West power ranking, do the Wolves have a shot of the playoffs?

[A Friendly Flatulence [enjin:8907904]]

Not to mention Gallonari is coming back from an injury should help the Nuggets chances that much more. I don't think we will be competing for a playoff spot, but I want us to be competitive and not have Lavine and Wiggins (fingers still crossed) come into the league into a losing atmosphere. I want us fighting/scrapping trying to win which I hope is what flip is after.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

I couldn't have said it better, cool. Alex has done a good job of analyzing the West, and the Wolves are going to have to really overachieve this year to battle for the playoffs, given the inexperience that Flip is going to be turning to every night. But it sure will be fun watching. And if some of the new talent makes some big contributions early, we're going to have some lively game threads next year. Heck, we may even see the return of the 2 plus 1 :thumb: .

The one thing I got a kick out of Alex's comment that the Wolves will have no go to threat in the 4th quarter this year. Just who was that go to threat last year...JJ?

Kevin Love. I know the Wolves always lost close games, but take Love out last year, and those close loses become blowout loses. Hence why the Wolves will lose more games this year

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I couldn't have said it better, cool. Alex has done a good job of analyzing the West, and the Wolves are going to have to really overachieve this year to battle for the playoffs, given the inexperience that Flip is going to be turning to every night. But it sure will be fun watching. And if some of the new talent makes some big contributions early, we're going to have some lively game threads next year. Heck, we may even see the return of the 2 plus 1 :thumb: .

The one thing I got a kick out of Alex's comment that the Wolves will have no go to threat in the 4th quarter this year. Just who was that go to threat last year...JJ?

Kevin Love. I know the Wolves always lost close games, but take Love out last year, and those close loses become blowout loses. Hence why the Wolves will lose more games this year

I always wanted to believe that, alex, but Love just never proved himself to be a clutch player. Top ten players find a way to win ballgames, but I can't remember one game winner during all of Love's years here except for the 3-pointer in 2011 against the Clippers (which never would have happened if Rubio hadn't made a tying basket at the end of regulation).

The fact of the matter is that Love was a go to threat in the first three quarters, but not in the 4th. Some of that is on Adelman, but some of it is on Kevin too.

[60WinTim]

I couldn't have said it better, cool. Alex has done a good job of analyzing the West, and the Wolves are going to have to really overachieve this year to battle for the playoffs, given the inexperience that Flip is going to be turning to every night. But it sure will be fun watching. And if some of the new talent makes some big contributions early, we're going to have some lively game threads next year. Heck, we may even see the return of the 2 plus 1 :thumb: .

The one thing I got a kick out of Alex's comment that the Wolves will have no go to threat in the 4th quarter this year. Just who was that go to threat last year...JJ?

Kevin Love. I know the Wolves always lost close games, but take Love out last year, and those close loses become blowout loses. Hence why the Wolves will lose more games this year

Here's the deal, Alex. The dynamics of the team will be completely different this year than it was with Love. Yes, Love was the go-to guy last year. But taking Love out of the mix before training camp gives an opportunity for others to step up as the go-to guy. LaVine and Wiggins are both able to create their own shot, something we sorely lacked at the wing last year. Maybe Rubio or Martin become more aggressive and successful since they don't have to defer to Love.

It's a complete crapshoot as to how the dynamics of this team will develop. But I believe we'll see Rubio take a much greater leadership role, which is a good thing. I like to think some of our young guys will develop by leaps and bounds over the course of the next season or two. The Wolves could be bad, but they could be pretty darn good. It will certainly be worthwhile watching.

[mjs34]

I think Alex is implying that the wolves won't be in the game coming down the stretch. So it won't be a close game at the end.

Losing Love will hurt, and one could argue Alex's point is a similar situation to when we had KG. He spent so much energy keeping us in the game over the first 3 quarters that he didn't have much left in the tank to close it out. If you take out Love's contributions in the first 3 quarters, we may not even be in the game starting the fourth.

Truth is that it is hard for a Big to close out games, because it is easier to deny them the ball and double them forcing them to give it up. That makes having a Wiggins or Lavine (if they develop) preferable in todays NBA. The bigger question will be how effective our defense and hopefully better chemistry will be, and can it offset our drop on the offensive end.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I couldn't have said it better, cool. Alex has done a good job of analyzing the West, and the Wolves are going to have to really overachieve this year to battle for the playoffs, given the inexperience that Flip is going to be turning to every night. But it sure will be fun watching. And if some of the new talent makes some big contributions early, we're going to have some lively game threads next year. Heck, we may even see the return of the 2 plus 1 :thumb: .

