Minnesota Timberwolves Season Review so far::

[Merc_Porto]

1 month of competition
Record - 8-9 (6-3 Road) (2-6 Home)

Are you surprised (or not) with the team so far ?
What you like to see improved ?
And most important, after this first month do you believe now we can make the playoffs this season ?

Also, we can talk about the players indivudual perfomances so far:

[Worm Guts]

I've been pleasantly surprised, especially after what we saw in preseason. I'm curious about people's revised expectations. At the beginning of the season I was thinking upper 20's in wins, now I'm thinking 30-40.

[Feilong]

Our D is better than i expected.
Wiggins and Towns are better than i expected.
Our offense and especially fast breaks are worse than i expected.
Rubio missed more games than i expected.
Overall team performs better than i expected especially on the road.

If Rubio plays most of the games i expect 35+ wins, if not 30-

[Crazy-Canuck]

The big surprises are their ability to win on the road and to win the close games.

Road wins are incredibly tough to come by in the nba, yet this team seems so comfortable away from home.

The ability to win the close games is the other one. You just dont see young teams close games as well as they do, especially on both sides of the ball. Look at the 6ers, they are in most games, but the kids choke the lead away late.

Next, would like to see the ability to put teams away.

[packforfreedom]

according to team stats:

our interior defense sucks, our perimeter defense is solid to good. We're rebounding good and are the best team when it comes to long 2FG%.

[Devilzsidewalk]

What I like:

*Zach Lavine stepping up his game after a horrid start
*Gorgui stepping up his game after a horrid start
*Towns and Wiggins playing like #1 picks
*The team doesn't fold down the stretch
*Team chemistry


What I don't like:

*When Rubio isn't in the game, the offense is reduced to isolations
*Rubio missing games to injury
*Rubio still shooting well under 40%
*Kmart somehow shooting worse than Rubio
*Shabazz not getting post ups
*Refs' sad desperation to make calls against Payne and Bjelica

[Calinks]

I'm rally surprised by Martin recently. His shooting is truly awful, I mean staggeringly bad right now. With that said he is such a good shooter I am 100 percent sure he will break out of it and I wonder how the team will look when he is back to being a good shooter in the starting five.

Wiggins has elevated his game to another level. I think thin he has had 3 30+ point games so far when he only had 4 all of last season. Now with Wiggins being a steady 20 PPG scorer a wing like Martin next to him could be devastating for opposing teams.

Overall the team is playing a lot better than I expected. Defense is solid. The bench can be very good. Towns has been much better than I thought as a rookie although he has slowed down a bit lately.

I though KG and Prince would be able to bring a little more offense than they have. If I were to grade them based on expectation they would get a B+.

[Vindicater]

We have been far superior than I thought we would be.

If we are still a playoff chance at the all-star break I will be even more bullish about our future than I already am.

[theGreatRC]

Pros:
-Towns. What a player we have for our franchise. Ready to contribute right now and will be a top 10 player in the league in a year or two.
-Wiggins ability to step up in the fourth.
-Andre Miller has been a pleasant surprise.
-Our road record blew away anyone's expectations.
-Zach Lavine's growth as a player. He started off like ass, but he's coming along nicely
-Belly looks like a gamer, I like his toughness/versatility and ability to space the floor.
-KG's leadership. You can just see it leaking into the team. Guys play hard, Wiggins is showing more emotion, guys are speaking up on defense, I love it.
-Quality wins. Swept Atlanta, beat Chicago & Miami.

Cons:
-Rubio's health. Probably the biggest con. Our record would look better if he was able to stay on the floor.
-Rubio's shooting. After the first game, his scoring took a straight up vertical dive; it's a good thing he is a great playmaker, good defender and can rebound the ball.
-Kevin Martin. Once you see him get the ball and size his defender up, you start to shake your head.
-Smitch rotations. Even during the first game against the Lakers...I was like "WHY THE F IS THE BENCH IN FOR THIS LONG?" and I still find myself asking that question even til this day

All in all, there are more positive things to talk about than negative and i'm excited to see where this team is at around all-star break.

[Note30]

Pros:
-Towns. What a player we have for our franchise. Ready to contribute right now and will be a top 10 player in the league in a year or two.
-Wiggins ability to step up in the fourth.
-Andre Miller has been a pleasant surprise.
-Our road record blew away anyone's expectations.
-Zach Lavine's growth as a player. He started off like ass, but he's coming along nicely
-Belly looks like a gamer, I like his toughness/versatility and ability to space the floor.
-KG's leadership. You can just see it leaking into the team. Guys play hard, Wiggins is showing more emotion, guys are speaking up on defense, I love it.
-Quality wins. Swept Atlanta, beat Chicago & Miami.

Cons:
-Rubio's health. Probably the biggest con. Our record would look better if he was able to stay on the floor.
-Rubio's shooting. After the first game, his scoring took a straight up vertical dive; it's a good thing he is a great playmaker, good defender and can rebound the ball.
-Kevin Martin. Once you see him get the ball and size his defender up, you start to shake your head.
-Smitch rotations. Even during the first game against the Lakers...I was like "WHY THE F IS THE BENCH IN FOR THIS LONG?" and I still find myself asking that question even til this day

All in all, there are more positive things to talk about than negative and i'm excited to see where this team is at around all-star break.

All of this.

[Mattya]

I'm rally surprised by Martin recently. His shooting is truly awful, I mean staggeringly bad right now. With that said he is such a good shooter I am 100 percent sure he will break out of it and I wonder how the team will look when he is back to being a good shooter in the starting five.

Wiggins has elevated his game to another level. I think thin he has had 3 30+ point games so far when he only had 4 all of last season. Now with Wiggins being a steady 20 PPG scorer a wing like Martin next to him could be devastating for opposing teams.

Overall the team is playing a lot better than I expected. Defense is solid. The bench can be very good. Towns has been much better than I thought as a rookie although he has slowed down a bit lately.

I though KG and Prince would be able to bring a little more offense than they have. If I were to grade them based on expectation they would get a B+.

I think he will have a stretch of just really impressive shooting %s at some point. He has just been awful so far though.

[phonzadellika]

I think their ceiling is 45 wins. They've beaten some good teams.

[Dewey]

We are only a tease ... inconsistency looms over us. We will struggle to hit 30 until there is signs of steadiness.

[Rigg]

Pros:
-Towns. What a player we have for our franchise. Ready to contribute right now and will be a top 10 player in the league in a year or two.
-Wiggins ability to step up in the fourth.
-Andre Miller has been a pleasant surprise.
-Our road record blew away anyone's expectations.
-Zach Lavine's growth as a player. He started off like ass, but he's coming along nicely
-Belly looks like a gamer, I like his toughness/versatility and ability to space the floor.
-KG's leadership. You can just see it leaking into the team. Guys play hard, Wiggins is showing more emotion, guys are speaking up on defense, I love it.
-Quality wins. Swept Atlanta, beat Chicago & Miami.

Cons:
-Rubio's health. Probably the biggest con. Our record would look better if he was able to stay on the floor.
-Rubio's shooting. After the first game, his scoring took a straight up vertical dive; it's a good thing he is a great playmaker, good defender and can rebound the ball.
-Kevin Martin. Once you see him get the ball and size his defender up, you start to shake your head.
-Smitch rotations. Even during the first game against the Lakers...I was like "WHY THE F IS THE BENCH IN FOR THIS LONG?" and I still find myself asking that question even til this day

All in all, there are more positive things to talk about than negative and i'm excited to see where this team is at around all-star break.

Yup. Another surprise pro has been Rudez. Glad we got rid of Air Bud for this guy.