Flip Saunders non-committal about Andrew Wiggins starting
Minnesota Timberwolves fans expecting to see the team's youth movement in action together as a group to start the 2014-15 season may be left waiting for a little while.
On Friday, head coach and president Flip Saunders would not give any indication as to who his starters will be when the season opens, strongly hinting that it won't be youngsters together across the floor when games tip off.
Asked of #Twolves starters, Flip Saunders told @105theticket youngsters to be interspersed w/ vets. Noncommittal on Andrew Wiggins starting.
— Andy Greder (@twolvesnow) September 17, 2014
Specifically, fans are probably curious about the status of Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine. Wiggins' ability to play both wing spots means he should have no trouble finding minutes, but whether he starts over Kevin Martin or Corey Brewer may not be known until opening night. LaVine, meanwhile, is behind Wiggins and Martin at the two, and behind Ricky Rubio and maybe Mo Williams at the one, so he could be left to fight for a role.
Elsewhere on the roster, Anthony Bennett and Thad Young should split time at the four, and potential breakout player Gorgui Dieng has a larger role blocked by Nikola Pekovic.
Wiggins is the main focus, however, and history would suggest he'll have an appreciable role. Number one picks since the year 2000 have averaged 30.1 minutes and started 77.8 percent of games as rookies.
As Zach Harper of Eye On Basketball points out, there's precedent with Saunders and another high-profile rookie, too:
Back in 1995-96, Kevin Garnett was forced to earn his starting position as a rookie. Bill Blair was the coach for the first 20 games of the season, none of which Garnett got a start in. Saunders took over as coach after those first 20 games but Garnett still didn't start a game until 32nd game of his career. Even then, he spent the next six games coming off the bench before earning his starting spot for good in the 39th game of that season.
Wiggins will eventually settle into a starting role, probably at the three, both to eventually clear room for LaVine, and because we'd suggest that's his best position in the long run. So don't panic if he's not on the court to start the first game of the season (though we'd suspect he will be), he's still going to get all the playing time he can handle.