Are the Wolves legitimate title contenders

[KGdaBom]

I think this subject deserves its own thread. Despite how well we are doing it seems many of our own fans don't think so. The reason for that is they are so close to our team they see every little problem and turn them into mountains instead of mole hills.

We recently had 2 horrific, inexcusable losses to Charlotte and the Spurs. Check all the other "real" contenders. They've all done the same thing. Milwaukee lost to Portland last night. OKC lost by 16 to Detroit. Our fans only seem to care about the bad and they write off the good. We beat OKC at OKC without Conley. So can we win without Conley? Playing without him definitely makes it harder, but we absolutely can at least sometimes.

For every reason the doubters/disbelievers can come up with why we aren't legitimate there will be a counterpoint to why the other teams aren't legitimate. The season is over half done. We are leading the west. IMO we are a legitimate title contender.

Go Wolves!!!!!!!!!! AAARRRROOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[winforlose]

I think this subject deserves its own thread. Despite how well we are doing it seems many of our own fans don't think so. The reason for that is they are so close to our team they see every little problem and turn them into mountains instead of mole hills.

We recently had 2 horrific, inexcusable losses to Charlotte and the Spurs. Check all the other "real" contenders. They've all done the same thing. Milwaukee lost to Portland last night. OKC lost by 16 to Detroit. Our fans only seem to care about the bad and they write off the good. We beat OKC at OKC without Conley. So can we win without Conley? Playing without him definitely makes it harder, but we absolutely can at least sometimes.

For every reason the doubters/disbelievers can come up with why we aren't legitimate there will be a counterpoint to why the other teams aren't legitimate. The season is over half done. We are leading the west. IMO we are a legitimate title contender.

Go Wolves!!!!!!!!!! AAARRRROOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are asking are we contenders or pretenders, I think our seeding speaks for itself. If you are asking if the playoffs started tomorrow are we favorites for a title, that is more tricky. We are 2-3 without Mike. When we take the ball away from Mike our offense tends to crater, especially in the fourth, and even more especially in crunch time. We have flaws that are exploitable in a series and holes in the playoff rotation. That said, the playoffs don’t start tomorrow, and we have time to trade for patches on the rotation holes and fix the broken offensive scheme. The true question isn’t where we are contenders, the question is can we get better by trading than by running with this group?

[KGdaBom]

I think this subject deserves its own thread. Despite how well we are doing it seems many of our own fans don't think so. The reason for that is they are so close to our team they see every little problem and turn them into mountains instead of mole hills.

We recently had 2 horrific, inexcusable losses to Charlotte and the Spurs. Check all the other "real" contenders. They've all done the same thing. Milwaukee lost to Portland last night. OKC lost by 16 to Detroit. Our fans only seem to care about the bad and they write off the good. We beat OKC at OKC without Conley. So can we win without Conley? Playing without him definitely makes it harder, but we absolutely can at least sometimes.

For every reason the doubters/disbelievers can come up with why we aren't legitimate there will be a counterpoint to why the other teams aren't legitimate. The season is over half done. We are leading the west. IMO we are a legitimate title contender.

Go Wolves!!!!!!!!!! AAARRRROOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are asking are we contenders or pretenders, I think our seeding speaks for itself. If you are asking if the playoffs started tomorrow are we favorites for a title, that is more tricky. We are 2-3 without Mike. When we take the ball away from Mike our offense tends to crater, especially in the fourth, and even more especially in crunch time. We have flaws that are exploitable in a series and holes in the playoff rotation. That said, the playoffs don’t start tomorrow, and we have time to trade for patches on the rotation holes and fix the broken offensive scheme. The true question isn’t where we are contenders, the question is can we get better by trading than by running with this group?

I would say any given season there are probably 6 or so legit title contenders. My question is are we one of them. My answer to that question is a resounding yes. If Mike misses some games we can still win because we just did it at OKC. Are we likely to win the title if we don't stay healthy? Nope, but no team is likely to win the title if they don't stay healthy.

