I think every Minnesota Timberwolves fan has at least one player whom they'd like to see have a bigger role in the offense. For me, it's Jaden McDaniels, but for others it might be Naz Reid, Donte DiVincenzo, Rudy Gobert, etc. This all sounds great, but the reality is that to give opportunities to someone, you have to take them away from someone else.
As such, when thinking about who needs a bigger role, it's important to ask yourself, practically, whose opportunities should be limited. With Anthony Edwards (20.8 FGA) and Julius Randle (15.4 FGA), empowering someone else would likely cut into their usage. For as much as I've advocated for McDaniels to have a bigger role, this balance is something that I need to consider.
This is ultimately a good "problem" for the Wolves to have. Minnesota has two high-level stars (with Edwards being an elite star) and several players who can scale up on any given night. Regardless, giving these players a bigger role on a nightly basis is more challenging than it appears to be at the surface level.
The pathways to empowering complementary players
Despite Edwards' ranking fourth in field goal attempts per game, I don't think many Wolves fans would want to see a reduced role for him, and rightfully so. Ant is an elite three-level scorer in the midst of a career season, averaging 29.8 points. If Edwards' field goal attempts were reduced, it would likely only be slightly.
Most Wolves fans who want to see McDaniels, Reid, or anyone else get a bigger role want this to come at the expense of Randle. I get it, he's inconsistent and hasn't looked like himself this past month. However, giving Randle a smaller role in the offense isn't a no-brainer.
For starters, Randle has averaged 13.4 points over the past 10 games, which is a clear reduction from his season numbers. Even with this decline, people (including myself) want to see other players have bigger roles. In the end, though, it's worth wondering if it's feasible.
My bigger concern is that if Randle is playing more off-ball, it would cause teams to sag off of him on the perimeter and collapse the defense on Edwards and others. The best of both worlds could be using Randle's playmaking more at the high post while running plays to open up shots for others on the perimeter.
Another fair question is whether the Wolves have an even higher level to reach pace-wise. The Wolves have surged into the top 10 in pace, but it's worth wondering if they have another level to reach, and if that indeed would give other players bigger roles.
Still, it's unclear just how much these fairly minor tweaks would benefit the Wolves' complementary players.