The Julius Randle-Naz Reid defensive pairing has been a troubling aspect of the Minnesota Timberwolves season. Overall, Randle and Reid have a plus-5.4 net rating per Cleaning the Glass, which is great. However, they also have a 119.6 defensive rating, which ranks in the 20th percentile. The non-Rudy Gobert minutes have been a key issue for the Wolves all season, and it's in large part due to the defensive deficiencies of Randle and Reid.
Before the playoffs start, Chris Finch needs to find ways to optimize this duo. Otherwise, opposing teams will expose the Wolves' defense when Gobert is off the court. On the bright side, the offensive upside and impact of the duo is clear, so if things can improve on defense it would be a game-changer for the Timberwolves and their overall championship chances.
Believe it or not, but this is actually a solvable problem
Finding ways to maximize a defensive pairing of two big men who are poor rim protectors is tricky, especially when the Wolves' defense is built around Gobert's rim protection. Nevertheless, there are some pathways to making this Randle and Reid pairing work.
Throughout the season, I've advocated for the Wolves to play Jaden McDaniels and Jaylen Clark during the Randle and Reid minutes. Despite only playing 135 possessions together, this four-man pairing has a 109.4 defensive rating -- a number that ranks in the 89th percentile. Simply put, surrounding Randle and Reid with two high-quality point-of-attack defenders is the only way to compensate for their poor rim protection. Furthermore, McDaniels can protect the rim at a high rate, which gives the Wolves' defense some extra versatility with Gobert off the court.
With Ayo Dosunmu's arrival, the Wolves have a clearer path to surrounding Randle and Reid with more defense. Despite Clark's defensive acumen, Finch has been hesitant to play him big minutes. Now, though, with Dosunmu being able to provide more of an offensive punch, there's no excuse not to play him and McDaniels in the non-Gobert minutes.
In two games, we've seen this two-man pairing for 23 possessions, and they have a 95.5 defensive rating. This is a small sample size, but it's undoubtedly an encouraging sign.
To me, playing Dosunmu, McDaniels, Randle, and Reid together is the most obvious solution to the non-Gobert minutes. However, another solution could be playing Joan Beringer. I'll acknowledge that this is more outside of the box than my other suggestion -- but I think it's worth exploring.
In his very limited minutes, Beringer has proven that he can contribute. The problem is that there aren't enough minutes for Beringer in a loaded Wolves frontcourt. As such, playing three bigs is the only path to playing him. Of course, playing Reid as a small forward is risky given his lack of lateral quickness, and in the limited minutes of this trio, the results have been awful. Regardless, having a natural rim protector during the Randle-Reid minutes could prove to be worthwhile, and the Wolves could lean into their elite positional size.
Again, I think the combination of Dosunmu, McDaniels, Randle, and Reid is the most obvious solution to this problem. My point is, though, Finch has some options to maximize the Randle-Reid minutes.
In any event, Finch figuring out a way to improve the Randle-Reid minutes defensively should be a clear priority during the final stanza of the regular season.