Minnesota Sports Forum

Two games means essentially close to nothing. Every player in the league has a 2 game stretch they can point to as their highlight. Plus you need to do it in games that mean something. Personally I think TSJ is a pretty good player and not because of the last 2 games. I think he had a slow start and the injury really set him back. When he came back he was out of shape and struggled to get going. But he needs to show up for a lengthier period of time than a couple games or a good playoff series.

kekgeek wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:19 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 8:26 am What's interesting about this late season stretch is that it gives the front office a good look at TJ and Joan which they can factor into their offseason plans. I think Clark is what he is at this point and can improve along the margins, but the other two have a much wider degree of possible outcomes.

My early conclusion as it relates to next season is that Joan is still very raw, but definitely should be in the regular rotation next year as a backup Center. Playing a low-usage, high-activity big off the bench throughout the regular season for 12-15 MPG can only do so much damage on bad nights, while really providing a boost on good nights.

TJ is the real wildcard. My disappointment in him is that he seems incapable of impacting games without the ball in his hands. Someone with his measurables and athleticism should figure out a way to get more rebounds, steals, and blocks (only 3.2, .9, .1 per 36 minutes) and fewer blow-bys on defense. He literally had box scores of 10+ minutes with zeroes across the board except for may be an 0-2 from the field. Do something! Dive for a loose ball. Take a charge. Go up and get a contested rebound.

But....these last two games has reminded us of how potent he can be if given the green light and a little more rope. And he seemingly has his best games against the league's best defenses: OKC, Orlando, and Houston. Can he be our primary scoring option off the bench, assuming Randle and/or Naz gets traded?

What is crazy is 26% of TSJ points for the season came in these last 2 games. That is nuts! The Shannon we saw these last 2 games is what I think everyone thought we would get here and there but he was so bad this season.

The question is do we start believing again or are these 2 games the massive outlier for him because it’s not like he didn’t get opportunities this season.

Kek, while he did get his chances, it was often with the dual constraints of limited minutes and playing mostly off the ball. It's his fault that he was such a mess in that role. But you have to wonder how things would have been in a more prominent on ball role without the quick hooks.

I'm not blaming Finch at all since he had other mouths to feed and is paid to win games.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2026 2:36 pm Two games means essentially close to nothing. Every player in the league has a 2 game stretch they can point to as their highlight. Plus you need to do it in games that mean something. Personally I think TSJ is a pretty good player and not because of the last 2 games. I think he had a slow start and the injury really set him back. When he came back he was out of shape and struggled to get going. But he needs to show up for a lengthier period of time than a couple games or a good playoff series.

While Mo Williams and Corey Brewer both had 50+ point games for the Wolves which would help support your point. It's how it looks for TJ that matters more for me. He's got a higher upside due to his athleticism and uncommon driving quickness. It just looks different and that for me that makes me a believer he could be more then maybe just a mediocre role player.

Now he hasn't proven it at all over any significant time as well as playing good defense (his defense is pretty bad), which does support your point. But at the same time, my eyes tell me he can be a good NBA player. Maybe I'm an idiot for buying his stock, we'll see.

Getting back to the original question in the thread title, my view has turned a little more negative. I really thought we could be competitive with the Spurs in round 2 after disposing of a wounded Lakers team in the first round, so I'm still smarting from Denver's G League team wrecking that plan. We're also facing them at the worst possible time, as they have won 12 games in a row and are looking like perhaps the best team in the Association right now (led by certainly the best player). So what do I think is going to happen? I'm fearing a gentleman's sweep for Denver with us winning one home game like we did against Houston 3 years ago. And if that happens, or even if we lose 4-2, I will be furious with Ju's and Ant's lackadaisical regular season play that left us in a bad playoff position and pronounce the season mostly a failure...and I would consider NOBODY untouchable in the offseason. But if we somehow beat Denver, I will call the season a huge success and be excited about playing a Spurs team I think we can beat. And if we are competitive and lose to Denver in 7, I will call the season a moderate success.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 3:20 pm Getting back to the original question in the thread title, my view has turned a little more negative. I really thought we could be competitive with the Spurs in round 2 after disposing of a wounded Lakers team in the first round, so I'm still smarting from Denver's G League team wrecking that plan. We're also facing them at the worst possible time, as they have won 12 games in a row and are looking like perhaps the best team in the Association right now (led by certainly the best player). So what do I think is going to happen? I'm fearing a gentleman's sweep for Denver with us winning one home game like we did against Houston 3 years ago. And if that happens, or even if we lose 4-2, I will be furious with Ju's and Ant's lackadaisical regular season play that left us in a bad playoff position and pronounce the season mostly a failure...and I would consider NOBODY untouchable in the offseason. But if we somehow beat Denver, I will call the season a huge success and be excited about playing a Spurs team I think we can beat. And if we are competitive and lose to Denver in 7, I will call the season a moderate success.

I feel even less confident about us beating Denver then two years ago . They as you say are on a roll with Jokic the best player in the world and it's really not close imo. While we've been injured and sucking ass for the last couple months. It just looks bad for us and barring the big upset, a first round loss is a failure of a season.

I'm not going to just make an excuse that Denver got that much better then us and now we got no hope, that's BS. We either upset them or it's a disaster of a season and I'm fully leaning we will see disaster.

