The Road To The Playoffs (Wolves vs. Blazers)

[Lipoli390]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

Towns and Wiggins were legit special on the defensive end last night it was super nice to see.

With belly, he was open on multiple possessions but teague didn't find him or Crawford let a crazy shot fly (made them in the 1st half missed a ton in the 2nd).

Lillard started 0-9 and missed 3 free throws (92% shooter). But when it mattered he hit some damn tough 3's.

The thing that will probably kill us come playoff time with or without Butler is we need the refs on our side. We need to get to the line. We attack, wiggins, towns, Teague, taj all super aggressive to the rack last night. If the refs allow super physical play it could be the doom for the wolves (sort of like Harden in the playoffs).

I loved the fight last night, hopefully taj dosen't miss any time. On to the next one

This is the problem for a team so reliant on free throws. You really put things more in the hands of the refs, where as if you are swishing 3-point shots you are purely reliant on yourself.

Losing Taj would be a killer.....

I agree with both of you that we're overly reliant on free throws. And the truth is that officials do, in fact, generally allow more contact in the playoffs. That doesn't bode for the Wolves going forward.

As I was lamenting last night's loss, it hit me that the Wolves are not on a trajectory towards championship contention. I see us contending for a playoff spot every season so long as Towns is here and especially as long as Butler is here as well. We're going to be in that perennial middle, which is sort of depressing. Why do I see it that way? Because we have only one great player we can count on over the long haul and because we're not constructed for championship contention - i.e., we're woefully short of the necessary 3-point shooting.

Towns is developing into an all-NBA future hall-of-fame player. But other than that, I don't see a championship contender taking form. Wiggins is clearly not going to become the star Flip thought he would be. He might develop into a consistently good defender, but otherwise he will always be an inefficient scorer who doesn't facilitate or rebound very well. Butler is an all-star caliber two-way player, but he's not a superstar on par with James Harden and he's not a 3-point shooter. Moreover, as next season begins he will be a 29-year old with no meniscus in his right knee. Teague is good, but he's not much of a defender and offensively he's SG trapped inside a PG's body. Moreover, he'll be 30 years old at the start of next season. Taj has been a key part of the team's success this season. But he's having a career year that we can't expect him to duplicate, especially given the fact that he'll be 33 years old at the start of next season. Meanwhile, we're already at the salary cap and headed towards the luxury tax
line even before we extend Towns.

I don't see any trade the Wolves could realistically make that would change the team's trajectory. And I have a hard time seeing how any salary cap extension, including the $8.7 million MLE, could change it. Our best hope is that the Wolves strike gold with OKC's 1st round pick this year, which will probably be in the low to mid 20s. Unfortunately, that's a long shot generally and I haven't seen anything from the Thibs/Layden duo to give us any hope that the Wolves will find a Tony Parker, Josh Howard, Kyle Kuzma, etc.

[kekgeek]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

Towns and Wiggins were legit special on the defensive end last night it was super nice to see.

With belly, he was open on multiple possessions but teague didn't find him or Crawford let a crazy shot fly (made them in the 1st half missed a ton in the 2nd).

Lillard started 0-9 and missed 3 free throws (92% shooter). But when it mattered he hit some damn tough 3's.

The thing that will probably kill us come playoff time with or without Butler is we need the refs on our side. We need to get to the line. We attack, wiggins, towns, Teague, taj all super aggressive to the rack last night. If the refs allow super physical play it could be the doom for the wolves (sort of like Harden in the playoffs).

I loved the fight last night, hopefully taj dosen't miss any time. On to the next one

This is the problem for a team so reliant on free throws. You really put things more in the hands of the refs, where as if you are swishing 3-point shots you are purely reliant on yourself.

Losing Taj would be a killer.....

I agree with both of you that we're overly reliant on free throws. And the truth is that officials do, in fact, generally allow more contact in the playoffs. That doesn't bode for the Wolves going forward.

As I was lamenting last night's loss, it hit me that the Wolves are not on a trajectory towards championship contention. I see us contending for a playoff spot every season so long as Towns is here and especially as long as Butler is here as well. We're going to be in that perennial middle, which is sort of depressing. Why do I see it that way? Because we have only one great player we can count on over the long haul and because we're not constructed for championship contention - i.e., we're woefully short of the necessary 3-point shooting.

Towns is developing into an all-NBA future hall-of-fame player. But other than that, I don't see a championship contender taking form. Wiggins is clearly not going to become the star Flip thought he would be. He might develop into a consistently good defender, but otherwise he will always be an inefficient scorer who doesn't facilitate or rebound very well. Butler is an all-star caliber two-way player, but he's not a superstar on par with James Harden and he's not a 3-point shooter. Moreover, as next season begins he will be a 29-year old with no meniscus in his right knee. Teague is good, but he's not much of a defender and offensively he's SG trapped inside a PG's body. Moreover, he'll be 30 years old at the start of next season. Taj has been a key part of the team's success this season. But he's having a career year that we can't expect him to duplicate, especially given the fact that he'll be 33 years old at the start of next season. Meanwhile, we're already at the salary cap and headed towards the luxury tax
line even before we extend Towns.

I don't see any trade the Wolves could realistically make that would change the team's trajectory. And I have a hard time seeing how any salary cap extension, including the $8.7 million MLE, could change it. Our best hope is that the Wolves strike gold with OKC's 1st round pick this year, which will probably be in the low to mid 20s. Unfortunately, that's a long shot generally and I haven't seen anything from the Thibs/Layden duo to give us any hope that the Wolves will find a Tony Parker, Josh Howard, Kyle Kuzma, etc.

In no way am I saying you are incorrect. But you never know. I mean the Rockets went from bad to good because of one Harden trade for an solid vet (Kmart), a late lottery pick, and a young player that busted in his first year in lamb. I understand your lack of faith in Thibs/Layden but we still have to be patient what is annoy as all hell but right now we have the 5th best record in the NBA. Once again it comes down to the development of Wiggins and Towns (to some extent Patton). If they get to that level we can contend if they fall short we are the team that is an injury away every year from contending.

You are probably right we need to strike gold in the draft (another reason why I do not want to trade picks). Also if they eliminate the 1 and done rule that probably helps the wolves a ton because it creates more variance in the draft with High school players.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

We just need to move the ball more. We don't have Lillard and CJ who can light it up from anywhere at any time. Our PnR's put almost no pressure on the defense. We just get killed trading tired leg long 2's because only 2 guys are doing anything on an offensive play and they have some semblance of ball movement for 3's and guys who get to the rim.

[Monster]

Just looked at the box score and read through this thread. We held a team to under 39% shooting and 30% from 3 and we lost. That's like some special tanking type deal there. Lol we lost the FT and the turnover battle. Overall it sounds like the Wolves came to play at least and it was hard to expect a win here in Portland. They just need to beat teams they are favored and maybe sneak a game or 2 otherwise.

Belly with only 1 three? Heavy sigh... heck of a game for him.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

We're one more productive wing from being a completely different team. Stop me if you've heard this before.