Minnesota Sports Forum

Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Yeah there have been some great developments in that time too. If we have relatively good health were a playoff team. Hard not to like it.

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Eh, maybe, but haven't the Wolves dealt with some bad luck of their own, especially COVID-related absences? D'Angelo Russell missed seven games during this stretch and the Wolves went 2-5 without him. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards both missed six games as well. Patrick Beverley missed five and Jarred Vanderbilt missed four... Luck is always a factor, but I think it's being misused as an argument against this Wolves team. At what point can everyone collectively agree that this team is good despite some of its roster issues?

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Eh, maybe, but haven't the Wolves dealt with some bad luck of their own, especially COVID-related absences? D'Angelo Russell missed seven games during this stretch and the Wolves went 2-5 without him. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards both missed six games as well. Patrick Beverley missed five and Jarred Vanderbilt missed four... Luck is always a factor, but I think it's being misused as an argument against this Wolves team. At what point can everyone collectively agree that this team is good despite some of its roster issues?

Objectively, we've been an OK-ish team, right? I don't consider .500 good or bad, but just OK. As a Wolves fan, that's like winning the freakin' lottery! (oops, bad analogy....you know what I mean). So I am beyond ecstatic that we sit here today at .500.

I mean, we're talking about wins against teams with literal first ballot HoFers out. Curry and Green (Golden State), Clips (Leonard and George), Nets (Durant).

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Eh, maybe, but haven't the Wolves dealt with some bad luck of their own, especially COVID-related absences? D'Angelo Russell missed seven games during this stretch and the Wolves went 2-5 without him. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards both missed six games as well. Patrick Beverley missed five and Jarred Vanderbilt missed four... Luck is always a factor, but I think it's being misused as an argument against this Wolves team. At what point can everyone collectively agree that this team is good despite some of its roster issues?

Objectively, we've been an OK-ish team, right? I don't consider .500 good or bad, but just OK. As a Wolves fan, that's like winning the freakin' lottery! (oops, bad analogy....you know what I mean). So I am beyond ecstatic that we sit here today at .500.

I mean, we're talking about wins against teams with literal first ballot HoFers out. Curry and Green (Golden State), Clips (Leonard and George), Nets (Durant).

If you're judging the season overall -- with Minnesota's own misfortune included -- then it's been just OK. That's fair, but if you're analyzing what this team has looked like when relatively healthy? I think they've been objectively good. They still possess the top five-man unit in basketball as their starting lineup. They're still a top-10 defense. They're now 21-13 when Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell both play this year. I just think they've earned a bit better than OK, personally.

In the same sense, Minnesota's 2-8 in the 10 games Russell's missed to injury or otherwise. At one point the Wolves had eight players out in COVID protocols. Does any of that factor into the luck conversation?

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Eh, maybe, but haven't the Wolves dealt with some bad luck of their own, especially COVID-related absences? D'Angelo Russell missed seven games during this stretch and the Wolves went 2-5 without him. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards both missed six games as well. Patrick Beverley missed five and Jarred Vanderbilt missed four... Luck is always a factor, but I think it's being misused as an argument against this Wolves team. At what point can everyone collectively agree that this team is good despite some of its roster issues?

Objectively, we've been an OK-ish team, right? I don't consider .500 good or bad, but just OK. As a Wolves fan, that's like winning the freakin' lottery! (oops, bad analogy....you know what I mean). So I am beyond ecstatic that we sit here today at .500.

I mean, we're talking about wins against teams with literal first ballot HoFers out. Curry and Green (Golden State), Clips (Leonard and George), Nets (Durant).

If you're judging the season overall -- with Minnesota's own misfortune included -- then it's been just OK. That's fair, but if you're analyzing what this team has looked like when relatively healthy? I think they've been objectively good. They still possess the top five-man unit in basketball as their starting lineup. They're still a top-10 defense. They're now 21-13 when Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell both play this year. I just think they've earned a bit better than OK, personally.

In the same sense, Minnesota's 2-8 in the 10 games Russell's missed to injury or otherwise. At one point the Wolves had eight players out in COVID protocols. Does any of that factor into the luck conversation?

I've been giving FNG shit these last 2 days about "lucky" wins and I do think the wolves have gotten a couple of breaks throughout the season but I do think this team is very solid. I think the key is the Wolves have taken advantage of their couple of breaks. And once again the Wolves big 3 is in the 98th percentile of lineups. The Wolves foundation is starting to come together what is huge.

Also please give me that 6 seed. I'm not afraid of the Grizzlies

I agree, we're a legit good team when our core guys are healthy. In fact, LOTS of NBA teams are legit good when they stay mostly healthy. It has a profound impact on the league standings. As we debated in the Wins Prediction thread, how one factors injuries and illness into his predictions can have a big influence on the number. I took a bit more pessimistic view mostly on the recent track records of KAT and DLO and came up in the mid-30s. Others took a more "if we stay mostly healthy view" and came up in the 40s.

I also agree that we should feel good about the core group. It is so much easier to build around three high-usage net positive players than trying to find high-usage net positive players.

Q-was-here wrote:

Camden wrote:Well, Minnesota's gone 12-10 since this thread's inception with four games left to play in January. That's one game better than where I projected them to be at this point so if the Wolves can beat Portland on Tuesday they'll have surpassed my optimistic expectations. They were challenged along this stretch, but they showed some resiliency and mental fortitude. Just win, baby, win. Love it.

Not to go all FNG on this thread, but they have been a little lucky during this stretch in terms of opposing teams missing some key guys. That does NOT take anything away from these wins. As we have said many times around here, every win is a great win for the losing-est franchise in pro sports history.

Hmm...I hadn't noticed. What can you possibly mean ;-) ?

Q-was-here wrote:I agree, we're a legit good team when our core guys are healthy. In fact, LOTS of NBA teams are legit good when they stay mostly healthy. It has a profound impact on the league standings. As we debated in the Wins Prediction thread, how one factors injuries and illness into his predictions can have a big influence on the number. I took a bit more pessimistic view mostly on the recent track records of KAT and DLO and came up in the mid-30s. Others took a more "if we stay mostly healthy view" and came up in the 40s.

I also agree that we should feel good about the core group. It is so much easier to build around three high-usage net positive players than trying to find high-usage net positive players.

Yeah, last season and this season are mirror images of each other. I can't find the stats on this, but we had to be among the league leaders in man games lost to injury/illness last year, didn't we? And this year we have been the third healthiest team in the league! I hold my breath every time I see KAT hit the floor or Ant limp off the court, because unlike deep teams like Brooklyn (they still looked damn good to me last night despite missing 2 starters!), one thing we all have noticed is we are not a resilient team...the Nets still win with a HOFer out, and we go 2-8 when DLo is out. We need to stay healthy!