What would make this season a success?

[Lipoli390]

We’re no just on the other side of the all-star break and our Wolves are current in 6th place. We are only a 1/2 game behind the 4th place Rockets and 1 game behind the 3rd place Nuggets. We’re 5 games behind the 2nd place Spurs and 8 games behind the 1st place Thunder.

Give where we’re at in the standings and what you think we should expect from this roster, the team payroll and this front office, what would you consider a successful outcome for the Wolves this season?

For me, it would be finishing 3rd in the standings, making it to the Conference Finals and at least getting to game 7 of the Conference Finals.

[Q-is-here]

Lip, what are the implications in your mind of the season not being successful? That's probably the more interesting question now that you have defined your version of success. So let's say we get knocked out in Round 2 or get soundly defeated in 4 or 5 games in the Conference Finals. What actions should the front office take?

Likewise, are there any changes you would look to make if we made it to Game 7 and lost? What if we got to the Finals and lost?

My definition of success is similar to yours, but it doesn't mean I'd be satisfied with it if we got bounced in the Conference Finals yet again.

[rapsuperstar31]

I have to see another 10 or so games with Ayo before I fully form my opinion of what our ceiling is for success. Prior to the Ayo trade, our depth just wasn't' good enough to make a serious run. We would have been like the Lakers last season, with just 6 playable playoff players. Bone at times looks the part recently, but I still question whether he gets played off the court in the playoffs. If Ayo can carry the NAW load, taking OKC to 7 games would be success regardless of if it's in the 2nd round of the WCF. If Shannon is healthy, and can contribute anywhere near what he did last year in the playoffs, that would help as well in limited minutes.

[60WinTim]

The obvious goal is a championship. Win one for Mike! (and Joe!) That would be a complete success.

But we can have many other successes along the way. ANT and I are on the same page: 25-0 the rest of the way. The most important part of that feat would be I win the Wins Prediction for this season! Although, even in my most aggressive KOM, 25-0 still only gets us the 3rd seed. But we would have momentum

Some other successes that would come with a whole bunch of winning to close out the season: ANT would be in the MVP conversation. NAZ would be lining up his 2nd 6MOY, and Rudy might garner his 5th DPOY.

Other successes could include the continued growth of Joan, Shannon picking up where he left off before the foot injury, and Rocco garnering some garbage time minutes. Another success would be extending Ayo before the end of the season so he doesn't even enter free agency, which was something TC did with NAZ's 1st big contract.

But coming back down to earth, earning home court in the 1st round would be a success. And getting to the Western Conference finals for a 3rd time, AND performing better than a 4-1 ouster would be a success.

[Coolbreeze44]

A lot of you guys wanted to run it back this year, so we had better make the conference finals.

[DNatagal]

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing! Championship. Or start Ant 2.0, or wherever we are now this off-season.

A few things that would help are:
Having Randle's trade value stay high enough that we can trade him in the off-season for more than a bag of chips and financial relief.
Having Finch actually coach better than he does now...or bad enough he gets canned. I think he needs to inspire the players, allow someone else to draw up inbounds plays, and be flexible with lineup combinations.
Jaden going to the next, next, next level. He shows flashes and then disappears for a few games. Ant needs him to be his Robin.

[Wolvesfan21]

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing! Championship. Or start Ant 2.0, or wherever we are now this off-season.

A few things that would help are:
Having Randle's trade value stay high enough that we can trade him in the off-season for more than a bag of chips and financial relief.
Having Finch actually coach better than he does now...or bad enough he gets canned. I think he needs to inspire the players, allow someone else to draw up inbounds plays, and be flexible with lineup combinations.
Jaden going to the next, next, next level. He shows flashes and then disappears for a few games. Ant needs him to be his Robin.

I agree with all that. Success in simple terms is a chip. Making the NBA finals? You don't want to just get there, you want to win it all!

There are degrees of failure though in the likelihood of that not happening. Certainly the betting lines and general concensus is the Wolves are a long shot.

Ideally Jaden gets more consistent and maybe he will. But maybe this is who he is. More of a third or fourth option on offense. You're probably right though, to win it all we probably need him to step up a notch even from last years playoffs where I thought overall he was good. Who else can we expect to have to carry the load outside of Ant and Ju on offense? Maybe more team basketball!

I think you might be underrating Randles trade value a bit. I think his overall play and value relative to his salary is a positive. He's not a negative value like a Morant or Trae Young, or some other injury prone players. Overall he plays at a high level and is paid fairly for what he produces. We all want to see more from him, but it's not like he's making 50 mill or max contract. Had that be the case I'd say you're right.

I think many teams would welcome Ju considering his high level of play and fair contract. Yeah he's up and down, but outside of the top superstars, it's kind of what you get.

[DNatagal]

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing! Championship. Or start Ant 2.0, or wherever we are now this off-season.

A few things that would help are:
Having Randle's trade value stay high enough that we can trade him in the off-season for more than a bag of chips and financial relief.
Having Finch actually coach better than he does now...or bad enough he gets canned. I think he needs to inspire the players, allow someone else to draw up inbounds plays, and be flexible with lineup combinations.
Jaden going to the next, next, next level. He shows flashes and then disappears for a few games. Ant needs him to be his Robin.

I agree with all that. Success in simple terms is a chip. Making the NBA finals? You don't want to just get there, you want to win it all!

There are degrees of failure though in the likelihood of that not happening. Certainly the betting lines and general concensus is the Wolves are a long shot.

Ideally Jaden gets more consistent and maybe he will. But maybe this is who he is. More of a third or fourth option on offense. You're probably right though, to win it all we probably need him to step up a notch even from last years playoffs where I thought overall he was good. Who else can we expect to have to carry the load outside of Ant and Ju on offense? Maybe more team basketball!

I think you might be underrating Randles trade value a bit. I think his overall play and value relative to his salary is a positive. He's not a negative value like a Morant or Trae Young, or some other injury prone players. Overall he plays at a high level and is paid fairly for what he produces. We all want to see more from him, but it's not like he's making 50 mill or max contract. Had that be the case I'd say you're right.

I think many teams would welcome Ju considering his high level of play and fair contract. Yeah he's up and down, but outside of the top superstars, it's kind of what you get.

I understand your point about Randles value, but he has a reputation for folding in the playoffs. I want him to play well to keep his regular season value, but after the playoffs conclude.

[thedoper]

Based on our roster I think getting out of the 1st round in the West is a reasonable outcome. Anything beyond that shows a lot of heart. I think we need to make serious changes to this team in the offseason unless they win it all.

[FNG]

It's a difficult question for me to answer...I guess it's circumstantial. I think we are as talented as any team in the league, but the lackluster inconsistent play of Ant and Ju will likely leave us in a not very good position for the playoffs. I loved our success last season, but do we get to the conference finals if Steph doesn't get hurt? I would say probably not...they beat us pretty badly in Game 1 on our court. So if we finish 6th and lose to a healthy Denver team in the first round, I would still call it a moderately successful season. They have the best player on the planet and are much improved over last season in my opinion while healthy, so I would have a difficult time being unhappy with our squad if we lost in 7. But I also would hope that would be a wake up call for Ant...mail in your performance in certain games during the regular season, and it might mean having to play a really good team in the first round.