Battle of the Soft Schedules - Kings at Wolves GDT

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

One of the more impressive wins of the season. I feel like I've had that thought a lot lately as Minnesota's beat some quality opponents the last several weeks. This is who they are, though. They have played down to their competition, but they have also played up to their competition. They can beat any team in this league. What a huge win tonight. Let's do it again on Monday.

[KiwiMatt]

Pretty good effort tonight, despite our bench (outside of Naz's 3rd quarter) not showing up. This starting line up is really starting to gel.

[Q-is-here]

An absolute big-time win indeed. We basically had one arm tied behind our back between key guys missing and the refs, PLUS this was the second night of a back to back.

Just a huge win coming off that Memphis win last night. Super impressed.

[Coolbreeze44]

Haven't been able to see this one yet. Did DLO go scorched earth in the first half? And then Ant did his part in the 2nd? Awfully impressive win. Getting to be a little exciting for this group.

[Jester1534]

Wolves win again

No Troll posts again

Is this a trend

What happens if the wolves win on Monday again

Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The Timberwolves have quietly won 11 of their 15 games in January with quality wins against Denver, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, and Sacramento. Simply, it's time to take them seriously. They're right there in the hunt for a top-four seed. Sip some of the Kool-Aid. It won't hurt.

The losses to inferior opponents are inexcusable. The roster has some wonky parts that don't always fit perfectly. Mistakes have been made across the board from all involved this season, including management. However, they're undeniably rolling right now and without arguably their best individual player, or second-best individual player who also happens to be All-NBA caliber. I don't think they've played their best basketball yet this season, which is exciting, but they're certainly rounding into form.

Lastly, keep the nucleus of this team together. Keep the guys who got you here. Dance with the girl you took to prom. I can't speak for everyone else, but if this team continues to play at a high level, and I think it will, and significant changes are made at the trade deadline, I'll be highly disappointed. They could use a minor tweak or two with some bench pieces, but nothing big enough to rock the boat.

[Phenom]

The Timberwolves have quietly won 11 of their 15 games in January with quality wins against Denver, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, and Sacramento. Simply, it's time to take them seriously. They're right there in the hunt for a top-four seed. Sip some of the Kool-Aid. It won't hurt.

The losses to inferior opponents are inexcusable. The roster has some wonky parts that don't always fit perfectly. Mistakes have been made across the board from all involved this season, including management. However, they're undeniably rolling right now and without arguably their best individual player, or second-best individual player who also happens to be All-NBA caliber. I don't think they've played their best basketball yet this season, which is exciting, but they're certainly rounding into form.

Lastly, keep the nucleus of this team together. Keep the guys who got you here. Dance with the girl you took to prom. I can't speak for everyone else, but if this team continues to play at a high level, and I think it will, and significant changes are made at the trade deadline, I'll be highly disappointed. They could use a minor tweak or two with some bench pieces, but nothing big enough to rock the boat.

I'm good keeping DLo and seeing how the market goes this summer. It would be hard to trade him for a guy on their last legs, (Paul, Conley, Lowry etc.) These next 4 years or so will probably be DLos best years being as cerebral as he is. He drives me nuts sometimes and I wasn't thrilled when the Wolves traded for him but he has synergy with a good amount of the team, most importantly as a 1-2 punch with Ant. It remains to be seen how it works with KAT (still unfortunately) but I think we need to see still. Ant has stepped up and DLo seems to receptive to the role he is needed in.

I was listening to a Suns pod where DLo trades were discussed and they were trying to peddle Cam Payne, Dario, Crowder and a protected 1st round pick for DLo to be Paul's backup. That's a firm NO for me. Payne is everything people loathe about DLo.

I would focus on the market for Nowell and Naz.

[Coolbreeze44]

I get it. It's hard to trade a guy who is playing as well as DLO is. But his value will never be higher. If he continues to shoot this well, it will be fascinating to see what happens at the deadline. Just keep winning and avoid the terrible type of loss we've seen too many times this (every) year.

[Jester1534]

I get it. It's hard to trade a guy who is playing as well as DLO is. But his value will never be higher. If he continues to shoot this well, it will be fascinating to see what happens at the deadline. Just keep winning and avoid the terrible type of loss we've seen too many times this (every) year.

Per Dana Moore Twitrer

D'Angelo Russell has made 101 of his last 243 3-point attempts. That's 42% on about 7 attempts per game.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

This organization made a massive win-now trade during the off-season indicating that they were serious about competing at a high level -- contending in the Western Conference. It wasn't well-received around the league and the media. Throughout the season we've heard that the front office would probably redo it if they had the chance to. However, that trade made their intentions known. Win now -- not next year or three years from today. Now.

What would it say about those same people in charge if the team finally produced wins in bunches, even in the face of adversity, with a path to having homecourt advantage in the first-round of the post-season, and they then chose to "sell high" instead of continuing to chase wins? How would the team feel, especially if the return was focused on the future instead of the now? That applies to D'Angelo Russell, Naz Reid, Taurean Prince, etc.

If this team continues to play high level basketball, I don't see how they could shake it up. Things could change, but I think that's playing with fire. I know there's a level of responsibility for organizations to always be forward-looking, but they still need to have immediate success this season. They need to be smart buyers at the deadline, not sellers. Just my opinion.