We have flaws. Guess what. Every team has flaws. I think our flaws are smaller/less significant than at least 90% of the teams in the league. We just see our flaws because we have more exposure to the Wolves because they are the team we follow. We are, at least to me, one of the very best teams in the league and we have as good a shot at the title or more so than every other team with the possible exception of Boston. They are really good. I see Wolves vs Boston as the most likely NBA finals.

[winforlose]

I think this subject deserves its own thread. Despite how well we are doing it seems many of our own fans don't think so. The reason for that is they are so close to our team they see every little problem and turn them into mountains instead of mole hills.

We recently had 2 horrific, inexcusable losses to Charlotte and the Spurs. Check all the other "real" contenders. They've all done the same thing. Milwaukee lost to Portland last night. OKC lost by 16 to Detroit. Our fans only seem to care about the bad and they write off the good. We beat OKC at OKC without Conley. So can we win without Conley? Playing without him definitely makes it harder, but we absolutely can at least sometimes.

For every reason the doubters/disbelievers can come up with why we aren't legitimate there will be a counterpoint to why the other teams aren't legitimate. The season is over half done. We are leading the west. IMO we are a legitimate title contender.

Go Wolves!!!!!!!!!! AAARRRROOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are asking are we contenders or pretenders, I think our seeding speaks for itself. If you are asking if the playoffs started tomorrow are we favorites for a title, that is more tricky. We are 2-3 without Mike. When we take the ball away from Mike our offense tends to crater, especially in the fourth, and even more especially in crunch time. We have flaws that are exploitable in a series and holes in the playoff rotation. That said, the playoffs don’t start tomorrow, and we have time to trade for patches on the rotation holes and fix the broken offensive scheme. The true question isn’t where we are contenders, the question is can we get better by trading than by running with this group?

I would say any given season there are probably 6 or so legit title contenders. My question is are we one of them. My answer to that question is a resounding yes. If Mike misses some games we can still win because we just did it at OKC. We have flaws. Guess what. Every team has flaws. I think our flaws are smaller/less significant than at least 90% of the teams in the league. We just see our flaws because we have more exposure to the Wolves because they are the team we follow. We are at least to me one of the very best teams in the league and we have as good a shot at the title or more so than every other team with the possible exception of Boston. They are really good. I see Wolves vs Boston as the most likely NBA finals.

Again, I think we are contenders not pretenders. But one good win against an OKC team that was a little off (Back end of a back to back with Chet powered way down, Lou Dort and Isaiah Joe both being in power outage, and some other role players underperformed,) is not enough evidence to say we can win a playoff series without Mike. Our month of January was shockingly bad. We need to improve around the margins, and we need to significantly improve and restructure the offensive scheme to reach our true potential. It’s not that we don’t have the talent, of course we have the talent. Our talent has carried us to first in the west at the beginning of February. But, we lack the structure, discipline, and leadership to get where we are going. It is why we lost the Grizzlies series, why we had Rudy suspended and Jaden with a broken hand in the 2022 play in, and ended up in the Denver series. It is why we had a bad January. Finch is a great player coach and a good defensive minded coach, but he is failing this offense, and the numbers prove it.

[KGdaBom]

If you are asking are we contenders or pretenders, I think our seeding speaks for itself. If you are asking if the playoffs started tomorrow are we favorites for a title, that is more tricky. We are 2-3 without Mike. When we take the ball away from Mike our offense tends to crater, especially in the fourth, and even more especially in crunch time. We have flaws that are exploitable in a series and holes in the playoff rotation. That said, the playoffs don’t start tomorrow, and we have time to trade for patches on the rotation holes and fix the broken offensive scheme. The true question isn’t where we are contenders, the question is can we get better by trading than by running with this group?

I would say any given season there are probably 6 or so legit title contenders. My question is are we one of them. My answer to that question is a resounding yes. If Mike misses some games we can still win because we just did it at OKC. We have flaws. Guess what. Every team has flaws. I think our flaws are smaller/less significant than at least 90% of the teams in the league. We just see our flaws because we have more exposure to the Wolves because they are the team we follow. We are at least to me one of the very best teams in the league and we have as good a shot at the title or more so than every other team with the possible exception of Boston. They are really good. I see Wolves vs Boston as the most likely NBA finals.

