Where do Wolves rank in the West?

[Dewey]

DLo has a bus to drive, and if he can endure a healthy season I think we’re easily top 4 in the west.

If Moore, Nowell, and SloMo (for example) can fill roles, we’ll be solid

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

PHX- about as good a CP3 takes them whos going to be 37

Dallas- loses Brunson gains wood

Warriors- lose a few bench pieces like OPJ, GP2 and Bjeleicia, return most important pieces- should be favorites

Clippers- healthy should be 1B favorites to GS although pg, Kawhi and others are injury prone


Memphis- JJJ has a foot injury that could miss some time during season

As of now I’d put us 3 behind GS and LAC. I think we pretty much go head to head with all talent and I don’t think there’s one team head and shoulders above the others.

[Grubie024]

Wolves being underrated badly by our own fans....
GSW, LAC, DEN, MN in any order. Wolves are incredibly dangerous and I'm ecstatic about the trade. You've fooled yourself if you aren't.

[KGdaBom]

Wolves being underrated badly by our own fans....
GSW, LAC, DEN, MN in any order. Wolves are incredibly dangerous and I'm ecstatic about the trade. You've fooled yourself if you aren't.

I see us first to 3rd in any order. Don't see Denver beating us. As a whole 2/3rds of our voters have us top 3 1/3rd of the voters have us 4-8.

[younggunsmn]

I'll start from the Bottom:

15 - San Antonio (20-30 wins) - Bottomed out

13&14 - Houston and Oklahoma City (25-30 wins) - Not trying to win yet and super young, but both got loads more talented this offseason.

12 - Sacramento 30-40 wins) - Sacramento got more talented, but a mess of an organization.

10&11 - Utah and Portland - (35-45 wins) Utah lost their coach and best player, but still have a lot of veterans and a first class organization. If they keep Mitchell, don't count them out of anything. Portland has a healthy LIllard and solid veterans

8-9 - New Orleans, LAL (no Kyrie) (40-50 wins) - NO has Lots of talent, Zion back, and a good young coach.
If the Lakers end up somehow landing Kyrie, bump their total by 10 wins.

4-7 - Dallas, La Clippers, MN, Denver (45-55 wins).
Dallas and Denver lost some depth but have superstars capable of willing their team to the playoffs. Clippers getting their injured stars back and finally adding a solid PG to them. Wolves with the Gobert experiment but traded away the 2 guys who were key to our defensive chemistry last year in Beverley and Vanderbilt.

1-3 GSW, MEM, PHX - My guess is Ayton signs the QO and reloads for unrestricted free agency next offseason.
Warriors and Grizzlies running it back.

The west is going to be absolutely loaded next year and for years to come.
Even having added Gobert, there is a fair shot we slip into the play in tournament.
I'll split the difference and say 6th seed.
Had we upgraded D-Lo I would have gone higher, I just don't think Gobert is enough to cover for both him and KAT.

[KGdaBom]

I'll start from the Bottom:

15 - San Antonio (20-30 wins) - Bottomed out

13&14 - Houston and Oklahoma City (25-30 wins) - Not trying to win yet and super young, but both got loads more talented this offseason.

12 - Sacramento 30-40 wins) - Sacramento got more talented, but a mess of an organization.

10&11 - Utah and Portland - (35-45 wins) Utah lost their coach and best player, but still have a lot of veterans and a first class organization. If they keep Mitchell, don't count them out of anything. Portland has a healthy LIllard and solid veterans

8-9 - New Orleans, LAL (no Kyrie) (40-50 wins) - NO has Lots of talent, Zion back, and a good young coach.
If the Lakers end up somehow landing Kyrie, bump their total by 10 wins.

4-7 - Dallas, La Clippers, MN, Denver (45-55 wins).
Dallas and Denver lost some depth but have superstars capable of willing their team to the playoffs. Clippers getting their injured stars back and finally adding a solid PG to them. Wolves with the Gobert experiment but traded away the 2 guys who were key to our defensive chemistry last year in Beverley and Vanderbilt.

1-3 GSW, MEM, PHX - My guess is Ayton signs the QO and reloads for unrestricted free agency next offseason.
Warriors and Grizzlies running it back.

The west is going to be absolutely loaded next year and for years to come.
Even having added Gobert, there is a fair shot we slip into the play in tournament.
I'll split the difference and say 6th seed.
Had we upgraded D-Lo I would have gone higher, I just don't think Gobert is enough to cover for both him and KAT.

If we had GoBear for the playoffs last year we sweep Memphis. I'm not concerned about them. Phoenix will depend on getting another superstar year out of Paul and what the heck happens with Ayton. Clippers with a healthy George and Leonard can beat us, but is anybody counting on that? Warriors if healthy will most likely beat us. I'm not counting on that too much either. Seeing us as a potential play in team is an incredibly negative take.

[life_saver]

Warriors are bit of a tough team to evaluate...Steph is super critical for them and Steph is 34 now and does have a knack of missing some games every season. The most number of games he has played in a season in last 5 years is 69. Despite Steph being reasonably healthy last season, they only finished with 53 wins. For comparison, Wolves finished with 46 wins and now adding a big piece in Gobert. Warriors do have some young talent who will be improving but their main core is old and they have also lost some key rotation players in Gary Payton, Otto Porter without any replacements. Atleast in regular season, I don't think Warriors are in a different tier to Wolves as of now. I can see Wolves finishing above Warriors in RS. Gobert's impact is also pretty huge in Regular Season. One uncertainity regarding Wolves might be whether it would take some time for team to gel in new defensive scheme with Gobert as C instead of KAT

[KGdaBom]

Warriors are bit of a tough team to evaluate...Steph is super critical for them and Steph is 34 now and does have a knack of missing some games every season. The most number of games he has played in a season in last 5 years is 69. Despite Steph being reasonably healthy last season, they only finished with 53 wins. For comparison, Wolves finished with 46 wins and now adding a big piece in Gobert. Warriors do have some young talent who will be improving but their main core is old and they have also lost some key rotation players in Gary Payton, Otto Porter without any replacements. Atleast in regular season, I don't think Warriors are in a different tier to Wolves as of now. I can see Wolves finishing above Warriors in RS. Gobert's impact is also pretty huge in Regular Season. One uncertainity regarding Wolves might be whether it would take some time for team to gel in new defensive scheme with Gobert as C instead of KAT

Good post. Those assuming the Warriors finish ahead of us in the west aren't looking at the big picture. That's a 50/50 proposition.

[life_saver]

Warriors are bit of a tough team to evaluate...Steph is super critical for them and Steph is 34 now and does have a knack of missing some games every season. The most number of games he has played in a season in last 5 years is 69. Despite Steph being reasonably healthy last season, they only finished with 53 wins. For comparison, Wolves finished with 46 wins and now adding a big piece in Gobert. Warriors do have some young talent who will be improving but their main core is old and they have also lost some key rotation players in Gary Payton, Otto Porter without any replacements. Atleast in regular season, I don't think Warriors are in a different tier to Wolves as of now. I can see Wolves finishing above Warriors in RS. Gobert's impact is also pretty huge in Regular Season. One uncertainity regarding Wolves might be whether it would take some time for team to gel in new defensive scheme with Gobert as C instead of KAT

Good post. Those assuming the Warriors finish ahead of us in the west aren't looking at the big picture. That's a 50/50 proposition.

yes. I think Gobert's impact is being underestimated, atleast in RS