The one thing I got a kick out of Alex's comment that the Wolves will have no go to threat in the 4th quarter this year. Just who was that go to threat last year...JJ?

Kevin Love. I know the Wolves always lost close games, but take Love out last year, and those close loses become blowout loses. Hence why the Wolves will lose more games this year

I always wanted to believe that, alex, but Love just never proved himself to be a clutch player. Top ten players find a way to win ballgames, but I can't remember one game winner during all of Love's years here except for the 3-pointer in 2011 against the Clippers (which never would have happened if Rubio hadn't made a tying basket at the end of regulation).

The fact of the matter is that Love was a go to threat in the first three quarters, but not in the 4th. Some of that is on Adelman, but some of it is on Kevin too.

Oh come on. In addition to the game-winner against the Clips, Love had the game-tying three against ORL to open the 2013 season. He had plenty of big threes against the Spurs last year down the stretch too. He had a high-scoring duel with Kevin Durant in 2012, where KD hit a go-ahead three and Love matched him to tie it up. He also had a clutch three in 2011 against the Knicks during his 31-31 game. Those are the ones that come to mind for me immediately. Also, buzzer beaters aren't the only clutch shots. Anything under a minute or two in the 4th is big time. Love doesn't have a problem being clutch, but it's also more difficult to give a PF the ball and let him work in isolation.

I agree some blame does deserve to go to Love, but when you're as talented of a player as Love is, you're always a threat.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

I couldn't have said it better, cool. Alex has done a good job of analyzing the West, and the Wolves are going to have to really overachieve this year to battle for the playoffs, given the inexperience that Flip is going to be turning to every night. But it sure will be fun watching. And if some of the new talent makes some big contributions early, we're going to have some lively game threads next year. Heck, we may even see the return of the 2 plus 1 :thumb: .

The one thing I got a kick out of Alex's comment that the Wolves will have no go to threat in the 4th quarter this year. Just who was that go to threat last year...JJ?

Kevin Love. I know the Wolves always lost close games, but take Love out last year, and those close loses become blowout loses. Hence why the Wolves will lose more games this year

Here's the deal, Alex. The dynamics of the team will be completely different this year than it was with Love. Yes, Love was the go-to guy last year. But taking Love out of the mix before training camp gives an opportunity for others to step up as the go-to guy. LaVine and Wiggins are both able to create their own shot, something we sorely lacked at the wing last year. Maybe Rubio or Martin become more aggressive and successful since they don't have to defer to Love.

It's a complete crapshoot as to how the dynamics of this team will develop. But I believe we'll see Rubio take a much greater leadership role, which is a good thing. I like to think some of our young guys will develop by leaps and bounds over the course of the next season or two. The Wolves could be bad, but they could be pretty darn good. It will certainly be worthwhile watching.

Wiggins and Lavine being able to create their own shot in close games against NBA level competition? That remains to be seen. To say they'd be ready to do that in their rookie year? That's just absurd. Lavine wasn't even a starter, and Wiggins was pretty bad in the NCAA tourny

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

I think Alex is implying that the wolves won't be in the game coming down the stretch. So it won't be a close game at the end.

Losing Love will hurt, and one could argue Alex's point is a similar situation to when we had KG. He spent so much energy keeping us in the game over the first 3 quarters that he didn't have much left in the tank to close it out. If you take out Love's contributions in the first 3 quarters, we may not even be in the game starting the fourth.

Truth is that it is hard for a Big to close out games, because it is easier to deny them the ball and double them forcing them to give it up. That makes having a Wiggins or Lavine (if they develop) preferable in todays NBA. The bigger question will be how effective our defense and hopefully better chemistry will be, and can it offset our drop on the offensive end.

Exactly, but when your also running out a crunch time lineup of Rubio/Martin/Brewer/Pek, your pretty much screwed. Can we remember and clutch plays from these guys? I can remember a hell of a lot of choking from these guys. Lebron had Wade and Bosh, Durant and Westbrook, Paul Griffin Crawford. Compare that to Love andddd Martin? Might of well as stuck a ball and chain on Loves leg