Again, I think we are contenders not pretenders. But one good win against an OKC team that was a little off (Back end of a back to back with Chet powered way down, Lou Dort and Isaiah Joe both being in power outage, and some other role players underperformed,) is not enough evidence to say we can win a playoff series without Mike. Our month of January was shockingly bad. We need to improve around the margins, and we need to significantly improve and restructure the offensive scheme to reach our true potential. It’s not that we don’t have the talent, of course we have the talent. Our talent has carried us to first in the west at the beginning of February. But, we lack the structure, discipline, and leadership to get where we are going. It is why we lost the Grizzlies series, why we had Rudy suspended and Jaden with a broken hand in the 2022 play in, and ended up in the Denver series. It is why we had a bad January. Finch is a great player coach and a good defensive minded coach, but he is failing this offense, and the numbers prove it.

Did I say we would win a full series without Mike? No I didn't. However, we certainly could. Do you have a crystal ball and have seen the playoffs and know we will have to play a series without Mike?

Grizzlies series is ancient history. Has zero, zilch, zip, nada, to do with this years team. You can point out our flaws as you love to do. Denver, Clippers, OKC, Milwaukee, Philly all have as many or more flaws. You just don't know what they are. How bad were we in January. Go and check the record. I don't think we were bad in January. I'll help you out. We were 10-7 in January. Shockingly bad LMAO.

[winforlose]

I would say any given season there are probably 6 or so legit title contenders. My question is are we one of them. My answer to that question is a resounding yes. If Mike misses some games we can still win because we just did it at OKC. We have flaws. Guess what. Every team has flaws. I think our flaws are smaller/less significant than at least 90% of the teams in the league. We just see our flaws because we have more exposure to the Wolves because they are the team we follow. We are at least to me one of the very best teams in the league and we have as good a shot at the title or more so than every other team with the possible exception of Boston. They are really good. I see Wolves vs Boston as the most likely NBA finals.

Again, I think we are contenders not pretenders. But one good win against an OKC team that was a little off (Back end of a back to back with Chet powered way down, Lou Dort and Isaiah Joe both being in power outage, and some other role players underperformed,) is not enough evidence to say we can win a playoff series without Mike. Our month of January was shockingly bad. We need to improve around the margins, and we need to significantly improve and restructure the offensive scheme to reach our true potential. It’s not that we don’t have the talent, of course we have the talent. Our talent has carried us to first in the west at the beginning of February. But, we lack the structure, discipline, and leadership to get where we are going. It is why we lost the Grizzlies series, why we had Rudy suspended and Jaden with a broken hand in the 2022 play in, and ended up in the Denver series. It is why we had a bad January. Finch is a great player coach and a good defensive minded coach, but he is failing this offense, and the numbers prove it.

Did I say we would win a full series without Mike? No I didn't. However, we certainly could. Grizzlies series is ancient history. Has zero, zilch, zip, nada, to do with this years team. You can point out our flaws as you love to do. Denver, Clippers, OKC, Milwaukee, Philly all have as many or more flaws. You just don't know what they are. How bad were we in January. Go and check the record. I don't think we were bad in January. I'll help you out. We were 10-7 in January. Shockingly bad LMAO.

Those losses include 4th quarter collapses in some cases by double digits to bad teams. We lost crucial seeding games to OKC and Boston. We had breakdowns in some of those 10 wins too including barely beating the Nets. Look at the numbers, turnover rate, offensive efficiency, ect… I am not saying other teams don’t have problems, I am saying we are not living up to our potential. Maybe you don’t care about that, after all a win is a win. But I see living up to our potential as part of building the championship culture that will carry us through series in April, May, and god willing June. Especially on nights where the shots aren’t falling, guys are banged up or in foul trouble, and we are scratching and clawing to stay in the game. Having those systems, and the good habits, and the faith that comes from them, makes good teams great, great teams elite, and elite teams champions. I want that for us in January and February so it will be there in May and June. You should too.

