On Sunday, the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 119-117, making their record 3-0 in the preseason. The victories don’t mean a lot, of course. Most teams, including the Wolves, don’t play their entire roster during the preseason and limit the minutes of their stars. In the game against the Clippers, though, both teams played most of their regular season roster. However, Paul George was the only Clippers star to play over 20 minutes in the game, and Kawhi Leonard played only 17.
Given the low minute loads for both teams’ best players, the game doesn’t perfectly depict how the two teams’ top-tier talents will match up. In an ideal world, both teams’ stars will play well over 30 minutes a game when needed. However, the game gave us a better idea of how the Wolves bench mob will match up against other high-caliber bench units in the regular season.
The Clippers should be one of the best teams in the Western Conference and potential title contenders this year. That’s partly because their star players, Leonard and George, are now healthy. But it’s also because of how much talent they have surrounding them. Last year the Clippers had the 8th-best record in the West (42-40) with Kawhi out for the entire season, and PG only playing 31 games. They stayed afloat despite their injuries due to their efficient three-point shooting (3rd in the NBA last year), and the consistent play of veterans like Reggie Jackson and Ivica Zubac.
Towards the end of last season, the Clippers bolstered their already impressive depth through a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. They acquired Norman Powell and Robert Covington from Portland, two excellent three-and-D wing players. That’s all before signing John Wall after he escaped Houston Rockets purgatory with a buyout agreement. Now their roster goes 11 deep with well-known high-quality NBA rotation players. And that’s before you even get to young up-and-comers like Brandon Boston Jr. and Minneapolis native Amir Coffey. The former Gopher started 30 games last year while the Clippers were fighting injury issues.
When you look through all the names on their roster, it’s incredible how much talent they have on their team. As a result, many analysts have rightfully labeled the Clippers the deepest team in the NBA this season.
For this reason, it’s encouraging to see how well the Timberwolves’ bench played against the Clippers’ top-tier depth. We have viewed the Wolves as an extremely deep team for much of the offseason. The offseason additions of veterans like Kyle Anderson and Bryn Forbes bolstered an already beefy bench unit led by Jaylen Nowell, Taurean Prince, and Jordan McLaughlin. Minnesota’s roster is so deep that, unlike in past years, they will have a hard time finding an opportunity to play any of their rookies or developmental players outside of garbage time.
Outside of the newly-signed veterans, though, the Wolves bench does not have the same proven track record of quality playoff basketball. However, almost everyone on the Clippers’ bench does. As a result, there’s virtually no way to truly predict how they will stack up against the best players on the biggest stage in the playoffs. Still, we can somewhat view the game against the Clippers as the Wolves’ bench unit’s first real preseason test playing against a team known for its depth.
It’s encouraging that the Wolves held their own in this first test. Several of Minnesota’s bench players had great games in extended minutes. Naz Reid stood out the most with an excellent offensive performance. While he started this game, he will come off the bench most of the time during the regular season behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Regardless, in just over 23 minutes, Naz scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, pulled in 11 rebounds, and dished out two assists.
Defense is often one of Reid’s weaknesses, but he held his own against a talented Clippers lineup, netting one block and one steal. Naz showed some great flashes of what he can do as an on-ball defender now that he will be playing more minutes at the 4 and will be required to stick with faster players and better ball handlers. On one possession, Chris Finch tasked Naz with guarding Kawhi. Reid stonewalled Leonard just outside of the paint, stopping him from penetrating into the lane and getting an easy bucket. He also looked comfortable switching and getting out to the perimeter quickly for closeouts when the team was scrambling.
Reid may not always be able to consistently stay with the top tier 4s in the league like Kawhi. However, flashes like this show that Naz is hardly done improving his game. All his work on his body since coming into the league has paid off. He moves much more fluidly than he did coming out of college. This year, Reid has a burst speed when getting to the rim that rivals many of the most athletic bigs in the league.
Forbes also had an excellent game off the bench. He came in on fire and hit five of his six three-point attempts in only 17 minutes of play. Bryn won’t always be nearly perfect from beyond the arc. However, we can expect him to remain pretty efficient because he has a history of being consistent, shooting 41.3% from three throughout his career. Forbes’ game is somewhat comparable to Luke Kennard in that he shoots threes with elite efficiency. That earns Forbes minutes in key situations, even though Minnesota has a tough rotation to crack.
The rest of the Wolves bench also contributed in a big way. McLaughlin had six assists in his 17 minutes of play and continued to play his signature style of scrappy defense, getting a block on Wall as he brought his hands up to shoot. Nowell showed off his creativity for paint scoring, weaving through multiple bodies in the lane to get to the rim and hit several tough layups. Anderson was a defensive pest getting two steals, including a slick poke away from Morris that he used to start a fast break. Slow Mo also had an impressive closeout block. He got from the paint to the perimeter in the blink of an eye to get a fingertip on Nicolas Batum‘s shot that turned it into an airball.
As impressive as this performance was, we won’t truly know how strong the Wolves bench is compared to the rest of the league until the regular season when we see teams (that aren’t tanking) giving 100% effort every night. Still, it’s encouraging to see that they matched up well against what could be the deepest team in the league in a preseason game that featured a lot of minutes for both benches. It should allow the fans and the players to feel confident that the Wolves bench unit can go toe to toe with any other bench in the league.
