Unlikely voice of optimism

[Tirion]

from Bill Simmons:

Minny's pick might be overrated. The following teams have less talent on their roster: Cleveland, Toronto, Charlotte, Washington, New Orleans. The following teams MIGHT finish worse than them: Utah, Detroit, Sacramento, Golden State, Milwaukee, Denver (if it decides to rebuild for next season) and Houston (ditto). Also, the T-Wolves went from the league's worst coach (Kurt Rambis) to one of its most successful coaches of the past 20 years (Rick Adelman, who has a habit of getting teams to overachieve). And a nucleus of Kevin Love, Derrick Williams, Wesley Johnson, Ricky Rubio, J.J. Barea, Michael Beasley, Anthony Randolph, Anthony Tolliver, Luke Ridnour and the 18-Foul Center Monster (Darko Milicic, Brad Miller and Nikola Pekovic) is surprisingly solid. I hate going deeper than nine or 10 guys, but for this nightmare of a 66-game season, wouldn't you want a deep team with young legs? How many games will the T-Wolves steal just by being deeper and fresher?

I keep going back and forth on this "Is there legit chance for Wolves to make the playoffs" thing.

New Orleans will suck, that one is a given.
Utah may try to unload Jefferson/Millsap and rebuild/tank.
Sacramento has more talent than Wolves, but may implode internally (too many scorers, Cousins/Evans beef).
Golden State will have an awful coach (and Kwame/Andris combo in the middle - yack).
I'm not sure what Denver wants to do (they stuck in no-man's land as currently constructed, unless Gallo or Lawson break out).
Houston's offseason plan failed, they lost Hayes, Martin wants out and they may just try to rebuild.
Phoenix's legs are too old, no way Nash and Hill are going through this condensed season unscathed.
Portland may fall off if this Aldridge heart problem is serious.
Even LAL may implode, with possible Bynum injury, Gasol being pissed about the trade, Metta not giving a **** and Kobe going crazy over his team not being a contender.
And Clippers are well... the Clippers.

I mean, teams will tank, cause 2012 draft will be very strong and Wolves do have some young legs and depth to carry them through condensed schedule (and no incentive to lose games). We'll see.

[funkatron101]

The Wolves have no incentive to tank, other teams do. That is a big factor.

[shrink]

Simmons is just trying to suck up, after he swore that if Rubio ever played a game for Minnesota, he'd show up at his first game wearing a "Kahn" wolves jersey.

[Calinks]

I see no chance the wolves make the playoffs. Correction, the only chance is if Derrick Williams or Rubio emerge to become top tier star players that have an instant impact.

[Breakdown777]

I still think we'll be a lottery team, but I'm banking on MN finishing closer to the 9-14 range than the 1-8 range.

[Tirion]

looks like Clippers FO also thinks that the pick will not be in a top-5 range.

[Basti]

looks like Clippers FO also thinks that the pick will not be in a top-5 range.

Well, I wouldn't use the Clippers' management as a measuring stick.

But yeah, in general, I think this team might be able to pull off a surprise season. There are many factors that may lead to us winning more games than we expected. Those factors are having a somewhat deep & talented roster which helps in such a packed season and the new coach. However, those factors may also lead to us underachieving. This season will be a surprise. That's for sure.

[Worm Guts]

The double whammy has just been put on that pick. Now it's been traded by the Timberwolves and the Clippers. I'm worried.

[phonzadellika]

Worried in a 'the person who is drafted is going to be the basketball equivalent of Jordan, Chamberlain, and Jesus rolled into one' or worried in a 'the earth will split open at the draft, satan will ascend and his minions will engulf the draft audience and drag them screaming into hell' way?

[Dalvin]

Man, how pissed would be the Clippers fans if that pick somehow wins the Lottery next year? Giving away two straight No. 1 picks.

Would they be more pissed than us or just the same?

[Greco21]

There are many reasons to be optimistic. The major reason is Kevin Love.

He is a franchise player. Eventually he will end up Hall of Fame.

The team is still young and talented. Last year there were too many games that were lost during clutch time.

I hope Andelman makes the correct decisions and follows a specific strategy. I would go straight to a fast tempo game with all those young legs and the rebounding capabilities of K-Love. A set game (5 on 5) is the weakest point along with Turnovers. Rambis during pre-seazon last year kept coaching with a specific instruction ("move the ball") and was stuck with the triangle. His rotation ideas also sucked big time.

AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

P.S. I still do not believe in Ricky Rubio

[Dan's with the Wolves]

The double whammy has just been put on that pick. Now it's been traded by the Timberwolves and the Clippers. I'm worried.

And Stern will rig it such that the Hornets will get the number 1 pick.

[Torcher]

Man, how pissed would be the Clippers fans if that pick somehow wins the Lottery next year? Giving away two straight No. 1 picks.

Would they be more pissed than us or just the same?

Yes, but Chris Paul is no Mo Williams.

[Tirion]

New Orleans will suck, that one is a given.
Utah may try to unload Jefferson/Millsap and rebuild/tank.
Sacramento has more talent than Wolves, but may implode internally (too many scorers, Cousins/Evans beef).
Golden State will have an awful coach (and Kwame/Andris combo in the middle - yack).
I'm not sure what Denver wants to do (they stuck in no-man's land as currently constructed, unless Gallo or Lawson break out).
Houston's offseason plan failed, they lost Hayes, Martin wants out and they may just try to rebuild.
Phoenix's legs are too old, no way Nash and Hill are going through this condensed season unscathed.
Portland may fall off if this Aldridge heart problem is serious.
Even LAL may implode, with possible Bynum injury, Gasol being pissed about the trade, Metta not giving a **** and Kobe going crazy over his team not being a contender.
And Clippers are well... the Clippers.

ok, let's redo this one.

the locks for playoffs are Dallas, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Memphis and the Clippers (with Paul). that's 5 spots right there.

Utah signed Josh Howard, so I guess tanking ain't in their plans. they have great frontcourt, which at least makes them respectable.

Denver is going nowhere, but they gave Nene all that money, so they at least gonna try.

Portland got blindsided by the injuries again, if this Aldridge thing is serious, they are in trouble.

Phoenix - one Nash injury away from the bottom.

Houston might want to rebuild now.

Golden State and Sacramento should be better, but how much better?

Lakers are the wild card, if they implode (and there is a pretty big chance they will) it could get really ugly.

NO will tank from the get go.

Best case scenario for the Wolves: LAL implode, Phoenix and Portland are hit by injuries and schedule, Houston decides to blow up and rebuild. That leaves Minny, Utah, GS, Sac and Denver gunning for three spots. Even then Wolves are probably the weakest team in their division, so it will depend on GS and Sac sucking more, which is possible (Warriors - new/bad coach, Kings - Cousins/Evans feud, arena problems), but unlikley.

[phonzadellika]

Lakers are the wild card, if they implode (and there is a pretty big chance they will) it could get really ugly.

I just don't see the Lakers really letting that happen...they might embarass themselves for a couple of weeks but I really think they would realize that they are the Lakers and win enough to get in.

[Tirion]

Seen a bit of GSW-Kings yesterday and I think the Wolves can be better than both this teams. They have the best coach and the best natural point-guard out of the three.

[Klomp]

During game:

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
I can't resist... Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubioooooooooo!!!!!!!


After game:

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
I was really impressed by Rubio. Can't shoot but it won't matter too much, he'll still have an impact. Fun to play with, always up to stuff.

[Tirion]

yeah, Bill should pull some strings and show up at the season opener with Kahn's jersey on.

he would get a nice game column out of it, plus he would look like a man of his word and the local fans would get the satisfaction of being proved right. win-win.

unless of course his head became too big.

[Peezo]

Seen a bit of GSW-Kings yesterday and I think the Wolves can be better than both this teams. They have the best coach and the best natural point-guard out of the three.

This.

I've seen two people say that SAC specifically has more talent than us, and I'm not sure that is true. They have silly amounts of young pieces as well, but where is there Kevin Love? Tyreke is probably going to be nasty, but I think we are actually further along in our rebuild than them. I'd honestly prefer our roster to GSW or SAC.

[Tirion]

Seen a bit of GSW-Kings yesterday and I think the Wolves can be better than both this teams. They have the best coach and the best natural point-guard out of the three.

This.

I've seen two people say that SAC specifically has more talent than us, and I'm not sure that is true. They have silly amounts of young pieces as well, but where is there Kevin Love? Tyreke is probably going to be nasty, but I think we are actually further along in our rebuild than them. I'd honestly prefer our roster to GSW or SAC.

Kings have more natural talent, that's undeniable imo, but the Wolves have more skills. Tyreke is woefully one-dimensional on offense, he needs to work on his mid-range jumper and start passing the ball. When he gets that, the Kings will take a leap, but it doesn't look like it'll happen this season. And they still should've drafted Cousins over Wes, the Wolves would be sooo much better right now.