[KGdaBom]

Again, I think we are contenders not pretenders. But one good win against an OKC team that was a little off (Back end of a back to back with Chet powered way down, Lou Dort and Isaiah Joe both being in power outage, and some other role players underperformed,) is not enough evidence to say we can win a playoff series without Mike. Our month of January was shockingly bad. We need to improve around the margins, and we need to significantly improve and restructure the offensive scheme to reach our true potential. It’s not that we don’t have the talent, of course we have the talent. Our talent has carried us to first in the west at the beginning of February. But, we lack the structure, discipline, and leadership to get where we are going. It is why we lost the Grizzlies series, why we had Rudy suspended and Jaden with a broken hand in the 2022 play in, and ended up in the Denver series. It is why we had a bad January. Finch is a great player coach and a good defensive minded coach, but he is failing this offense, and the numbers prove it.

Did I say we would win a full series without Mike? No I didn't. However, we certainly could. Grizzlies series is ancient history. Has zero, zilch, zip, nada, to do with this years team. You can point out our flaws as you love to do. Denver, Clippers, OKC, Milwaukee, Philly all have as many or more flaws. You just don't know what they are. How bad were we in January. Go and check the record. I don't think we were bad in January. I'll help you out. We were 10-7 in January. Shockingly bad LMAO.

Those losses include 4th quarter collapses in some cases by double digits to bad teams. We lost crucial seeding games to OKC and Boston. We had breakdowns in some of those 10 wins too including barely beating the Nets. Look at the numbers, turnover rate, offensive efficiency, ect… I am not saying other teams don’t have problems, I am saying we are not living up to our potential. Maybe you don’t care about that, after all a win is a win. But I see living up to our potential as part of building the championship culture that will carry us through series in April, May, and god willing June. Especially on nights where the shots aren’t falling, guys are banged up or in foul trouble, and we are scratching and clawing to stay in the game. Having those systems, and the good habits, and the faith that comes from them, makes good teams great, great teams elite, and elite teams champions. I want that for us in January and February so it will be there in May and June. You should too.

Did we blow some games we should have won in January? Yes. Were we shockingly bad. No! Despite those games we were 10-7 for the month. That is not shockingly bad. That will probably be our worst month of the season and it was still a winning month.

[winforlose]

Did I say we would win a full series without Mike? No I didn't. However, we certainly could. Grizzlies series is ancient history. Has zero, zilch, zip, nada, to do with this years team. You can point out our flaws as you love to do. Denver, Clippers, OKC, Milwaukee, Philly all have as many or more flaws. You just don't know what they are. How bad were we in January. Go and check the record. I don't think we were bad in January. I'll help you out. We were 10-7 in January. Shockingly bad LMAO.

Those losses include 4th quarter collapses in some cases by double digits to bad teams. We lost crucial seeding games to OKC and Boston. We had breakdowns in some of those 10 wins too including barely beating the Nets. Look at the numbers, turnover rate, offensive efficiency, ect… I am not saying other teams don’t have problems, I am saying we are not living up to our potential. Maybe you don’t care about that, after all a win is a win. But I see living up to our potential as part of building the championship culture that will carry us through series in April, May, and god willing June. Especially on nights where the shots aren’t falling, guys are banged up or in foul trouble, and we are scratching and clawing to stay in the game. Having those systems, and the good habits, and the faith that comes from them, makes good teams great, great teams elite, and elite teams champions. I want that for us in January and February so it will be there in May and June. You should too.

Did we blow some games we should have won in January? Yes. Were we shockingly bad. No! 10-7 for the month is not shockingly bad.

Again, you are saying a win is a win. For seeding this is true. But there is more to the game than winning and losing. Like how you win, and how you lose. If you don’t get that than I don’t know how to have this conversation.

[shrink]

While the national media never gives us credit, I think we are legit contenders. We have the talent to win.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t unlikely. We have seen how this team, primarily Ant, doesn’t “take care of business,” against lesser opponents. We also don’t have a lot of playoff experience, or years playing together. But, unlike most teams with those three characteristics, MIN has won big games against top teams for two years, and those are the only ones we’ll face in the playoffs.

Moreover, with our size and perimeter defense, we are designed to take away the advantages of several of these contenders, and at the same time, both Ant and Towns are significant defensive challenges for opponents, as does our size. I don’t believe the vapid narrative that Rudy can’t play in the playoffs, now that he has some great defenders around him.

