Looking more and more like the NBA season is coming back. How will this affect the Wolves?

Post #1 » by **Calinks** » Tue May 19, 2020 8:50 pm

More news is trickling in. Facilities are starting to open, teams are putting plans together for training camp. Looking likely that some form of the season will return. For our team in particular this could have some significant impact. A few thoughts.

-KAT, probably wont be the same: I don't know if his play will be affected but losing his mother who he seemed extremely close with, I have the feeling it will impact him forever. Not sure where his head is at, vastly tough position to be in.

-Injuries will probably be better: I would assume that KAT is healthy. Russell is probably feeling good. Laymans foot should be even better. It's likely we will field a healthy roster at full strength.

-Our draft position could take a big hit: If we get a full on training camp, we would be pretty much coming into the season as if we had over a summer break. Not the same because the normal individual workouts and work to improve a player will not have happened but player have had a long time to mentally learn the system. Coaches have had a lot of time to implement tweaks. Whatever training camp we get will be a smaller scale version of the one whey would get this fall. We could essentially have a new team.

If we play well and have a big run, we rise up in draft placement. Kind of unfortunate as we would lose the benefit from being a crap team for most of the season. The upside is that we would have more data to evaluate and determine how we will shape this team in the off-season.

karch34 · Post #2 » by **karch34** » Tue May 19, 2020 9:07 pm

KAT will never be the same emotionally because you don't get over loss of family, you get through it. Maybe this is actually good for him to have something else to think about.

Injuries could be better, but at same time depending on how long ramp up time is (I've heard 3 weeks) potential for different injuries could be higher.

I don't think we'll see more than trying to get to 70-72 games vs the full 82 as most are in that 64-66 games played, so doubt draft position takes a big hit as we've still got a team that hasn't played together as a full group more than 1 game.

The getting a few more looks of what team at full strength looks like could be the biggest advantage in more data. But the question would be (and largely dependent on how much camp time teams get) is how accurate is it? Where were the players quarantined? I know some places they couldn't even leave house and other places you had outdoor options, etc.

Other question would be do they even play a regular season of 6-8 games as a preseason/warm up or do they come up with alternative that leaves out us, Phoenix, Atlanta, and other teams mathematically out of it because of the logistics of something like the campus proposal?

KGdaBom · Post #3 » by **KGdaBom** » Tue May 19, 2020 9:58 pm

Calinks I think Karch did a great job of answering your questions. Aren't the bottom four teams all in the same lottery situation? When the season comes back I can't see us making much of a run at all and there would probably only be 6-8 more games of regular season before moving to the playoffs. I really don't see a hit to our draft position.

Post #4 » by **Calinks** » Tue May 19, 2020 10:49 pm

Yea good points. It depends how many games they decide to play. There are 18 games left,not much under a quarter of the season. Not likely but if we had a huge run, I could see it messing up out position some. Really depends how close other teams are to us record wise.

Conversely if we do comeback and play a bunch of games and flop hard it could really put a damper on how optimistic we are going into next season. I guess that would free Rosas up to make a lot of moves though.

jmoy · Post #5 » by **jmoy** » Wed May 20, 2020 2:15 am

Looking at the standings, I don't see playing more games helping the Wolves draft position. I think if they have everyone healthy, they win enough to move down 3 spots and have at least one team jump them in the lottery so they pick around #7. I am not saying that is a bad thing if they come back and play well, but it is certainly a T-Wolves thing. Also, the Nets will drop out of the playoffs and the Wolves lose that pick this year. But that is just what watching the Wolves has done to me is that I expect the worst to always happen.

Of course, maybe with Steph Curry coming back, the Warriors win more and the Wolves move up.

Post #6 » by **Worm Guts** » Wed May 20, 2020 5:17 am

I would assume the most likely scenario is they skip straight to the playoffs and the Wolves are done for the season.

minimus · Post #7 » by **minimus** » Wed May 20, 2020 6:38 am

Worm Guts wrote:I would assume the most likely scenario is they skip straight to the playoffs and the Wolves are done for the season.

Or they will play 5 games of regular season and jump into playoffs.

Dalvin · Post #8 » by **Dalvin** » Wed May 20, 2020 10:11 am

Are we mathematically eliminated already? There's also the outside chance we win all games and make it as an 8th seed :lol:

Jedzz · Post #9 » by **Jedzz** » Wed May 20, 2020 10:38 am

minimus wrote:
Worm Guts wrote:I would assume the most likely scenario is they skip straight to the playoffs and the Wolves are done for the season.

Or they will play 5 games of regular season and jump into playoffs.

