Minnesota Sports Forum

Guess what...the Wolves are 9 games out of the 7th and 6th spot. That's a sizable gap but not completely insurmountable especially if they could sweep whatever games are left with one of those teams.

Ugh, Sacramento wins at Detroit and the freakin' Pelicans beat Cleveland without Davis! WTF!?

And in non-Wolves-playoff related matters, Dion Waiters trolls Golden State.

Bizarre night.

Q12543 wrote:Ugh, Sacramento wins at Detroit and the freakin' Pelicans beat Cleveland without Davis! WTF!?

And in non-Wolves-playoff related matters, Dion Waiters trolls Golden State.

Bizarre night.

Yeah it was a weird night for sure. It shows how any given night any team can beat (or lose to) any team.

I like to look at the "Last 10 games" record to see how the Wolves and their competition for the 8th spot are trending. It is kind of crazy - everyone except Sacramento is playing around .500 ball. Hard to leapfrog anyone.

8 Denver Nuggets 4-6
9 Portland Trail Blazers 4-6
10 New Orleans Pelicans 4-6
11 Sacramento Kings 2-8
12 Minnesota Timberwolves 5-5
13 Dallas Mavericks 5-5
14 Phoenix Suns 5-5

It is unlikely the Wolves can beat all those teams out for the #8 spot. And it might be better to get a draft pick than to lose in 4 to the Ws. But I'm just so sick of meaningless basketball from January on. BRING ON THE PLAYOFF CHASE. I feel like it would be a huge learning opportunity for the Wolves.

Wile E Coyote wrote:I like to look at the "Last 10 games" record to see how the Wolves and their competition for the 8th spot are trending. It is kind of crazy - everyone except Sacramento is playing around .500 ball. Hard to leapfrog anyone.

8 Denver Nuggets 4-6
9 Portland Trail Blazers 4-6
10 New Orleans Pelicans 4-6
11 Sacramento Kings 2-8
12 Minnesota Timberwolves 5-5
13 Dallas Mavericks 5-5
14 Phoenix Suns 5-5

Yup, that 8th spot is a total crap shoot at this point. While we have turned the corner from horrible to competitive, so have a few other teams! We're not the only ones playing better!

Q12543 wrote:

Wile E Coyote wrote:I like to look at the "Last 10 games" record to see how the Wolves and their competition for the 8th spot are trending. It is kind of crazy - everyone except Sacramento is playing around .500 ball. Hard to leapfrog anyone.

8 Denver Nuggets 4-6
9 Portland Trail Blazers 4-6
10 New Orleans Pelicans 4-6
11 Sacramento Kings 2-8
12 Minnesota Timberwolves 5-5
13 Dallas Mavericks 5-5
14 Phoenix Suns 5-5

Yup, that 8th spot is a total crap shoot at this point. While we have turned the corner from horrible to competitive, so have a few other teams! We're not the only ones playing better!

Wile it's possible that you can have the best of both of both worlds. The Wolves could have a playoff chase for the next 2-3 months and not make it but still get a pretty good draft pick. With Lin hurt and the Nets not being super great before that they may be locked to the bottom but after that unless there are more injuries or a fire sale/tank job to one or more of the bottom half teams and they drop (probably will happen to at least 1 team) it could be a scrum with not more than a handful of wins separating the teams at the bottom.

Denver has that last WC slot and is projected to be #15. If the Wolves stay in the lottery they could be relatively competitive the rest of the season and still have a top 10 pick. If they get lucky in the lottery (lol lol lol lol) they could even move up a spot or 2. It's time to start doing my draft homework and that will start in person this next week with Purdue and Michigan State coming to town. :)

One other consideration/reminder: Wolves owe first round pick to ATL due to the disastrous Payne trade. It is protected top 14 through 2020. Grrr.

I think

Wile E Coyote wrote:One other consideration/reminder: Wolves owe first round pick to ATL due to the disastrous Payne trade. It is protected top 14 through 2020. Grrr.

The trade that keeps on giving. At least we still have Payne here and getting value out of him.

Wile E Coyote wrote:One other consideration/reminder: Wolves owe first round pick to ATL due to the disastrous Payne trade. It is protected top 14 through 2020. Grrr.

Well any pick lower than 14, Glen will just end up giving away for cash. So no biggie.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I think

Wile E Coyote wrote:One other consideration/reminder: Wolves owe first round pick to ATL due to the disastrous Payne trade. It is protected top 14 through 2020. Grrr.

The trade that keeps on giving. At least we still have Payne here and getting value out of him.

Couldn't you have waited to remind us of this till Payne's 26th birthday next month or something? On the other hand Thibs has really coach Payne up and it's obvious he is sitting him so they can sign him cheap which is brilliant. Look at the numbers it's a small sample but they are career highs across the board! Free Payne!!!