With Nikola Pekovic two years into a five-year contract and Gorgui Dieng midway through his second year in the league, the Timberwolves have a dynamic frontcourt duo to help their rebuild over the next few years. Pek bring the muscle and surprisingly soft post touch, while Dieng has a bit more range, a deft passing ability and the type of rangy defensive ability perfect for anchoring a modern NBA defense. However, a big question for the franchise moving forward will be whether the Wild can play them together for long stretches, or if they will have to make a decision on one or the other before long. The early results are not promising, and they will have a big impact on the pair's Fantasy value moving forward.

Dieng and Pekovic started four games together this season, and the Wolves went just 1-3 in those games. The Timberwolves have actually outscored their opponents by 10 points in 84 minutes with both players sharing the floor, mostly because they have rebounded everything in sight and played stifling defense, allowing just 0.949 points per possession, per NBAWowy.com. 

However, the Timberwolves' offense has cratered with both on the floor, scoring just 0.973 points per possession with them around. These results aren't particularly surprising, given the fact that Pekovic is largely ineffective away from the rim and Dieng still developing as a jump-shooter. Coach Flip Saunders decided the pairing wasn't tenable Saturday, using Dieng solely as Pekovic's backup with Dieng moving to the bench. And when you look at the numbers and the way the Wolves have been forced to play with Pekovic and Dieng on the floor together, it's hard to fault Saunders for the decision.

The Timberwolves tried to supplement this Pekovic post-up last week with Dieng screening for Andrew Wiggins off the ball, but the Celtics know they don't really have to worry about Dieng hurting them from the perimeter once Wiggins clears the screen, allowing Brandon Bass to double Pekovic in the post. The Timberwolves still managed to score on this play, but this is illustrative of the kind of issues that come with trying to pair these two together. 

You can see something similar on the next play, though this one comes around more as an indirect result of the pairing, which forced Thaddeus Young to slide over to small forward. Young is a serviceable shooter when matched up against power forwards, but Jae Crowder knows he can cheat off him even once pass away, since he has the speed to recover without overcommitting and giving up the drive. Pekovic can be a deadly post-up option, but he doesn't have a lot of options here -- and Saunders' three-eschewing offense doesn't help matters. He ended up settling for a meek attempt from the baseline, after Crowder cut off his counter in the middle. 

Pekovic hasn't looked right all season, posting just a 52.3 True Shooting percentage that would represent the worst mark of his career. However, that number drops to just 48.7 percent with Dieng on the floor, as he has a free-throw rate of just 39.0 percent. With Dieng off the floor, Pekovic has a 46.0 percent, free-throw rate, and sees his True Shooting percentage rise to 52.9 percent. 

Dieng has a similar split with Pekovic off the floor, and it's not hard to see why. Dieng is a solid passer out of the high post, but he has a tendency to rush things when the play doesn't develop as expected. On the following play, the Timberwolves are trying to set up Pekovic for a post-up on the left block, but Jared Sullinger does a good job pushing Pekovic off his spot and getting in the way of a potential pass. Dieng lazily dribbles into a long jumper, a less than ideal outcome for any possession.  

One upside of the Wolves playing both together was they could at least both get enough minutes to put up good Fantasy production. Pekovic averaged 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 31.0 minutes per game with both in the starting lineup, while Dieng got 32.7 minutes per game, enough time to averaged 11.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.5 blocks per game. Both could be Fantasy relevant if they could figure out how to play together, but it's hard to see the same happening if Saunders loses confidence in the lineup.

Dieng, in particular, stands to lose a ton of Fantasy value if he is relegated solely to backup duty. Between the second half of last season and his play with Pekovic out, Dieng has shown he can be a Fantasy force, as he was arguably one of the 10-best centers in all Fantasy over the span of nearly three months. His ability to stuff the stat sheet in nearly every category is rare at that position, so it would be a travesty if he ended up sopping up backup minutes.

After Saturday's game, it looks like Dieng might end up drawing the short straw in the timeshare. Of course, it's just one game, so there's no need to panic -- yet. In fact, even if it seems like Saunders is going to commit full-time to that split, I wouldn't drop Dieng just yet. Pekovic's career-high in games played is just 62, and he has missed an average of 22.3 games per season from 2011-12 through 2013-14, not counting the 31 games he has already missed this season. Though you want more from Dieng than just to serve as a handcuff after what he has shown, at least he's in a pretty good situation for that.

If I had to own one of them, Dieng is an easy call. As talented as Pekovic is as a scorer and rebounder, you simply cannot rely on him at this point in his career. He's a fine option as long as he is healthy, but Dieng is still the long-term priority here.