Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm reluctant to tee up this topic, because I may be a lonely voice in the wilderness, but I'm starting to feel some excitement about the future of this odd collection of talent Rosas has pulled together. As I look back over the post-Garnett disastrous history of our favorite franchise, I can remember only two times when I was as intrigued with the potential of a roster as I am with this one...the 2013-4 roster with Rubio spoon-feeding Love, Martin and Pek, and the ill-fated Jimmy Butler year. But while both of those seasons were fun, there was always a sense of impending doom that the fun wasn't going to last.

Now we have a team that is producing one of the worst results in the history of this tragic franchise. So why do I find myself looking forward to watching the rest of this season and especially the next few games, when in other years I have bailed on watching games after the season was lost? I guess it's because I can't remember another roster packed with so much unexpected promise, and I'm intrigued to see how this story unfolds. What am I excited about?

McDaniels/Nowell and Edwards/Vando: I group these young players this way because they have completely different styles. McDaniels and Nowell have stunned me this season with their unexpected NBA-readiness. Maybe I should have had higher expectations from Nowell as a former Pac 10 Player of the Year, but nobody could have anticipated the kind of poise and maturity McDaniels has shown so far. I think both of these guys have high ceilings as 2-way players. Then there is the occasional chaos that the other two young players bring, especially Vando. Q has patented "The Vando Experience" and it is indeed a phenomenon. You never quite know what the results will be, but you do know every minute will be intense and every offensive rebound will be in play, and Vando Chaos sometimes produces good results. I think an energy guy like him will always have a role on a championship team. Edwards is a different story. Many of us were concerned about him coming out of college, and our concerns seemed warranted in his first few weeks. But he seems to be "getting it" as he gets more time under his belt, and his results in his past 10 games have been encouraging. I see a potential 25-5-5 guy.

Malik Beasley: Nothing about Malik's good-but-not-great college career combined with his ho-hum first four years in Denver led me to believe he would be the offensive star he has become in Minnesota, but he has become a true offensive force. How often has s mediocre NBA player come to Minnesota and become a star? I frankly can't think of anyone. But Malik's ability to find open space in a defense and then actually make the shot is exactly what defines success in today's typical NBA offense. He has shown this year that his 20+PPG and 40%+ three point shooting last season was not a fluke, because he's doing the exact same thing this year...and he's still young. Does anyone not see him as a 20-point scorer for several years?

KAT/DLO. These are our two max guys, and in a period spanning a year they have only played together a handful of games. If their combo makes them better than they are individually, aka Rosas's greatest wish, this franchise could be at the beginning of a true turnaround when you combine these two with the 5 young talents discussed above. But even if DLO flames out and turns out not to be the right guy for this franchise, I have seen a new 2-way KAT in the few games he has played this season. We know he is an offensive unicorn, but he has said he was committing himself to defense this season, and I have seen a lot of improvement there. After finishing dead last among NBA centers in DRPM last season, he actually has a positive DRPM on a bad team so far this season. In addition to his amazing offense, he is showing signs of being the rim protector I was expecting when we drafted him out of Kentucky.

So, in the midst of an awful season hampered by injuries, Covid, and inexperienced youth, I still find myself with an unfamiliar feeling of promise for the first time in a long time. Yeah, I'm a Wolves fan, so I know I'm always going to set myself up for more disappointment. But maybe, just maybe, this time might be different.

Does anyone else see a hint of promise in this young roster?

I think it's fair to say there is a hint of promise. The cupboard is not empty, that is for sure.

There is no doubt that Beasley is an oddity for Wolves fans. To your point, he is a young vet we brought in and actually took his game to a whole other level. Normally these kind of guys come to Minnesota and either stagnate or regress.

As for the 1st/2nd year guys, I'm intrigued but not enamored. We've been burned too many times by the promise of hope only to eventually see the flaws become more glaring as time goes on. Edwards' heat check clanks and losing his guy off the ball are easy to chalk up to his relative youth now, but if that's still happening in Year 3 and his TS% is stuck at 53% or below, we're going to be regretting the pick.

I guess the Rosas plan of stringing its more die-hard fans along has worked. This season was supposed to be one where we were actually competitive and we're not even close (although the team hasn't been blown out for a while, so moral victory may be?).

I guess one can wallow in anger and disappointment for so long before trying to grasp onto some threads of hope.

Worst record in all of basketball in an era where the top ten teams stack most of the talent and no future 1st round picks too boot.

I think there's a lot to be excited about Edwards and McDaniels. For these two kids to come into the league off of a shortened offseason with no professional preparation and to be looking like they belong and improving their play as the season progresses is a huge reason for optimism. No doubt they have to continue the trend through the offseason and into the rest of their careers, and we can't forget how many failures of development and assessment of talent we have seen with this franchise. But these kids have real, starter level NBA talent and confidence to match. Vando and Nowell look like solid potential role players based on talent alone, which in itself is also unique based on our history of making everyone worse. I still can't see how Ryan survives this in an actual NBA environment. But this is the Wolves so we aren't talking about reality.

I'm in!

60WinTim wrote:I'm in!

That's all I needed. Go Wolves.

Meh.

I'm the old man yelling at clouds at this point... but regardless of how much potential the young guys show... I need to see wins at this point before I get too excited.

60WinTim wrote:I'm in!

Atta boy Tim

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Meh.

I'm the old man yelling at clouds at this point... but regardless of how much potential the young guys show... I need to see wins at this point before I get too excited.

Don't worry. That's what notorious winner Ricky Rubio was brought in for. Trust the system.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Meh.

I'm the old man yelling at clouds at this point... but regardless of how much potential the young guys show... I need to see wins at this point before I get too excited.

'That is where I am at also. I mean just 2 years ago we thought Okogie was going to be a huge piece now he is close to being out of the league. Wiggins won a ROY. I am excited about Naz, Edwards, Mcdaniels (I really hope those 3s keep falling), Nowell, Jmac, etc.. I just want to see wins. I think in theory we have a nice young base we just need to see wins.