PLAYOFFS? (Cue Jim Mora)

[Klomp]

Let me start by saying that I have always been optimistic about our team, but it sometimes gets me in trouble. I understand that this may be one of those times. However, looking at the Western Conference this year, I really don't feel too bad. Let me break it down into tiers.

TOP TIER: Lakers
UPPER TIER: Thunder, Mavericks, Jazz
SOLID PLAYOFF TEAM: San Antonio, Portland, New Orleans

That leaves one spot left. Lets take a look at how each team stacks up:

Denver: With the Anthony trade on the horizon, they are clearly headed into rebuilding mode.
Golden State: They will be interesting to watch post-Nellie, especially Curry.
Houston: They will be the 8th team if Yao stays healthy. Otherwise, I'm not sure they have enough firepower.
Los Angeles (C): They are talented on paper, but we have no idea what Griffin will do. Plus, its the Clippers.
Memphis: I'm not sure I'd trust Randolph to be as productive as last year, especially in his contract year.
Phoenix: That roster is scary, and not in a good way.
Sacramento: On paper, they are talented. However, I have my doubts that they can put it all together this year.

Now take a look at our roster:

Ridnour/Telfair/(Flynn)
Brewer/Webster/Ellington
Beasley/Johnson/Hayward
Love/Tolliver
Milicic/Pekovic/Koufus

Why can't we compete for that last spot? If we commit to playing solid defense like coach is preaching early in camp, I see no reason why we cannot surprise the league. I don't see one of those other 7 teams on the outside that should scare us.

Like I said, maybe I'm so optimistic that I'm blinding myself. If not, this will be an exciting season.

[AQuintus]

I'd say that thinking playoffs is overoptimistic this year, but if the Carmelo trade does go through, the Western Conference will be depleted enough that anything could happen.

If I had to guess, I'd say one of Houston (like you said, with Yao healthy), Clippers (they have a ton of talent, but they're still the Clippers), or Phoenix (lost a lot of talent with Amare leaving, but Nash seems to be getting better with age) will take it.

[The J Rocka]

Lets just see if we can get over 25 wins first. If we are in the 30s this year, we are in good hands.

[jade_hippo]

Could this happen? Yes, absolutely. Is it realistic? oh lord no. Pretty much every what if would have to come true for us to compete for 8th.

Brewer: improve from last year
Johnson: come in and be a lock down defender
Darko: make the transition from BrianSkinner/BradMiller hybrid to BenWallace/PatrickEwing hybrid
and the most important Beasley become an unstoppable offensive player.

I predict 24wins, a lot of narrow losses and a lot less blow-outs.

[Klomp]

Are the Timberwolves a playoff team this season? Probably not. But with a few lucky breaks, a breakout season by Beasley and an immediate impact from Johnson, it isn't out of the question considering the drop-off in talent amongst Western Conference teams behind the Lakers, Blazers, Thunder, Mavs, Spurs, Jazz and Rockets, along with the uncertainty that surrounds the Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=17417

[revprodeji]

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp -- or what's a heaven for?"

I think mid-30 is my goal. Show improvement and understand what our foundation is. Make a move at the deadline to solidify the team moving forward.

[Den Masters]

41 wins feel free to quote me on it.

[collin_k41]

I'm so used to watching the Wolves underachieve that this is hard to comprehend. I don't want to be a "debby downer" but I don't think we have much of a chance at the playoffs at all. We're a young team, and even if we do have more talent nobody knows what their role will be and we just don't know how to win yet. If everything went absolutely perfect I could see playoffs but that's like a 5% chance of happening. I fully expect to win maybe 24-27 games this year....but 40+? I really hope we could pull something like this off, I really do, but I just don't see much of a chance of it happening.

[Dewey]

Could this happen? Yes, absolutely. Is it realistic? oh lord no. Pretty much every what if would have to come true for us to compete for 8th.

Brewer: improve from last year
Johnson: come in and be a lock down defender
Darko: make the transition from BrianSkinner/BradMiller hybrid to BenWallace/PatrickEwing hybrid
and the most important Beasley become an unstoppable offensive player.

I predict 24wins, a lot of narrow losses and a lot less blow-outs.

Brewer assumeably will improve once again because he is physically stronger. Outside of that, lockdown defenders, unstoppable offensive players, and wanting Milicic to be in the Wallace/Ewing hybrid form are fictional ...

Team leadership, depth, and committment to team defense will have far more impact than all this jibbersih of unreal individual player expectations.

[C.lupus]

Too many young players and too many new faces to compete for the playoffs this year. If they can double their wins from last year, it would be a big deal.

[jade_hippo]

Could this happen? Yes, absolutely. Is it realistic? oh lord no. Pretty much every what if would have to come true for us to compete for 8th.

Brewer: improve from last year
Johnson: come in and be a lock down defender
Darko: make the transition from BrianSkinner/BradMiller hybrid to BenWallace/PatrickEwing hybrid
and the most important Beasley become an unstoppable offensive player.

