Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden0916 wrote:

PorkChop wrote:Sad that we all recognize Wiggins failures as a player but realize this team only gets better if he does. Which makes him equally valuable to Towns.

We realize this team only gets better if he does because his bloated salary is severely handicapping this roster from adding other pieces that can actually make the team better -- whether that's by adding one player actually worthy of a max contract or two players that can provide defense and perimeter shooting to support Towns.

His atrocious play is bad enough, especially when you consider the gifted physical tools he has, but when you combine it with his max contract it is a franchise killer.

I'm in total agreement. Guess my point is that him reaching his potential is more conducive to team success than our best player . The best teams in the league ride or die based on the play of their best player.
The Wolves on the other hand have a best player that has too many flaws in his game to carry them on his back. If Towns found another level to his game this year it still wouldn't be enough. If he remains the same player and Wiggins finds another level to his game it puts this team in the playoffs.

LeBron, Curry and Kawhi have had solid rosters around them most of the time. I suppose LeBron in some of those Cav years could be somewhat reasonable to our roster, nah, Wiggins bad contract still makes our roster worse. LeBron has needed two other great players to really succeed in the last decade or so. Kawhi had a great roster around him last year., no superstars per say but real good depth and vets. GSW has 4 All Stars. Point is, KAT can never carry the team. One guy can't do it.

I think Pork you are probably in agreement, just the wording is a bit different.

PorkChop wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

PorkChop wrote:Sad that we all recognize Wiggins failures as a player but realize this team only gets better if he does. Which makes him equally valuable to Towns.

We realize this team only gets better if he does because his bloated salary is severely handicapping this roster from adding other pieces that can actually make the team better -- whether that's by adding one player actually worthy of a max contract or two players that can provide defense and perimeter shooting to support Towns.

His atrocious play is bad enough, especially when you consider the gifted physical tools he has, but when you combine it with his max contract it is a franchise killer.

I'm in total agreement. Guess my point is that him reaching his potential is more conducive to team success than our best player . The best teams in the league ride or die based on the play of their best player.
The Wolves on the other hand have a best player that has too many flaws in his game to carry them on his back. If Towns found another level to his game this year it still wouldn't be enough. If he remains the same player and Wiggins finds another level to his game it puts this team in the playoffs.

Towns is a flawed 23 year old that's played for multiple different coaches and blah blah but still it seems quite reasonable to think he will step up his game down the road. Will he step it up enough this year? Idk but it's quite possible when he is say 25 he is gonna be an absolute monster that really effects winning.

The point about Wiggins adding value to the team I agree with. I still think he can return to just being an underwhelming volume scorer instead of a wretched one. I think his defense has improved to be inching closer to being an average defender. He doesn't have to take a massive leap to provide value to the team. If he doesn't the way this team can take a step forward is to have found a market value player/players with another guy like Culver who turns into the Impact player Wiggins was supposed to be. One reason a team like Miami was a playoff team for a while without any player that was remotely a star was they found guys they signed to below market value and then improved their play. They also played defense. The Wolves can improve themselves if some of their players become legit NBA rotation players on a .500 level team or better. A number of the guys they brought in this offseason actually have that on their resume. IF many of those guys are actually legit rotation players the Wolves may actually have some legit depth and that will help A LOT. It may also get them some decent 2nd round picks trading expiring players away to teams with higher aspirations.

You can no longer be a good team in the West if all you have is one great player - even if that player is a superstar - surrounded by one or two good role players and then a bunch of mediocrity. It just can't be done anymore, as the talent is off the charts.

Q12543 wrote:You can no longer be a good team in the West if all you have is one great player - even if that player is a superstar - surrounded by one or two good role players and then a bunch of mediocrity. It just can't be done anymore, as the talent is off the charts.

Q I think a lot of the conversation in the last few posts is about being a decent competitive team THIS season not a good one. If this roster is able to win say 35 games I think there may actually be SOME signs for hope. Yes the Wolves need more than one really good player to bea good team. Being somewhat competitive may help in the process to bring that guy here...or you know actually develop your own player...seems novel for this franchise but ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!! Lol

Q12543 wrote:You can no longer be a good team in the West if all you have is one great player - even if that player is a superstar - surrounded by one or two good role players and then a bunch of mediocrity. It just can't be done anymore, as the talent is off the charts.

That's absolutely correct. You might be able to get a 7th or 8th seed (maybe even a 6th) in the West with one star and a lot of really good role players coached by a top-notch head coach. But to be a top 4 or 5 team in the West with some chance of getting to the finals you have to have at least a couple stars or one star and a couple allstar caliber players with him.

Injuries are going to be a major story in the West this year. That and load management. Many of the superstars in the conference have some miles on the tires. The team(s) that can stay healthy are going to emerge as the best. I don't think the Lakers can. And I wonder about the Clippers and Rockets. I think Denver and Utah have a terrific chance of getting one of the top seeds.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:You can no longer be a good team in the West if all you have is one great player - even if that player is a superstar - surrounded by one or two good role players and then a bunch of mediocrity. It just can't be done anymore, as the talent is off the charts.

That's absolutely correct. You might be able to get a 7th or 8th seed (maybe even a 6th) in the West with one star and a lot of really good role players coached by a top-notch head coach. But to be a top 4 or 5 team in the West with some chance of getting to the finals you have to have at least a couple stars or one star and a couple allstar caliber players with him.

I honestly don't think it's possible this year to get into the playoffs in the West without a legit star and at least two or three other well-rounded really good players, if not stars in their own right. We have one star and one above average role player in Covington. Everyone else is mediocre at best or greenhorn rookies that will get exposed. This is a 25-win roster, give or take.

There's certain types of players who raise the average to great players up a level. Jokic mans a one star team in my opinion with all respect to Murray. I would even say Gobert too even though Mitchell has gotten so much attention for his play, Conley also changes that now. To me Towns still hasnt found that magic to bring the rest of his team up, hoping we see that this year.

thedoper wrote:There's certain types of players who raise the average to great players up a level. Jokic mans a one star team in my opinion with all respect to Murray. I would even say Gobert too even though Mitchell has gotten so much attention for his play, Conley also changes that now. To me Towns still hasnt found that magic to bring the rest of his team up, hoping we see that this year.

Perhaps, although I think you are not giving enough credit to those other players.

Along with Gobert, I'd argue that Favors, Ingles, and Mitchell gave them three other well-rounded really good players. Not stars, but I'd take all three over Gibson, Wiggins, and Okogie from last year's lineup.

As for Denver, I'd put Milsap, Murray, and even Monte freakin' Morris in that same category. Again I'd swap out any three of our sidekicks to KAT for those three, except for RoCo.

The dropoff from KAT to RoCo is pretty big. But the dropoff from RoCo to pretty much everyone else on the roster might be even bigger. You need multiple good players, not just one superstar, one really good role player, and a collection of mediocrity in the West. KAT can may be will this team to 30 or so wins on his own, but that's not even close to playoff contention.