Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has been adamant about one thing since the moment the Karl-Anthony Towns trade went down the night before training camp began: it would take time for everyone to adjust to the new personnel. From the fans to the front office, the players, and even the coach himself, everyone would need to calibrate to a whole new team. Leading up to and into the early part of the season, Finch has reiterated his philosophy of waiting 20 games or so to find out what works best... and almost as importantly what doesn’t work.
This period of trial and error for the Wolves has been exactly that: trial and a good amount of error. As with any new experiment, there are going to be some things that don’t work, and Finch has been the first to call that out repeatedly telling all of us how he won’t always “get it right”. With 23 games down and a few days off before the Wolves play again, now is a good time to check in and see what is working. While it has been a tumultuous start to the season, Finch has struck gold a few times with one of the biggest prizes being the play off the bench.
While Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naz Reid, and Donte DiVincenzo have had very different seasons with varying degrees of individual production, they have helped inspire hope for this team as they embark on the next quarter of the season. Their biggest contribution is in their unity to create some of the best lineups that the Wolves have put out on the floor yet this season.
Let’s first start with the bench mob as individuals.
Donte DiVincenzo
The newcomer to the reserves has needed time to adjust to his new surroundings in Minnesota. His biggest issue at the moment has been his shooting. DDV came off his best season as a pro in New York averaging 15.5 pointers per game, boasting a 40.1% 3-point percentage on 8.7 attempts per game.
To start the year, those numbers have dropped to 8.6 pointers per game and 32.2% on 3-pointers on6.6 attempts per game. Obviously, some of that can be attributed to a different and lesser role in the offense but the percentage has been what is most alarming to Wolves fans who were familiar with him on the New York Knicks last season. The colder start has understandably created some uneasiness in the fanbase.
I am here to tell you that everything is going to be ok.
Donte has historically started seasons slow in his career before finding his groove and taking off after the first 20 or so games of the season. Take into account that he has had to settle into his new role on the Timberwolves while moving his family halfway across the country and it all starts to make sense. If you are selling low on your Donte stock, I will buy all of it.
Donte DiVincenzos stats first 18 games vs rest of season:
22-23 Season:
- 5.1 PPG | 1 3P | 31.6% 3PT | 49.4% eFG
- 10.9 PPG | 2.4 3P | 41% 3PT | 58.9% eFG
23-24 Season:
- 8.5 PPG | 2 3P | 1.7 AST | 54.2% eFG
- 17.6 PPG | 3.9 3P | 3 AST | 59% eFG#JustASlowStartPlayer
— momo (@1momo1__) December 2, 2024
Along with banking on progression to the mean, DDV is also providing a lot of value despite his shooting struggles. He is a great connector on offense, averages 3.6 assists per game (even while definitively NOT being a PG) and, perhaps his greatest contribution, he is still being defended as if he is shooting 42% and not 32%. Also, similar to his bench mates and something that will be addressed later, he is a part of some of the most productive lineups the Wolves roll out.
Naz Reid
The former NBA Sixth Man of the Year has also needed time to adjust to his new role which changed in the wake of the trade. Reid has spent almost every offseason of his career transforming himself from a center to a hybrid Power Forward/wing... only for the Wolves to make this deal and force him to play half of his minutes at the Center.
One of the biggest issues from the start of the season was when Rudy Gobert went to the bench, the opposing team had a red carpet all the way to the rim. This issue cropping up was not Naz’s fault, but he has made it his mission to come up with a solution.
Over the past six games, Naz has 12 blocked shots which has helped make the minutes that he is paired with Julius Randle much less of an issue defensively than they were to start the season. A lot of these blocks have also led to huge swings in the game, boosting the energy of the entire team.
The 3-point shooting has been down (41.4% in 23/24 to 35.0% in 24/25), but he is still averaging 12.7 points per game and I am expecting a similar progression to the mean that I talked about with Donte - especially from the corners where he is shooting an abysmal 10/32 (31.3%) after shooting 48/116 (41.4%) last season.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Unlike the other bench players, there is no need to project progression to the mean with Nickeil Alexander-Walker. NAW has been a revelation for the Wolves this season. Of the regular rotation players, he leads the team in 3-point percentage at 46.0% while giving some juice scoring at the rim and in the mid-range as well. Check out his shot chart for this season via Shotcreator.com, that is a lot of green.
He provides this offensive boost while being the same person he was last season on the defensive end, consistently providing high energy and effort levels night in and night out. NAW has been one of the biggest positives for the Wolves this year and is a team-high +12.4 in net rating with his on/off statistics according to Cleaning the Glass.
Lineup Data
While these three players off the bench have had very different seasons individually, they do have at least one thing in common: when they are all on the floor together, the Wolves thrive.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Wolves have six lineups that they have used for over 100 possessions this season (the next highest-used lineup is 80 possessions). The top three lineups in net rating include all three of Donte DiVincenzo, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Naz Reid.
These three bench players with Ant and Rudy is a staggering +38.1. Them with Mike and Rudy is a +32.1. Those are some eye-popping statistics.
There are a couple of caveats to these statistics: those lineups are mostly against other 2nd units and the starting lineup is still positive while having significantly more possessions, but the general sentiment still remains. The bench mob has been extremely good for the Timberwolves.
This ability to destroy other teams using depth is one of the biggest strengths that this Wolves roster has to offer and should bode well for the rest of the season. Not only are they able to have the luxury of pairing different players around Ant depending on the situation, but they can also dominate the minutes when Ant is on the bench and other reserves are in the game.
This lineup that includes Conley, NAW, DiVincenco, Naz Reid, and Rudy Gobert around Wolves circles has come to be know “The Lineup for Basketball Lovers” (TL4BL).
The Wolves have caught a rhythm here as of late and it seems like they are starting to find a groove after the disjointed start to the season. The defensive identity is coming back, and players are starting to understand their roles within this roster. There is still a long way to go in the season and the Wolves have to sustain the level of play that they displayed over the four-game winning streak, but Chris Finch is starting to get more things right.