Wolves' Chris Finch hints at more 3-big lineups with Gobert, Towns, Reid

Finch talked to MinnPost's Britt Robson about a wide range of topics.

May 24, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and center Rudy Gobert (27) react in the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks during game two of the Western Conference Finals for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Could we see the Timberwolves play all three of their bigs — Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid — at the same time more frequently this season? Head coach Chris Finch, speaking to MinnPost's Britt Robson, hinted at that possibility.

"Can we go bigger?" Finch said. "Can we give Naz some extended minutes at the three?"

Last regular season, the KAT-Gobert-Reid trio shared the court for 26 total minutes across ten games. In that miniscule sample size, their net rating was an incredible +39.7. It was a similar story across 12 minutes in five playoff games, with a net rating of +25.0. Because Reid and Towns are skilled players who can shoot from the outside at elite clips, Minnesota's three-big lineup can theoretically work better than any three-big lineup has a right to in the modern NBA.

As Finch told Robson, it's more about making sure it works defensively than any concerns about the offensive end of the floor.

"Naz at the three is going to come down to how we guard way more than it will be about offense," Finch said. "Skill-set wise, I think offensively there is enough skill among those guys to make it work."

If Reid is going to play the three, he has to be able to guard quicker, smaller wings well enough for those lineups to be viable.

"There are also a lot of moving parts in pick-and-roll-type things, pin-downs, just the different actions that opponents will put us in that we really haven’t run through," Finch said. "But I have every confidence that (Naz) can do it — we’ll see. The ironic thing is with this year’s roster we may not need him to play there as much, but it might be interesting to play him there."

"Guarding close-outs would be the biggest challenge," Finch continued. "The actions — he did a good job of defeating actions and I think you could switch out of a lot of actions with the right partners. But it would be that now you are closing out against even more skilled guys."

If it works on defense, it could be very interesting on offense, given that the Wolves could overwhelm teams with their size and punish mismatches down low. Reid and Towns are both outstanding shooters who can put the ball on the floor and make plays — including lobs to Gobert — with varying degrees of effectiveness. Reid is an excellent ballhandler who has room to grow as a playmaker. Towns has shown plenty of lob chemistry with Gobert, but has been prone to offensive fouls and poor decisions when driving to the rim.

Finch also joked that the Wolves could run 6'9" Joe Ingles at the one and 6'9" Jaden McDaniels at the two, along with the three centers, which would make perhaps the biggest lineup in NBA history.

The whole interview with Robson and Finch — which is just the first in a four-part series for MinnPost — is worth reading. Finch dives into various things the team needs to focus on ahead of this season, including Anthony Edwards' chemistry with Gobert and Towns, McDaniels' involvement in the offense, the Wolves' offensive identity, and much more.