Three things I know to be true

[Sundog]

Alright gang, we’re just about at the All Star break, and there are three things I want to share:

1) The remarkable fact that the Wolves have been at the top of the Western Conference since the beginning of the season, especially *this* Western Conference, is without question accelerating the development of Ant, Jaden, Naz. These guys are the next timeline, and none of them played high level collegiate ball. This is their first experience of sustained, intense, meaningful basketball. That can’t help but accelerate their development, and this sets up their timeline in a way that nothing else would have.

2) The Wolves’ success this year is entirely due to the Rudy trade, and subsequent acquisition of Conley and NAW. Without that, especially without Rudy, this team would be mired deep in the Western, fighting for the play-in, for this season and the foreseeable future. Exactly *none* of the hypothetical trades I’ve seen proposed (both before and after the Rudy trade), would have changed the mediocre prospects of this team. Period.

3) Thus, the most important impact of that trade, the accelerated development of Ant, Jaden, Naz, and acquisition of Conley/NAW is that the *culture* of this team is changing. Prior to this year, the Wolves’ were a laughing stock, a punchline, as we all know. Now they are demanding and receiving respect. There’s simply no way that Ant and KAT are both all-stars this year if they were the 6-8th team in the conference, rather than 1-2. This is a make or miss league, and if the Wolves were still mediocre, our stars would simply be ignored. As usual.

There’s a lot of season left to play, and things could still change. But like Britt says, if you’re a Wolves fan and you’re not enjoying this team and this season, then what the heck are you doing? Take a look at what we all expected/hoped for from this team before the season started… even the most optimistic of us (except for Tim!) all *hoped* for little better than mediocre.

[Porckchop]

You’re spot on IMO. Ant and Kat were expected to shoulder the offensive responsibilities and mature as all around players while Rudy was brought in to give this team a defensive identity. So far we’ve seen familiar bad habits and inconsistency offensively meanwhile the defense ( lead by Rudy) is top three in the league and the reason for this teams success. Gobert has consistently graded out as the best and most consistent player on the floor. A lot of players fail to meet expectations after being traded. He continues to be what he’s always been. If he gets Dpoy how can the trade be considered a failure?

[thedoper]

Great post. I think you got to add some praise for Finch. Criticize anything you want about his lack of offensive sets but the guy took what everyone was saying was an impossible situation and has gotten so much out of every player. Finch is a real motivator and is a perfect fit for where this team is at.

[Carlos Danger]

Yep. Great post. I agree. And also was going to write about including Finch, but I see The Doper beat me too it. But I do believe it's a combo platter of Finch and Rudy that changed this Franchise around.

We saw something a little similar back in the Thibodeau/Butler era. It was pretty fast turnaround from crappy to respectable. But those guys couldn't build on it. This new crew seems to have a much better vision (short term winning with long term sustainability).

It's just crazy how adding or switching a couple parts can completely change the direction of a team (good and bad).

[Q-is-here]

I think it depends on what the expectations were right at the moment the trade was a done deal and announced. What were your expectations then? Not after last season but BEFORE last season?

I think a lot of people felt that given the assets given up for Rudy, the only thing that would justify the high cost for acquiring him was to contend for a title. That of course didn't happen last year.

Now we are in Year 2 and I would argue we are meeting expectations, not exceeding them. Ant, Jaden, and Naz are all a season-and-a-half more mature than they were immediately after the Rudy trade. Everyone is healthy. Yes, we are at the top of the West, but it's really hard for me to say with a straight face that I think we are clearly better than Denver, OKC, and the Clippers. I put those teams all in the same group and probably give an edge to the Clippers and OKC since they have been playing the best ball over the past few weeks.

[Carlos Danger]

I think it depends on what the expectations were right at the moment the trade was a done deal and announced. What were your expectations then? Not after last season but BEFORE last season?

I think a lot of people felt that given the assets given up for Rudy, the only thing that would justify the high cost for acquiring him was to contend for a title. That of course didn't happen last year.

Now we are in Year 2 and I would argue we are meeting expectations, not exceeding them. Ant, Jaden, and Naz are all a season-and-a-half more mature than they were immediately after the Rudy trade. Everyone is healthy. Yes, we are at the top of the West, but it's really hard for me to say with a straight face that I think we are clearly better than Denver, OKC, and the Clippers. I put those teams all in the same group and probably give an edge to the Clippers and OKC since they have been playing the best ball over the past few weeks.

