Predicting the West

[Monster]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. LA Clippers
4. Portland
5. Utah
6. Oklahoma City
7. New Orleans
8. Dallas
9. Houston
10. Minnesota
11. Memphis
12. Denver
13. Sacramento
14. LA Lakers
15. Phoenix

#1 is set. But from #4 - #12... you can make a good/bad case for any of those teams. At least one of those teams will have a key injury and punt on the season. It's really tough to omit Memphis or Dallas. On paper, they might not look super great... but both have discovered ways to "win" season after season after season.

If we DO finish 10th and out of the playoffs, where do we go from there? This team played close to .500 ball after the all star break with Sam Mitchell as our head coach. I've long thought that Thibs biggest impact will be in his first year here. We are going to have a sense of urgency next season like we haven't seen in a long time.

You kind of stole my narrative about 4-12 (I said 4-11) from another thread. I can tell you this much - if Portland can finish as high as 4th so can we. With decent health next season finishing 10th would be a terrible disappointment. Time for us as a fan base to put some pressure on this organization to make a jump.

Well it's possible the Wolves take a significant step forward and still finish outside the playoffs. That may say more about how the other teams did that the Wolves being disappointing in that scenario.

Looking at the west right now what are the teams that are for sure sumpter fire bottom feeder teams? Ok nobody is picking the Lakers to make the payoffs but there is some talent there and if Walton isnt a moron they might not suck. The Kings have some talent and have a coach that it would seem would bring out something better than what we saw last year. The Suns if healthy aren't devoid of talent. Any other teams dropping bigtime will be because of injury (unless OKC trades Westbrook which I don't expect to happen) and it's possible a playoff contender team has injuries or something happen that drops them. Obviously at least one of the non elite teams will have a significant injury. Part of what I am saying is at this point there seems like a solid amount of talent throughout the west. There isn't a tanking 6er team or Lopez and his YMCA friends level team but it's possible someone gets down to that level.

I was expecting going into this offseason the Wolves to be in the playoffs and I think it can happen but looking at how things stand right now I am very hopeful but not expecting it. Like I said before that's more about the other teams than saying I don't believe in the Wolves. I really like what they did in FA and Thibs is gonna help them win games but other teams did some good things if they work out. There are legit questions about the Wolves about whether they can take the next step and be a playoff team possibly even a top 5 seed. The path is there for them but it's not a sure thing to me. It's going to be an interesting season and it should be more so than usual because the Wolves should be in the playoff hunt.

I'll say this also. If the Wolves win 40 or so games and finish outside the playoffs having a lottery pick wouldn't suck. That's the upside even if it seems like they don't need any more young talent. They could also possibly move that pick for the right vet like a couple teams did this offseason.

[AbeVigodaLive]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. LA Clippers
4. Portland
5. Utah
6. Oklahoma City
7. New Orleans
8. Dallas
9. Houston
10. Minnesota
11. Memphis
12. Denver
13. Sacramento
14. LA Lakers
15. Phoenix

#1 is set. But from #4 - #12... you can make a good/bad case for any of those teams. At least one of those teams will have a key injury and punt on the season. It's really tough to omit Memphis or Dallas. On paper, they might not look super great... but both have discovered ways to "win" season after season after season.

If we DO finish 10th and out of the playoffs, where do we go from there? This team played close to .500 ball after the all star break with Sam Mitchell as our head coach. I've long thought that Thibs biggest impact will be in his first year here. We are going to have a sense of urgency next season like we haven't seen in a long time.

You kind of stole my narrative about 4-12 (I said 4-11) from another thread. I can tell you this much - if Portland can finish as high as 4th so can we. With decent health next season finishing 10th would be a terrible disappointment. Time for us as a fan base to put some pressure on this organization to make a jump.

Monster kind of hits on some of what I would write... 29 to 40+ wins is a significant jump considering it's virtually the same team returning. Considering the Wolves will play about 40+ games vs. the top 11 teams in the West... there just doesn't seem to be a lot of gimmes. I imagine the young Wolves will have stretches of maddening inconsistency. It's part of being young.

