Is it too early for the TWolves might actually be good one day soon thread?

Did you just call Towns a poor man's DeAndre Jordan? Think you have to watch some tape lol, they're aren't similar anyhow.

 

Yeah, I have no real clue about college prospects except a few highlight reel footage lol.

 

will be interesting to see how well Town develops. He'll be the key to take minnesota up another notch if he gives them a legit inside presence who can play on both ends.

 

Even the tapes should've shown you he can do it all on both ends. Maybe you just watched a Dunk reel, breh.

 

Yes. One of the most young exciting teams in the league. what i dont like is their coach/gm. And lets see what happens with pek and rubio now. They have young talent in almost every position. For sure they have a much better team composition than the trainwreck philly.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see them quickly flip to a playoff team with all the potential they have on their team. Especially given a couple impending implosions. The Blazers are about to embark on a full rebuild. The Spurs might have another season, but they'll be going to rebuild soon too. The Thunder and Grizzlies are also at some risk, imo. The Pelicans will be much stronger, but otherwise some of the competition for playoff spots is about to cool off in the west.

But I don't have any faith in their management to put together a contender. I don't think they have a high performance culture. So, they may be a playoff team in the next couple of seasons, but I don't see them as a real threat unless something changes with ownership/management.

 

There's more playoff contending teams in the West in "rebuild" mode, or are exploring that approach. Seems more now that if a team isnt a sure top 4 seed, then they'll go into rebuild quicker.

That means some teams will be lower playoff teams by DEFAULT, almost on accident lol.

If Minnesota is more serious about contending than teams like Suns, Nuggets, Kings, Lakers, Jazz, and then teams like the Mavs and Blazers bottom out, then T-Wolves can find themselves in the mix.

 

well, I guess the curious case of timberwolves thread should be locked up. I bumped that thread because I thought this thread wasn't necessary. But let's do it.

 

Welp, over a year into the project, Wiggins threw in 36 Towns had 21, yet they both produced negative +/-. I thought this team was supposed to surprise everyone and be a contender this year? Even with Thibs at helm, they're 1-5 to start the season. They have young superstar prospects in Wiggins, Towns, LaVine, and Dunn (who barely plays). I'm not sure what's wrong with Minny at the moment, perhaps a consistent veteran or two could help anchor them down a little bit (They looked awful against Brooklyn last night). Tyus Jones was one of their better players last night. I've only seen their last game via league pass, so I can't really say too much, but I figured with all this young talent, they would be better than this. Thoughts?

 

Their problems are a) DEFENCE. Seems like Wiggins and Lavine didn't get anything from Thibs training camp yet. Furthermore KAT defence is suspect a lot. Dieng has always been a bad defender and that won't improve any time soon. Baz as well. But at least the first two should have gotten a little better. b) Without Rubio their offence falls apart and is full of isos and chucking stupid shots.
The last game was without Rubio. Thibs as usual is bad at orchestrating an offence nothing new there.

I thought whoever called them a contender with 50+ wins this year was insane and whoever said they will get the 8th seed extremely optimistic.

Also so far they are 1-5 (their only win was vs Memphis without Gasol, Parsons and Conley) with a good point differential. But almost every team they hav e played so far aren't that good. When they start playing vs actual good western teams I expect their point differential to plummet and them to fall off in both OFF and DEF rating.

 

I guess that's the direction all talent and no leadership points you. I haven't seen them this year, but something tells me they don't play like a team yet. They're too talented for this mess.

 

They need to get it together and better veteran players.

 

I don't think Zach LaVine has ever actually been taught how to play basketball. So much talent, but just no feel for the fundamentals.

 

Lavine put in a ton of work this offseason and it's paying off. A a huge flaw was his inability to have a consistent jumpshot which has improved tremedously. He's currently having his best year by far in year 3 and that's what you want to see in your young players

 

Lavine, Wiggins, Towns all avg 20 points already. Lavine improved his shot, Wiggins improved his 3-point shooting, Towns is already a known fundamentals workhorse. Yeah, if they stay together and keep putting in work up to the age of 23/24 I would expect these guys to be an amazing nucleus. The staying together is a big if a la Mashburn, Kidd, Jackson or Harden, Westbrook, Durant. It seems to get very crowded for three young superstars. They all think they should get paid more or equal to the other but I will say these guys seem pretty humble and level headed.

 

people seem to really underestimate how much youth plays a factor in the league despite the obvious talent in their core guys. it's a huge part of the process. Minny is still atleast a year or so away from really becoming an actual playoff team.

 

But none has improved in D. Even with Thibs. It's too early to be a red flag but it's a sign for concern. Especially for Lavine-Wiggins.

 

Lavine is the only one that strikes me as a too cool to defend type. Wiggin's number 1 attribute is "supposed to be" his defense. But yes, too early to tell.

 

Supposed or not supposed , it's not his attribute at all. Because he doesn't understand team defence concepts at a basic level and most of the times he is too weak to fight over screens. (That goes for Lavine too). He does have the tools but not the mindset or the bbal iq.

Furthermore the 2014 draft scouts screwed up imo. Most of the things they said about Parker and Wiggins were wrong and even backwards.

It's too early. But most of the players show improvement and finally start understanding team defence by the 3rd year. We will see.