People are entitled to their opinions. But according to what I can find our record against those teams and Boston is as follows:

1-1 against Boston
1-0 against Denver
2-2 against OKC
1-0 against Clippers

That's a total record of 5-3 against those top teams.

So for a couple of you that keep saying we cannot compete against the top teams...that's not how it's been playing out (so far anyway).

[Q-is-here]

I think it depends on what the expectations were right at the moment the trade was a done deal and announced. What were your expectations then? Not after last season but BEFORE last season?

I think a lot of people felt that given the assets given up for Rudy, the only thing that would justify the high cost for acquiring him was to contend for a title. That of course didn't happen last year.

Now we are in Year 2 and I would argue we are meeting expectations, not exceeding them. Ant, Jaden, and Naz are all a season-and-a-half more mature than they were immediately after the Rudy trade. Everyone is healthy. Yes, we are at the top of the West, but it's really hard for me to say with a straight face that I think we are clearly better than Denver, OKC, and the Clippers. I put those teams all in the same group and probably give an edge to the Clippers and OKC since they have been playing the best ball over the past few weeks.

People are entitled to their opinions. But according to what I can find our record against those teams and Boston is as follows:

1-1 against Boston
1-0 against Denver
2-2 against OKC
1-0 against Clippers

That's a total record of 5-3 against those top teams.

So for a couple of you that keep saying we cannot compete against the top teams...that's not how it's been playing out (so far anyway).

No doubt we have a credible record against the best teams. But I have recency bias and it feels like OKC and the Clippers just keep getting better while we've been a little shakey here for a number of weeks. And the 4th quarter meltdowns especially shake my confidence. It's just hard for me to envision a deep playoff run with a team whose two best players can't be trusted late in games. Everyone else has stars that they can count on late. But we need an aging PG to do it for us and there is no guarantee he holds up through a grueling playoff run.

[FNG]

I think it depends on what the expectations were right at the moment the trade was a done deal and announced. What were your expectations then? Not after last season but BEFORE last season?

I think a lot of people felt that given the assets given up for Rudy, the only thing that would justify the high cost for acquiring him was to contend for a title. That of course didn't happen last year.

Now we are in Year 2 and I would argue we are meeting expectations, not exceeding them. Ant, Jaden, and Naz are all a season-and-a-half more mature than they were immediately after the Rudy trade. Everyone is healthy. Yes, we are at the top of the West, but it's really hard for me to say with a straight face that I think we are clearly better than Denver, OKC, and the Clippers. I put those teams all in the same group and probably give an edge to the Clippers and OKC since they have been playing the best ball over the past few weeks.

People are entitled to their opinions. But according to what I can find our record against those teams and Boston is as follows:

1-1 against Boston
1-0 against Denver
2-2 against OKC
1-0 against Clippers

That's a total record of 5-3 against those top teams.

So for a couple of you that keep saying we cannot compete against the top teams...that's not how it's been playing out (so far anyway).

No doubt we have a credible record against the best teams. But I have recency bias and it feels like OKC and the Clippers just keep getting better while we've been a little shakey here for a number of weeks. And the 4th quarter meltdowns especially shake my confidence. It's just hard for me to envision a deep playoff run with a team whose two best players can't be trusted late in games. Everyone else has stars that they can count on late. But we need an aging PG to do it for us and there is no guarantee he holds up through a grueling playoff run.

I'm still quite bullish on our playoff chances, because I see defense and rebounding as the most repeatable attributes when the postseason starts...and we excel at both. But I understand Q's recency bias, because especially the Clippers have been playing very well. I'm not sold on OkC though...too small and young. I would rank them 5th in the West right now behind the Suns,

But as we look at the top 4 teams in the West possibly separating from the pack, there's one thing I think the other teams have that we don't...a bona fide star. OkC has SGA, Denver has Jokic, and the Clippers have 4 future HOFers. We have some nice pieces, but nobody who belongs in the MVP discussion. I just looked at the MVPs from the last few decades, and other than Iguodala in 2015 and Billups at 2004, every one of them would have been considered a cinch future HOFer at the time they won the award. The Wolves have a few "maybes", but nobody who everyone would say is a cinch. Maybe our depth wins the day, but I think our lack of a true current superstar would make us an outlier were we to win.

