The Minnesota Timberwolves are having yet another season where they will not make the playoffs. Unlike past seasons though, this Timberwolves team has a lot of hope with their young talent. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are the headliners in Minnesota, but Zach LaVine has started to make a name for himself and shown that he is a big part of the future, too. Interim head coach Sam Mitchell announced during the All-Star break that LaVine and Tayshaun Prince would alternate starting games for the rest of the season, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, and he has stuck to it - but it needs to stop.
The reason for Mitchell alternating the starts is not exactly known, but it is likely a reward for Prince being a mentor to a lot of the young players. Prince, though, is on a one-year minimum deal, and the 35-year-old forward is not part of the Wolves' future, so he should be moved full-time to the bench. LaVine, on the other hand, is 20 years old, has shown a lot of improvement from year one to year two and is a huge part of the future.
In Mitchell's defense, LaVine is still getting more than 30 minutes per game even in the games he doesn't start, but there is no reason for him to even have to come off the bench at all. It would make more sense if the Timberwolves were planning to use LaVine as a bench player moving forward, but they have made it clear that they see him as their starting shooting guard of the future.
Part of the problem with starting LaVine every game is that it would move Wiggins to small forward full-time and the Timberwolves don't believe he is ready for that. For that reason, they are trying to ease him into the small forward spot by only having him start there every other game. While it makes sense to have LaVine come off the bench for that reason, the Timberwolves need to get Wiggins more acclimated to the small forward role, with LaVine starting next to him, and the best way to do that is through experience.
LaVine came into the league position-less, as he is between a point guard and a shooting guard. The Timberwolves have moved him back-and-forth between positions a lot, but they seem to have settled on the off-guard position for him, according to SB Nation. LaVine needs time at the shooting guard position to reach his potential, and playing alongside Ricky Rubio and Wiggins, which he will likely be doing in the future, will only help. Giving Prince a start every other game is a nice gesture by Mitchell, but it is not helping the team's future the way starting LaVine every game would, so that change should be made immediately.
