Timberwolves mailbag: How long will the return of Ricky Rubio last?

Is it too soon to embrace the tank? — @RandyCrouton

Well, here's the thing about embracing the tank — it's not really worth it this season. Even if the Wolves end up with the worst record in the league (or second or third-worst, thanks to the NBA's flattened lottery odds) that best they'll have is around a 40% chance of keeping the top three protected pick they owe the Warriors. No matter where the Wolves finish the odds will be that Golden State is going to get that pick, so might as well try to win as many games as you can to make that pick worse for the Warriors. Regardless of what some fans like to do with tanking memes online, there's no incentive for the Wolves to tank this year. You might say, "they're tanking so they get that 40% chance of keeping the pick," to which I'd say, that's not a great idea., especially when you're trying to build a winning culture.

What do you think Rosas and Saunders will do with the PF rotation once Juancho [Hernangomez] rejoins the team? Who falls out? Does Juancho have a spot? — @B_HedtkeNBA

I think Juancho will get his shot at reclaiming his minutes, but it could be a slow process back. There has been no official announcement that Hernangomez tested positive for COVID-19. He hasn't revealed what has kept him out the way Karl-Anthony Towns revealed his positive test or the way Rubio spoke about his experience in COVID protocols (he was exposed to someone who tested positive but didn't contract it himself). The team has denied to comment specifically on Hernangomez other than to say he is under the protocols. With those caveats out of the way, if Hernangomez did test positive, I think it's helpful to keep in mind that COVID affects people differently. It affects athletes differently. Some may see few or no effects of it. Others take time to get over lingering symptoms. So first and foremost will be how Hernangomez is feeling. Missing two weeks of activity is a significant amount of time, and he was still trying to find a regular rhythm before going out. But I think he gets a chance to earn his spot back initially.

I don't know how you take Jarred Vanderbilt out of the rotation until he plays himself out of it. As long as he's giving you the kind of hustle and defense he brings night in and night out, I think he's earned playing time. It'll also be interesting to see if Saunders wants to play Naz Reid any at the four when Towns returns, but I sense they think there might be too much overlap and who's going to defend the four (effectively)? I think Jake Layman and Ed Davis may see the bench again and you'd get Towns and Reid at center, Juancho/Vanderbilt at the four at least to start unless they want to go small, or try to mix in a third player in Layman or Davis. Like you said, hard to decipher as we sit here now.

What's the off ramp for the Rubio experiment? — @chrisy_tweets

Well, his contract is up after the 2021-22 season! In all reality, I don't know. I thought, from the moment the Wolves got him, that acquiring Rubio for James Johnson's expiring deal might have been a way for the Wolves front office to set themselves up for another potential trade next season when Rubio's deal will become expiring. There were no more major trades to be had this year, and the Wolves were going to need desirable assets and salary matches if they were going to load up and take another crack at the trade market next offseason. For reference, trades are the main way President Gerrson Rosas sees the Wolves improving their roster. Aside from Towns, the highest-paid players on the Wolves were all acquired via trade. Rubio could be a trade chip, I don't know how desirable he is all of a sudden.

Is there any chatter in FO that maybe the current "system" is not a winning system? — @kingsxman2004

Nope. This is their system and they're sticking to it. They're trying to curate the roster to fit their system, so to abandon ship would cause a lot of headaches. They are convinced their systems on offense (and eventually defense) will get them where they need to be, as bleak as it looks now. That's me just relaying the feeling of the front office.

Any updates on [Glen] Taylor selling the team? Are we actually for sale? — @R_Spencer

I haven't heard much from when I spoke to Taylor just before the season, when he said the coronavirus and not having fans in the arena were having a big impact on how negotiations were playing out. As you can imagine, these are complicated processes and I think there needs to be some clarity on when or if fans can get in the building again before there's movement on that front.