Chris Finch confirms Joan Beringer influenced the Timberwolves' offseason direction

It's hard not to see the Minnesota Timberwolves' offseason as a vote of confidence in second-year big man Joan Beringer. The Wolves traded both Julius Randle and Naz Reid to get LaMelo Ball. Currently, Trey Lyles is the only threat to take away minutes from Beringer in the frontcourt, and he's a true power forward, not a center, which further cements the Wolves' belief in Beringer. 

While it was easy to realize the Wolves' offseason moves were in part done to open up minutes for Beringer, it's a bit different hearing that from the head coach. Recently, during an appearance on the Paul Allen show with KFAN Radio, Finch spoke about how Beringer influenced the Wolves' offseason.  

"When we drafted him, we had great hope; we saw the talent right away, and we knew at some point it would spring. When we played him last year, he helped us a lot, and it was just now that we had to create that pathway for him to play more consistently, and we were able to do that for him this offseason," Finch said.  

The Timberwolves needed to open up minutes for Joan Beringer

Beringer played a limited role as a rookie (314 minutes to be exact), and there were some growing pains. Regardless, he looked good for a rookie, and it became increasingly clear that the Timberwolves needed to open up minutes for him next season.

By trading both Randle and Reid, the Timberwolves opened up a ton of regular minutes for Beringer. 

It's unfair to expect Beringer to be perfect this season, but he can absolutely be a quality backup and take strides toward reaching his immense upside. The Wolves realize this, and they are ensuring he'll get ample development in year two. 

To be clear, the main appeal of making the LaMelo trade wasn't to open up minutes for Beringer. The advantages of adding a gifted playmaker and perimeter scorer alongside Anthony Edwards were the driving factors.

However, the Timberwolves likely wouldn't have been comfortable shifting this far away from their frontcourt identity if they didn't have such a strong level of belief in Beringer. Likewise, their decision not to add another player who can compete with Beringer for minutes speaks volumes about their confidence in him. 

The Timberwolves are right to believe in Beringer

While there is some risk in depending this much on a second-year center who only started playing basketball in 2021, the Timberwolves are largely right to believe in Beringer. The 6-foot-11 center is a freak athlete who has shown flashes of being an impressive rim protector with impressive switchability. According to Databallr, Beringer ranked in the 92nd percentile for blocks per 100 possessions. 

During an appearance on the Jon Krawczynski Show, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly noted that Beringer has unique physical tools that you only see once every 10 or 15 years. 

"He's got these unique physical tools that you see once every 10, 15 years. A lot of guys can run, or they can run and jump, or they can jump and move laterally. He can do all three," Connelly said. 

Honestly, I never thought of Beringer's skill set in this sense, but it's clear he possesses an ideal combination of rim protection and mobility. Beringer should help stabilize the Timberwolves' non-Rudy Gobert minutes, which have been dreadful over the past few seasons, and ultimately he gives them a successor when Gobert ages out.

While Beringer's All-Defensive level upside is his main selling point, he also offers plenty of offensive promise. Beringer is already an effective rim runner and lob threat, thanks to his great hands and jump out of the gym athleticism. As Beringer grows, he could start to attack more off the dribble, something he's shown flashes of. 

Beringer gave the Wolves some extra offensive juice. In his first rotational opportunity of his career, he dropped 13 points against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Additionally, in his limited minutes, Minnesota's offense was 12 points per 100 possessions better with Beringer on the court.

The sky is truly the limit for Beringer. This is something that the Timberwolves realized and had to take advantage of by giving him more consistent minutes. 

Overall, the Timberwolves' roster shake-up tells us everything we need to know about how they view Beringer, and Finch's comments definitively confirm that these moves were done partly with him in mind. 

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