Between now and then, we need to continue to stay healthy (and/or add for a back up 1), and Ant and Towns need to get better at decision-making and reduce turnovers. The defense is already there, and it carries game-to-game, even against playoff-level teams. Ant can become that end-of-game scoring guard the Wolves have never had. I think we are legitimate contenders, and I’m frustrated that we are ignored outside of Minnesota.

[KGdaBom]

Those losses include 4th quarter collapses in some cases by double digits to bad teams. We lost crucial seeding games to OKC and Boston. We had breakdowns in some of those 10 wins too including barely beating the Nets. Look at the numbers, turnover rate, offensive efficiency, ect… I am not saying other teams don’t have problems, I am saying we are not living up to our potential. Maybe you don’t care about that, after all a win is a win. But I see living up to our potential as part of building the championship culture that will carry us through series in April, May, and god willing June. Especially on nights where the shots aren’t falling, guys are banged up or in foul trouble, and we are scratching and clawing to stay in the game. Having those systems, and the good habits, and the faith that comes from them, makes good teams great, great teams elite, and elite teams champions. I want that for us in January and February so it will be there in May and June. You should too.

Did we blow some games we should have won in January? Yes. Were we shockingly bad. No! 10-7 for the month is not shockingly bad.

Again, you are saying a win is a win. For seeding this is true. But there is more to the game than winning and losing. Like how you win, and how you lose. If you don’t get that than I don’t know how to have this conversation.

A win is a win. Fact. You want to whine about how we could have been better. Yep we could have been better. So could Boston, OKC, Denver, Milwaukee, Philly and the Clippers. Do we want to continue to improve. Of course we do. You see our flaws and whine about them. This is RealGM. I suppose it exists for the purpose of whining. However, we have a great team just the way we are.

[winforlose]

Did we blow some games we should have won in January? Yes. Were we shockingly bad. No! 10-7 for the month is not shockingly bad.

Again, you are saying a win is a win. For seeding this is true. But there is more to the game than winning and losing. Like how you win, and how you lose. If you don’t get that than I don’t know how to have this conversation.

A win is a win. Fact. You want to whine about how we could have been better. Yep we could have been better. So could Boston, OKC, Denver, Milwaukee, Philly and the Clippers. Do we want to continue to improve. Of course we do. You see our flaws and whine about them. This is RealGM. I suppose it exists for the purpose of whining. However, we have a great team just the way we are.

You say whine, I disagree. You ask me is record enough to win a series, well guess what seed what made it out of the East last year. Record is a piece of a puzzle. You can ignore the rest, but you shouldn’t insult the people who don’t.

[KGdaBom]

While the national media never gives us credit, I think we are legit contenders. We have the talent to win.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t unlikely. We have seen how this team, primarily Ant, doesn’t “take care of business,” against lesser opponents. We also don’t have a lot of playoff experience, or years playing together. But, unlike most teams with those three characteristics, MIN has won big games against top teams for two years, and those are the only ones we’ll face in the playoffs.

Moreover, with our size and perimeter defense, we are designed to take away the advantages of several of these contenders, and at the same time, both Ant and Towns are significant defensive challenges for opponents, as does our size. I don’t believe the vapid narrative that Rudy can’t play in the playoffs, now that he has some great defenders around him.

Between now and then, we need to continue to stay healthy (and/or add for a back up 1), and Ant and Towns need to get better at decision-making and reduce turnovers. The defense is already there, and it carries game-to-game, even against playoff-level teams. Ant can become that end-of-game scoring guard the Wolves have never had. I think we are legitimate contenders, and I’m frustrated that we are ignored outside of Minnesota.

Are we likely to win it all? NOPE. No team is. The team that wins will need to be healthy, get hot, and some luck. Do we have as good a shot as anybody to win it all? YEP!

[KGdaBom]

Again, you are saying a win is a win. For seeding this is true. But there is more to the game than winning and losing. Like how you win, and how you lose. If you don’t get that than I don’t know how to have this conversation.

