Minnesota Sports Forum

OK. They're still called the Minnesota Timberwolves. But alas of February 6, 2020, they're not the same team they were when the season started. If the season ended today the Wolves would have the 5th position in the NBA lottery, which would mean a likely pick in the top 6 with a good chance of a pick somewhere in the top 4.

I don't want to get too giddy over what we saw Saturday night, but I don't think we can entirely dismiss it as a fluke. The Wolves have gone from a team with only one bona fide 3-point shooter (KAT) on the roster to a team with at least three in KAT, Beasley and Russell. You could even add Crabbe and H-Gomez to that list. We went from a team with no proven NBA starter-caliber PGs to a team with a borderline all-star PG in Russell. Then there's the emergence of McLaughlin as a really good back-up PG. We have inside toughness and savvy in JJ that we didn't have before as well. And we no longer have ball-stoppers in Wiggins and Teague.

So the question is this: Assuming the Wolves stay healthy, where will they end up in the standings at the end of the season?

I'd say there is no way the Wolves end up as a top 5 lottery team. I see the Wolves passing the Knicks, Bulls, Wizards and Pistons in the standings. So I don't see the Wolves finishing any higher than 10th in the lottery sweepstakes. I could also see the Wolves passing the Kings and Suns in the standings. So I'd say the tank is over and I'm glad. As much as I had embraced the tanking strategy, I like the young pieces we added via trades (Russell, Beasley) along with some of the young players we already had (McLaughlin, Nowell, Martin, Naz). And I'm ready to see this young group start building a winning chemistry that can carry over into next season. We'll still have a lottery pick along with the Nets' 16th or 17th pick, so we can still have a strong draft next June.

I see the Wolves winning at least 16 of their remaining 31 games (16-15). If so, they'll end up with at least 32 wins. That's my prediction.

Wolves win no more than 10 of final 31 games. While I hate to dismiss last game as a fluke.....I am going to dismiss last game as a fluke! I actually like some of the players we received back in trades, but this feels like fools gold to me. Post Clippers game, there were so many reverses in thought from where the board was just a day earlier. We went from receiving no one of any impact outside DLo, and even he was thought of in a fairly negative light. Now, after one game, we have our 3 point shooters to thrive, we have a competent backup PG, and we are ready to rattle off a .500 record with a bunch of backups from other teams?

That said, I do firmly believe that team chemistry is more important in basketball than other sports, and these trades could improve longer-term team chemistry. However it shakes out, I am interested to see how everything shakes out.

I haven't looked at our schedule on a game by game basis, but I read somewhere it's the 2nd hardest in the NBA from here on out. That right there suggests that .500 would be improbable. I will say this - I would much, much rather see us finish the season strong than weak. I could care less about lottery balls and am much more interested in seeing if this group can gel and get us excited about the future.

Q12543 wrote:I haven't looked at our schedule on a game by game basis, but I read somewhere it's the 2nd hardest in the NBA from here on out. That right there suggests that .500 would be improbable. I will say this - I would much, much rather see us finish the season strong than weak. I could care less about lottery balls and am much more interested in seeing if this group can gel and get us excited about the future.

Pretty much agree. From literally every report I've read/heard... ping pong balls have never mattered less anyway. This draft is going to have some really good players... and some lousy ones.

Which one you get is going to depend more on luck + scouting than ping pong balls.

It's a crapshoot. It's very possible the Nets pick lands the better player. So... win. Re-re-rebuild excitement. Change the culture. Play Towns 41 minutes in a late-season game vs. the Spurs if that's what it takes.

TRY TO WIN.

Yes try to win, finishing 5th vs 10th worst team hardly matters. You have to make a good pick regardless. If what Q says is true, that we have the 2nd hardest schedule, if we finish .500 the rest of the way Ryan should be coach of the year. We are going to struggle mightily some nights. You don't just throw a bunch of unfamiliar pieces together halfway through the season and then go on a run. The NBA isn't the best league in the world for nothing.

KAT's motor really troubles me if he can suddenly pour it on like this and get 9 assists. I hope he doesn't mess up this tank.

thedoper wrote:KAT's motor really troubles me if he can suddenly pour it on like this and get 9 assists. I hope he doesn't mess up this tank.

Making shots can help those assists totals...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

thedoper wrote:KAT's motor really troubles me if he can suddenly pour it on like this and get 9 assists. I hope he doesn't mess up this tank.

Making shots can help those assists totals...

Of course. It's great. I'm just noticing that his effort seems to wax and wane in an extreme way based on how he's feeling. He needs to be happy to want to be out there giving his all. I hope these moves make him happy. I am hoping we have reached peak placating of KAT. Barreiro commented to Rosas on this a bit in his interview, it was a great comment and question. He was mentioning how tone deaf KATs response to the trade was in saying that this definitely makes him want to stay more, and suggesting that KAT making public cries to make him happy aren't going to win over the fanbase.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kfan/dan-barreiro-kfan-fm-1003/e/60514918?autoplay=true

Ok. Gotcha.

Yes. His effort vs. Atlanta was an affront to the game of basketball.

KAT has been soft on any number of fronts and I really believe this should be his last shot at anchoring this team going forward. My guess is he and his agent would demand a trade anyway if this latest iteration of the Wolves doesn't work out. If anything, it may have just bought Rosas another offseason, but that might be it. If next season goes sideways (let's say less than 40 wins), I don't see any sense in trying to keep building around KAT.

The good news is that I believe he and DLO are both positive assets that could be moved and therefore give us a jump start on our umpteenth rebuild. None of us want to see that happen, but it's a very real possibility.