Just about every Minnesota Timberwolves fan expected Jaden McDaniels to play the power forward position this upcoming season, with Naz Reid and Julius Randle traded. However, Chris Finch has shut down this idea to some extent. Firstly, he said that he doesn't envision McDaniels as the starting power forward in an interview with Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.
And more recently, in an interview with Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, he doubled down on this take.
“I see Jaden playing largely the same role he’s always played,” Finch said.“But of course he can slide over to play four, and you get a chance to get other guys on the floor."
Figuring out where to deploy McDaniels is challenging due to his elite perimeter defense and simultaneously underrated defensive versatility. Still, the logic of keeping McDaniels at the point of attack is clear, and as more time passes, I think this is the right call for the Timberwolves.
McDaniels has long been one of the league's best on-ball stoppers, with his length and height making him highly disruptive. Keeping McDaniels in this role ensures the Wolves have an elite defender against a position that's loaded with stars. Despite the Wolves' lack of forward options and McDaniels' ability to shift up, keeping him at the perimeter makes a lot of sense.
The Timberwolves shouldn't risk losing McDaniels' perimeter defense
Now, with the Timberwolves' forward void, I do think we'll naturally see McDaniels defend forwards and be used in an off-ball "free safety" role. Finch left the door open, discussing how things can change in training camp.
Primarily, though, it sounds like McDaniels will continue to be used at the point of attack. In addition to Finch's comments, Tim Connelly said that the Timberwolves have some internal left-field-ish options to fill their power forward void.
The possibility of a late offseason can't be ruled out either, yet it's somewhat unlikely given the Timberwolves' lack of draft assets and clear trade candidates.
Assuming the Timberwolves don't make a major roster change, though, McDaniels' role on defense will be a crucial storyline leading up to the season.
Whether the Timberwolves use McDaniels at the point of attack or use him to defend forwards, they'll have to patch together the other role to some extent. So wouldn't it be better to "patch together" defending forwards than defending elite perimeter creators?
And even if McDaniels is the best option to defend forwards, it's not a role we certainly know he'll thrive at. Sometimes there's no need to mess with success.
As for how the Timberwolves will defend forwards, Anthony Edwards seems to be in play -- Josh Green, Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark, Ayo Dosunmu, and Trey Lyles (if he plays) are all options. Furthermore, the Timberwolves are likely to add at least another forward, which should give them one more option.
Look, this group isn't ideally equipped to stop physical forwards, and eventually I believe they'll need to make a sizable addition. Regardless, a makeshift group of forward stoppers is less risky to me than banking on being able to fill the void of moving McDaniels off opposing teams' best perimeter players.
Having McDaniels as a perimeter stopper has been one of the team's biggest advantages in recent years. Remember that first-round series this past season when he had Jamal Murray in jail?
Again, the more I think about McDaniels' defensive role, the more I understand why the Timberwolves want to keep him on the perimeter despite the lack of ideal forward options.
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