Developing the starting lineup and rotation for the Wolves is no walk in the park. They have serious holes at C and SG. Many of their top players are either PGs or PFs. And two of their best players are rookies that Adelman clearly wants to bring along at a reasonable pace.
I would say Adelman is doing a nice job developing the confidence and experience level of Rubio and Williams. Lots of key minutes without too much pressure. He also seems to be trying his hardest to extract some sort of production out of Wes Johnson, who the organization invested a very scarce resource (#4 pick) in obtaining.
However, in general the starting lineup and its lack of production is just getting ridiculous. How ridiculous? Let's head to 82games!
| Production | On Court/Off Court | Simple | ||||||
| Player | Min | Own | Opp | Net | On | Off | Net | Rating |
| Pekovic | 0% | -28.8 | -28.8 | +0.0 | +60.0 | +0.1 | +59.9 | +20.0 |
| Barea | 19% | 12.8 | 5.5 | +7.3 | +13.8 | -2.6 | +16.4 | +10.3 |
| Randolph | 18% | 16.0 | 11.7 | +4.3 | +13.4 | -2.4 | +15.9 | +8.2 |
| Love | 82% | 27.9 | 10.4 | +17.5 | -2.5 | +13.2 | -15.7 | +6.4 |
| Rubio | 58% | 16.8 | 17.0 | -0.2 | +4.7 | -5.4 | +10.1 | +3.3 |
| Williams | 39% | 15.7 | 15.2 | +0.5 | +1.8 | -0.5 | +2.3 | +1.1 |
| Tolliver | 47% | 7.5 | 12.3 | -4.8 | +3.7 | -2.4 | +6.1 | -1.2 |
| Ellington | 24% | 2.2 | 12.0 | -9.8 | +12.0 | -3.2 | +15.2 | -1.5 |
| Milicic | 43% | 13.2 | 14.8 | -1.6 | -3.4 | +3.2 | -6.6 | -3.3 |
| Ridnour | 60% | 13.0 | 13.4 | -0.4 | -5.0 | +8.6 | -13.6 | -4.8 |
| Beasley | 66% | 6.3 | 15.8 | -9.5 | +0.9 | -0.4 | +1.3 | -5.9 |
| Johnson | 44% | 4.0 | 21.3 | -17.3 | -11.9 | +10.3 | -22.2 | -18.9 |
Table from http://www.82games.com/1112/1112MIN.HTM
According to their Simple Rating, the starting lineup before Beasley's injury featured Love + the worst four players on the roster! When Beasley was injured, he was replaced by the fifth worst player on the roster.
Obviously there are caveats here. Simple Rating is just one metric, small sample size, in the past Luke has been a solid if not stellar player, and the rash of injuries have forced Adelman's hand.
However, what do you make of this? Is Adelman sacraficing wins now to develop the rookies for later? Should Randolph replace Darko in the starting lineup? How much longer can Kahn preach patience and youth when the lack of functional wings results in a starting lineup like this?