What is the point training camps and then tacking on 5 more regular games that doesn't even complete the 82 games and then starting the playoffs? If the point is to make sure the playoffs happen and for everyone involved to make their playoffs incomes, then just go ahead host the playoffs and be done with it.

Nobody needs a training camp, a warmup camp or anything. It's a stupid game and they were forced to take a break midseason. It's not like the teams changed. If they are coming back, just start the season back up and either finish the 82 or don't at all and instead start playoffs.

Why would the Warriors play Steph Curry at all? Nobody forced them to play him when he was healthy during the season earlier, they can't force him now either.

So why should KAT risk injury playing in 5-19 games of a lost season? Teams that had a horrible season should probably just play scrubs to run out the clock of this mess. How many muscle contusions and sore wrists and elbows will come from a Camp session of any kind? Plenty.

Post #10 » by **Klomp** » Thu May 21, 2020 12:21 pm

Read on Twitter

Jedzz · Post #11 » by **Jedzz** » Thu May 21, 2020 7:22 pm

So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

Dewey · Post #12 » by **Dewey** » Thu May 21, 2020 9:18 pm

Have a return camp for a week then split out top half (A bracket) and bottom half (B bracket) ... leave draft positions as is IMO, else it'll be a mere tankathon anyway.

Bracket A: Playoff teams hold a round-robin tournament/schedule, then make the final seeding adjustments for playoffs.
Bracket B: Non-playoff teams hold a round-robin tournament/schedule (like a summer-league sorta) ... then done.

Opening round best of 3, then go to best of 5, and the Finals only would be best of 7-game

Can easily delay 2020-2021 season, but I really don't see a dire need to do so.

Post #13 » by **Calinks** » Thu May 21, 2020 9:28 pm

Jedzz wrote:So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

That's why we are discussing it. We don't know how they will approach a return. Also don't know what will happen with the next season. I am sure the players will want some kind of off-season and the league obviously needs something. Will it be accelerated? Don't know.

At some point they have to get back on schedule. They could approach it in a lot of ways. Maybe next season gets shortened to like 60 games as if it was a lock out, that way they can have a longer off-season Who knows.

Killboard · Post #14 » by **Killboard** » Thu May 21, 2020 10:06 pm

Calinks wrote:
Jedzz wrote:So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

That's why we are discussing it. We don't know how they will approach a return. Also don't know what will happen with the next season. I am sure the players will want some kind of off-season and the league obviously needs something. Will it be accelerated? Don't know.

At some point they have to get back on schedule. They could approach it in a lot of ways. Maybe next season gets shortened to like 60 games as if it was a lock out, that way they can have a longer off-season Who knows.

I think is high likely they complete the 70 games mark for contractual reasons, in a single place as it were an olympic village, likely in Disney World Orlando, at least the regular season part. Then the playoffs, depending on how they are structured it could take several weeks. The playoff still are the most profitable part of the season for which I don't think they want to reduce much the number of games. Wierd thing is that home court will not mean anything if the games are played without fans which it is likely.

Then the start of next season would be likely moved far away. Maybe start from december to august, instead of october to june.

Post #15 » by **Klomp** » Thu May 21, 2020 11:17 pm

Killboard wrote:
Calinks wrote:
Jedzz wrote:So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

That's why we are discussing it. We don't know how they will approach a return. Also don't know what will happen with the next season. I am sure the players will want some kind of off-season and the league obviously needs something. Will it be accelerated? Don't know.

At some point they have to get back on schedule. They could approach it in a lot of ways. Maybe next season gets shortened to like 60 games as if it was a lock out, that way they can have a longer off-season Who knows.

I think is high likely they complete the 70 games mark for contractual reasons, in a single place as it were an olympic village, likely in Disney World Orlando, at least the regular season part. Then the playoffs, depending on how they are structured it could take several weeks. The playoff still are the most profitable part of the season for which I don't think they want to reduce much the number of games. Wierd thing is that home court will not mean anything if the games are played without fans which it is likely.

Then the start of next season would be likely moved far away. Maybe start from december to august, instead of october to june.

The hard thing will be figuring out how they're going to get to 70 games for everyone. This isn't the NFL, where there's only one off week to plan around. Teams have played anywhere from 63 to 67 games, so to get an even number of games there may need to be some maneuvering of the schedule as a whole. I don't think it will be just a "everyone gets 5 more games. I think they need everyone to finish at the same number for both playoff positioning and lottery positioning. I actually could see it more likely that they play out the rest of the regular season with a more abridged postseason. Maybe they go back to a 5-game series for a round or two?

