How a Depth Void Crippled an Already-Crippled NBA Team

Per Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (via PBT), Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman summed up the message of the team's late-season injuries and struggles rather simply: "It really gives you an idea of the depth you have."

That may seem like an obvious bit of lip service, but this season, Adelman and his team really did experience first-hand the difference between depth and depth. Having productive players capable of coming off the bench in limited minutes is one thing, but clearly stopgap potential is something else entirely; although Minnesota seemingly had a number of versatile players capable of swinging between positions, their injuries created problems that exposed a lack of consistent cogs, and led to an eventual meltdown that went far beyond the impact of players lost.

Losing Ricky Rubio for the year hurt, but it did more damage to the Wolves than losing a player of his skills should have. Likewise with the temporary absences of Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Love; the bad luck on bad luck on bad luck took its toll on this team, and rather than rally in their bunker to find (or manufacture) resolve, they completely folded. Their depth shriveled, and although the Timberwolves weren't a remotely deep team by any means, even the depth they did have evaporated along with the team's energy.

The Wolves legitimately seemed to feed off of Rubio's energy, and although Love was able to rally some late-season fire for a hell of a salvo, the potential contributions of the remaining Wolves were sapped not only by the loss of Rubio's playmaking and defensive support, but by the dead air in the team's sails.

There's a reason why Adelman—and Zgoda—go on to imply that the Wolves need more veteran help next season. Even without explicitly detailing his intent, it's clear that Adelman needs, and demands, consistency. He needs a team willing to invest effort, if nothing else, and players who can be counted on reliably regardless of injury.

Teams lean on their depth in times of injury and struggle, and yet when Minnesota needed its role players to produce at even their previous levels for the sake of putting up a competitive fight, they shriveled. Their depth was hardly such, and they walked out on a season in progress merely because they felt it was time to fold.