National Basketball Association

Coming preseason games will help Wolves determine roster, rotations

Published Oct. 17, 2014 2:07 p.m. ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- According to Ricky Rubio, the Timberwolves' training camp regimen wasn't limited to Mankato.

"I think we've had kind of a second training camp here," the point guard said Thursday at the Target Center Lifetime Fitness practice facility. "Kind of the whole team, the whole week to practice. I think we're going the right way. We're paying attention in the details, which is important when you have a lot of young guys coming from different kind of basketball."

Starting Friday night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the organization's gaze will begin shifting from the minutiae toward the 2014-15 season's bigger picture. Five preseason games in the next eight nights will go a long way in determining who makes the roster, who doesn't, and where certain plays fit into the mix, Flip Saunders said.

The coach and his seasoned staff have used a week between preseason games to continue their thorough installation of new offensive and defensive tenets. Special emphasis has been placed on rookies Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine and the rest of Minnesota's youthful core.

It's the same thing they did for a week at Minnesota State University -- lots of teaching amid competitive, up-tempo workouts.

"Every drill, everybody wants to win," Rubio said. "That makes the practice harder, but at the same time (more fun)."

Two exhibition contests last week gave Saunders, also the Wolves' president of basketball operations and a part owner, some material to vet in individual evaluations. Now, he'll begin taking a serious look at rotations and who works well with whom.

He already has a vague idea of what that might resemble. "A little bit," he said before the team headed south to face Milwaukee at the U.S. Cellular Center. "There's probably the last couple spots with people still fighting for rotations."

The Wolves have 16 players under guaranteed contracts with which to fill 15 spots by the Oct. 27 roster deadline. The final cut will likely come down to small forward Glenn Robinson III and point guard J.J. Barea. Forward Robbie Hummel may be battling for a roster spot, as well.

Robinson, the 40th overall pick in this year's draft, has a partially guaranteed deal and could be waived without losing too much money. Hummel is owed $880,000 for this year, rendering him another cheap buyout option.

Barea is a more complicated case. The subject of frequent trade rumors, he's owed $4,519,500 in this, the last year of his contract. The Wolves could deal him, keep him or buy him out, though for a larger sum than either Robinson or Hummel.

Barea had arguably his worst showing last year since his rookie season. Hummel was reliable but not spectacular coming off the bench, while Robinson's had an up-and-down camp following two standout years at Michigan.

Robinson went 3-for-4 for six points with three assists and two rebounds in Minnesota's preseason opener Oct. 7. Barea and Hummel each made 1 of 6 field-goal attempts for two points apiece in the same game. None of the trio played Friday at home against Philadelphia.

So each has plenty to prove in the next week and change.

"I'll tell you that in two weeks, where everyone's going to fit in," Saunders said. "Right now, we've got everyone jostling for position, fighting, and we're mixing teams up to see who plays good on what teams."

Which means the depth chart, especially the second unit, is still up in the air.

And until they play more games, individual players' capabilities and the team's adjustments to Saunders' expectations are difficult to gauge.

"Practice is different," center Nikola Pekovic said. "They stop all the time -- stop here, try to show here, try to do some different stuff. I think we just need to play more games. How the games are going, we're going to get more feeling for each other and who's playing better with who and everything."

There are few mysteries related to the starting lineup. Wiggins, the top pick in this year's draft, appears poised to land a starting job alongside Rubio, Kevin Martin, Thaddeus Young and Pekovic. Wiggins has had an impressive preseason performance so far -- 29 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks in two games -- but if he's not deemed NBA starter-ready, Corey Brewer would get the nod at small forward.

But Brewer is used to coming off the bench and says he plans to when the regular season begins Oct. 29 in Memphis. Behind him, every position has players contending for time.

Mo Williams appears the top backup option for Rubio, but LaVine and Barea might have something to say about that. The latter two guards could also play some two, as Saunders plans to use some dual-point-guard sets in his up-tempo arsenal.

The wing is even deeper, with Brewer, Wiggins, Hummel, Chase Budinger and Shabazz Muhammad all vying for time. Anthony Bennett is the natural No. 2 power forward behind Young, and the Wolves are three-deep at center with Gorgui Dieng and Ronny Turiaf.

Saunders prefers an eight-man rotation. But he'll lean more toward 10 regular contributors to retain fresh legs, he said.

The Wolves probably won't make any cuts until after the final preseason game, against Chicago on Oct. 24 in St. Louis.

So there's a lot to shake out, all while ensuring player health and proper rest levels. Only one of the Wolves' preseason games is at the Target Center (Tuesday against Indiana), and six of their first nine regular-season contests are on the road.

"These next two weeks, we're basically going to be on the road a lot," Saunders said. "You don't want to wear your guys out before you know you're going to have an extended road trip early in the season."

So the coach that once led Minnesota to the Western Conference finals isn't going to be impatient.

"He's still trying. I think he's going to try to figure it out here in the next couple weeks," Barea said. "Right now, it's really trying to get better as a team -- trying to get to know each other a little better. Hopefully we can get some games here, try and get our rhythm while playing, because nothing's like a game."

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