Blue alert, the Timberwolves want to win. The stars are there, very present in the five major of Chris Finch, but we know it… it is obviously not enough to beat everyone. You have to hold on over the long term, and for that we obviously count on back-ups, rotations, and very often it always takes one to be the leader, the one who takes responsibility when coming off the bench, and who is sometimes even brought to finish the matches. So in Minnesota, who can play this role?
Tyler Herro in Miami, Cam Johnson in Phoenix, Lou Williams everywhere he went in his entire life.
There always needs to be a quality sixth man in a franchise, the one who tells the stars ” take a break guys i’m taking over“, the one on whom you can rest when you want to rest, the one who will slam his fifteen points off the bench to remind the opponent that he must be on the lookout for 48 minutes. In Minnesota, the one who had this role so far was Malik Beasley. Great. Since then, the guy has been sent to Utah in the trade with Rudy Gobert, and the Wolves bench finds itself orphan of its best man and will have to replace him. But by whom?
Well it’s rather simple, several possibilities are available to Wolves but we can only answer this question during the season. So let’s take a look at who is a candidate and who has the best chance of succeeding. Naz Reid, first of all, why not? NR has shown for three seasons and especially the last two that he is capable of bringing a lot to position 5, with relatively limited playing time: 8.3 points in 15 minutes replacing Karl-Anthony Towns, what can you ask for? better ? Well for example the 11.2 points in 19 minutes offered the previous season. With the arrival of Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid will suffer even more from the defensive comparison, already a point, if not weak, in any case not strong in his game. It is thus possible that it is he who suffers the most from the arrival of the Frenchman and the new organization of Wolves.
Another bench player could instead be the big winner of this trade. Jaylen Nowell stayed, he saw Malik Beasley leave and should therefore have more playing time than last season. Rather, it’s Wolves’ frontcourt that has greatly strengthened, not the backcourt, and so he could benefit from that. His coach, Chris Finch, mentions him more and more in his plans for the future, even sees him as a youngster who absolutely needs to be developed. And the player himself is aware of the new role he will have to adapt to:
“This trade definitely opened up a lot of opportunities for me. My job is to not take this for granted, to keep improving, and to give my best every time I’m on the court. […] I’m happy to have this challenge, I’m mentally and physically ready. I am very excited to have a new role this season. – Jaylen Nowell
Jaylen Nowell has a skillset which differentiates him from the other players of this Wolves bench. He’s the only one who can create his shot himself, is a good isolation player – 48% shooting success in this context, third on the team behind KAT and D-Lo – and can shoot relatively well from the parking: 38% for two attempts per match, we do better but also much worse, especially for a back-up. And even if he wants to avoid thinking about it, Jaylen Nowell will be a free agent at the end of the season and must show that he deserves a new contract. Becoming the attacking leader of the Wolves bench can only help in this regard.
No other player on the bench has the offensive abilities of Jaylen Nowell, but being a leader can also come through defense and Kyle Anderson known. After all, these Tim Connelly version Timberwolves have a strong point: no one can score against them, besides it’s simple they will not cash a basket of the season. They were already good in this area last season, maybe it was a surprise, and the addition of Rudy Gobert will inevitably improve all that. So inevitably, this energy must also come from the bench. Austin Rivers, for example, is able to follow the movement, but Kyle Anderson seems even stronger in this area, while being able to put some points when necessary. He could therefore become the mental leader of this bench, the one on whom we will rely, not to shake the opposing defenses but to continue to asphyxiate the scorers who would need a little air to exist. Small mention also for Jaden McDaniels… and if he was not finally titular as expected? Well if that were the case, he would come off the bench to explode everything, in attack as in defense, and the question would not even arise: he would be the leader of the bench of these Minnesota Timberwolves version 2023. But it would be too easy , and nothing is ever easy in the NBA.
Each team has its sixth man, and Wolves have yet to find him. But we would put a small coin on Jaylen Nowell, the big winner of the trade for Rudy Gobert this summer and capable of being very good offensively off the bench.