Jazzfan1971 and FloppyMoose's Season Preview - The T-Wolves
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:16 pm
Minnesota Timberwolves
Projected Lineup
PG - Ricky Rubio/Mo Williams/JJ Barea
SG - Kevin Martin/Zach LaVine/Chase Budinger
SF - Andrew Wiggins/Corey Brewer/Shabazz Muhammad/Glenn Robinson III
PF - Thaddeus Young/Anthony Bennett/Robbie Hummel
C - Nikola Pekovic/Gorgui Dieng/Ronny Turiaf
Trading Block: Barea or some SF depth could be on the way out if Minny can find a taker.
Position Battle: I think Kevin Martin better play his hienie off this year if he wants to hold onto that starting slot. There are a ton of guys hungry for minutes at the 2/3 on this roster and it isn't hard to imagine any of them beating out Martin.
Mystery Man: For me it's Kevin Love. I've never been a Kevin Love fan. I think a lot of folks see Love out the door and Thad young in and see disaster. I'm not one of those folks. I actually don't expect to see much drop off on the team with Love gone as long as the roster stays about what it is above. They'll miss him some, but, I think they'll quickly find ways to replace his production and wont miss much of a step, somewhat similar to when Denver traded Melo.
Floppymusings:
Not sure I believe my own numbers. Kevin Love is studly, and he's gone. So why do I think they will have a similar record as last year? Partly it's that Mo Williams, while nothing great at this point, is still so much better than Barea that taking it's a big step up in the backup guard spot. But mostly it's that I feel they radically underachieved last season. They should have been very good. This year they should be average.
Jazzfanramblings:
I thought Minny was going to be terrible this year. That's because I expected them to blow up the team. I thought they'd dump Martin, Barea, Budinger, maybe Pek, and just run with a bunch of guys barely into their 20s. But, it appears that Minny is going to keep their vets and gun for the playoffs instead. I think it's going to be a bridge too far for the wolves again this year, but, I also think they'll be better than some folks are predicting. It looks like they won't be tanking to me.
It's hard to tank. Really. To do it well and not destroy your goodwill with fans is very hard. And the payoff is rather sketchy. But, you still see teams tanking. They'll fight and claw for a top draft pick. And I don't mind a bit. But, what bothers me is how quickly teams are giving up on those top picks that they worked so hard to secure in the first place.
Players aren't coming into the league as 4 year seniors anymore. Most of the top picks are 1 year and done guys. 19 and 20 year old kids. And teams are drafting them on potential. So, why not give some of these kids with potential a few years to develop? Why are guys like Anthony Bennett, Thomas Robinson, and Derrick Williams not given time to grow into their games and bodies? It seems awfully shortsighted to me. Maybe it's that GMs are a lot like corporate CEOs that have to show a quarterly profit. They are forced to focus on the short term or get fired.
Someone is going to look pretty stupid one of these days when one of these kids grows into a man and fulfills their potential on a team that bought them for pennies on the dollar. Maybe it'll be Cleveland. Maybe Bennett will turn into a star. But, who knows, maybe he'll be on his 6th team by the time that happens.
If I was running a team and I had a young player who was a good kid, wasn't doing drugs or beating his girlfriend and actually tried hard to do what was asked of him, I'd consider hanging onto that kid and trying to shape him into something I could use rather than trading him for the devil I didn't know.
That's just me though. Maybe I'm a little too stubborn.
Projected Record - 39/43
Projected Lineup
PG - Ricky Rubio/Mo Williams/JJ Barea
SG - Kevin Martin/Zach LaVine/Chase Budinger
SF - Andrew Wiggins/Corey Brewer/Shabazz Muhammad/Glenn Robinson III
PF - Thaddeus Young/Anthony Bennett/Robbie Hummel
C - Nikola Pekovic/Gorgui Dieng/Ronny Turiaf
Trading Block: Barea or some SF depth could be on the way out if Minny can find a taker.
Position Battle: I think Kevin Martin better play his hienie off this year if he wants to hold onto that starting slot. There are a ton of guys hungry for minutes at the 2/3 on this roster and it isn't hard to imagine any of them beating out Martin.
Mystery Man: For me it's Kevin Love. I've never been a Kevin Love fan. I think a lot of folks see Love out the door and Thad young in and see disaster. I'm not one of those folks. I actually don't expect to see much drop off on the team with Love gone as long as the roster stays about what it is above. They'll miss him some, but, I think they'll quickly find ways to replace his production and wont miss much of a step, somewhat similar to when Denver traded Melo.
Floppymusings:
Not sure I believe my own numbers. Kevin Love is studly, and he's gone. So why do I think they will have a similar record as last year? Partly it's that Mo Williams, while nothing great at this point, is still so much better than Barea that taking it's a big step up in the backup guard spot. But mostly it's that I feel they radically underachieved last season. They should have been very good. This year they should be average.
Jazzfanramblings:
I thought Minny was going to be terrible this year. That's because I expected them to blow up the team. I thought they'd dump Martin, Barea, Budinger, maybe Pek, and just run with a bunch of guys barely into their 20s. But, it appears that Minny is going to keep their vets and gun for the playoffs instead. I think it's going to be a bridge too far for the wolves again this year, but, I also think they'll be better than some folks are predicting. It looks like they won't be tanking to me.
It's hard to tank. Really. To do it well and not destroy your goodwill with fans is very hard. And the payoff is rather sketchy. But, you still see teams tanking. They'll fight and claw for a top draft pick. And I don't mind a bit. But, what bothers me is how quickly teams are giving up on those top picks that they worked so hard to secure in the first place.
Players aren't coming into the league as 4 year seniors anymore. Most of the top picks are 1 year and done guys. 19 and 20 year old kids. And teams are drafting them on potential. So, why not give some of these kids with potential a few years to develop? Why are guys like Anthony Bennett, Thomas Robinson, and Derrick Williams not given time to grow into their games and bodies? It seems awfully shortsighted to me. Maybe it's that GMs are a lot like corporate CEOs that have to show a quarterly profit. They are forced to focus on the short term or get fired.
Someone is going to look pretty stupid one of these days when one of these kids grows into a man and fulfills their potential on a team that bought them for pennies on the dollar. Maybe it'll be Cleveland. Maybe Bennett will turn into a star. But, who knows, maybe he'll be on his 6th team by the time that happens.
If I was running a team and I had a young player who was a good kid, wasn't doing drugs or beating his girlfriend and actually tried hard to do what was asked of him, I'd consider hanging onto that kid and trying to shape him into something I could use rather than trading him for the devil I didn't know.
That's just me though. Maybe I'm a little too stubborn.
Projected Record - 39/43