Are the Timberwolves a playoff team?

[Scalabrine]

They could be with their talent. But towns needs to commit to defense first. The center position is so important in the nba in regards to defense. Even slow foot Jokic has effort on defense with technique.

Towns has so much more potential with his athletic ability to play on defense.

He's near the top in some key advanced defensive statistics and the Wolves have been one of the best defensive teams in the league this year. Perhaps he's committed?

[Scalabrine]

Not even close.

Not even close?

Over the past several seasons, the Top 10 teams in defensive rating have all been in the playoffs. The Wolves right now are ranked 4th. They're currently tied for the 7th seed, 1 game behind 5th seed, and the Top 10 teams have a pretty sizable gap in talent/quality compared to teams 11-15.

At this point, I would be somewhat surprised if the Top 10 teams currently, are not the Top 10 teams by the time the Play-In rolls around.

How is it "not even close"? Are you just predicting that they get hurt?

[WolfAddict]

They will be in the play-ins for sure if...

1) ...they stay healthy and...
2) ...don't suddenly remember that they are the Wolves.

They look really solid. 11th in SRS, 8th in NetRtg so far this season, for the entire league. Even 5-6 place isn't impossible, the field is wide open.

The bolded part, is what keeps me up at night...

[WolfAddict]

Not even close.

Not even close?

Over the past several seasons, the Top 10 teams in defensive rating have all been in the playoffs. The Wolves right now are ranked 4th. They're currently tied for the 7th seed, 1 game behind 5th seed, and the Top 10 teams have a pretty sizable gap in talent/quality compared to teams 11-15.

At this point, I would be somewhat surprised if the Top 10 teams currently, are not the Top 10 teams by the time the Play-In rolls around.

How is it "not even close"? Are you just predicting that they get hurt?

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[Catchall]

I could see the T'wolves making the playoffs this year, especially if the Nuggets' woes continue and they end up pulling the red handle. I think they're a scary team to face in the play-in tournament.

The fact that they've improved defensively is a huge step forward for them. It used to be that KAT and Russell just couldn't guard anybody.