Minnesota Sports Forum

Optimism and the Wolves. Is this 1997 again?

Here's a piece from Jonathon Abrams. Nothing too remarkable. But he's a pretty solid writer and it adds to the excitement as the season approaches.

http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/Timberwolves-NBAs-hottest-young-team-and-ready-to-take-over/



[Note: Jeff Van Gundy is quoted in it. He said on a podcast last week that he thinks the Wolves are making the playoffs. That kind of optimism about the core might be why he was interested in the gig.]

Yes, good article....I think someone may have posted it in another thread and a few of us marveled at bleacher report's newfound credibility.

Here is Dwyer's preview:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bdls-2016-17-season-previews-minnesota-timberwolves-212104091.html

I think he is absolutely spot on with everything he says until he gets to the point where he predicts our record. Pffffffffffffft. 35 wins!?

It's actually a really good summary that mostly leaves one excited. I just don't get how he does such a thorough analysis with a very positive tone and then comes up with literally the lowest win total of the entire spectrum of prognosticators out there!

The more I see them, the more I really like our starting 5. They aren't perfect. They could use better long-range shooting on offense and more strength/bulk on defense and rebounding. But otherwise, they collectively might be very, very special.

I have far more questions about our bench and whether they can be trusted to hold leads. I'm very worried this could be 13-14 all over again where our starting 5 generally outperforms the competition, but then the bench gives it all away.

My takeaway is that Towns, Wiggins, and Rubio should never all be on the bench at the same time. At least one or two of those guys should always be in the game.

Starting 5 looks strong. Happy Thibs isn't tinkering with it (so far).

I'm assuming this is the first time in franchise history that we start the season with the same starting lineup that ended the previous season?