Currently, the Minnesota Timberwolves' power forward position is a glaring hole. Jaden McDaniels and Trey Lyles are the team's only two forwards. Chris Finch has made it sound like the Timberwolves will continue to deploy McDaniels as a perimeter defender, and Lyles was out of the league last season.Â
With an open roster spot, the Timberwolves will likely sign a veteran forward, but now that we are in August and given Minnesota's lack of cap space, a high-impact PF solution isn't likely. Maybe Tim Connelly can pull off a surprising trade or sign Jonathan Kuminga, but doing so will be difficult.Â
Right now, the most likely outcome appears to be that the Timberwolves will have a makeshift power forward rotation. Anthony Edwards, Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., Josh Green, Jaylen Clark, and McDaniels (even if he's mostly still used on the perimeter) will all get reps guarding opposing fours.
Look, the Timberwolves rolling out a makeshift power forward rotation isn't ideal, and I firmly believe the team will have to upgrade this position at some point. However, last season the Timberwolves had a makeshift point guard rotation, which is a far more costly issue. The upgrade that LaMelo Ball brings to their guard room should lessen the concern about their power forward room.Â
Having a void at power forward is much better than having a void at point guard
While it's not optimal, you can re-create the power forward position in the aggregate. The Timberwolves will undoubtedly have difficulty with physical forwards and rebounding. Still, the San Antonio Spurs just went to the NBA Finals with Julian Champagnie as their starting power forward.
Yes, having Victor Wembanyama helps the Spurs a lot. But there's a blueprint to success with two guards, two wings, and a big. The New York Knicks, likewise, started three wings with no true power forward.Â
I'm not saying the Wolves can completely replicate these blueprints, but the point is that a power forward void isn't a totally devastating flaw. Power forwards can be re-created by wings to some degree.
The Timberwolves learned the hard way last year that the point guard position can't be re-created in the same way. They tried a unique experiment with Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, an aging Mike Conley, Bones Hyland, and eventually Ayo Dosunmu, all sharing ball-handling duties with nobody being the true PG.
In clutch time, there was nobody to organize the offense for others. And on typical half-court possessions, opposing defenses could sell out on Edwards, and there was nobody who could provide consistent relief. The Timberwolves still had some success, but in the second-round the Spurs loudly exposed this problem.Â
Thankfully, the Timberwolves have a star-sized solution to this problem with LaMelo. He can organize the offense for others and create for himself at an elite level. This is exactly what the Timberwolves needed. While the Wolves' point guard problem hit a breaking point last season as Conley further aged, they truthfully have never had anything close to elite PG play in the Ant era.Â
Ball-handling and guard play have never been more important with a league dominated by high-pressure defenses. Elite guard play is a common thread between all of the league's best teams over the past few years. Minnesota finally checks this box after trading for Ball.
Given how much success the Timberwolves have already had with a flaw at a premium position, just imagine what they'll look like with an upgraded guard room. Certainly, that outweighs some of the concerns about the power forward room, right?Â
Again, none of this is to say that there should be no concerns about the power forward room, but my ultimate point is that this is a much better problem to have than a glaring point guard flaw.Â
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