A win is a win. Fact. You want to whine about how we could have been better. Yep we could have been better. So could Boston, OKC, Denver, Milwaukee, Philly and the Clippers. Do we want to continue to improve. Of course we do. You see our flaws and whine about them. This is RealGM. I suppose it exists for the purpose of whining. However, we have a great team just the way we are.

You say whine, I disagree. You ask me is record enough to win a series, well guess what seed what made it out of the East last year. Record is a piece of a puzzle. You can ignore the rest, but you shouldn’t insult the people who don’t.

You see our flaws and harp on them. To me that is whining. Every team has flaws. Record is what wins a series. The team that wins 4 games in the series wins the series.
However, I do appreciate that you see us as contenders. Some don't. We mostly agree.

[winforlose]

A win is a win. Fact. You want to whine about how we could have been better. Yep we could have been better. So could Boston, OKC, Denver, Milwaukee, Philly and the Clippers. Do we want to continue to improve. Of course we do. You see our flaws and whine about them. This is RealGM. I suppose it exists for the purpose of whining. However, we have a great team just the way we are.

You say whine, I disagree. You ask me is record enough to win a series, well guess what seed what made it out of the East last year. Record is a piece of a puzzle. You can ignore the rest, but you shouldn’t insult the people who don’t.

You see our flaws and harp on them. To me that is whining. Every team has flaws. Record is what wins a series. The team that wins 4 games in the series wins the series.

Call it what you want, but the 44 win Heat got to the NBA finals. They beat the 57 win Celtics in the first round. You are right that winning 4 playoff games is how you advance. But you seem to be deliberately ignoring all the factors that contribute to those wins and losses.

[KGdaBom]

You say whine, I disagree. You ask me is record enough to win a series, well guess what seed what made it out of the East last year. Record is a piece of a puzzle. You can ignore the rest, but you shouldn’t insult the people who don’t.

You see our flaws and harp on them. To me that is whining. Every team has flaws. Record is what wins a series. The team that wins 4 games in the series wins the series.

Call it what you want, but the 44 win Heat got to the NBA finals. They beat the 57 win Celtics in the first round. You are right that winning 4 playoff games is how you advance. But you seem to be deliberately ignoring all the factors that contribute to those wins and losses.

What am I ignoring? The team that scores the most points wins the game and the team that wins the most games wins the series. There are a million factors involved with scoring more points in any given game. TOs, rebounding, Shooting %s are the primary ones.

In the end though you and I mostly agree. We both see the Wolves as contenders. You just like to place conditions on it. I say we are contenders just the way we are and I'm even happier if we improve as I expect us to do.

[WolfAddict]

This is not the dynamic of conversation I was expecting when I came into this thread... Should we all hug it out?

[KGdaBom]

This is not the dynamic of conversation I was expecting when I came into this thread... Should we all hug it out?

W4L and I mostly agree. So far everybody who replied has considered us contenders. I just get annoyed, by his constant criticisms of our team. I love us just the way we are. W4L is always nit picking.

[winforlose]

This is not the dynamic of conversation I was expecting when I came into this thread... Should we all hug it out?

An emoji hug would be interesting. Sorry to disappoint. I just feel like we need to make some trades and improve the offensive scheme to maximize our title chances. I feel like we aren’t where we should be and I believe we can get there, but time is becoming factor. What do you think Wolf?

[KGdaBom]

This is not the dynamic of conversation I was expecting when I came into this thread... Should we all hug it out?

An emoji hug would be interesting. Sorry to disappoint. I just feel like we need to make some trades and improve the offensive scheme to maximize our title chances. I feel like we aren’t where we should be and I believe we can get there, but time is becoming factor. What do you think Wolf?

There's that nit picking.

[winforlose]

This is not the dynamic of conversation I was expecting when I came into this thread... Should we all hug it out?

An emoji hug would be interesting. Sorry to disappoint. I just feel like we need to make some trades and improve the offensive scheme to maximize our title chances. I feel like we aren’t where we should be and I believe we can get there, but time is becoming factor. What do you think Wolf?

There's that nit picking.

Miami beat Boston last year. 7 beat 2. If all that matters is regular season wins and losses that should be impossible.