Now I wouldn't trade Ant because obviously you'd be cooked and a turd of a team without him, but it would hopefully be a large wake up call, learning experience for him if we do get beat. He talked a big game in the preseason, but failed thus far to live up to it.

I might even argue a first round loss is what this team needs.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 3:20 pm Getting back to the original question in the thread title, my view has turned a little more negative. I really thought we could be competitive with the Spurs in round 2 after disposing of a wounded Lakers team in the first round, so I'm still smarting from Denver's G League team wrecking that plan. We're also facing them at the worst possible time, as they have won 12 games in a row and are looking like perhaps the best team in the Association right now (led by certainly the best player). So what do I think is going to happen? I'm fearing a gentleman's sweep for Denver with us winning one home game like we did against Houston 3 years ago. And if that happens, or even if we lose 4-2, I will be furious with Ju's and Ant's lackadaisical regular season play that left us in a bad playoff position and pronounce the season mostly a failure...and I would consider NOBODY untouchable in the offseason. But if we somehow beat Denver, I will call the season a huge success and be excited about playing a Spurs team I think we can beat. And if we are competitive and lose to Denver in 7, I will call the season a moderate success.

While I too am less certain going into this round 1 than previous years, I would like to highlight a few things.

First in 24' there was a lot of doom and gloom in Wolves fandom heading into the Suns series. I'm don't quite remember but I believe the consensus in the media landscape had Phoenix winning.

Then in 25' everyone had the Lakers in 5. I never understood this, and was really confident in a Wolves series win and I didn't feel I was being a homer about it.

Denver has been playing great, and on paper and on the court the Wolves look pretty out of sorts. That said, I'm pretty hesitant about a results oriented approach to analyzing this after watching the personality of this team play out time and time again. Which is to consistently lock in --- especially in round 1 --- for the playoffs.

At the end of the day, the Wolves are 10th in Net rating and the Nuggets are 8th. Both teams could point to injuries suppressing their overall numbers, although Denver has a much more compelling case. Regardless, Minnesota spent most of the season ranked in the top 8 ORTG and DRTG with a Net rating that oscillated between 4th and 8th. Their late season numbers plummeted in a way that had more to do with circumstance than it did with their overall talent.

The most pressing question is if they can right the ship and get all of their pieces moving in the same direction. Historically this coaching staff and team have shown that with a week of preparation they can do just that.

And of course there is Ant who we now know levels up substantially in the playoffs and in round 1 it's even more ridiculous and evident. My only concern is literally whether he is healthy enough this time around to do that.

In no way can I feel as confident about the team this year as I did last, and if I were a betting man I'd wager on the Nugs, but I will be very very surprised if the Wolves don't give em hell. And if they pull out an upset I would bet on another WCFs trip

Last thing, but this year by design or by reluctance the coaching staff has given players more rest in the run up to the postseason.
In 24 and 25 they were battling for seeding all the way up to game 82.
I am hopeful that they'll all be more able to withstand the grind this year if they are indeed poised for a deep playoff run

And this part is just me hypothesizing and is purely conjecture, but I wonder if Ant more um.... Relaxed... approach to the regular season this year wasn't in some part intentional on his end. In other words was he holding back on defense to save himself and his energy? Was he more focused on scoring this year and less playmaking cause he really wanted to hone his "finishing package" and midrange?
I think the OKC series and their defense really stuck in Ant's craw all year. I don't think that he liked that he could be neutralized, so he really wanted to focus on that and used the regular season as a testing ground.

I know this sounds far fetch and I'm not even sure how much I believe it, but two things:
1) the dude is wired different, we know this because of the whole switch flipping thing but also because most professional athletes are
2) the kids always knows the answers to the test, but he's also a screw off. Last season Ant averaged 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assist in the Lakers series. He has an incredible arrogance,.that is often proven right, to think that he can shut those skills off for a while and then dial them right back up when it matters. It really frustrating, but also self evident.

I'll be watching to see if my hypothesis holds any water, it'll be fun to see how things play out

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2026 3:20 pm Getting back to the original question in the thread title, my view has turned a little more negative. I really thought we could be competitive with the Spurs in round 2 after disposing of a wounded Lakers team in the first round, so I'm still smarting from Denver's G League team wrecking that plan. We're also facing them at the worst possible time, as they have won 12 games in a row and are looking like perhaps the best team in the Association right now (led by certainly the best player). So what do I think is going to happen? I'm fearing a gentleman's sweep for Denver with us winning one home game like we did against Houston 3 years ago. And if that happens, or even if we lose 4-2, I will be furious with Ju's and Ant's lackadaisical regular season play that left us in a bad playoff position and pronounce the season mostly a failure...and I would consider NOBODY untouchable in the offseason. But if we somehow beat Denver, I will call the season a huge success and be excited about playing a Spurs team I think we can beat. And if we are competitive and lose to Denver in 7, I will call the season a moderate success.

If we lose in a sweep or in 5 I will be less made about the 6 seed because that just showed me that the wolves didn’t have a squad close to winning a title. If they lose a hard fought 7 game series I think the regular season lack of success is more frustrating

For me it comes down to how healthy Ant is. I'm confident Jaden is healthy and he will play well like he always does in the playoffs. But Ant needs to have it all together for us to win the series. We also need our role players to play well, not only at home, but in Denver. I expect a long series because Denver is going to have a hard time winning at Target. Wolves in 7.