As was expected, Chris Finch has kept the Minnesota Timberwolves' rotation of players to a relatively small number to this point in the season. He has mostly only played his top contributors regularly, with only eight players logging more than nine minutes per night through 21 games played.
Where possible, we have also seen him toy around with playing a few other guys in limited minutes. Rob Dillingham earned some of Mike Conley's playing time while he was out with a toe injury, but Dillingham has mostly been on the bench or sidelined with injury trouble ever since.
On Wednesday night against the LA Clippers, Wolves fans were no doubt delighted to see one rather unexpected contributor not only get extended time on the floor, but also more than make the most of his minutes. This was Josh Minott, who saw a season-high 21 minutes in Minnesota's blowout win over the Clippers.
Over the course of his first two seasons in the league with the Timberwolves, Minott's impact was minimal. In his first season, he was probably a bit young and raw to truly be a meaningful contributor, especially in a year where Minnesota was still trying to figure out incorporating Rudy Gobert. Spending time in the G League seemed to help a lot with Josh's development.
This is what Josh Minott was able to bring to the table for the Timberwolves in just a 5 minute stretch
— Hoops Digest™️ (@TheHoopsDigest) December 5, 2024
Effort on the glass, playmaking, steals, aggressiveness, not to mention his ability to defend. Needs to be a rotation guy for Minnesota ASAP pic.twitter.com/TjnHVjBrwq
Minott looked sharp in Timberwolves' win over Clippers
Then last season, Finch's rotation may have simply been too deep for Minott to break through. This year, with more moving pieces, Josh appears to have his chance. Wednesday night's performance in Inglewood was probably not enough to guarantee him consistent minutes going forward, but it should at least make the coaching staff think twice when they think about who they can put in the game in a close contest moving forward.
Because if you were watching this one, you saw a guy who was more than ready for NBA action. Minott had sometimes looked like the game was too fast for him in previous years, but no longer. He fit right in with the rest of the Wolves' regulars, and made a real impact on Minnesota increasing their lead against a good Clippers team.
More than anything else, Minott simply gave a hard-nosed effort and competed on every possession, showing how badly he wanted it. As cliche as that may sound, it sums up his all-around strong performance where he scored 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting along with eight rebounds, three assists, along with a block and a steal as well.
The Timberwolves are beginning to enter a place where some of the younger guys from the draft classes since Anthony Edwards are going to have to begin to be relied upon to contribute at some point or another. There are other promising prospects as well, but Minott is making a serious argument about being part of the regular rotation sooner rather than later.