Before the 2024-25 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves were vocal about their hopes for Josh Minott to take a step toward earning a regular rotation spot. On media day, Minott spoke about his thought process coming into the season and looking for a role on the team.
“I’m not going to lie, the theme of today is just not really caring too much,” he said. “That’s an external situation. I don’t control that. That’s for the front office and coaching staff to decide. All I can control is me, what I do, and I’m just going to go out there and try to be the best player I can be every day.”
A couple of days later, Mike Conley mentioned Minott as the one that stood out the most in training camp.
“I mean, all the young guys have really play well,” he said. “They’ve had a great off-season. Josh Minott is the one that stood out to me when I got back a week ago and even today.“
Minott is getting the largest opportunity in his young career this season. Part of it is based on the work he did in the offseason. It’s also because Joe Ingles and Rob Dillingham got injured. With Dillingham set to return against the Los Angeles Lakers, one question remains and has to be asked.
Did Minott do enough to keep his spot in the rotation?
Fans affectionately call Minott “The Lawnmower.” However, he’s had mixed career results. Although he seemingly has endless energy and top-tier athleticism, typical young-player problems, such as turnovers and misunderstanding schemes, hamper him.
He’s already played a career-high 96 total minutes in 15 games this season. Due to the low sample size, we can average his minutes using the per 36 minutes stat. However, in doing so, the statistics tell us much about his season.
If he were to play 36 minutes in a game (which is what per 36 accounts for), his scoring is down by 2.5 points compared to last season. His shooting percentages are also similar: 50% FG this season as opposed to 47.2% last year and 33.3% from three this year compared to 40%. His rebounds have jumped to an estimated 9.4 per game, 2.7 higher than last year. Meanwhile, his assists/steals dropped, and his blocks and turnovers remained unchanged.
However, he has made a bigger impact in the last four games, where the Wolves went 3-1. Minott played 38:23 in those four games. He scored 18 points, shot 7 of 11 from the field, 2 of 6 from three, corralled 10 rebounds, and dished out four assists. He also had 3 steals, a block, and only one turnover. Add it together, and it totals a +7 rating over those four games – perhaps the most impressive stretch of his young career.
However, the statistics don’t necessarily do Minott justice. His greatest strengths and weaknesses are tough to quantify in a box score. Minott plays with such a high energy level that his biggest task has been to play within himself and in control. By the eye test, he has still been a work in progress.
He possesses the ability to have highlight plays like in the Dec. 4 LA Clippers game:
However, he also had an egregious turnover in garbage time:
He has also made costly mistakes. In the video below, Julius Randle thinks Minott will fade out to the corner before Minott wraps around to the far corner. While the turnover was on Randle, the space in the near corner was there for Minott, which was likely where he was intended to go.
During training camp, Minott told everyone how he felt entering the season.
“I feel like I just got smarter, understanding what works, what doesn’t,” he said. “Just making the right reads, stuff like that. Just simplifying my game, not worrying about too much. Just doing what they expect of me.”
Minott has gotten smarter and has shined in his recent opportunities. However, his youth still manifests in his game. Unfortunately for Minott, the Wolves are 9th in the Western Conference after a 12-11 start. They may not have the ability to give him a long enough leash to learn and grow as a player.
However, winning games is often the best opportunity to get playing time on championship-level teams. The Wolves have been playing better lately, so there is a likely chance the lawnmower will be mowing down defenses again soon.
