Minnesota Sports Forum

Maybe it's accurate and maybe it's not...doesn't concern me too much. The artificial sense of urgency Love had us in the last two years is gone, and Flip can build this interesting roster at the right pace, rather than being forced to win now. Unlike Adelman, I really think he is going to give the rookies a lot of burn, along with the second year guys (Muhammad, Dieng and hopefully Bennett), and despite the huge potential of this quintet, young teams generally don't flourish in the NBA. And if ESPN is right, we have another top 5 pick to add to this promising group.

Or, maybe the young guys surprise us and win right away. Either way, I'm really excited about this season and watching these guys develop.

longstrangetrip wrote:Maybe it's accurate and maybe it's not...doesn't concern me too much. The artificial sense of urgency Love had us in the last two years is gone, and Flip can build this interesting roster at the right pace, rather than being forced to win now. Unlike Adelman, I really think he is going to give the rookies a lot of burn, along with the second year guys (Muhammad, Dieng and hopefully Bennett), and despite the huge potential of this quintet, young teams generally don't flourish in the NBA. And if ESPN is right, we have another top 5 pick to add to this promising group.

Or, maybe the young guys surprise us and win right away. Either way, I'm really excited about this season and watching these guys develop.

Agreed, this will be a fun team to watch without the expectations of winning. No more dreading the 4th quarter! :)

I welcomed us being ranked dead last. It only serves as added fuel to the fire and another chip on the shoulder for rubio,flip,wiggins and the team. Do i think we will be the worst team in the west? NO. I do think we will be surprisingly competitive. Not a playoff or 40 win team but a 30+ win team.

I have a feeling that the team will play hard all year. Rubio will be the leader now and he is all about the team, hard work and winning. The team will follow his lead and hopefully his attitude will rub off on his team mates.

Wiggins will be coming in with huge chips on his shoulder for being disrespected and in limbo after getting drafted #1. Im not saying the cavs disrespected wiggins or anything before posters jump on it. He is being traded for a top 10 guy so that is no slight. But the whole situation he was in was sort of a slap to his face. Being drafted first and being in limbo for a month and forced act like he is part of the cavs future and wear the jersey for photo opts when he knows he is likely not suiting up for the team even for a game ( they didnt bother to make his jersey for merchandising purposes). He has zero to minimal contact with cavs players and personell. He should be coming in with an edge to prove himself.

Flip will also have something to prove. He is not just the coach, but also the president and minority owner. He will want to show up love for sure.

Il rather us being rank dead last and prove people wrong than what happen last year where we were a disappointment.

The key to this team winning 30+ games next season is good health and very good defense. Offensively it's hard to see us be anything other than a lower tier team.

I think it will be a pretty tough uphill battle to get to 30 wins.

Ricky's been hitting the weights this off-season. Check out the guns. Hopefully it helps him take contact on both sides of the floor. Good to see Ricky continue to put it work. http://instagram.com/p/rfqSj6Rd0p/

Yeah, I noticed that too in some earlier pictures of Rubio in Spain's training camp. I think it may help him deal with screens defensively.

Offensively, he never really shields himself while going for a layup, instead choosing to quickly finish before the defense recovers. The result is that he often hastily flips his shots up around the hoop with minimal elevation. Not sure if the strength will help him because of his approach around the hoop, but it never hurts to get stronger. He's turning into a pretty damn big point guard when you also factor in his height/reach.

I couple thoughts:

1. First and foremost, I don't care how many wins we get next season. The Love trade as reported, the LaVine pick and our two first round picks last summer all combine to make it clear that this team is being re-built for the long term. I'm focused on how many wins we get the following season and, even more so, the season after that.

2. Second, it's still too early to predict the Wolves' win total for the upcoming season because we still don't know the final roster. Will the Wolves trade for Thad Young and, if so, who will they give up to get him? Will the Wolves sign any free agents and, if so, who? Elton Brand? Kenyon Martin? Other? Will Kevin Martin still be with the team and, if not, who will be on the roster to hit threes and spread the floor?

I think Wiggins will struggle a lot this season on the offensive end and I suspect he won't be much of a positive factor. I think Pek will under-perform without Kevin Love around to spread the floor. As a team, I see us struggling a lot on the boards without Love. On the flip side, I see a better coached team under Flip (pun intended). As another plus, I also see Dieng and Rubio playing the entire season at the level they played post all-star break last season. Recall that Ricky was consistently finishing at the rim post all-star break. I think Shabazz will go from no contribution last season to a net positive contributor this season. And I have a feeling that LaVine will have a very good rookie season.

So without knowing our final roster for this season, I see a range from 25-35 wins depending on health and who fills
out our final roster. If Wiggins and LaVine end up the top two rookie of the year candidates at the end of the season then we could be a surprise team like the Suns last season and compete for the 7th or 8th playoff seed. Same result if our second-year players (Dieng, Shabazz and Bennett) have breakout seasons.

Fair take Lip. 25-35 wins seems to cover most of the various estimates with what we know today. Given our history as a franchise, I'm thinking we come closer to the low end. Injuries, lack of development, and regression of previously promising rookies seems to be the pattern for the past decade.

Camden wrote:Ricky's been hitting the weights this off-season. Check out the guns. Hopefully it helps him take contact on both sides of the floor. Good to see Ricky continue to put it work. http://instagram.com/p/rfqSj6Rd0p/

Thanks for posting that. Ricky has steadily filling out and I remember seeing some clips of earlier games with him on the Spanish team and he looks big. IF the Wolves can get a legit sized SG that plays decent D next to him and have Wiggins at SF the Wolves could be a real terror on D because Rubio might be able to handle just about any SG for some stretches at some point in his career. He has the length and its looking more and more he will be strong enough too. Being able to switch whenever you want out there can be a big plus.

Here is a clip of some of the final minutes against Canada if you want to see how he looks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBsgJZWuYxI

Q --

I agree that injuries will probably drag us towards the lower end of the range because two of our key vets - Pek and Martin - have proven to be injury-prone throughout their careers. However, I don't see regression and lack of player development as issues this season. Those were problems under Adelman and Rambis -- the former because of his attitude towards young players and Rambis because he was a terrible coach. Player development may have also been a problem under McHale.

But Flip actually has a good record of developing young players as head coach. You have to give him credit for KG's development and Marbury was never better than he was while here playing for a Flip. Wally developed into an all-star his second season here under Flip. And although Billups didn't take off as a player until he got to Detroit, he really started to develop here under Flip after doing nothing in Denver.

So while injuries will likely drag us towards the 25-win end of my range, Flip's coaching and player development will likely pull us up towards the top of my range. Assuming nothing more than the reported Wiggins deal, I see six wild cards that could take us above my range:

1. Wiggins -- unexpectedly significant improvement in his handle, jump shot, and competitive drive.
2. LaVine -- refinement of an already good jump shot, more core and upper-body strength.
3. Bennett -- big leap you often see in talented 2nd yr. players, extra benefit from weight loss and sleep apnea surgery.
4. Dieng -- building on what he showed late last season, ore physical strength
5. Shabazz -- consistently showing what we saw in Summer League plus developing consistent spot-up 3-point shot.
6. Rubio - breakout season as a shooter and finisher at the rim.