There have been a lot of lineup decisions to make with this Minnesota Timberwolves team, not all of them easy. Ever since Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo entered the picture, it has been an uphill climb in terms of how to make this roster work on both sides of the basketball.
And now that both of the aforementioned guys are sidelined due to injury, it has further complicated the job that Chris Finch has to do. Shorthanded and facing tough opponents on a nightly basis, life has been anything but easy for the Timberwolves as of late.
With several key guys injured, finding the right closing lineup has been a particularly challenging task for Finch and the staff. They are doing everything they can to find the right formula, but we are seeing more evidence that Mike Conley may not be the man to close games on a nightly basis.
In Monday night's loss to the Sacramento Kings, Conley had another tough outing. He finished the game with five points, but he came into the fourth quarter 0-for-5 shooting the ball.
Chris Finch on Mike Conley’s slow start
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) February 4, 2025
“He was being aggressive in the first quarter, I thought he was getting into the heart of the defense… but of course we need the production too, he just didn’t have it tonight”#bringthenice pic.twitter.com/uYNjWIAE8Z
Mike Conley is 309th in true shooting percentage
"I thought (Conley) was aggressive, it was okay," Finch said. "But of course, we need the production too, and he just didn't have it tonight." The stats back up what the eye test is telling us here. According to the NBA's official website, Mike Conley currently holds a true shooting percentage of just 53.7%, which ranks 309th among all players in the association right now.
Finch clearly wants to exhaust his resources with Conley before completely benching him. It is understandable that he does not want to prematurely give up on a tenured veteran, but we have now seen a few situations where other role players have performed better than Mike throughout the course of a game without getting the same opportunity at the end. Perhaps it could be time to reverse that trend.
All season long, Conley has struggled to be that clutch catch-and-shoot scorer that he was last year. His scoring and playmaking have not been there in the clutch basically all season. He can still provide value to this team, but the evidence seems to be piling up that he may not be the Wolves' best option at the end of close games.