Following a tough 108-105 loss at home to the Phoenix Suns on December 8, Chris Finch discussed a noticeable change in the point guard rotation.
“Yeah, I mean, listen, I thought we were 24 games in, and it was time to try something different,” he said. “He’s been patient and has been playing really well in practice, doing everything that we asked him to do.”
The adjustment was to play Bones Hyland over Rob Dillingham in the second quarter, and to return to Hyland over Mike Conley and Donte DiVincenzo in the fourth.
The move suggests that Finch is looking for answers off the bench and has not been satisfied with Dillingham and Conley’s production. On Wednesday, Finch fielded a question about whether Hyland’s play on Monday night against the Suns will lead to a continued change to the rotations.
“Oh, absolutely,” he said. “Yeah, absolutely.”
That suggests it’s Hyland’s time to prove he deserves more playing time and potentially a bigger role off the bench.
First, let’s dig into the bench rotations Finch has used this season.
Mike Conley
To say Conley has taken a step back this season would be an understatement. While he is still the heart and soul of the Wolves roster, he’s averaging career lows in minutes, points, assists, rebounds, steals, and field goal percentage.
While he is still occasionally a capable defender and an above-average three-point shooter, it’s hard to see him as a long-term solution. His assist-to-turnover ratio and ability to play mistake-free basketball in his 18th season mean Conley is deserving of being in the rotation. Still, it’s hard to see that role being more than a tertiary 12 to 15 minutes a game.
Rob Dillingham
Dillingham entered last season as the eighth overall pick. The thought was that he could reduce his turnover volume while developing an outside shot to pair with Anthony Edwards and create a dynamic offensive duo.
Defensively, Dillingham would just have to hold his own surrounded by Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and Jaden McDaniels. Dillingham’s story is still largely unwritten, but the first chapter has been that of a player struggling to find his way.
His 2.05 assist-to-turnover ratio is currently the fourth-best on the team, but still well below Conley’s 4.53 and Donte DiVincenzo’s 2.67. He also has the third-worst offense rating on the team at 103.5, behind only Leonard Miller and Joan Beringer. That’s largely due to Dillingham’s shooting. He has the team’s worst true-shooting percentage at 40.6% and is one of only two players with a true-shooting percentage under 50%.
With his turnovers and poor shooting, Dillingham has seemingly lost the role the Wolves had hoped he would seize. However, it’s not for a lack of trying. Dillingham has meaningfully improved as a defender. His defensive rating is 7th on the team, and his 2.5 steals per 36 minutes are tops on the Wolves.
Why Bones Hyland?
Anthony Edwards might have said it best after the Suns game.
“You know how sometimes you can just see that some people are just meant to be a star?” he asked. “I feel like I may not know the criteria to being a star, but if I think I do, I think he’s one of them.”
Bones Hyland has shown the star potential dating back to college. His NBA draft profile laid out the case:
A prolific jump shooter who flashed the ability to score in bunches when he could find his range, Hyland emerged as a polarizing figure for a VCU team that leaned heavily on his ability to make tough shots. Scoring opportunistically in transition and with great consistency when sliding off the ball, he was more potent off the dribble some nights than others, but had some huge nights creating his own shot out of ball screens against defenses designed to limit him.
They continued by highlighting his defensive ability, especially off the ball.
Making an effort to rotate off the ball, Hyland’s length was a plus in contesting shots on the perimeter.
However, upon entering the league, Hyland has struggled to establish a role in the NBA. In his first year and a half with the Denver Nuggets, he never shot over 41% from the field or above 38% from three.
That trend continued with the LA Clippers, although he hit 39% from three last season between the split Clippers and the Wolves. That suggests Hyland’s shot-making ability in college has translated to the NBA, leaving him as a high-volume shooter who’s struggling to make shots.
Bones Hyland’s ball security and defense have remained a work in progress. However, his assist-to-turnover ratio has only once dipped below 2.0, and he’s at 2.0 for the Wolves this season. Defensively, he’s also putting up strong numbers this year. Hyland’s 107.2 defensive rating is a career best, and he’s holding opponents to shooting just 31.6% from three when he is the primary defender.
His shooting also appears to be turning around for the Wolves. He’s making 48.8% of shots from the field while admittedly still struggling from three, shooting just 32.0%. That has resulted in Hyland averaging 0.2, the first time he has been in the positive since his rookie season.
Before the season, Hyland said his ability to adapt could lead to opportunities with the Wolves.
“In Denver, I was more so in the second unit getting mine, going out there and just trying to keep the lead up,” he said. “As my career has gone on, it’s more about taking that point guard role and getting everybody involved.”
Bones Hyland is likely an outside shot to solve all of Minnesota’s bench problems this season. Still, Edwards sees the makings of a star in Hyland, and Finch is ready to give Hyland the opportunity and try something different.