ESPN power rankings

[D-Loser25]

Wow, so ESPN has us at #2 behind OKC in the early power rankings for next year. I guess I don’t see it, but maybe they’re expecting us to make a big move. I would honestly have us more in the 7-10 range I think, but who knows

[FNG]

I might have had them 3rd behind OkC and Houston, but second seems reasonable. Difficult to downgrade a team that has made it to the conference finals twice in a row, has the ability to bring almost everyone back, and has two attractive draft picks plus a trio of largely unused young talent. I can see why espn thinks we will be better next year, but I’m not sure we look better than the rockets right now.

[Lipoli390]

I might have had them 3rd behind OkC and Houston, but second seems reasonable. Difficult to downgrade a team that has made it to the conference finals twice in a row, has the ability to bring almost everyone back, and has two attractive draft picks plus a trio of largely unused young talent. I can see why espn thinks we will be better next year, but I’m not sure we look better than the rockets right now.

I agree. We finished #2 in the Western Conference playoffs behind OKC. We finished only 3 games behind the 2nd place Rockets in the regular season after the Wolves experienced a slow start that was obviously was obviously attributable to the significant personnel change from the KAT trade.

There is no reason to conclude the Wolves will be worse than last season. None of our core guys - Ant, Jaden, Naz, Randle, Rudy, Donte - are at an age when they’d be expected to decline. In fact, Ant, Jaden and even Naz should actually improve given their age and developmental trajectory to date. Donte had an off year and should be expected to play better next season. Finally, if we don’t make any major changes, we’ll have the benefit of continuity early next season we didn’t have last season.

All of that is in addition to having what you identified - 2 nice draft picks this year and three talented but largely unused players in TSJ, Clark and Dilly.

[D-Loser25]

If we run it back, I think some wolves fans are in for a rude awakening. Denver was clearly better than us (they just had to play OKC first, but they played them closer) and now Houston is too. I think maybe we lose to the clippers in the playoffs and also maybe GS with curry. If the lakers get a couple of competent bigs, which I have to believe they will (they’re the lakers), they have a good chance to beat us too. Also, I believe the cavs will definitely be better than us next year, and possibly the Celtics/pacers, depending on health and moves. That’s not even factoring in teams like Orlando and the spurs, who could easily leap past the wolves. So yeah, sorry guys. I believe last years WCF run was legit, but this year we got very lucky. We don’t have a real starting PG right now and I just don’t love the current fit on our front line. If TC was smart he would trade Randle for assets and take a step back to play the young guys.

[kekgeek]

If we run it back, I think some wolves fans are in for a rude awakening. Denver was clearly better than us (they just had to play OKC first, but they played them closer) and now Houston is too. I think maybe we lose to the clippers in the playoffs and also maybe GS with curry. If the lakers get a couple of competent bigs, which I have to believe they will (they’re the lakers), they have a good chance to beat us too. Also, I believe the cavs will definitely be better than us next year, and possibly the Celtics/pacers, depending on health and moves. That’s not even factoring in teams like Orlando and the spurs, who could easily leap past the wolves. So yeah, sorry guys. I believe last years WCF run was legit, but this year we got very lucky. We don’t have a real starting PG right now and I just don’t love the current fit on our front line. If TC was smart he would trade Randle for assets and take a step back to play the young guys.

It’s been 403 days since the nuggets beat the Timberwolves in a basketball game

[Coolbreeze44]

If we run it back, I think some wolves fans are in for a rude awakening. Denver was clearly better than us (they just had to play OKC first, but they played them closer) and now Houston is too. I think maybe we lose to the clippers in the playoffs and also maybe GS with curry. If the lakers get a couple of competent bigs, which I have to believe they will (they’re the lakers), they have a good chance to beat us too. Also, I believe the cavs will definitely be better than us next year, and possibly the Celtics/pacers, depending on health and moves. That’s not even factoring in teams like Orlando and the spurs, who could easily leap past the wolves. So yeah, sorry guys. I believe last years WCF run was legit, but this year we got very lucky. We don’t have a real starting PG right now and I just don’t love the current fit on our front line. If TC was smart he would trade Randle for assets and take a step back to play the young guys.

Running it back is not an option if we want to make a 3rd WCF. The league improves every year, so must we unless taking a step back is desirable, and I don't think it is.