Post #16 » by **Calinks** » Fri May 22, 2020 12:04 am

Another factor is the less games the less risk. If they play like 5 more regular season games, and then do 3-5 game series it cuts down a lot of the risk. At the same time they got TV and contractional deals to try to satisfy.

Jedzz · Post #17 » by **Jedzz** » Fri May 22, 2020 3:27 am

Calinks wrote:
Jedzz wrote:So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

That's why we are discussing it. We don't know how they will approach a return. Also don't know what will happen with the next season. I am sure the players will want some kind of off-season and the league obviously needs something. Will it be accelerated? Don't know.

At some point they have to get back on schedule. They could approach it in a lot of ways. Maybe next season gets shortened to like 60 games as if it was a lock out, that way they can have a longer off-season Who knows.

I just see no reason for delaying the next season or shortening it if they are going to be playing again now. Why have two ruined seasons in a row? Just deal with the fact that this season got tanked by something out of their control, and end it with a quick playoffs. I don't see much reasoning in any kind of month long camp since teams haven't changed. The only way that makes sense is if they don't play now and yet they hold a draft and then try to wrap up the season after it. Then changes would have occured and camps might make sense. But honestly if they are going to wait until July to play they should just end the season, deal with it, hold a month long playoffs in July. Then have August - October 15 off. 2.5 monnths. Two weeks of preseason camp and start the next season as always.

Jedzz · Post #18 » by **Jedzz** » Fri May 22, 2020 3:32 am

Calinks wrote:Another factor is the less games the less risk. If they play like 5 more regular season games, and then do 3-5 game series it cuts down a lot of the risk. At the same time they got TV and contractional deals to try to satisfy.

Only reason I could see all the teams going through the motions of 5 more games before a playoffs would be because someone doesn't like what the current seeding looks like as it was left. Playoff basketball right now would be a huge draw. 5 garbage games will only draw some sports starved fans. Instant playoffs now would be amazing and rejuvinating. my opinion anyway.

Post #19 » by **Klomp** » Fri May 22, 2020 4:59 am

Jedzz wrote:I don't see much reasoning in any kind of month long camp since teams haven't changed.

Same reason why teams hold training camps in the first place.....because you need that time to get back up and running physically after an extended layoff. If you were a marathon runner and took a year off without practicing, you'd be foolish to just go right into another marathon without preparation. Maybe it doesn't have to last a month, but there has to be some sort of buffer.

ClarkeW · Post #20 » by **ClarkeW** » Fri May 22, 2020 1:02 pm

Jedzz wrote:
Calinks wrote:
Jedzz wrote:So they are talking about returning in Mid June? Mid July for games? Then what? playoffs through August? Then start another season right after? ugh They will probably throw a 3 month delay in there and maybe start a new season on NewYears day? Seems foolish to slide everything back when they could just hold a short playoffs and get back in sync.

That's why we are discussing it. We don't know how they will approach a return. Also don't know what will happen with the next season. I am sure the players will want some kind of off-season and the league obviously needs something. Will it be accelerated? Don't know.

At some point they have to get back on schedule. They could approach it in a lot of ways. Maybe next season gets shortened to like 60 games as if it was a lock out, that way they can have a longer off-season Who knows.

I just see no reason for delaying the next season or shortening it if they are going to be playing again now. Why have two ruined seasons in a row? Just deal with the fact that this season got tanked by something out of their control, and end it with a quick playoffs. I don't see much reasoning in any kind of month long camp since teams haven't changed. The only way that makes sense is if they don't play now and yet they hold a draft and then try to wrap up the season after it. Then changes would have occured and camps might make sense. But honestly if they are going to wait until July to play they should just end the season, deal with it, hold a month long playoffs in July. Then have August - October 15 off. 2.5 monnths. Two weeks of preseason camp and start the next season as always.

I think one of the primary motivating factors for owners wanting to push the beginning of next season to December is the increased possibility of having fans in the arenas. The longer they wait to start the season, the more likely that fans are able to attend a larger percentage of the games. That means an increase in revenue for the owners. December is the latest it could be pushed back while still wrapping up the playoffs prior to the NFL season kickoff in September.

There had already been some sort of recent push to start the league in December before all of this, I believe coming from the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. That was to decrease overlap with the NFL schedule. The majority of the owners were not on board at the time, but COVID-19 has opened up an opportunity for them to test it out now which I think they will take. If it doesn’t work out, they can find a way to get back to the October - June schedule when things are back to normal.

Personally I’m a bit excited by the potential change. A Christmas Day (or Christmas Week) opening day sounds great to me.