Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 concerns as season begins

No. 1: What will the Minnesota Timberwolves rotation look like?

The final concern for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the one that could ultimately drive the nail through the team’s coffin, is their rotation problem.

For the last few years, the one criticism that has been leveled at Ryan Saunders (or at least the one that he hasn’t been able to address) is his poor handling of the rotation; and that’s only going to become more of a problem this season.

Coming into this season, the Timberwolves have Rubio, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarrett Culver, Edwards, and hopefully at some point Jordan McLaughlin to run at the one and two-guard. At the small forward position, they have Edwards and Josh Okogie, which could prove problematic if Edwards wants to run as a two-guard, as well as defensively, due to Edwards’ less than spectacular ability on that end. For the forward/center combo, Minnesota has Towns, Davis, Juan Hernangomez, Naz Reid, and Jake Layman.

Minnesota’s wealth of choice at the guard and F/C positions could be beneficial, but could also hurt some players’ sense of value as they miss out on the minutes they feel like they deserve. At the small forward position, Minnesota needs to find a backup Small Forward to allow Edwards to shift between the two and the three depending on their opponent’s strength.

Another concern is the starting lineup. Though Minnesota has played three preseason games, the lineups they started with didn’t seem to work. Specifically, putting Layman in at the starting four. Even with Minnesota being as high on Layman as they are, he simply doesn’t have the skillset to go toe-to-toe with the league’s top forwards.

Although Minnesota has a few more areas they need to see improvements in, these three are the three biggest concerns going into the new season. If Minnesota can address these early on, the outlook is bright for the season. If not, the Timberwolves could find themselves in the lottery once again.