledding, so now is the time to get back on track before it is too late.