I predict 24wins, a lot of narrow losses and a lot less blow-outs.

Brewer assumeably will improve once again because he is physically stronger. Outside of that, lockdown defenders, unstoppable offensive players, and wanting Milicic to be in the Wallace/Ewing hybrid form are fictional ...

Team leadership, depth, and committment to team defense will have far more impact than all this jibbersih of unreal individual player expectations.

hence why I said 24 wins is my prediction. Do you not agree if 3 of those 4 things happend we would be competing for the 8th seed?

[wolves_fan_82au]

well if the team decides to play a more run and gun style offense than wolves will make the playoffs
if we play the same style as last year wolves wont win 20 games

btw i think Beasley will break out into a star this year and love will avg close to 20-12

[mnWI]

Are the Timberwolves a playoff team this season? Probably not. But with a few lucky breaks, a breakout season by Beasley and an immediate impact from Johnson, it isn't out of the question considering the drop-off in talent amongst Western Conference teams behind the Lakers, Blazers, Thunder, Mavs, Spurs, Jazz and Rockets, along with the uncertainty that surrounds the Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=17417

Hoopsworld, seriously?

Who is the leader on this team?

[Breakdown777]

Klomp has NO in the playoff
Hoopshype has HOU
So that's 8

I actually am pretty high on the Clippers this year.
Denver w/o Melo is still fairly strong (but probably will be attempting a youth movement)
Hou. should be the same as last year (so a .500 team) and even a little Yao makes them better.
PHX also has just as much of a shot as any of these teams.

The bottom dwellers will clearly be SAC, MN, and GS.

The Wolves are still really young, have lots of new faces, and will take awhile to "gel". Last years team never really looked like they 100% understood the system (probably due to a rookie PG), but without another training camp who knows how much Flynn will improve (and I'm not holding my breath with Ridnour).
I think we'll win more than 15, but anything over 30 is pretty much crazy talk.
My guess is right around 25 wins, but more entertaining and more players who "get it" and do the right thing by January.

[KF10]

You guys will be in the similar situation like the Kings last season; showing great promise, youngsters improving, fun basketball in general. But that does not reflect well in the W/L column though. If I had to guess, the Wolves will have the same record (or better) than the Kings last year. Which was 25 wins. I could see the Wolves reach the low 30s (probably 35 at most) if everything goes well: Beasley emerges as one of the best young players along with Flynn and Johnson. And guys like Brewer, Webster, Darko will play their roles well. And Love is Love. The sky is the limit from there.

Your team is massively underrated (imo) in the media's perspective but I don't believe you guys are going to sniff the POs couple of years from now. I always thought the Wolves are one year (maybe two years) behind the Kings in terms of team development and the Kings are at least a year or two away from contention of playoffs. As of right now, the Kings are known to be one of the brightest young teams in the NBA. I don't think it's bad using the Kings as a measuring stick for you guys.

Before this season (25 wins), the Kings won only 17 games with a dysfunctional roster and coaching staff. And everyone stated, with confidence, that the Kings have one of the worst outlooks/future in the entire league. But as everyone knows, in the offseason/season, the Kings nailed their draft selections: Evans, Casspi, Brockman; traded Martin for maximum flexibility + Landry; hired Westphal; etc etc etc. The Kings dramatically changed everyone's opinions about them and we are in talks about being one of the best up and coming teams in the L. I mean, the Kings only needed a year to change their situation: from bad (possibly the worst) to one of the best, in terms of future outlooks.

Last year for the Kings, they hovered around .500 at the end of December. It seemed like they will break 30 wins easily at the pace they were going at, but several key players i.e. Thompson, Casspi, etc flamed out hard and never returned to their quality play earlier in the season. And the whole Kevin Martin situation (we had to re-integrate him back to the offense) etc etc etc.

I could see the same thing happening to the Wolves this year. Assuming scheduling is fair for the Wolves this season, they will do surprisingly well in a patch of games throughout the season until they hit the proverbial wall hard somewhere in the season. That does not mean that your team sucked or gave up (maybe or maybe not) but that shows your team's inexperience, youth mistakes, growing pains, etc. Which is expected for young teams like the Wolves, Kings, etc.

Maybe in a year from now, most of the media will recognize the Wolves as one of the brightest young teams in the NBA. Who knows.

fwiw I hope you guys surprise everyone. I would like to see the people that dissed the Wolves throughout last year eating crowing a year from now. That would be sweet.

Good luck with your season.

[Dewey]

Decent post KF10 and you're right that "things can change" with one move ...

My assessment remains: player quality & depth are our most critical issue where we need to see improvement. Last season we did not have the caliber of players on our roster to sustain a high level of play for 4-quarters. This sesason, our caliber of players is certainly better, but our level of experience will be less ... hard to say how much leadership our young veterans will be able to display.

We do not have that go-to player heading into the season, but we do have players that talk like they can be that guy ... if we have enough who think it, maybe we'll get one, two, or three who actually elevate their game.