Re: ***OFFICIAL 2024-25 WINS PREDICTION THREAD + PLAYOFFS PREDICTION***
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 12:39 pm
Completely fair. I want to say I think the Wolves are a very good team, I am a big fan of Ant, Jaden, Rudy and the surrounding pieces. I think the wolves win 49 games this year because they were relatively healthy last year and I think they take a minor step back there and also I think they are going to rest people more.FNG wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2024 11:17 amYeah, Kek seems to be "righter" than many of us here with his takes, so I also have concerns about his relative pessimism. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we just don't know what Randle is going to bring us...it's still a big mystery.Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2024 9:13 am Kekgeek, damn, I didn't realize how pessimistic you were until now. A first round exit!? What troubles you about this squad? Or is it just a feeling of doom, something not unusual for Minnesota sports fans. May be you should stop hanging around with Abe so much.
This is what makes me optimistic though. Only the Wolves and the Celtics had 7 players in ESPN's top 100 list that just came out. With 30 teams in the league, it means that you are equivalent to being a top 3 player on an average team if you make the list...so we have 7 players who are considered the equivalent of a top 3 player! All of our rotation players except NAW made the top 100, and Ant was #10. That's recognition that we are one of the deepest, if not the deepest, rosters in the Association. And that's without including guys like Ingles, Minott, Rob, TJ and Garza.
My Concerns
- I think we added a big piece in Randle who has never been my favorite player ever. I think he is super talented but I think his effort really goes in and out based on how he is feeling that day. We need 5 locked in players defensively to make this defense continuing to be elite. Ant can get lost off ball and so can Randle. I think on ball we will still be good but I just worry about his effort level a lot. To go along with that I think the first year playing with Rudy will always be clunky, it took Mike a year in Utah to get used to playing with Rudy. Now Randle has some experience playing with a no spacing big in Mitchell Robinson but I do think there is going to be a learning curve there.
-I think we are a Rudy injury away from the year going really south quick. Rudy is the hub that makes this defense special. If Rudy would of missed time last year I think Kat could fill in and we still would of been a solid defense. Now I don't think we have that luxury. I have documented for years the struggles the wolves have had having Naz play center defensively, when Randle had to play small ball center for the Knicks last year the Knicks were in the 18th percentile defensively so really really bad. Then our other option at center is Garza who I like but he can't play center in meaningful minutes. We are one Rudy injury away from being a bad defensive team I hate to say.
-I am not as sold on our depth as others are, I think Donte is a stud, I like Naz but don't love him as much as others do and think he is pretty overrated (Good player still), I think Dilly is really going to struggle this year (Like him long term), I am really worried about NAW, he is going to be asked to play more PG and his shot has been a rollercoaster mostly going down since the playoffs, I am worried that last year could of just been a spike year. Ingles age is a questionmark and I have loved what Minnott has brought but I need to see it in real NBA games. I just don't think we have this elite depth that everyone says we do. I don't think its bad but I don't think its this unbelievable strength that they have.
- Finally I think the west got better, Suns better, Grizzlies better, people say the nuggets are worse but I am not sure KCP really that huge of a difference. I just think small things change the narrative of the season. What would we have said if we didn't come back down 20 to the nuggets in game 7. That would of been 4 blow out losses. I just think the margin of error is not that big between team 1 and team 6 in the west and I don't think the wolves are going to get a top 2 seed because they are going to have some injuries and play the rest game this year. Also we are the hunted now not the huntee.
-Also Mike was health last year for the first time in a long time. Will that continue we don't have natural PG backing him up this year in Morris and Jmac. An already clunky offesne could get massively clunky if it is 48 minutes without a true PG for the wolves. Look at the suns last year that is what the wolves could look like. A talent squad with issues runny a functioning offense.
- Once again I think the Wolves are a really good team and I like the trade the wolves did for the long term health of the Ant era. I am just worried more this year than normal. I think we are a Rudy injury away from possibly not a playoff team. Even if Ant misses time it gets scary. It's also hard to play balls to the walls defense for 2 plus years and I think they need to do that to be great because I don't know if the offense is going to be humming a lot with still a lot of new piece into the fold.
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