Pacers Loss Put Timberwolves' Biggest Weakness in View Full

On a night centered around Tyrese Haliburton's return to NBA basketball, the Indiana Pacers took advantage of the main weakness of the Minnesota Timberwolves roster.

The Timberwolves' starting lineup performed well for the second straight preseason game, but the bench behind them looked a lot shakier. The frontcourt depth especially struggled with Indiana's two-big lineup of Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac, who bullied Minnesota's smaller defenders.

The Wolves' defense and rebounding looked great when Rudy Gobert was on the court, but when he went to the bench, the story changed. Joan Beringer specifically had some struggles. There were some defensive miscommunications in transition, and he found himself out of position for a couple of rebounds.

Rebounding on the defensive end of the floor has been an issue in both of the Wolves first two preseason games. Some of that has to do with Minnesota's roster construction, but it also may be due to a lack of focus and commitment, which has somewhat understandably been missing during these early-October games.

"I think we just have to do a better job," Ayo Dosunmu explained about the team's rebounding struggles. "I know for sure watching the film, I have to do a better job boxing out. I think that’s the main thing. Boxing out and then perusing the rebound. A lot of the times the rebounds we’ve been giving up have been easy fundamental things we can clean up."

Timberwolves appear to be missing a physical edge in preseason

Missing some of the fundamentals is fine for training camp and the preseason, but eventually those areas will need to lock-in. That is true for every area of the game, but especially for an aspect that projects to be biggest sticking point with the current roster.

The Wolves were also switching defenders on ball screens, which meant players like Jaylen Clark and Terrence Shannon Jr. got matched up with Siakam, which did not end well for the smaller defenders.

“That ain’t really a new thing for me," Shannon Jr. said about going against bigger opponents. "I feel like I’m physically able to guard a four. I gotta do a better job of rebounding, boxing out.”

The question that the Wolves and their coaching staff will need to answer, given the lack of true bigs on the roster, is whether they have enough players who can guard up on the positional spectrum. Clark and Shannon Jr. had mixed results against the Pacers, but the Wolves could also look to Trey Lyles or Cody Williams, who has played quality minutes for Minnesota this preseason.

Chris Finch appears less worried than most about his team's potential lack of size than most, mostly pointing to the nature of experimenting with lineups during what are ultimately exhibition games during the preseason.

“We’re not helping them right now," Finch explained about the struggles of some of the bench groups. "We’re just trying to get guys some minutes right now. I wouldn’t look at things as first, second, and third units.”

The only way the Timberwolves will truly know if their frontcourt depth and lack of size at the power forward position is a substantive issue is by getting to the games that actually count. Minnesota's roster will get tested immediately in the team's regular-season opener against the Miami Heat.

The Wolves will have their hands full with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, two of the biggest and strongest scorers in the league. While the starting lineup stacks up alright with Miami's bigs, the switch-heavy bench is far less capable of slowing down larger teams.

The preseason has highlighted a potential soft spot in the roster, one that has the potential to hold this Timberwolves team back. The bright side is that the Wolves will know on night one whether or not their bench rotation is big enough, or the issue will be a season-long story.

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