The Timberwolves regular starting lineup was very successful last season and also the most heavily used lineup in the league, two facts which are not unrelated. Tom Thibodeau, whose tendency is to rely on certain players extensively anyway, had a lineup that worked, and he was loath to go away from his trusted combination.
That’s understandable, but the question that I want to investigate today is whether staggering certain players more would have been beneficial to team success. Let’s start with some baselines:
Overall, the Wolves were 2.2 points better per 100 possessions than their opponents.