Wolves final win total will be...

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The Wolves' are finally back to full strength...both Rubio and Muhammad should be off minutes limit after this week off. Assuming no more serious injuries this year (my god, can we even say that?), how many wins will they finish with? They currently have 11 and their schedule is difficult the rest of the way, but I like what
I have seen since Rubio returned. I have been saying all along that this club would play .500 basketball after Ricky was ready to go full speed, and I'm not going to waver. I say they go .500 the rest of the way and win 25 games. What say you?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Well, since I predicted 25 wins at the beginning of the year, which was on the more pessimistic side of the board, I guess I will maintain that stance and vote for 18-20 wins (which still might be on the high side!).

Our schedule is really tough, people will get hurt (because they always do), and Flip will increasingly eye the draft.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Damn it. I'm really upset that Q pulled the old "Price is Right" move with our preseason picks.

I picked 26 wins.

I chose the 18 - 20 option. Truth be told, there might need to be another option lower than that, too.

[Coolbreeze44]

I see 19. You might see another trade this week that will take a couple wins away. And as Q said the draft will start to loom large toward the end of the season.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

You four pessimists make some good points. Two factors could suppress the Wolves' win total the rest of the way...trading one of our vets (who, while not the long-term answer for us, provide more value now), and the concept of soft tanking. I want to see much more LaVine, Payne and Bennett the rest of the way, but they are not as ready as Young/Martin to provide wins right now. If Flip limits the vets' time, it will have a negative impact on our final win total.

Finally, win predictions on this board have been ridiculously high the past few years (I would argue primarily due to injuries), so taking the low total in any poll historically has been the prudent choice.

I still go with the .500 record the rest of the way. Even though Rubio's minutes have been limited, this team has looked entirely different with him in the lineup. Sample size is low, but we were a .500 team before he got hurt, and we are 3-3 since he came back...and the six games since his return have included games against three teams with the best records in the league. Yes, draft position is important, but after a season of losses, this team is hungry for wins. I think we see them play hard the rest of the year, and continue the .500 record we have had to date in Ricky's 10 games.

[60WinTim]

I ran through the schedule I counted 17 more wins. And since you said "no more serious injuries"...

[TheFuture]

No more than 18.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

23

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

There is absolutely no way we win more than 8-10 more games. There are really only 10 games where we will virtually be even odds to win IMO (Den, Knicks, LAL(2), Brooklyn, Charlotte, Utah(2), Orlando, Sacto). And I would say that we end up .500 in these games. That leaves us with potentially 5 more wins (in 19 games) from the upper echelon teams in the NBA. I would guess we sneak 1 of 2 from Suns, but the remaining teams on schedule are strong teams and would all be fairly large upsets. I think 8 more wins is where we land....for total of 19.

[60WinTim]

We should be playing with many of the players who are going to make up our core, all of whom have experience, or are playing well: Rubio, Martin, Wiggins (who has been playing well!), Thad, Pek, Shabazz and Dieng.

If we cannot muster more than 8 wins over the remainder of the season, isn't it time to blow it up and rebuild?