2022-2023 Timberwolves Predictions (standings/stats/roles)

[KGdaBom]

The Timberwolves will need some time to figure out how Towns and Gobert work together, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who suspects it will take another year for the best version of this team to show up. Hollinger expects the Wolves to take a small step forward in 2022/23, projecting 47 wins and a seventh-place finish in the West.

I agree it will be an adjustment, but I think it will be more of an adjustment for other teams. I can’t imagine that during the regular season, they are going to devote a lot of time to practice how to overcome outlier MIN. I expect we’re going to see some streaky basketball in some games from both teams this year, but MIN will win at least 50.

At least. I've got the over/under at 56.

[Grubie024]

The Timberwolves will need some time to figure out how Towns and Gobert work together, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who suspects it will take another year for the best version of this team to show up. Hollinger expects the Wolves to take a small step forward in 2022/23, projecting 47 wins and a seventh-place finish in the West.

I agree it will be an adjustment, but I think it will be more of an adjustment for other teams. I can’t imagine that during the regular season, they are going to devote a lot of time to practice how to overcome outlier MIN. I expect we’re going to see some streaky basketball in some games from both teams this year, but MIN will win at least 50.

That Hollinger article was absolutely terrible. It's like he has no clue about the Wolves.
Anyway, I believe the Wolves will be 2nd seed and have 54 wins

[KGdaBom]

The Timberwolves will need some time to figure out how Towns and Gobert work together, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who suspects it will take another year for the best version of this team to show up. Hollinger expects the Wolves to take a small step forward in 2022/23, projecting 47 wins and a seventh-place finish in the West.

I agree it will be an adjustment, but I think it will be more of an adjustment for other teams. I can’t imagine that during the regular season, they are going to devote a lot of time to practice how to overcome outlier MIN. I expect we’re going to see some streaky basketball in some games from both teams this year, but MIN will win at least 50.

That Hollinger article was absolutely terrible. It's like he has no clue about the Wolves.
Anyway, I believe the Wolves will be 2nd seed and have 54 wins

Who do you expect to have more wins than us?

[Grubie024]

I agree it will be an adjustment, but I think it will be more of an adjustment for other teams. I can’t imagine that during the regular season, they are going to devote a lot of time to practice how to overcome outlier MIN. I expect we’re going to see some streaky basketball in some games from both teams this year, but MIN will win at least 50.

That Hollinger article was absolutely terrible. It's like he has no clue about the Wolves.
Anyway, I believe the Wolves will be 2nd seed and have 54 wins

Who do you expect to have more wins than us?

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

[KGdaBom]

That Hollinger article was absolutely terrible. It's like he has no clue about the Wolves.
Anyway, I believe the Wolves will be 2nd seed and have 54 wins

Who do you expect to have more wins than us?

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

I expect Kawhi and George to miss a lot of time and we already beat them at their place this preseason when both teams were trying to win. I like out chances to do better than them. Did we play without Rudy and they played without Kawhi? I'm trying to remember.

[Grubie024]

Who do you expect to have more wins than us?

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

I expect Kawhi and George to miss a lot of time and we already beat them at their place this preseason when both teams were trying to win. I like out chances to do better than them. Did we play without Rudy and they played without Kawhi? I'm trying to remember.

Kawhi was in (I remember Ant locking him down, then Kawhi hitting a contested turnaround fadeaway against him a couple plays later). Gobert was out. It was preseason though, can't put too much stock in that.
Fair to assume Kawhi and PG13 will miss a lot of games but I wouldn't bet on it. Wouldn't be surprised either. Love playing against them. So stoked for this season. We're about to put so many fans and "professional writers" on notice.

[BlacJacMac]

Who do you expect to have more wins than us?

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

I expect Kawhi and George to miss a lot of time and we already beat them at their place this preseason when both teams were trying to win. I like out chances to do better than them. Did we play without Rudy and they played without Kawhi? I'm trying to remember.

Were they?

Kawhi sat out the 2nd half, George sat out the 4th and neither guy looked to score after the 1st quarter.

[MN7725]

I'm usually pretty pessimistic Wolves fan, but I do think Wolves are being underrated
Their fundamentals
Last year they were 8th in offense rating
13th in defense rating
10th in net rating

all the teams ahead of them in net rating were 50+ win teams except Utah, which was 49 wins and had tough time when both Rudy/Donovan were hurt at same time

West is really tough, health obviously key though
but Wolves seem to be one of safer bets on health given age/injury history compared to other teams

[MN7725]

Read on Twitter

538 projecting 7th place, 47 wins, really bunched up though, Warriors at 49 wins in 4th place

I thought 538 would be more optimistic since Gobert is such an on/off stats darling they use for the projections

[Grubie024]

I'm usually pretty pessimistic Wolves fan, but I do think Wolves are being underrated
Their fundamentals
Last year they were 8th in offense rating
13th in defense rating
10th in net rating

all the teams ahead of them in net rating were 50+ win teams except Utah, which was 49 wins and had tough time when both Rudy/Donovan were hurt at same time

West is really tough, health obviously key though
but Wolves seem to be one of safer bets on health given age/injury history compared to other teams

The health piece is interesting. Agreed.
Gobert's health history, conditioning and just the way he moves leads me to believe that, although 30 years old, he's got a good amount left in the tank.

[Klomp]

Here's how I look at things....

