Are Love and Rubio good enough?

[skorff26]

They are good enough (especially if Rubio improves which he should once he fully adjusts). Problem is our other players are not

The past champions... Lakers (Kobe, Gasol, Bynum), Celtics (Pierce, Allen, KG, Rondo), Spurs (Duncan, Manu, Parker) all have 3 players and a decent supporting cast. Dallas last year still had Dirk and Chandler and a really strong supporting cast.

To compete for a championship we'd need to beat the Lebron/Wade/Bosh, Durant/Westbrook/Harden, Kobe/Gasol/Bynum, Rose/Noah/Deng/Boozer, Manu/Duncan/Parker, Paul/Griffin/Jordan/Butler, etc.

We need
1) Pek to continue to develop and maybe be one of our 3.
2) We need somehow to get a wing (best bet trade D. Will.).
3) Plus I think we need to get semi lucky in the draft as well, find someone in the mid first round who becomes a real solid player for us ala Tony Parker (28th overall), Ibaka (24th), Jordan and Manu (2nd rounders)... best way to do that is to trade Beasley (maybe even Johnson) for a 1st rounder and see what happens (Austin Rivers?, Quincy Miller?, Evan Fournier?, Terrence Ross? one could maybe be available around #20)
4) We need to find supporting role players (I think we got most of this in place), Ridnour/Barea/Lee/Johnson?/Darko? could all find roles, we may need another one or two big men but we're mostly set here IMO

[jade_hippo]

To compete for a championship we'd need to beat the Lebron/Wade/Bosh, Durant/Westbrook/Harden, Kobe/Gasol/Bynum, Rose/Noah/Deng/Boozer, Manu/Duncan/Parker, Paul/Griffin/Jordan/Butler, etc.

Of these, only the Heatles and Durant/Harden scare me. The rest of these we have a fair chance of beating on any given night.

[Worm Guts]

By the time we're ready to go deep into the playoffs, the Lakers or Spurs (as currently constructed) won't be championship threats. I wouldn't say only the Heat and OKC scare me, but they are the scariest. I think we'll have to pull off something special to beat them.

[kmgarnett21]

To compete for a championship we'd need to beat the Lebron/Wade/Bosh, Durant/Westbrook/Harden, Kobe/Gasol/Bynum, Rose/Noah/Deng/Boozer, Manu/Duncan/Parker, Paul/Griffin/Jordan/Butler, etc.

Of these, only the Heatles and Durant/Harden scare me. The rest of these we have a fair chance of beating on any given night.

And we should've beaten both OKC and Miami in the first week of the season.

Minnesota, right now, can beat any team on any given night. When was the last time you could say that?

[eyeteeth]

We are good enough on "any given night," but in a best of 7 playoff series? Not yet.

Pek, Love and Rubio will be good enough, but beyond that is a mystery. We need our shooters to become deadly in high-pressure situations. I like Barea becuase of his (absolutely invaluable) playoff experience, but otherwise we are full of untested maybes. Best case scenario, honestly, is that Beasley puts it together.

If Beasley makes that fabled quantum leap, we could have a pretty wicked playoff heavy minutes lineup of:

Rubio
Barea
Beasley
Love
Pekovic

If that development never happens, though, that's a big hole in terms of shot creation. There would have to be a trade.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Maybe not a #1 scorer per se, but they need an allstar level impact player like Iguodala. Then they need another really good starer too, like Doug Christie level. They can make their own blueprint and crush inside w/ rebounding and inside scoring, but they still need good players at the other positions. Even the early Robinson/Duncan Spurs; that was elite interior defense, but they still had to roll out Bruce Bowen and Stephen Jackson to get that 2nd championship.

[C.lupus]

By the time we're ready to go deep into the playoffs, the Lakers or Spurs (as currently constructed) won't be championship threats. I wouldn't say only the Heat and OKC scare me, but they are the scariest. I think we'll have to pull off something special to beat them.

I agree with this. I might add Chicago to that short list of scariness. The Spurs are already looking a bit old and I don't think Kobe/Gasol/Bynum is going to be together much longer, although it's the Lakers so they will get another big name or two.

If Pek can do his thing consistently and Love and Rubio continue to improve (that's a given in my book), then I think we just need some supporting cast members similar to what Orlando has put together. They don't have any all stars outside of Dwight but they are deadly from the three point line. A couple wings at the Reddick/Turkey Glue/Anderson (I know he isn't a wing) level is what we will need, imo.

We're knocking on the playoff door right now with a rookie PG, no offseason, and a steaming pile of poo at the wings. I think that says an awful lot about Love, Rubio, Pek, and Adelman.

[EddyCool]

We are good enough on "any given night," but in a best of 7 playoff series? Not yet.

Pek, Love and Rubio will be good enough, but beyond that is a mystery. We need our shooters to become deadly in high-pressure situations. I like Barea becuase of his (absolutely invaluable) playoff experience, but otherwise we are full of untested maybes. Best case scenario, honestly, is that Beasley puts it together.

If Beasley makes that fabled quantum leap, we could have a pretty wicked playoff heavy minutes lineup...

I agree, for the most part. Love and Rubio, with Pek continuing to shoulder interior scoring cover just about everything we need offensively; a scorer who can create for himself off the dribble is tall order, but is something this team can be successful without given Love's ability to score from all over the floor, Pek's inside scoring and Ricky creating shot opportunities for others. The iso factor is a huge advantage late in close games, but not what the Wolves should focus their offense on.

We're obviously lacking consistent outside shooting. Between Beasley, Wes, and Derrick it would be a HUGE improvement for this team if one would find their shot (or in Beasley's case, take advantage of his), but there's not reason to expect it at this point. I know the suggestion of T-Mac got an eye-roll earlier, but I would love it if we could pull off a Randolph for T-Mac swap. He knows Adelman, and as far as I can recall there was never any trouble between he and Adelman - just T-Mac's injuries. He knows the offense better than anyone on the team outside of Miller, and it wouldn't hurt to see if he still has his outside shooting. Just a thought.

Going forward (and I expect this will be unpopular), I fully expect we'll have a similar rotation and trust improvement to familiarity and confidence. Considering he's still starting and playing every night, I don't think RA is down on Wes long-term despite his season; if he can get his long-distance shooting to be respectable, he'll be valuable. It just looks like his confidence is a long-way off. Similar situation for Derrick - he needs to get comfortable and build up confidence.

The two of them improving over the second half of this season and next (and Derrick going beyond that) is key, as it allows us to keep a decent cap situation for the 2013 off-season when the Thunder are going to be looking at Harden as an RFA and may be forced to choose between him and their frontcourt. Trading players on their rookie contracts now means that if we want to make a play for Harden, we'd likely have less of a roster around Kevin/Ricky/Pek, although we could be more competitive for this season and next. I'd rather fill in with vets or short-term fixes for the next two years and see what happens while this group matures and gels into the system, and (to tie it back on-topic), believe that three guys we have contributing big every night are enough to keep us good and improving while we get there.

[fearandir]

Good enough for reaching playoffs. Maybe... No more.

Minny dont havea solid bench. Same on defense.