Minnesota Sports Forum

With Darius Bazley planning to play in the G-league next season instead of college this ended up being an interesting article. I thought it was gonna be something along the lines of the old guy crying "get off my lawn" but so think Roth makes some good points.

https://2ways10days.com/iowa-wolves-head-coach-scott-roth-calls-18-year-olds-playing-in-the-g-league-disastrous-5a6ee45e2c60

Honestly with the Warriors injuries I would rather finish 7th than 6th and have to play the Blazers. Steph is gonna be out. Draymond has never been able to stop KAT and he's banged up. They would have Klay and KD against Jimmy and Wiggins. I give them the edge, but KAT over a banged up Draymond is a sure thing. They're beat up and we could take advantage of that in round 1. I think our odds of beating that team is higher than the red hot Blazers who are just doing everything well right now.

khans2k5 wrote:Honestly with the Warriors injuries I would rather finish 7th than 6th and have to play the Blazers. Steph is gonna be out. Draymond has never been able to stop KAT and he's banged up. They would have Klay and KD against Jimmy and Wiggins. I give them the edge, but KAT over a banged up Draymond is a sure thing. They're beat up and we could take advantage of that in round 1. I think our odds of beating that team is higher than the red hot Blazers who are just doing everything well right now.

I was thinking about possibly facing them also.

One thing I think Teague is actually good at defensively is chasing Shooters around the floor. I think he has had some success guarding Klay and Redick this year. I'm not saying put him on him all the time but he could allow Butler to take a break while guarding Cook.

Realistically none of these WC teams are ones you want to face. They all have talent and or a system (Spurs) that you have to consider. As long as we avoid the Rockets and get in We have a chance to be competitive which is all I ask for. You know what's crazy? If Butler hadn't gotten hurt we MAY have had some sort of shot at the #2 seed with all those Warrior injuries. Wouldn't that have been something.

khans2k5 wrote:Honestly with the Warriors injuries I would rather finish 7th than 6th and have to play the Blazers. Steph is gonna be out. Draymond has never been able to stop KAT and he's banged up. They would have Klay and KD against Jimmy and Wiggins. I give them the edge, but KAT over a banged up Draymond is a sure thing. They're beat up and we could take advantage of that in round 1. I think our odds of beating that team is higher than the red hot Blazers who are just doing everything well right now.

I'm with you on this, Kahns. Ideally, we finish 4th and end up having home court advantage in a first-round matchup agaisnt the Thunder, Pelicans or Spurs minus Kawhi Leonard. The next best outcome would be a 5th seed against the Thunder or Pelicans. Otherwise, I agree that the next best thing for the Wolves would be a 7th seed first round matchup against the Warriors. As I've noted many times, I'd rather finish 9th or 10th than end up as an 8th seed against the Rockets. I see no upside to the demoralizing 4-game sweep we'd suffer at the hands of the Rockets. I'd rather add a lottery pick to our roster along with a very good veteran via the MLE and come back stronger next season.

As a team over the salary cap and closing in on the luxury tax threshold but nowhere near contending for a championship, we need to keep infusing the franchise with young talent through the draft on the very team-friendly rookie salary scale and make optimal use of our MLE next summer. Even if we make the playoffs and end up with only the OKC pick in the 24-26 range, Thibs needs to land a Kyle Kuzma or Rudy Gobert caliber player with that pick. Regarding the MLE, we can't afford to start next season again without a quality two-way wing player off the bench as part of our rotation. Butler's injury has highlighted this obvious weakness on our roster.

Ideally, we'd be able to deal Gorgui and/or Teague this summer for better defenders and/or 3-point shooters with contracts no worse or even slightly better than those two guys have. But I don't see that happening. All the more reason to make optimal use of our OKC draft pick and the MLE. And if our last game comes down to finishing 8th or 9th, I'd rather end up 9th. I'm probably in the minority on that, but I'd view that outcome to be a better one over the long term.

What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

We lose our pick if we make the playoffs. But we get OKC's pick so we could have two mid-late firsts if we miss the playoffs or just a later first if we make the playoffs.

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

We lose our pick if we make the playoffs. But we get OKC's pick so we could have two mid-late firsts if we miss the playoffs or just a later first if we make the playoffs.

Oh. Yeah. That stuff.

I forgot. Please ignore the dumb guy over here...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

We lose our pick if we make the playoffs. But we get OKC's pick so we could have two mid-late firsts if we miss the playoffs or just a later first if we make the playoffs.

Oh. Yeah. That stuff.

I forgot. Please ignore the dumb guy over here...

Does that change you POV of the situation though? I'm still on board with just get in regardless if it's 4 or 8. Just get the experience and start the trend of making the playoffs. No more just wait until next year for me. Are you that way or more like Lip where an 8 seed wouldn't be worth it and we should go for the pick?

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

We lose our pick if we make the playoffs. But we get OKC's pick so we could have two mid-late firsts if we miss the playoffs or just a later first if we make the playoffs.

Oh. Yeah. That stuff.

I forgot. Please ignore the dumb guy over here...

Does that change you POV of the situation though? I'm still on board with just get in regardless if it's 4 or 8. Just get the experience and start the trend of making the playoffs. No more just wait until next year for me. Are you that way or more like Lip where an 8 seed wouldn't be worth it and we should go for the pick?

Either way you lose the pick it's just that this year you get it to use and next year its likely a worse pick. The difference is between #13 this year and one in the 20's next year.

The Dallas broadcasting team brought up a point that the Wolves this year may be feeling pressure of just getting over this hump of not making the playoffs for all these years. They mention that could be having an effect on them. It's a worthwhile consideration.

monsterpile wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What's the difference between the #13 or the #14 pick?

I'd rather make the playoffs... to give Towns, Wiggins and others an idea of what it's going to be like. There's no way of knowing how it gets ramped up without actually participating.

And that includes for us fans, too. It's been a long time. Let's get the first playoff debacle out of the way as soon as possible and go from there.

We lose our pick if we make the playoffs. But we get OKC's pick so we could have two mid-late firsts if we miss the playoffs or just a later first if we make the playoffs.

Oh. Yeah. That stuff.

I forgot. Please ignore the dumb guy over here...

Does that change you POV of the situation though? I'm still on board with just get in regardless if it's 4 or 8. Just get the experience and start the trend of making the playoffs. No more just wait until next year for me. Are you that way or more like Lip where an 8 seed wouldn't be worth it and we should go for the pick?

Either way you lose the pick it's just that this year you get it to use and next year its likely a worse pick. The difference is between #13 this year and one in the 20's next year.

The Dallas broadcasting team brought up a point that the Wolves this year may be feeling pressure of just getting over this hump of not making the playoffs for all these years. They mention that could be having an effect on them. It's a worthwhile consideration.

I'll take #13 this year over the 20s next year. Two reasons. First, a significantly higher pick increases the chances of getting a good player. Second, the sooner we get more talent in the fold the sooner we'll get something out of that talent. But after tonight's win, I'm greedy again and focused on getting that 4th seed. I think it's highly unlikely the Wolves fall down to 9th.