[Q-is-here]

People are entitled to their opinions. But according to what I can find our record against those teams and Boston is as follows:

1-1 against Boston
1-0 against Denver
2-2 against OKC
1-0 against Clippers

That's a total record of 5-3 against those top teams.

So for a couple of you that keep saying we cannot compete against the top teams...that's not how it's been playing out (so far anyway).

No doubt we have a credible record against the best teams. But I have recency bias and it feels like OKC and the Clippers just keep getting better while we've been a little shakey here for a number of weeks. And the 4th quarter meltdowns especially shake my confidence. It's just hard for me to envision a deep playoff run with a team whose two best players can't be trusted late in games. Everyone else has stars that they can count on late. But we need an aging PG to do it for us and there is no guarantee he holds up through a grueling playoff run.

I'm still quite bullish on our playoff chances, because I see defense and rebounding as the most repeatable attributes when the postseason starts...and we excel at both. But I understand Q's recency bias, because especially the Clippers have been playing very well. I'm not sold on OkC though...too small and young. I would rank them 5th in the West right now behind the Suns,

But as we look at the top 4 teams in the West possibly separating from the pack, there's one thing I think the other teams have that we don't...a bona fide star. OkC has SGA, Denver has Jokic, and the Clippers have 4 future HOFers. We have some nice pieces, but nobody who belongs in the MVP discussion. I just looked at the MVPs from the last few decades, and other than Iguodala in 2015 and Billups at 2004, every one of them would have been considered a cinch future HOFer at the time they won the award. The Wolves have a few "maybes", but nobody who everyone would say is a cinch. Maybe our depth wins the day, but I think our lack of a true current superstar would make us an outlier were we to win.

I agree, so in a sense we are saying the same thing. I don't believe our stars can be trusted to close games, i.e. Ant and KAT. If Ant made better clutch-time decisions and turned the ball over a bit less, I think he'd deserve to be in the SGA category. He's not there yet.

[Coolbreeze44]

No doubt we have a credible record against the best teams. But I have recency bias and it feels like OKC and the Clippers just keep getting better while we've been a little shakey here for a number of weeks. And the 4th quarter meltdowns especially shake my confidence. It's just hard for me to envision a deep playoff run with a team whose two best players can't be trusted late in games. Everyone else has stars that they can count on late. But we need an aging PG to do it for us and there is no guarantee he holds up through a grueling playoff run.

I'm still quite bullish on our playoff chances, because I see defense and rebounding as the most repeatable attributes when the postseason starts...and we excel at both. But I understand Q's recency bias, because especially the Clippers have been playing very well. I'm not sold on OkC though...too small and young. I would rank them 5th in the West right now behind the Suns,

But as we look at the top 4 teams in the West possibly separating from the pack, there's one thing I think the other teams have that we don't...a bona fide star. OkC has SGA, Denver has Jokic, and the Clippers have 4 future HOFers. We have some nice pieces, but nobody who belongs in the MVP discussion. I just looked at the MVPs from the last few decades, and other than Iguodala in 2015 and Billups at 2004, every one of them would have been considered a cinch future HOFer at the time they won the award. The Wolves have a few "maybes", but nobody who everyone would say is a cinch. Maybe our depth wins the day, but I think our lack of a true current superstar would make us an outlier were we to win.

I agree, so in a sense we are saying the same thing. I don't believe our stars can be trusted to close games, i.e. Ant and KAT. If Ant made better clutch-time decisions and turned the ball over a bit less, I think he'd deserve to be in the SGA category. He's not there yet.

I tend to agree with you guys on this. Ant isn't a superstar until A) He makes better decisions at crunch time, B) Makes his teammates better, and C) Develops some clutch aptitude to close games out. However, no matter who we play, Ant is going to be the best overall athlete on the floor. No one combines his strength, quickness, power, and speed. Once he starts getting superstar calls on his drives you can forget it. And when you need him to body up on another superstar to get a stop, he can do that as well as Kawhi. That's a huge ability to have in a close playoff game.