Minnesota Sports Forum

Ill go 40....same as last year.

52 games

I didn't qualify my win prediction, I also looked at what others said and someone pointed out rookie wall and others said to young of a team.

I relooked the top rookies from the past few years...if Wiggins is anything like the average top 5 guys from a draft we will be all right. If Bennett is healed and in the right position, I think he along with Thad go a long way in helping us transition.


Last year we had Cunningham play 20 min, JJ 19, she'd 10, and luc played 15 a game. Those guys were BAD. They have each been replaced by a good upgrade.

I want what Tim, Phenom and Bloop are smoking!

KiwiMatt wrote:I want what Tim, Phenom and Bloop are smoking!

It's only available in certain 3rd world countries

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:I want what Tim, Phenom and Bloop are smoking!

It's only available in certain 3rd world countries

Apparently, we have a monopoly on the good stuff...

Most of you acknowledge the many ways the Wolves ought to be improved over last year. Yet you are unable see how those improvements collectively move the needle forward despite the loss of Love. We have a saying for that: you cannot see the forest through the trees!

60WinTim wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

KiwiMatt wrote:I want what Tim, Phenom and Bloop are smoking!

It's only available in certain 3rd world countries

Apparently, we have a monopoly on the good stuff...

Most of you acknowledge the many ways the Wolves ought to be improved over last year. Yet you are unable see how those improvements collectively move the needle forward despite the loss of Love. We have a saying for that: you cannot see the forest through the trees!

One of the biggest problems from last year didn't get fixed in terms of the FG% we are going to give up at the rim. That is very difficult to overlook when it comes to how much of a defensive improvement this year's team is over last. I think it will be pretty even between fast breaks we get off of the extra steals we get this year than we lose with Love rebounds and outlet passes not being there anymore. I also don't think it is taken into account how significant a loss Love is offensively. He was our offense last year and everybody was significantly better with him on the court hence the 11 point difference between him being on the court vs. off in terms of offensive drop off. Bench upgrades are nice, but they are less consistent than a 25 and 12 star anchoring your offense. Some nights everything will click and they can make up the difference, but Love had the ability and consistency to carry an offense on most nights regardless of it being off or on for everybody else. That is why stars are more important than depth because stars bring a level of consistency depth never really has on a game to game basis. I think there is going to be a big reality check when people realize how inconsistent this young squad is going to be this year as that is what young players most commonly lack. There is no anchor to carry the team through the inconsistencies anymore and the defense isn't going to be good enough to be that anchor yet like it is for the Bulls and the Pacers of the world. If Pek and Martin have any off nights, those are probably going to be losses because there just isn't enough offense elsewhere on the team to get us back into games if we struggle early.

Mo, Thad and Bud beg to differ (the three stoogies just popped into my mind!). Love's scoring being spread around to others is a good thing.

I wonder if this will be a career year for Kevin Martin? He should get more shots without Love around. The one thing that will be missed most IMO is the "big shot guy". To his credit, Love always seemed to want to take big shots and even though everyone knew the ball was going to him, he still was pretty good at it. I'm not sure who (if anyone) can fill that role with him gone.

I'll go with 34. The year after is when I think the big leap occurs.