The Wolves were 12 - 16 after the ASG last season. That's sort of close to .500, but still only about a 35 - 47 record for a season. And that was the team's BEST stretch. It's also a fairly small sample size.

I think urgency is tempered a bit based on what we've seen in free agency. I think one of the worries about Thibodeau was whether he could be patient enough for such a young promising team. He was pretty patient this summer. We'll see if it carries over for the season.

I don't see 10th as a "terrible disappointment" if it comes with more wins (.500 or better?) and development from the young promising guys. And I'm one of the more demanding guys on this forum.

I think even you have written, "it's a journey." Remember, this team was 16 - 66 two seasons ago. 29 - 53 and KAT. And a .500+ record the next season is moving forward. As noted previously, the Wolves are in the mix with several West teams. I just don't see how they're better than the others considering how green they still are.

I think Portland is a legit playoff team. If those guards stay healthy, I think they'll be looking at 45 - 50 wins.

[Porckchop]

I see the Wolves finishing anywhere between 6th and 11th. They were a very healthy team last year, to expect that again might be wishful thinking. So being virtually the same team as last year (except Dunn) and expecting more of an injury bug I'm gonna say they just miss out of the playoffs to either Portland or New Orleans. 39-43 would be a 10 game improvement and a strong step in the right direction .

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Playoffs or bust, we gotta get a taste next year, get that 8th seed

[Lipoli390]

The Wolves have done more than just add Dunn. First of all, they've added Thibs, going from a poor head coach to one of the best in the League. Second, they're best young players from last year (KAT, Wiggins, KAT, Jones and Dieng) are at points in their careers where it's likely they will improve significantly from last season. Third, we've substantially upgraded our bench, not just with Dunn, but also with Aldrich, Rush and Hill. Those four additions represent a HUGE upgrade over last year's bench of Andre Miller, Tayshaun Prince and Rudez.

That's a lot of improvement to what was actually a near .500 team after the all-star break. So although there's merit to the suggestion we won't be as healthy as last season, I still see the combination of the huge coaching upgrade, significant improvement from within and major improvement to the bench taking this team to 45-50 wins provided that KAT is healthy throughout. I see this upcoming season as the sort of breakout season the Thunder had in Durant's 3rd season the Thunder went from 20 something wins to 50 wins.

[Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]]

Hill and Aldrich over Payne and Smith is a massive improvement. You have to be pretty dense not to see it. And expecting improvement from KAT, Wiggins and LaVine is justified.

[Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]]

1. Golden State
2. Spurs
3. Clippers
4. OKC
5. Wolves
6. Portland
7. Dallas
8. Memphis
9. Utah
10. Houston
11. New Orleans
12. Phoenix
13. Kings
14. Lakers
15. Nuggets

I don't see how Nuggets are last. Lakers are easily the worst team and Suns are second to last.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

As long as we stay healthy, we should expect to be in the playoffs. Our starters were actually ok, our bench was terrible. Our bench should be a strength, especially adding Aldrich and Dunn along with Bjelica being more adjusted to the NBA, and Tyus showing great improvement this summer. Hill and Rush should be an improvement over what Payne and KMart gave us last year. As for the starters, I expect all of the young core to show steady improvement. Even before we factor in any positive impact Thibs and his coaching staff bring, I think our improved roster, the continued development of our young core and the continued building of chemistry among our rotation players is worth 8-12 more wins. Hopefully, Thibs and staff can instill a vastly improved defensive system and get the guys to execute it. Hopefully, they can also improve our offensive spacing and efficiency. My expectation is the new staff could help us win another 4-6 games. That's a median of 10 games due to roster and player improvement and 5 games due to the coaching staff or 15 games plus 29, which gets me to a 44 game expectation. The most likely reasons we fall short of 44 wins would be injuries or players not executing Thibs defensive system. The most likely reason we exceed 44 is at least one of our core guys takes a larger than expected leap forward. I can't wait to see what unfolds.

