History Shows the Timberwolves Don’t Actually Need a Power Forward

The Wolves current power forward position is thin, but what if that's by design?

The Timberwolves may be planning to embrace wings over a traditional power forward. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If you fire up your gaming console of choice and load up NBA 2K, you can find the Timberwolves' 2027 roster and ratings in the game. After noticing Anthony Edwards is a 96 overall, you can hit the right bumper a few times to the PF position.

This is where most Wolves fans' hearts might drop. Currently the only players who are on roster at that position are Trey Lyles (74 overall), Enrique Freeman (69 overall) and Trey Kaufman Renn (not rated). Lyles is the 10th-highest rated player on the Wolves out of their 17 players currently on the game's roster. 

But, what if this is by design? What if the Wolves are intentionally not fostering a PF? As recent history shows, a traditional power forward is not necessarily important in the modern NBA.

Timberwolves could take a cue from recent title winners with power forward approach

Over the last five seasons, only one team has won a championship with a real power forward. 

This pasy year, OG Anunoby (at 6-foot-7) operated as the starting power forward for the New York Knicks, this after playing the first seven years of his career as a listed small forward. The Knicks utilized a roster that centered around one big, Karl Anthony Towns, and a litany of guards and wings that could switch around the perimeter.

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart played alongside Anunoby as wings with relatively no clear position. In fact, out of the 10 main players the Knicks utilized in the playoffs, only Towns and Mitchell Robinson were over the height of 6-foot-11. There was no power forward. 

When Oklahoma City win the ring, its listed power forwards of Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams both played less than nine minutes per game in the playoffs. Of the nine other players that saw more minutes in playoffs, none of which were power forwards.

Two years isn't a large enough sample size, so let’s look at the 2023-24 Celtics. The listed power forward for that squad was Jason Tatum, who in five of the six previous seasons had been listed as a small forward.

The small forward of that squad, Jaylen Brown, had spent four of his previous six seasons listed as a shooting guard. The team had Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis as their centers but they only shared the court for 5.3 minutes per game. The rest of the time it was the 6-foot-8 Tatum manning the power forward position. 

In 2022-23, the Nuggets won the ring with Aaron Gordon as the power forward next to Nikola Jokic, making them the only real outlier among recent champs.

In 2021-22, Golden State's listed power forwards were Draymond Green and Otto Porter Jr. Green is known for being a positionless kind of player, rather than a nominal PF, and Porter Jr. had long been a small forward.

The trend in the NBA has been to create a team that is long and has the ability to switch on the perimeter. San Antonio, Oklahoma City and New York all showed mastery in this last season. They placed their center under the basket, and then surrounded them with guards and wings that can switch among various roles.

How Wolves can practice the non-PF tactic this season

The best offensives in the NBA rely heavily on pick-and-rolls to hunt mismatches and set up their initial actions in the offense. This makes the guards and wings theory of switching imperative. If Luka Dončić calls up a player to set the screen and the defense can efficiently switch, it renders that first action useless. 

Think about Dončić calling up the power forward to switch and all that result is he goes from Anthony Edwards guarding him to Jaden McDaniels. LaMelo Ball to Ayo Dosunmu, or Bones Hyland to Terrence Shannon Jr. There are still mismatches to hunt, but all the players involved can match speed and length and not open up the driving lanes that fighting through a screen can cause. 

The problem could occur still with teams forcing Rudy Gobert to pop out, but having length and speed does allow for the Wolves to theoretically pre-switch.

Going back to the Dončić example, if he were to call up Walker Kessler, McDaniels could pre-switch on to Kessler as he sets up for the screen. This allows for Gobert to stay the low man on defense and for the guards and wings to continue switching. For a visual description, here’s a link to a dad explaining pre-switching to his baby.

The Wolves' power forward hole might not be a hole at all. With McDaniels, Dosunmu, Ball, Edwards, Shannon Jr, Hyland, Beringer, Josh Green and a returning Donte DiVincenzo at some point, the Wolves have plenty of talented defenders.

Minnesota might be simply looking at the trends in the NBA and the lack of need for a true power forward. They have the length and speed to replicate what four of the past five champions have done, and make their roster construction less about forwards and more about wings.