Anthony Edwards' strong play for Wolves forces adjustments

PHOENIX – Karl-Anthony Towns didn't want to tempt fate, anger the basketball gods or whatever term you prefer that means to tilt the cosmic forces of the universe against him when asked after Friday's loss if he was looking forward to getting D'Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley back in the lineup.

It has been a rare occasion when the Wolves have a full complement of players, as Russell and Towns have played just an astounding five games together since last February when Russell, who is working his way back from knee surgery, came in a trade.

"I don't want to say nothing about being happy or anything because every time we get everyone back, [something] goes wrong," Towns said. "It usually involves me so I ain't trying to say nothing. I don't want to jinx it. When everyone's back and we're on the court, it'll be a great day. Because it never happened so far."

That's one reason why it's hard to pinpoint what exactly the Wolves will need at Thursday's trade deadline. According to all reports leading up to the deadline, Wolves President Gersson Rosas seems to think they need a power forward like Aaron Gordon or John Collins, but the Wolves haven't had time to evaluate what the current roster looks like when given time to play together.

Just what is that going to look like? It's hard to say for sure, and coach Chris Finch is going to have some decisions to make when (and if) everyone is healthy at the same time.

While Russell and Beasley, who is due back Saturday from a 12-game suspension stemming from a guilty plea for threats of violence, were out, Edwards started the second half with a bang, etching his name into the Wolves history books with a 34-point performance against Portland and 42 against Phoenix. At 19 years old, Edwards dominated against two playoff teams. It's hard to see him leaving the starting lineup and going back to the bench.

Because of Edwards' recent dominance a funny thing started happening — teams began to worry about Edwards just as much if not more than Towns when the two shared the floor together. There were many times in the recent two-game set with Phoenix that when Edwards and Towns ran a pick and roll, two defenders went with Edwards and opted to leave Towns unattended.

One such instance resulted in a tying three for Towns in the fourth quarter of Thursday's win. On Friday, Phoenix made sure Edwards didn't get to the rim as easily, and Edwards observed how they defended him, and pledged to learn from it.

"It's respect and it's a lesson. I learned something," Edwards said. "I can go watch this game and see how other teams might think is the right way to guard me. This game will help me for sure because that's probably how teams are going to guard me from here on out."

It's the next step in the evolution of a player who is growing fast.

So where does that leave the rest of the lineup? Unless Finch wants to go super small with Towns, Ricky Rubio, Russell, Beasley and Edwards at the four somebody has to come off the bench.

When Russell was playing, Rubio was in and out of the starting lineup. He'd be the most likely candidate to go back to that role, but now that Rubio is regularly starting he has played the best basketball of his season.

"Of course consistent minutes and a consistent lineup, me in better shape, that's a lot of the keys to playing in my game with more confidence and I'm feeling good," Rubio said recently.

Before his suspension Beasley was perhaps the most consistent player the Wolves had and is shooting 41% from three-point range for the season. He's a logical option to have on the floor to take advantage of the attention everyone else like Towns and Edwards are going to receive.

Then there's Russell, who's on a max contract and likely won't be headed to the bench. How will he mesh with the new version of Edwards? Russell has been out a month, which seems like an infinite amount of time in the growth of Edwards. The Edwards Russell was playing with before the injury is different from the one currently on the floor.

Both can play off the ball and it's possible to see how both can benefit each other with Edwards opening lanes for Russell and vice versa.

It has been a whirlwind for Finch since he took the job. Asked Friday if he has considered how the Wolves might look with everyone back, Finch said he hadn't.

"I haven't given it a whole lot of thought right now. I'm just trying to coach this team that we have here," Finch said. "These guys have been doing a really good job of buying in, playing together, starting to establish a little bit of an identity, and I think I like that."

The trade deadline may alter the team. It may not, and if it doesn't, soon Finch should have most of his main pieces back, and a large puzzle to put together.