Rudy raises our floor from fringe play-in to I'd argue Top 6 floor now. That's where Ant comes in. He's the ceiling raiser, both in regular season and playoffs. I truly believe he has the potential to take us all the way. It's just potential right now though, so don't worry I'm not placing expectations on him of that yet.

[TimberKat]

After seeing 538's prediction and didn't feel right about it. I decided to create my own chart base on 2 key assumptions: 1. How many games a team can be better this year with healthy players and additions? The total number of wins for the western conference must be around the same as last year (+9). A little difficult to read from Excel copy but basically:

Wolves wins 51 with a bunch of other teams right around 53 wins. No team will win 60+ games. Sorry, SAC fans, no respect and UTA successfully tanked unlike 538, huge improvement for POR Lillard is healthy and not traded.

Columns are: 2022 Prj Win; 2022 Prj loses; 2021 Wins; 2022 win over 2021; Prj 2022 Ranking

PHX 53 29 64 -11 3
MEM 51 31 56 -5 7
GSW 53 29 53 0 1
DAL 48 34 52 -4 7
UTA 20 62 49 -29
DEN 52 30 48 4 4
MIN 51 31 46 5 5
NOP 48 34 36 12 8
LAC 53 29 42 11 2
SAS 28 54 34 -6
LAL 46 36 33 13 9
SAC 32 50 30 2
POR 44 38 27 17 10
OKC 24 58 24 0
HOU 20 62 20 0

Total 623 607 614 9
0.507 0.499
Total Win Pct 2022 Win Pct 2021

[KGdaBom]

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

I expect Kawhi and George to miss a lot of time and we already beat them at their place this preseason when both teams were trying to win. I like out chances to do better than them. Did we play without Rudy and they played without Kawhi? I'm trying to remember.

Kawhi was in (I remember Ant locking him down, then Kawhi hitting a contested turnaround fadeaway against him a couple plays later). Gobert was out. It was preseason though, can't put too much stock in that.
Fair to assume Kawhi and PG13 will miss a lot of games but I wouldn't bet on it. Wouldn't be surprised either. Love playing against them. So stoked for this season. We're about to put so many fans and "professional writers" on notice.

I watched that game and IMO both teams were very much trying to win. They were close to full strength (missing Powell IIRC) and we were missing Gobert. I won't put too much stock in it, but I'll put some stock in it. IMO we're the better team.

[KGdaBom]

Clippers
Even if Kawhi and/or PG13 miss time... the team is just stacked with quality vets who can still compete.

I expect Kawhi and George to miss a lot of time and we already beat them at their place this preseason when both teams were trying to win. I like out chances to do better than them. Did we play without Rudy and they played without Kawhi? I'm trying to remember.

Were they?

Kawhi sat out the 2nd half, George sat out the 4th and neither guy looked to score after the 1st quarter.

Yes without question both teams were trying to win. That doesn't mean the teams ignored preseason protocol and played there starters the whole game.

[Klomp]

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[KGdaBom]

Read on Twitter

I love his confidence

[shrink]

One logical fail I keep hearing, particularly from Ben Beecken of the “Locked On Wolves” podcast goes like this:

MIN won 46 games last year
They got significantly better
Therefore, predictions they will win only 47 this year are ridiculous.

There has probably never been a worse season to use Wins as a yardstick than the Covid-plagued 2021-22 season . It’s true MIN won 46 games last year, but they got many against teams with rosters that had illness or injuries to key players, while MIN was far healthier than most of the league.

I think we will win 50+ games, and it may be far higher. Yes, we got better this off-season, but so did most of our competitors, and there is no way to be secure that we will have a health advantage. I think the logic that uses 46 games as a yardstick is incorrect.

[TimberKat]

Read on Twitter

I love his confidence

After the last pre-season game vs BKN, it doesn't look promising. The game seems to emphasize all the stuff that people say doesn't work. There was a video of Town running around not sure who to guard. Gobert missed more free throws than Deandre Jordan. We may and should eventually figures it out. After all, it may be as little as 18 mins that Town and Gobert play together. It's going to cost a few games in the process.

[winforlose]

Read on Twitter

I love his confidence

After the last pre-season game vs BKN, it doesn't look promising. The game seems to emphasize all the stuff that people say doesn't work. There was a video of Town running around not sure who to guard. Gobert missed more free throws than Deandre Jordan. We may and should eventually figures it out. After all, it may be as little as 18 mins that Town and Gobert play together. It's going to cost a few games in the process.

The first few weeks are always messy for everyone. The good news is we are the most talented team in the league and should win our first 7 based entirely off of that. By the time we face a real team we will have more than 2 full weeks of practice and games based on actual film. I think we will be just fine. Plus, we will use our bench to much better effect during the real games of the early season. Finch leaving in ice cold players and not staggering the bigs was about learning and getting film, not about winning. Finch prioritizing winning a preseason game over developing chemistry would be like peeing in the bushes when there is a drought. Not very smart and definitely gross. He did the right thing.

[Klomp]

After the last pre-season game vs BKN, it doesn't look promising. The game seems to emphasize all the stuff that people say doesn't work. There was a video of Town running around not sure who to guard. Gobert missed more free throws than Deandre Jordan. We may and should eventually figures it out. After all, it may be as little as 18 mins that Town and Gobert play together. It's going to cost a few games in the process.

They literally had 1 on-court practice with the two of them before that game. Did you really expect perfect execution?