[Lipoli390]

It’s always interesting to see some folks explain away their home team’s success if that success doesn’t fit a particular narrative. There’s the narrative that the Wolves “overachieved” or benefitted from weak rivals when they won 46 games four seasons ago. Now there are some who view our second consecutive Conference Finals appearance as the product of luck. In truth, luck is always part of success. But the whole truth is that you don’t go through a long 82 games season and win 46 games like four seasons ago or 49 games like last season, and you don’t advance through two rounds of NBA playoff basketball, without being a really good team. There’s no way to credibly tie a team’s record to opinions about how good the other teams were. And there’s no getting around the reality that a team’s record stands as the measure of the team’s success.

What does all this mean for the Wolves going forward? To me it means it would not necessarily be a bad idea to bring back the same team as last season minus NAW to stay under the second apron even though I see merit to moving on from Randle, going with more minutes for the younger guys, and acquiring a defensive big to back up Rudy and perhaps a 3rd PG as a bridge to Dilly. If it were up to me, I’d try to move Randle for a defensive big to back up Rudy and sign Fultz as a free agent. But most importantly, I think it’s critical to avoid feeling compelled to make a big move of some kind and to focus on sustainable success. The more times we get to the threshold the better our chances of getting across it.

[KG4Ever]

If we run it back, I think some wolves fans are in for a rude awakening. Denver was clearly better than us (they just had to play OKC first, but they played them closer) and now Houston is too. I think maybe we lose to the clippers in the playoffs and also maybe GS with curry. If the lakers get a couple of competent bigs, which I have to believe they will (they’re the lakers), they have a good chance to beat us too. Also, I believe the cavs will definitely be better than us next year, and possibly the Celtics/pacers, depending on health and moves. That’s not even factoring in teams like Orlando and the spurs, who could easily leap past the wolves. So yeah, sorry guys. I believe last years WCF run was legit, but this year we got very lucky. We don’t have a real starting PG right now and I just don’t love the current fit on our front line. If TC was smart he would trade Randle for assets and take a step back to play the young guys.

Running it back is not an option if we want to make a 3rd WCF. The league improves every year, so must we unless taking a step back is desirable, and I don't think it is.

I don't care if we make a 3d WCF, if we lose again. I want Wolves to win a title and I don't think running it back with Randle as a starter and with Finch as our coach will get us there. Hopefully, we can trade Randle. If we don't advance beyond the WCF next year, then I want Finch to get canned. There is only one coach other than Finch, that's been with his current team as long as Finch that has never coached in the NBA Finals and that is Billy Donovan. If Finch can't win it all next year or at least get Wolves to the finals, it will be clear he's taken the team as far as he can and its time to try to find a coach who can take us to titletown. We need a coach than is better at integrating new guys into the lineup and can manage a deeper rotation and make adjustments when things aren't working, and get the team in the right mindset to go all the way.

[FNG]

If we run it back, I think some wolves fans are in for a rude awakening. Denver was clearly better than us (they just had to play OKC first, but they played them closer) and now Houston is too. I think maybe we lose to the clippers in the playoffs and also maybe GS with curry. If the lakers get a couple of competent bigs, which I have to believe they will (they’re the lakers), they have a good chance to beat us too. Also, I believe the cavs will definitely be better than us next year, and possibly the Celtics/pacers, depending on health and moves. That’s not even factoring in teams like Orlando and the spurs, who could easily leap past the wolves. So yeah, sorry guys. I believe last years WCF run was legit, but this year we got very lucky. We don’t have a real starting PG right now and I just don’t love the current fit on our front line. If TC was smart he would trade Randle for assets and take a step back to play the young guys.

It’s been 403 days since the nuggets beat the Timberwolves in a basketball game

Ha, 404 and counting! And I'll add that we swept them 4-0 this past season, outscoring them by 43 points in those 4 games. More evidence that "Denver was clearly better than us"!

[AussieWolf3]

"The Wolves got lucky and played weaker opponents, so WFCs run was fake"
Is so bleeping circular I'm getting dizzy!

So you mean the Wolves lucked in to being so superior to their first round opponent that they beat them in 5 games? Is the issue that it wasn't enough of a test? I simply don't understand the logic here. The Lakers being a far lesser team isn't an indictment of the Wolves, it means the Wolves outclassed a legitimate (but flawed) western playoff team... THAT MEANS THEY'RE GOOD!

obviously the team got lucky with Curry being injured and falling asleep in game 1 would have set them up to be upset if Curry had stayed healthy but that isn't a forgone conclusion and it is also an unfalsifiable claim that there is no point in debating. The fact us they won 4 games straight against a 2nd round opponent.

They ran into a wall against OKC and talent gap was revealed.

Tbh #2 in the power rankings in June means nothing other than the fact that NBA media has a huge amount of belief in Anthony Edwards, I hope they're right cause he certainly has the capability to be a top 5 player, but this really needs to be the year he puts himself there