Chris Finch just can’t seem to give up on the idea of playing Mike Conley. It looked like he would be forced to once Conley was dealt to the Chicago Bulls. Even if Chicago waived him, Minnesota wouldn’t be allowed to bring him back. Except, the Bulls then traded the 38-year-old point guard to the Charlotte Hornets, who subsequently waived him. That opened up a loophole where Conley could return to the Wolves, and that’s what eventually ended up happening.
With the addition of Ayo Dosunmu, it was believed that Conley would be coming back with a much lesser role than he previously had. That still could end up being true, but with Finch’s affinity for the 19-year veteran, along with the uneven recent play of Bones Hyland, there’s reason to believe Conley may find his way back into the rotation.
Hyland's struggles could lead to more playing time for Conley
On the season, Hyland has exceeded all expectations entering the year. Expected to play a minimal role, the 25-year-old has instead been a vital piece of Minnesota’s bench unit for the past few months.
During his career, Bones has always been known as somewhat of an inconsistent player. That has been mostly true as well this season, and of late, he hasn’t been helping the team as much. In each of his last three outings, Hyland has made just one field goal. While plus/minus doesn’t always tell the whole story, Minnesota has been outscored in Hyland's minutes each of the last six games, and eight of the last eight.
In their most recent game on Sunday, the Timberwolves were blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers. Minnesota was without two rotation pieces in Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid. Even though both are frontcourt players, Finch would need to extend minutes for others with the two absences, and after not playing in the previous game, Conley saw 15:27 of game action.
It was just Conley’s second game back since being re-added by the Wolves. The game was a blowout on Sunday, so playing time shouldn’t be seen as what will happen in the future. However, Conley received slightly more action than Hyland (played 14 minutes).
As has been the case much of the year, Conley had difficulty putting the ball in the basket. He went scoreless, missing his 2 3-point tries (did dish out 4 assists). After the game, Finch stated that Conley should have probably played even more against the Sixers.
"Mike was great. He competed on the ball, stood his guy up, gives you everything he's got. Probably should have played him a little bit more," Finch said.
All season, Finch has inserted Conley into games despite many in the fanbase wanting to see less of him. On the year, Conley is averaging 4.3 points on just 31.8% field goal shooting. Meanwhile, Hyland is scoring 7.1 points per outing while connecting on 46.0% (and 38.2% on threes) of his field goal tries.
Despite giving the Wolves an extra spark off the bench, Hyland's inconsistencies could open the door for Conley to play more.