Minnesota Sports Forum

papalrep wrote:I'm pessimistic about thinking we have a championship contender. To me, you can already see the limits of this team. We will make the playoffs, win the first round series.

We will then play Houston or GS and lose in 5 or 6. That's it, for the next few years. What if we had kept Zach, had Markinen. Had a one two punch of Ricky/Tyus, is the ceiling eventually higher for that line up?

I think it's just as likely that lineup never cracks an 8 seed than becomes a contender. If our defense is this bad now with Jimmy and Taj, I shutter at thinking how it would look with Zach and Lauri. Nobody can beat the Warriors as long as they have 4 all-stars and sign 2-3 vets every summer that can contribute when called on. As for Houston you saw last year when James burned out in the playoffs and CP3 isn't getting any younger. They are built on a much bigger house of cards than any other contender. I would say give it 2 years, see if GS stays together, see the decline in CP3 and then see Towns and Wiggins just enter their prime with Jimmy being in his prime and I think there's a solid chance we end up as a contender.

Good point, Houston looks unbeatable now (by us anyway), but their window is shorter than ours for sure. I'm not sure if my argument is logical, maybe it's emotion. I was a Rubio-bo, miss ole Juan Stockton (love his new nickname), then I saw us lose to Houston a couple of times, then saw the game Zach had in Chicago, read good things about Markinen.

All that said, we are still a lot better now than we were then. The boys on TNT were not impressed with the LA game, though. Someone said we won't beat anyone above us in the standings, Chuck Barkley said "they won't beat number 5 (OKC) either".

Thatwould suck to have us finish 4, OKC 5, and lose in the first round.

papalrep wrote:I'm pessimistic about thinking we have a championship contender. To me, you can already see the limits of this team. We will make the playoffs, win the first round series.

We will then play Houston or GS and lose in 5 or 6. That's it, for the next few years. What if we had kept Zach, had Markinen. Had a one two punch of Ricky/Tyus, is the ceiling eventually higher for that line up?

I don't think the ceiling is higher at all. I know there is a lot of optimism about Zach here. But like Wiggins he has been in the league into his 4th year and showed only flashes. I can't see Zach ever becoming a better player than Jimmy. And in that scenario many years of losing before KAT wants out? I prefer this strategy, show the kids what playoff basketball is like, make them hungry for more, rather than having them complacent with more losing.

papalrep wrote:Thatwould suck to have us finish 4, OKC 5, and lose in the first round.

Why would a first round exit be such a bad thing? We haven't made the playoffs in 13 years. They have a roster full of playoff experience. If we get swept or lose in 5 that would be disappointing, but I don't see based on how we've played them this year that we would see that. The playoffs are just different. They aren't a one-off regular season game on a Thursday in February. I'm actually quite interested to see how this young team responds to an elevated environment when it comes to effort. They may show their immaturity or they may step up and decide to shine on the big stage. We'll see, but I would certainly not be disappointed with a first round exit if they showed up and just lost to an experienced playoff roster. Getting a taste of the playoffs was really the goal this year and we may end up with home court advantage. We're still very young. Experience is most important now. Wins should be expected after we get some of that experience under our belt.