[Monster]

The Wolves have done more than just add Dunn. First of all, they've added Thibs, going from a poor head coach to one of the best in the League. Second, they're best young players from last year (KAT, Wiggins, KAT, Jones and Dieng) are at points in their careers where it's likely they will improve significantly from last season. Third, we've substantially upgraded our bench, not just with Dunn, but also with Aldrich, Rush and Hill. Those four additions represent a HUGE upgrade over last year's bench of Andre Miller, Tayshaun Prince and Rudez.

That's a lot of improvement to what was actually a near .500 team after the all-star break. So although there's merit to the suggestion we won't be as healthy as last season, I still see the combination of the huge coaching upgrade, significant improvement from within and major improvement to the bench taking this team to 45-50 wins provided that KAT is healthy throughout. I see this upcoming season as the sort of breakout season the Thunder had in Durant's 3rd season the Thunder went from 20 something wins to 50 wins.

I'm gonna nitpick a little Lip. Miller when he played was pretty effective we just didn't play him much. Prince was fairly effective as well.

I think we all would agree this team has nice depth but we say that every year. A lot of us thought last year we were going to get something out of Pek KG and Martin and it turned out Prince was the most worthwhile vet on the team (Rubio would be more of a young vet). This other guys didn't even play a season's worth of games between them and KG was the only one of them that was effective when he did play. I like what we did with the bench but how much better is it than some of these other teams? Idk we will find out. This is a very young roster with 3 guys on it over the age of 30 and only Rush is likely to play any significant amount of games. I think we may need to temper our expectations some here. There are some other good teams out there that could take a step forward as well. A team could still add a solid player this offseason that could make a difference. The Wolves will have to play well to get into the playoffs but they also will have to have a couple teams falter. They could be a team that has an injury or can't quite put it all together. I'm just gonna enjoy the ride I think it's gonna be a fun year.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

The Wolves have done more than just add Dunn. First of all, they've added Thibs, going from a poor head coach to one of the best in the League. Second, they're best young players from last year (KAT, Wiggins, KAT, Jones and Dieng) are at points in their careers where it's likely they will improve significantly from last season. Third, we've substantially upgraded our bench, not just with Dunn, but also with Aldrich, Rush and Hill. Those four additions represent a HUGE upgrade over last year's bench of Andre Miller, Tayshaun Prince and Rudez.

That's a lot of improvement to what was actually a near .500 team after the all-star break. So although there's merit to the suggestion we won't be as healthy as last season, I still see the combination of the huge coaching upgrade, significant improvement from within and major improvement to the bench taking this team to 45-50 wins provided that KAT is healthy throughout. I see this upcoming season as the sort of breakout season the Thunder had in Durant's 3rd season the Thunder went from 20 something wins to 50 wins.

I'm gonna nitpick a little Lip. Miller when he played was pretty effective we just didn't play him much. Prince was fairly effective as well.

I think we all would agree this team has nice depth but we say that every year. A lot of us thought last year we were going to get something out of Pek KG and Martin and it turned out Prince was the most worthwhile vet on the team (Rubio would be more of a young vet). This other guys didn't even play a season's worth of games between them and KG was the only one of them that was effective when he did play. I like what we did with the bench but how much better is it than some of these other teams? Idk we will find out. This is a very young roster with 3 guys on it over the age of 30 and only Rush is likely to play any significant amount of games. I think we may need to temper our expectations some here. There are some other good teams out there that could take a step forward as well. A team could still add a solid player this offseason that could make a difference. The Wolves will have to play well to get into the playoffs but they also will have to have a couple teams falter. They could be a team that has an injury or can't quite put it all together. I'm just gonna enjoy the ride I think it's gonna be a fun year.

In my opinion KG was much better than Prince. KG had the best plus minus on the team and when he was healthy he still had a very good defensive impact and helped us to get off to a fast start. Prince looked like a shell of his former self, slow and very limited range and his plus minus was poor. I don't know if many of us expected much out of Pek. I know I didn't and its become clear he should retire.